Embracing Limitless Possibilities

Dear Industry associates,

Iam delighted to welcome you to the June edition of Enterprise Channels MEA, where we delve into the exciting world of digital transformation and explore the theme of “Unlocking the Digital Vault.” In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, the importance of leveraging digital technologies to drive growth and innovation cannot be overstated. This edition aims to provide you with valuable insights and strategies to unlock the full potential of your organization’s digital assets.

Before we delve into the theme, I would like to highlight the recent events that have taken place across the Middle East and North Africa, where we have witnessed a series of industry gatherings, conferences, and seminars that have brought together key stakeholders, thought leaders, and innovators from various sectors.

From Dubai to Riyadh, Qatar to Oman, Cairo to Morocco, Jordan to Kenya –these events have served as platforms for knowledge exchange, collaboration, and networking. They have provided an opportunity for industry professionals to gain valuable insights into the latest trends and technologies, while also fostering partnerships and business opportunities. Our coverage of these events in this edition aims to capture the essence of the dynamic and ever-evolving channel and end-customer ecosystem in the Middle East and North Africa.

In line with our commitment to promoting knowledge sharing and industry collaboration, I am thrilled to announce the upcoming World CIO 200 2023 - 50 country tour. This prestigious event brings together the brightest minds in technology leadership from across the globe. It is a unique opportunity for networking, sharing best practices, and gaining insights into the latest trends shaping the future of technology. The tour will culminate in a grand finale in Baku, Azerbaijan, in September, where thought leaders and innovators will come together to celebrate the achievements and discuss the challenges ahead.

I encourage you to seize this opportunity to engage with industry leaders, expand your professional network, and gain valuable knowledge that can propel your organization’s digital journey forward. Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting event in the upcoming editions of Enterprise Channels MEA.

Thank you for your continued support, and I hope you find this edition insightful and inspiring. Together, let us unlock the digital vault and embrace the limitless possibilities it holds for our organizations and the region.

PUBLISHER

TUSHAR SAHOO

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CO-FOUNDER & CEO

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GLOBAL HEAD, CONTENT AND STRATEGIC ALLIANCES

ANUSHREE DIXIT

ANUSHREE@GECMEDIAGROUP.COM

ASSISTANT EDITOR

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REHISHA@GECMEDIAGROUP.COM

GROUP SALES HEAD

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RICHA@GECMEDIAGROUP.COM

PROJECT LEAD

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How Redington is playing a crucial part in Africa’s transformative process as a technology aggregator and ecosystem provider

Innovative vision

Today there are well-known advantages of Flash over legacy disk-based storage. However, back then, the main barriers to implementing were the purchase cost, the cost of operating it, and working out how to integrate it into the data lifecycle.

Fast Forward a few years and Flash has become the obvious choice for any performance- or latency-sensitive workload. Since flash memory was introduced to enterprise storage, it’s been taking on and replacing hard disk tiers one by one. The market conditions mean that the move to an all-flash data centre has now changed from vision to reality.

There are many reasons why the time for allflash is today, from dealing with data growth and the cross-over between the cost of flash and disk to the clear sustainability savings to be made. These are some reasons why Flash will wipe out disks for good:

Growth in unstructured data

Running out of capacity or having no additional resources is a nightmare for every IT manager. Getting value and insight from every bit of their data — now that’s nirvana. Unstructured data is expected to grow by 10x before 2030, continuing its existing exponential growth. Organisations are going to have to consider how they make use of it all and flash changes the dynamic for big data analytics, data lakes, content repositories, and even backup & recovery.

Simplicity and innovation are the foundations on which John ‘Coz’ Colgrove started Pure Storage in 2009. He wanted to keep these principles while achieving a vision to take flash storage mainstream and create an all-flash data centre.

Cost of NAND

The price-per-bit for NAND flash is declining at a rate much faster than nearline hard drives. While today the cost-per-bit of a hard drive is still lower than the densest flash, there are several key trends to pay attention to in 2023. First, all the major tier 1 flash manufacturers are demonstrating significant density increases this year; with over 200 layers of stacked 3D NAND in some cases. This increase in density will translate into better cost efficiency, as well as further improvements in data centre power and space savings. Second, if analyst predictions hold, NAND prices overall are expected to decline through most of 2023, continuing a trend that began in late 2022.

Flash as an environmental choice

Datacentre infrastructure represents over 1% of global energy consumption, and this share is growing. Organisations are examining their carbon emissions much more closely and many need to look at ways to reduce their carbon footprint. Flash has a vital contribution to this reduction in energy use.

The path to all-flash

Many organisations are already well on the journey to all-flash; they have deployed flashbased storage platforms for their performancesensitive workloads where speed delivers business value; these use cases include databases, private cloud deployments, and, increasingly, modern analytics environments. Those organisations that have deployed modern all-flash platforms are reaping the benefits of performance, server efficiency, massively simplified operations, and also energy efficiency, and associated greenhouse gas reductions.

The ability to consume all-flash for petabytescale unstructured workloads through a subscription model allows users to grow as business needs demand. A flexible cloud-like Storage-as-a-Service (STaaS) model should include stringent Service Level Agreements on everything from administrative support to dayto-day management, and energy consumption. This brings even more operational efficiency — further widening the gap to legacy platforms.

A vision realised: flash is the choice for environmental, workload, and cost reasons

The simple truth is that no one today continues to buy spinning drives because they’re better, but only because they’re cheaper. In almost every way, flash memory is superior to spinning magnetic rust, and while the flash is already better, those advantages are increasing. Flash has become a viable option for everyday workloads, offering enterprises a better way to manage data growth efficiently, reliably, and sustainably. ë

At Acronis, the core business is to provide comprehensive cyber protection solutions that safeguard the data, applications, systems, and productivity of organizations of all sizes. Their solutions offer protection against a wide range of threats, including cyberattacks, hardware failures, natural disasters, and human errors. In addition, they empower service providers to protect their own infrastructure as well as that of their clients. Their mission is to provide the most innovative and effective cyber protection solutions to their customers, helping them to ensure the availability, security, and integrity of their critical data and systems.

Identifying the trends and innovations

Channel partners in large and medium-sized businesses face several challenges, including intense competition from other partners and vendors. In addition, they must ensure they offer the right technology solutions that meet their end-users needs at competitive prices. This requires them to stay up-to-date with the

Acronis provides comprehensive cyber protection solutions

Acronis unifies data protection and cybersecurity, delivering cyber protection that solves safety, accessibility, privacy, authenticity, and security (SAPAS) challenges.

latest technology trends and innovations and to constantly evaluate and improve their offerings in line with the emerging needs of the market. Channel partners must also have the technical expertise and knowledge to provide effective support and services to their clients, which can be a challenge in a constantly evolving technology landscape.

In today’s business landscape, data is king. As companies generate increasingly large amounts of data, it’s essential to efficiently collect, analyze, and store it to gain valuable insights that can improve their overall business performance. Digital transformation is a key enabler of this process, providing companies with the necessary tools and technologies to enable them to manage their data effectively and derive meaningful insights from it. By embracing digital transformation, companies can streamline their operations, enhance their decision-making capabilities, and ultimately achieve their business objectives in an increasingly data-driven world.

Transforming the global market

Digital transformation is having a significant impact on job roles and department responsibilities, as companies increasingly seek to leverage technology to drive innovation and growth. With the rapid development of new technologies, there is a growing demand for specialized skills and expertise in areas such as data analytics, cyber protection, and cloud computing. This has ultimately led to the creation of new job roles and departments that are focused on specific tasks or processes, while also requiring collaboration and cross-functional expertise. Technology is constantly evolving, and while this comes with its own set of challenges, the benefits clearly outweigh the drawbacks. The current and future technological landscapes offer a range of advantages, from increased protection and security to improved performance and efficiency. New technologies also create opportunities for innovation and growth, enabling organizations to stay ahead of the curve and remain competitive in their respective industries. There are also potential disadvantages to consider, such as the risk of cyber-attacks and the need to constantly adapt to new technologies.

Towards a strong digital culture

As digital culture continues to grow among the next generation of workers and potential customers, it’s important to stay ahead of the curve in terms of their brand’s look, feel, and social appeal. This means keeping up with the latest trends in marketing, such as social media, digital outreach, and event sponsorships. By leveraging these channels, brands can effectively engage with their customers on their terms and deliver the personalized experiences they expect. Additionally, they are constantly looking for new ways to innovate and differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace, whether that means exploring new technologies or rethinking their marketing strategies. Ultimately, their goal is to create a brand that resonates with customers and drives long-term loyalty and growth.

Acronis offers antivirus, backup, disaster recovery, endpoint protection management solutions, award-winning AI-based antimalware, and blockchain-based data authentication technologies through a service provider and IT professional deployment models. These solutions protect data, applications, and systems in any environment. ë

The treasury operations of a company are crucial, specifically with regard to cash liquidity, which is the most critical aspect. CFOs understand that their treasury teams must manage critical tasks such as accurate forecasting of cash flows, operational efficiency, fraud prevention, compliance, optimizing working capital, and FX risk management to maintain their organisation’s health. The performance of the treasury team directly impacts the bottom line.

Challenges in Manual Process:

As per the survey taken by Kyriba – the leading Treasury Management Solution and later got published in Global Treasurer, they observed that global treasury teams are wasting an average of 4,812 hours per year using traditional spreadsheets to manage their cash, payments and accounting operations.

Treasury Transformation

Automating corporate treasury is becoming increasingly important as businesses look to streamline their operations and reduce costs. Automation can help improve efficiency, reduce risk, and increase visibility into financial operations.

The Wall Street Journal published a seemingly innocuous article entitled, “Stop Using Excel, Finance Chiefs Tell Staffs,” in which CFOs lamented the time their teams waste on spreadsheets, including pulling data from disparate systems, instead of engaging in more strategic initiatives.