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NEWS
MAJID AL FUTTAIM UNVEILS WOMEN CODERS PROGRAM
Majid Al Futtaim has announced the launch of a coding program designed specifically for women – and the private sector’s first of its kind for the region. The announcement is in line with the government led initiative, ‘Projects of the 50’, aiming to attract 100 coders every day to the
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UAE’s workforce and attain the highest percentage of female coders per capita in the world in the next five years.
Following the launch of the UAE’s
National Programme for Coders in July, which aspires to develop talent, expertise and innovation in the field of coding, Majid Al Futtaim will provide a prominent platform for women in tech to make their mark on the industry. Aimed at training 5,000 women over the next five years, the program will target university students, recent graduates and career women, as well as upskilling MAFers. Early focus will be to create a dedicated tech community for interactive knowledge sharing in collaboration with the UAE Government, industry and academia, which will include outreach to universities across the Emirate to spark interest in tech subjects and encourage women to enter the sector at a greater pace. This program, in combination with other company-wide initiatives, will ensure Majid Al Futtaim achieves its goal to employ more than 35 percent women in advanced technologies and digital roles by 2023.
Alain Bejjani, Chief Executive Officer, Majid Al Futtaim Holding said, “There are numerous invisible barriers that discourage women from pursuing a career in the digital space which has a knock-on effect, further widening the skills and gender gap. Research suggests that women make up only 28 per cent of the global tech sector’s workforce and with the industry booming, now is the time to change this trajectory. The technology sector has tremendous opportunity for gender parity, and by creating the first corporate-led coding program for women in the UAE, we are committed to developing and nurturing the untapped potential that exists locally.”
Majid Al Futtaim will roll out several initiatives to encourage women to take up tech subjects, providing opportunities for upskilling, and support them to secure senior positions within business. The Majid Al Futtaim School of Analytics and Technology will run bespoke coding modules and programs for women outside the business’ ecosystem as well as internship opportunities, career guidance and mentorship. In addition, the company will offer freelancing and continue to enhance its flexible work options.
MICROSOFT AND ACCENTURE JV AVANADE DEBUTS IN THE UAE
Avanade has announced the launch of its business in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Adriano Neves, Avanade’s Sales, Industry and Client Relationships Lead in Brazil, has been appointed to lead the company’s newest entity and will relocate from São Paulo to Dubai.
Established by Accenture and Microsoft in 2000, Avanade today has 49,000 professionals globally focused on the Microsoft ecosystem providing technology and consulting expertise to help clients from across industries including financial services, oil and gas, and citizen services. Avanade’s presence in the United Arab Emirates represents the 26th country location in the company’s expanding global footprint.
Leveraging its global delivery network, technical depth and Microsoft-focused capabilities, Avanade will work with Accenture to jointly help clients in the UAE create exceptional experiences, build operational resilience and reimagine new business models.
Adriano Neves, Avanade’s United Arab Emirates regional lead, said, “As organizations renew for the future, we want to make a positive impact in the region by helping our clients solve complex business problems that are unique to their industries and realize their business goals faster on the Microsoft platform.”
Nadya Abdulla Kamali, Accenture’s Country Managing Director for the UAE, said, “We are thrilled to welcome Avanade to the United Arab Emirates. With our combined service capabilities, global scale and joint solution development on the Microsoft platform, we look forward to helping our clients drive an end-to-end digital transformation of their businesses.”
Sayed Hashish, General Manager, Microsoft UAE added, “Our partnership with Accenture through Avanade has grown tremendously, and the launch of Avanade in the United Arab Emirates marks another milestone for our successful collaboration. Together with Avanade and Accenture, we will continue to empower every person and organization in the UAE to achieve more.”
SITECORE ACQUIRES REFLEKTION
Steve Tzikakis, CEO, Sitecore
Sitecore has announced the acquisition of San Mateobased Reflektion, an AIpowered digital search platform that understands and predicts patterns, context, and needs in order to convert shoppers into buyers. The combination of Sitecore and Reflektion enables Sitecore to engage, educate, and empower shoppers to make purchase decisions faster – increasing buyer confidence, long-term revenue, and overall customer satisfaction and loyalty.
The acquisition – a continuation of Sitecore’s ongoing $1.2 billion growth plan – will help marketers solve the information overload that is characteristic of traditional search solutions, which leaves customers unable to find and select the right product. 93% of all online experiences start with search, making it an integral part of the customer buying journey, and Reflektion elevates search into a conversational, guided experience that provides more personal, accessible and tailored answers for the customer. Reflektion’s platform can be leveraged across all aspects of the Sitecore digital experience platform, from transforming product data into understandable consumer-friendly language to understanding shopper intent, behavior, and product preferences.
“Search is about more than just entering words into a box and hoping for the right results – it is the cornerstone of a digital experience. With Reflektion, a brand can add various types of search including personalized search, preview search, conversational search, and voice search,” said Steve Tzikakis, CEO, Sitecore. “This reduces customers’ effort and anxiety to find exactly what they need – with more convenience and speed – and leads to increased customer satisfaction with more conversions and revenue. Acquiring Reflektion reinforces Sitecore’s position as the leader in digital experience technologies that meets customers in the moment with more relevant, intuitive, and human experiences.”
Reflektion includes complimentary Commerce, AI, and personalization capabilities that, alongside Sitecore’s acquisition of Four51, Boxever, and Moosend, offer even more power to seamlessly deliver targeted intelligent, personalized and real-time information across channels.
MEEZA PARTNERS WITH COMMVAULT TO PUSH CLOUD ADOPTION
Commvault has expanded its partnership with MEEZA, an endto-end managed IT services and solutions provider based in Qatar, as the country gears up for the transformation of its IT sector.
Together, Commvault and MEEZA are furthering Qatar’s vision to become a smarter digital nation and driving the sustainable economic Agenda set forward by Qatar’s Vision 2030. The country is driving investments in the digital sector to build a knowledge-based economy, with technology giants such as Cisco, HPE and Microsoft, also expanding their cloud service offerings to Qatar.
MEEZA, a Qatar Foundation joint venture, aims to accelerate the adoption of cloud growth of the country and the region through the provision of world-class Managed IT Services and Solutions. To that end, this partnership has commenced a live cloud service – Backup-as-a-Service – available to all of our clients at the date of this publishing, as part of MEEZA’s growing Cloud portfolio. MEEZA’s offerings include Managed IT services, Data Centre Services, Cloud Services and IT Security Services, in addition to expertise in Smart Cities Solutions field. As part of an effort to digitally transform its business, MEEZA’s IT team selected Commvault to deliver advanced, flexible data protection for all workloads.
Faisal Al Kuwari, MEEZA CTO said, “Our partnership with Commvault aims to bring the best IT and Intelligent Data Services to our operations. Businesses
Faisal Al Kuwari, MEEZA CTO
in Qatar and the region can expect to benefit from these solutions that will channel greater opportunities, power agility and scalability, and with enhanced service levels. We are pleased to have Commvault on board as our partner to take MEEZA’s mission further.”
Rubrik has announced a strategic agreement with Microsoft that includes a Microsoft equity investment in Rubrik to drive go-to-market activities and co-engineering projects to deliver integrated Zero Trust data protection solutions built on Microsoft
Azure. This work will address rising customer needs to protect against surging ransomware attacks, which are growing 150% annually. Together,
Rubrik and Microsoft will provide
Microsoft 365 and hybrid cloud data protection and integrated cloud services on Microsoft Azure.
Rubrik is addressing the most pressing data challenges for enterprises: rapid recovery from ransomware, automation of data operations, and the transition of data to the cloud. The Rubrik and
Microsoft collaboration brings these offerings to the next level, providing Zero
Trust data protection for hybrid cloud environments spanning data center, edge and cloud, including Microsoft 365.
Rubrik data management was designed for the cloud from day one. As part of this collaboration, customers and partners gain additional data protection, so that critical Microsoft 365 data is secure, easily discoverable, and always accessible in the case of a malicious attack, ransomware attack, accidental deletion, or corruption. Rubrik also offers additional support and protection for Microsoft 365 including instant search and restore and policy-based management at scale. Additionally, Rubrik and Microsoft provide long-term archival of Microsoft 365 data for the purposes of regulatory compliance.
“As the pioneer of Zero Trust Data Management, Rubrik is helping the world’s leading organizations manage their data and recover from ransomware,” said Bipul Sinha, Cofounder and CEO of Rubrik. “Together with Microsoft, we are delivering tightly integrated data protection while accelerating and simplifying our customer’s journey to the cloud.”
“Customers, across industries, are migrating to the cloud to drive business transformation and realize growth,” said Nick Parker, Corporate Vice President, Global Partner Solutions, Microsoft. “End-to-end application and data management is critical to business success, and we believe that integrating Rubrik’s Zero Trust Data Management solutions with Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 will make it easy for customers to advance their Zero Trust journey and increase their digital resilience.”
HELP AG NAMED AS F5 GOLD PARTNER IN SAUDI ARABIA
Help AG has announced that it has achieved the F5 Gold Partner status, enabling it to significantly expand its value-added distribution reach in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
F5’s Unity+ Partner Program has been specifically designed to address the evolution of the market, F5 as a business, and partner business models. The programme offers a clear path to success for serving customers with F5’s best-in-class portfolio of products.
“We are thrilled to become an F5 Gold Partner, as the enhanced partnership will bring huge value and benefits to our clients across the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia. Leveraging F5’s comprehensive portfolio, we will provide all-inclusive
Stephan Berner, Chief Executive Officer of Help AG
and integrated multi-cloud application services, information security solutions, and professional advisory services to all business sectors,” said Stephan Berner, Chief Executive Officer of Help AG.
Berner further highlighted that the company is in its strongest position yet to help organisations in every sector substantively realise their digital transformation ambitions. “This includes the ability to safely flex to whatever cloud scenario is needed for the job, including virtual machines, container-native, SaaS, and purposebuilt hardware,” he said.
Nasser El Abdouli, Director of Channel Sales for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa at F5, said, “Help AG has the track record, expertise and infrastructure to powerfully boost our go-to-market strength in Saudi Arabia. More than ever, we are helping our customers to create, secure, and operate applications that deliver extraordinary digital experiences. Fueled by automation and AI-driven insights, these applications will naturally adapt based on their changing environment—so companies can focus on their core business, boost speed to market, improve operations, and build trust with their customers. Help AG will be central to delivering our solutions and services at scale across the Kingdom.”
ETIHAD AIRWAYS LEVERAGES MICROSOFT AI TO AUTOMATE FINANCE PROCESSES
Etihad Airways has recently announced the launch of the next phase of digital transformation for its finance division, which will leverage Microsoft AI to automate its bank-reconciliation process.
The move will address the increasing demand for improvement in productivity and operational effectiveness in the post-COVID era.
Etihad is set to make significant gains on efficiency by implementing the solution, as well as reducing the risk of human errors given the large number transactions and manual reconciliation tasks currently in scope.
“The pandemic has created more demand for digital transformation. However, the ability to execute on this has really rested on having the right people and technology partners in place – this is where Etihad has been exceptionally well positioned,” said Adam Boukadida, Chief Financial Officer, Etihad Aviation Group.
This latest initiative follows Etihad’s successful deployment of Microsoft AI capabilities to support automated payment inspection earlier this year and is part of a continued partnership between the two entities in driving the adoption of AI across the company.
“It’s only recently that AI tools have come into the hands of finance professionals in both a cost-effective and practical way. It’s exciting to see how core processes such as bank reconciliations, payment controls and cash forecasting, can be super-charged as a result,” said Bhavesh Shivshanker, Head of Financial Operations, Etihad Aviation Group.
“Bank reconciliations are a tedious and labour-intensive process in most global organisations and we are excited about the ability to automate this through the use of technology. Our longstanding partnership with Microsoft has made it easier for us to initiate our automation plan to enhance efficiency, expand costreduction and optimise operations,” said Frank Meyer, Chief Digital Officer, Etihad Aviation Group.
CAPITAL BANK PARTNERS WITH PROVEN SOLUTION TO DEPLOY HUMANOID ROBOT
Proven Solution has announced that Jordanian financial institution Capital Bank has chosen the firm to advance its digital innovation and footprints in the banking industry.
Proven Solution primarily offers solutions powered by Artificial
Intelligence (AI), robotics, and virtual and augmented reality. With this project, the tech company will be rolling out its robot management system, PRoMS (an inhouse, advanced tech solution), to drive customer success, improve customer experience, and elevate banking operations across several verticals.
For Capital Bank, the project aims to build a reliable, failsafe banking system for its customers by leveraging the
PRoMS software offered by Proven
Solution. This includes deploying
Pepper, a social humanoid robot, as part of its retail banking team. This association also marks the first time a
Zaid Al Mashari, Group CEO of Proven Arabia
bank in Jordan incorporates an AIenabled robot across its key branches to further customer experience.
“We are proud that Capital Bank has chosen Proven Solution to help accelerate its digital transformation initiatives. As the first bank in Jordan to implement our robotics management platform, Capital Bank is transforming its banking operations to enhance customer experience. Our team has worked hard on this project, which goes beyond streamlining administrative tasks to increase the level of service quality for customers. We are excited to see Capital Bank embrace our technologies and are honoured to facilitate this experience for their customers,” said Zaid Al Mashari, Group CEO of Proven Arabia.
The steep rise in the implementation of robotics software across several industries and its consequent success has acted as a catalyst for this partnership. With the project, Proven Solution and Capital Bank will tap into the potential of AI-enabled robotics solutions to aid an array of banking verticals which will subsequently drive core business objectives. Pepper, armed with PRoMS technology, will assist customers by providing support and information related to banking services. The multilingual feature of Pepper will allow customers to access assistance in both English and Arabic.
VMWARE APPOINTS NEW CTO
VMware has announced that Kit Colbert has been named VMware’s next Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
Colbert joined VMware in 2003 as the technical lead behind the creation, development and delivery of the vMotion and Storage vMotion features in VMware vSphere. Throughout his tenure at VMware, he served in multiple roles, including VMware’s Cloud CTO, General Manager of VMware’s Cloud-Native Apps business, CTO for VMware’s End-User Computing Business, and as the lead architect for the VMware vRealize Operations Suite.
As part of his new role, Colbert will shape the technical vision for the company, and the transformation to a cloud and subscription-centric R&D organization. His oversight includes advancing research and development efforts, overseeing the VMware Engineering Services team, the Design/ UX team and the company’s ESG commitments.
“It is with great pleasure that we welcome Kit into the position of CTO at VMware. Kit’s passion, proven technological savvy and excellent leadership capabilities will be instrumental in advancing our innovation engine and research and development efforts,” said Raghu Raghuram, CEO at VMware.
AVEVA, ARAMCO TO ACHIEVE SUSTAINABILITY GOALS THROUGH DIGITALISATION
Aramco and AVEVA have announced their intention to form a strategic alliance. Focused on driving sustainability in the region through digital transformation, the partnership will help enable AVEVA to establish their largest digital hub, with an R&D capability, in the Middle East, headquartered in Saudi Arabia.
This partnership will represent a significant investment for AVEVA which is also looking to create up to 300 high skill new jobs in the Kingdom by 2030.
Ahmad Al-Sa’adi, Senior Vice President of Technical Services, Aramco, said “One of the key pillars for realizing the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 is Digital Transformation. Digital technologies have the potential to accelerate the transformation of the industrial sector and drive it towards more efficient and sustainable operations.
“Establishing partnerships with leaders in industrial digital software, such as AVEVA, is one of the main elements in our digital transformation strategy and we believe will help us realize our mission of leveraging digital solutions to deliver tomorrow’s energy more sustainably, efficiently, and safely. The regional hub that would be established by AVEVA would contribute to Aramco’s ‘In Kingdom Total Value Add’ (IKTVA) programgoals and will facilitate Saudi Arabia’s path to realizing the benefits of a digital economy.”
This partnership is designed to foster a working relationship between the two companies in the deployment of various digital technologies including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Data Management.
AVEVA and Aramco aim to work together to unlock the benefits of these technologies in line with the Kingdom’s move towards industrial sustainability. One of the key focus areas of the partnership would be to utilize digital technologies to support the development and implementation of blue hydrogen and decarbonization facilities in Saudi Arabia in line with the Kingdom’s energy transition strategy. Another area in which the companies intend to work together is in the implementation of cuttingedge predictive analytics technology across Aramco’s operating facilities. This would be one of the largest deployments of such technology in the region and the main goal is to further improve the reliability, performance, and safety of Aramco’s operation.
