GETTING STARTED WITH INTELLIGENT AUTOMATIONS

GETTING STARTED WITH INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION

FINESSE, IN ASSOCIATION WITH ITS PARTNER AUTOMATION ANYWHERE, ORGANISED A SUCCESSFUL WEBINAR ON USING INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION TO BUILD DIGITAL ENTERPRISES. THE EVENT WAS POWERED BY CXO INSIGHT ME.

Intelligent automation, which combines RPA with AI, is seen as the first step toward digital transformation in many enterprises as it helps to augment human labour with a virtual workforce. By executing repetitive and mundane tasks, enterprises can redeploy their workforce with improved skills and advanced productivity, which is now more important than ever.

The event kicked off with a presentation on RPA and AI by Bobby

Thomas, delivery head of emerging technologies at Finesse, who spoke at length about the market drivers.

“The global pandemic has disrupted both internal and external business processes. At the same time, the role of technology is evolving at a faster pace, aiding in overcoming business challenges. The integration of RPA with machine learning can help in advancing the capabilities of software bots. Moreover, AI in RPA can aid in structuring unstructured data, enhancing business insights and improving data integrity,” he said.

He added that it has become essential to increase work agility in a highly competitive market and deliver better customer experience.

“During these difficult times, the only way we can move forward is to be as flexible and agile as possible.

The pandemic has had an adverse impact on front office and back-office operations, and we have to adopt intelligent automation to mitigate these challenges.”

This was followed by customer success stories of Zulekha Healthcare

Group and Fuji Film Middle east.

Aliasgar Bohari, IT director of Zulekha Healthcare Group, gave a brief overview of the business challenges faced before the RPA implementation. “When patients book appointments, insurance eligibility needed to be checked at reception manually. This was a tedious and repetitive task. We have two hospitals and get around 2,000 appointments daily. We decided to implement RPA technology with our implementation partner, Finesse, in revenue cycle management. Now the whole process is automated, right from fetching appointment details to checking the insurance eligibility of each patient, even before they arrive the reception with the help of auto-triggered bots. With RPA, the task is performed error-free and data accuracy is very high, which is reflected in the operational efficiencies of our hospitals.”

Ryo Okabe, corporate manager at Fujifilm Middle East, shared the key lessons learned from the company’s automation journey. He said processes in accounting and logistics were done manually before RPA, and it involved review, reconciliation and reporting of large volumes of data. “This was timeconsuming and prone to possible human errors. We integrated digital workers from Automation Anywhere with MS Dynamics and processes we automated included daily sales and profit report, bank balance report, downloading customer ledgers, etc. We are using three unattended bots scheduled to run at predefined times for these processes and one bot was deployed to execute this process on demand. The efficiency and accuracy of various processes have increased, and now our employees focus on higher value work.”

Dinesh Chandra, regional VP of Automation Anywhere, gave the audience an overview of his company. “We have been in business for more than 16 years, even before the term RPA was coined. We have gained a lot of expertise in automation, having deployed our more than 2.6 million bots in 4000 enterprises globally. We have built a user community that you can reach out to and gain knowledge.”

He went on to share the key findings from a CIO survey the vendor has done recently in the region, which revealed the need for accelerated automation. “We found out that IT and business leaders want to continue with digital transformation initiatives and upskill the workforce. And this is exactly what we do with our digital workforce platform. Many enterprises are struggling to automate their frontend and back-office processes because of siloes. We can help you build a truly digital enterprise by linking these processes, productivity tools to execute key business processes,” he said.

The event also featured a panel discussion on how to get automation right, attended by Shafique Ibrahim, chief digital information officer at Al Fardan Group and Khalid Jalal, senior group ICT manager of Garmco Bahrain.

SECURED BY DESIGN

RENEE TARUN, DEPUTY CISO AND VP OF INFORMATION SECURITY AT FORTINET, ON THE KEY FUNDAMENTALS FOR AN EFFECTIVE SECURITY DESIGN

As organisations continue to accelerate their digital innovation initiatives with an effective security design, new network edges are also introduced to their security infrastructure – from data centre, LAN, SASE and more. The network continues to expand and splinter the perimeter, allowing new attacks vectors to present opportunities for cyber criminals.

Many organisations have accumulated a wide variety of isolated security tools designed to monitor a specific function or protect one segment of the network in isolation. Some of these new environments are essential solutions to urgent business needs, others are often over-trusted and fly under the radar. Given the rate of innovation, there is rarely enough time to make them part of a cohesive or comprehensive security strategy.

Cyber criminals are always searching for new ways to bypass security controls, infiltrate networks, and achieve their objectives. Their attacks have grown in sophistication, aiming to attack different network edges simultaneously to obscure their attack methods and identify the most easily exploited link in the security chain. Distributed networks that rely on traditionally isolated point products can’t see or defend against these threats. The clear challenge is that the disconnected and isolated security tools put in place to secure rapidly expanding and multiplying network edges don’t work together.

Five Fundamentals for Effective Security Design

The approach to network security needs to evolve. Here are five fundamental principles and practices that every organisation needs to consider to get in front of and stay ahead of their current security challenges: • A unified security fabric is essential to establish and maintain control over every edge. It must be able to span the distributed and evolving network to detect threats, correlate data, and seamlessly enforce policy.

This isn’t about selecting a single vendor, rather about choosing the right vendors. Priority needs to be given to those vendors that leverage application programming interfaces (APIs) and common standards to support interoperability—especially those that allow policy decisions to be made outside of their solution. • Deployed security solutions also need to have access to common datasets across all network edges, endpoints, and clouds, enriched with real-time global and community threat intelligence shared from every area of the organisation. This common intelligence framework enables holistic analyses of the state of security and performance, identifies emerging threats, and enables unified response across the organisation. • An integrated security framework needs to support and enable advanced data analysis, combined with the ability to automatically create new protections across the full attack cycle when those analytics detect previously unknown threats. This system should also

be able to function autonomously within simpler environments and be linked to extended detection and response (XDR), security information and event management (SIEM), and security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) solutions for increasingly advanced network operations center (NOC) and security operations center (SOC) environments • This security fabric needs to be able to rapidly launch a coordinated threat response across the entire ecosystem the moment a threat is detected. This breaks the attack sequence before its objectives can be realised. Leveraging machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) tied to dynamically generated playbooks makes this possible without introducing slowdowns or human error. • Because change is the only constant in today’s digital world, a security fabric needs to be dynamic, meaning that it must be designed to scale up and out as the network it is securing evolves and adapts. This requires deep integration between security and the network components and functions so organisations can continually innovate and expand networking and operations ecosystems without a lag in protections.

In order for organisations to have an effective security desion in today’s increasingly complex and ever-evolving network, security needs to be effective in providing broad visibility and control. Reducing complexity is the first step in achieving that. Only then can advanced analytics, threat correlation, dynamic adaptability, and integrated threat response be possible. Those functions, combined with the ability to be deployed broadly, deep integration and convergence between security tools and between security and the network, and dynamic automation augmented by AI, are the hallmarks of any security system capable of defending today’s dynamic networks and connected ecosystems.

THE ROAD TO BUSINESS RECOVERY

JOHN A. WHEELER, SENIOR DIRECTOR ANALYST AT GARTNER, GIVES FOUR IRM MARKET INSIGHTS TO AID COVID-19 RECOVERY PLANS FOR BUSINESS.

Integrated risk management (IRM) technology is uniquely suited to address the myriad of risks arising from the current crisis and future COVID-19 recovery. IRM technology product leaders will need to develop IRM capabilities that are capable of addressing the IRM market insights outlined in this blog post.

The shift in the IRM buyers from

IT leaders to business leaders is being driven by an increasing need to better understand the tactical view of technology risks in a strategic business context. The pandemic has intensified the need for organisations to rely on digital operations in order to not only remain competitive and grow but also to survive.

Product leaders should consider the following four market trends that will fuel demand for IRM solutions to aid in the

COVID-19 business recovery. Each market insight is critical to consider for future product development in addition to market positioning and messaging activities.

1IRM buying center continues shift from IT leaders to business leaders

As more businesses are maturing their risk management practices, the buying center for IRM is shifting. This is primarily driven by an increasing need to better understand the tactical view of technology risks in a strategic business context. In 2019, Gartner saw a 36% increase in IRM client inquiry by business leaders. In addition, 73% of the 760

IRM client interactions in 2019 were business leader focused.

In particular, as our end-user clients look to digital transformation and innovation to emerge from the pandemic, business leaders such as the Chief Executive Officer,

Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial

Officer and Chief Risk Officer will need insight into IRM technology providers. This need for

IRM is reflected in our most recent Gartner CEO Survey where CEOs identified risk management as one of their top priorities in 2020 & 2021 (see figure below). In fact, risk management received the highest increase in response (39% more than 2019) from CEOs and senior business leaders.

2The current crisis is operationallycentred Unlike the 2008-2009 Great Recession that was financially centered in its origin and resolution, the COVID-19 crisis is operationally-centred. This means that the economic impacts from this crisis are driven by a disruption of business operations due to health and safety-related closures. The financial stimulus provided by governments around the globe is merely a bridge to the other side of the crisis – business operations recovery. Once recovery begins, IRM will provide visibility of interconnected risks (i.e. third-party, digital, business continuity, health & safety, legal and ethics & compliance risks) businesses must navigate to succeed.

To effectively manage these risks, business leaders must have an understanding of the linkages between strategic business outcomes, operational processes and technology assets (see figure below). In addition, a growing need for visibility into the risks associated with products and services balanced by the necessary policies and procedures will lead business leaders away from legacy GRC technology. Legacy GRC technology focuses exclusively on policies and procedures in a siloed, departmental view. In the new digital business environment, the more balanced, integrated view of risk will be required for success.

3Risk visibility is needed vertically through the enterprise, not just horizontally This risk visibility is needed both horizontally across the organisation (as seen in most enterprise risk management – ERM programs) and vertically down through the organization. A single view of risks at strategic and tactical levels will be needed to re-start business operations as the workforce slowly transitions back to full speed. Too often, boards of directors and senior business leaders will only consider an ERM view of risk without understanding how business operations factor into risk mitigation at the tactical execution layers. A greater understanding of how risk mitigation must be integrated throughout the business is essential for successful recovery efforts.

4Digital transformation is rapidly becoming a “must have” for businesses Certain digital transformation is now a “must have” not only for future competitiveness and growth, but also for survival. The business world is now relying on digital operations to maintain business continuity in this crisis. This shift will not fade as we recover. It will remain as a new way of conducting business in a cost-optimised, more efficient environment. As such, management of digital risks in an integrated way will become a top priority for businesses.

To this end, business leaders need more risk quantification and analytics to support their digital business decision making. No longer can they rely exclusively on qualitative measures of risk. A balanced view of both quantitative and qualitative risk measures is needed at both the tactical and strategic levels (see figure below). Targeted risk mitigation as part of digital optimization efforts requires a cost/benefit analysis to determine how much risk the organization is willing to tolerate. Strategic risk mitigation as part of a digital transformation initiative requires an ROI/IRR analysis to determine how risks will factor into the profitability of a product or service.

These are trying times for business leaders and their organizations. The only way through this crisis into recovery is to increase our degree of certainty in a highly uncertain world. That is what IRM is designed to help organisations do.

REIMAGINING THE PHYSICAL OFFICE

JON HOWELL, SMART SPACES AND IOT LEAD EMEA AT ARUBA, A HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE COMPANY, ON THE OFFICES OF THE FUTURE AND ITS CONNECTIVITY NEEDS

Like many others, I am ready to return to the office. Or at least, to have the option of returning to the office as we all move to the new hybrid working model that will see employees shifting between their homes and the office.

It’s interesting to consider what the physical office will look like under this model – for it surely needs to change. The way that we live, work and communicate, our priorities and expectations – they have all been irreversibly altered by the pandemic. So how can we expect our offices to remain the same and still meet our needs?

Designing an office that will work for our new reality and the near future will challenge organisations to rethink everything from their network infrastructure to physical architecture. To help inspire and guide your planning, here are the top trends I’ve seen over the past few months.

Expect smaller – but better utilised – offices

With office spaces sitting empty for most of 2020, many organisations have recognised the opportunity to significantly downsize and save on real estate costs. I believe this will be a great thing for employees. Because at the same time, organisations are also transforming the way space is used, bringing it into better alignment with the way people will work postpandemic.

Instead of rows of desks and cubicles, walls are being torn down to create open, short-term collaboration spaces and meeting areas. While working from home has proven its

value, employees will be craving places to meet and work face-to-face after over a year of being apart – and organisations must be ready to meet this demand.

It’s not just about socialising either. Organisations need to acknowledge that some employees, particularly younger ones and working parents, may still need to use the office as a focused work environment or because it facilitates more effective learning.

To this end, many organisations are also creating a number of single occupancy, soundproofed ‘pods’, which offer employees a private place to work, make phone calls or join remote colleagues on a video conference. All employees need to do is remember to book the space first – which brings me to the next trend.

Say goodbye to assigned spaces

Future generations will no longer see the corner office as the pinnacle of success. With employee movement more fluid, the corner office (or desk) will belong to whoever books it first – and only for a certain amount of time.

The most efficient way for organisations to enable this will be via a digital solution, like an app – which will allow employees to see what space is available, reserve it for a set time and share its location with other meeting participants.

With space limited, this booking system is critical. Without it, organisations risk losing valuable time and affecting productivity as employees search fruitlessly for a place to work. The goal should be a system which allows employees to book a desk or meeting room before they even book a train ticket.

Once in the office, location data and Bluetooth functionality can also be integrated to guide employees and guests around the site unattended, further boosting efficiency and productivity.

Of course, implementing this technology is all very well but organisations must also remember that any new tool requires training. Taking time to properly onboard employees will ensure things operate as intended – and that data is accurate. Issues like ‘ghost bookings’ – where an employee books a space but doesn’t show up – seem small, but at scale, can easily undermine the effectiveness of a system and add friction to the new hybrid workplace.

Buildings will become hyperaware

As they look to digitally transform their businesses, organisations are introducing increasing numbers of IoT devices and sensors, which will provide vast amounts of data on building temperature, humidity, energy and resource consumption, air and fluid flow, occupancy, and more.

All this data has massive implications for operational costs and efficiency, as well as the employee experience. What time do the lights need to turn on? Are we overcooling rooms or heating them while windows are left open? Are employees using the collaboration spaces or do we need more work pods? Are we cleaning spaces that no one is going into? Organisations will soon have all the answers to help them better use their space and facilities, minimise waste and reduce costs.

In time, we will also see organisations leveraging this data to enable automated buildings that are fully cognizant of, and responsive to, the occupants and their environment.

The network of the future

As we explore these trends, it’s clear that this reimagined office will require a far more wireless infrastructure to support the full range of devices, users and platforms.

Beyond this, it will also require a network that is AI-powered and predictive. This is the only way to ensure network performance, operational efficiency and that the unprecedented amounts of data are actually being used to deliver business value.

It’s also the only answer to the significant security risks inherent to any distributed network – where the sheer number of IoT and unmanaged user devices means that IT teams simply do not have the time or visibility required to manage risks manually. The increased emphasis on collaboration and socialisation will see more clients and guests visit the office as well, creating different levels of access that must be managed. An automated solution will both simplify visitor access and implement security policies that tightly manage what visitors can do and see while on the network. This network also needs to be scalable, with the ability to respond as workplaces change due to evolving needs and behaviours, new technology, budgets, or because the data shows that they should.

In fact, enterprise networks are so mission critical that I believe these infrastructure investments aren’t about enabling hybrid workplaces at all. Instead, they are about creating agile, future-proofed organisations.

But all investments require funding. With this in mind, the final part of Aruba’s hybrid workplace guide will explore how organisations can strategically maximise their budgets and build a network that enables the future of work – whatever it looks like.