Titans GCC March 2022

HANAN HUWAIR Executive Director, Business Technology at Dubai Holding Asset Management

Transcending Business Through Transformation Digital

Women of 'TITAN'ium A Women's month special

Greetings!

Welcome to 2022’s second edition of The Titans. We hope you have had an excellent first quarter and technology has once again been your business enabler. For us, at Global CIO Forum, the Q1 was indeed noisy with a pocket full of events enriched with delightful experiences and critical areas of decision making. The Future IT Summit 2022 held on March 17, set yet another benchmark in the IT industry because of the sheer brilliance of topics, participation, networking, leadership, and engagement it brought to the table. CIOs discussed about the Cloud mandate, the increased commercialization of AI in mainstream enterprises and other critical panel on the role of CIO in empowering not only technology but also driving innovations inside the enterprise. In this issue of Titans, we have included a small section on the ‘CIO and the Big Cloud Budget’ and taken in opinions from CIOs who have fulfilled this mandate. The section talks about the absolute need to drive innovations with cloud and how the discussions around cloud budget should be aligned within the business. Well, March was the Month of Woman, so how could we not talk about our leading ladies in ICT. Our glorious cover feature highlights leading woman leaders who have maintained an edge in leadership and emerged as true leaders in times fair and bad. Their inspirational journey talks about their skills, directions and visions for fellow woman leaders. Hope you would enjoy reading it as much as we loved compiling it.

As we talk, The Global CIO Forum has already started its ‘Tour de monde’ preparations of The World CIO 200 2022 Roadshow. The tour that would include 40 countries will be a show like never before culminating in a grand finale in a great destination.

Stay tuned members, keep those devices charged. Your phones and email will be abuzz with the energy soon.

MANAGING

Tushar Sahoo CEO Ronak Samantaray GLOBAL HEAD,

ANUSHREE DIXIT

GLOBAL HEAD, CONTENT AND STRATEGIC ALLIANCES

anushree@gecmediagroup.com

COVER STORY

DEBBIE BOTHA, Chief Partnership Officer Women in AI

MANAL ALLAM, IT Head & Business Partner –Middle East Region Merck Group

NANI M. BUTTI, Director of Information Systems Ministry of Youth and Sport Affairs

SHRENIK JAIN, CIO Siemens

Future of

Women in AI

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE INDUSTRY HEADING IN 2022?

I think Multi-Cloud (the AWS, Azure, Google, and Alibaba Hyperscale) and Hybrid Cloud (IBM), SuperCloud, IoT, 5G, and Edge Computing, and Data, Analytics, and AI will continue to

be widely adopted in 2022.

I think companies are realizing the economic value of Data, Analytics, and AI and much more widely and in 2022 they will develop and implement pragmatic Data and AI strategies with Roadmaps for prioritized implementation of short feasible initiatives with high

DEBBIE BOTHA, Chief Partnership Officer Women in AI

Global organizations like Women in AI are doing a great work to help women play a key role in the AI sector.

Business Value. This will include executive ownership, alignment with Business Strategy, change management, organizing the teams, technology, and processes, data asset valuations, ensure data-driven culture by launching data literacy and data fluency programs. Data and AI Coaches like myself will help Data Leaders on the ground to ensure buy-in, practical implementation, and success.

Companies and individuals are still investing heavily in productivity tools. Interestingly, according to David Vellante and their ETR surveys, laptop and PC demand is staying well above pre-COVID norms.

The Metaverse will start seeing greater adoption in 2022, and will exponentially grow beyond 2022. Responsible and Explainable AI will be widely adopted, and Interpretable AI will become more widely understood and adopted.

IN YOUR OPINION HAS THERE BEEN AN INCREASE IN THE AWARENESS OF DIVERSITY AND THE POSITIVE ROLE IT PLAYS IN THE WORKPLACE?

Around the world, AI has become embedded in all our everyday life. It touches how we work, communicate, play and purchase. Look at the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the ramifications of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the worldwide diversity drive. Gartner predicts that in 2022, 85% of AI projects will deliver erroneous outcomes because of things like

bias.

Women will more aggressively be included in the history of innovation and gain more visibility with advancements in technology. Women as technologists bring valuable resources and innovation to the global community, helping amplify the good in everyone.

Global organizations like Women in AI are doing a great job to help women play a key role in the AI sector. As you might know, Women in AI is a nonprofit do-tank, bringing all minds together across 150 countries, making change happen with more than 8000 members and 23000 LinkedIn followers. We are changing the world with 160 volunteers, which includes the Country Ambassadors and Leadership teams.

PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR DREAM WORK ENVIRONMENT AND WORK CULTURE?

I remember most of the pivots and bold career progressing moves have been influenced by female leaders. Some of them took me under their wings and coached me, others took me along when their careers progressed. When I was at IBM, one of my favorite female leaders, Mandy Chessel, helped me to get onto the leadership team of a community of around 800 information architects.

I think you will agree with me that we are inspired by female leaders, and a community is a great place to incubate that inspiration. My

ideal work environment is where there should be a community with an abundance of coaches and mentors with lots of engagement to allow everyone to grow together.

WHAT IS THE MOST ENGAGING OR SATISFYING ASPECT OF YOUR JOB ROLE?

To not just ensure Partners, but Fans of Women in AI, actively empowering the community of women from school to university and other education, to have opportunities for networking and getting their dream jobs in AI in Private and Public sector or even create their own Startups.

WHAT IS THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECT OF YOUR JOB ROLE?

I had a wake-up call in my career the last couple of years when I found out that not all women will love me. Some people say they might feel threatened, but either way, I had to really focus to not feel bullied or offended but I worked even harder to try to make a difference and please everyone. It is when I was diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago that I realized what I was doing to myself. I had to become much healthier and calmer. I spent the past year recovering from surgery (very glad to say I am cancer free), and working for the NonProfit Women in AI as their Chief Partnership Officer, where the support, excellence, wisdom, and compassion is amazing.

WHAT IS YOUR 2022 PLAN FOR YOUR DEPARTMENT? HOW DO YOU PLAN TO TAKE THE BUSINESS FORWARD WITH TECHNOLOGY?

Women in AI, the global nonprofit do-tank founded in 2017 and quickly grew to +27K followers on LinkedIn, and +10K members across 180 countries and hundreds of volunteers. The Partnership Office help ensure the presence, participation, and eminence of women is increased in the field of AI by creating ecosystems and programs with our Partners. The Partnership

team consists of Partner Executives and Specialists that nurture great relationships with Partners that are passionate about Responsible AI and Diversity & Inclusion. I am currently exploring with Partners how to enable being even more innovative and data and AI driven in our efforts to ensure we delight our partners and members.

HOW DO YOU PLAN TO BUILD YOUR TEAMS?

I am expanding my Partnerships Office to have teams for

Strategy, Sales, Relationships, Communications, Legal, and Digital and Data. Each team will have a Head with several volunteers reporting to them to help shape our strategy and implement it worldwide.

CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT A TIME YOU LEAD A CULTURALLY DIVERSE TEAM?

For most of my career I worked in South Africa, the “rainbow nation”, so all the teams I lead there were tremendously diverse. I would say the time when I lead the most culturally diverse team, was when I was the IBM MEA/AP/ GCG Architect Profession Lead. I ensured cross-collaboration between the thousands of certified IT architects in the MEA region, Asia Pacific Region, and Greater China Group Region.

WHICH WAS YOUR MOST SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO YOUR COMPANY IN 2021 AND HOW DID IT IMPACT OR INFLUENCE THE BUSINESS?

I basically took 2021 off because I was diagnosed with breast cancer and subsequently had a double mastectomy. My greatest achievement I would say was to be offered the position of Chief Partnership Officer at Women in AI, even in this difficult time, where the support, excellence, wisdom, and compassion are amazing.

DEFINE 2022 IN 3 WORDS. Year of Breakthroughs

How Hybrid Workplaces

Succour Women?

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE INDUSTRY HEADING IN 2022?

I think we went virtual with the world and now with things opening up we are also trying to find our way back. Last 2 years, we have been trying to keep the lights on while being virtual – a lot of effort went into remote working, security, virtual collaboration, etc. While COVID is now a reality of life, I think we are getting back to a hybrid kind of workplace. We will see dollars being moved to innovation beyond COVID. Automation, efficiency, data -based decisions will see an increase. Security will continue to rule. Of course, people are looking for a healthier workplace so we will have to make an effort to give them that.

IN YOUR OPINION HAS THERE BEEN AN INCREASE IN THE AWARENESS OF DIVERSITY AND THE POSITIVE ROLE IT PLAYS IN THE WORKPLACE?

Yes, I think we have come a long way though we have a long way to go still. A lot of companies don’t see diversity as a tick mark anymore – they are opening up to the impact that women bring to the table. There are documented changes within an organization that women bring with them and that is getting highlighted. With WFH a reality – I think this is working in favour of women who want to have a hybrid setup.

PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR DREAM WORK ENVIRONMENT AND WORK CULTURE?

A place that gives you a place to grow, that pushes you to innovate, that discussed failure positively and learns from it, that doesn’t glorify only a result culture but also recognizes the efforts.

WHAT IS THE MOST ENGAGING OR SATISFYING ASPECT OF YOUR JOB ROLE?

The people are the most satisfying aspect here. They are willing to collaborate, willing to share, willing to work with others for the good of the company.

WHAT IS THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECT OF YOUR JOB ROLE?

The most challenging part of my job is to ensure that technology keeps pace with the speed of business, is as agile as the business, and works with the front line for dollars and supports the back end for efficiency. I want to showcase IT as a business function rather than a cost centre.

HOW DO YOU PLAN TO BUILD YOUR TEAMS?

Collaborate, listen, learn, talk, be open, have a positive attitude –and have fun.

While COVID is now a reality of life, I think we are getting back to a hybrid kind of workplace.

PRIYA DAR, Head of IT

Valvoline Cummins Pvt Ltd

Everywhere!

Technology is a part of every aspect of our lives that makes life easier, faster, and more progressive. Every industry is trying to adopt automation and cost-saving initiatives in their organizations.

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE INDUSTRY HEADING IN 2022?

Technological advances now seem like ripped straight from pages of science-fiction. Robotics, AI, Metaverse, Virtual Reality, among others, are technologies fundamentally changing the world. In the short term, the COVID crisis accelerated existing trends like industrial automation, contactless

payments, distance learning. In other cases, like virtual reality, 3D printing, or telehealth, the crisis may change the course of the industry, enabling companies to demonstrate the value that consumers have been unable or unwilling to see.

In the long term, technology will continue to interweave with the fabric of our society & even our biology.

IN YOUR OPINION HAS

INCREASE IN THE AWARENESS OF DIVERSITY AND THE POSITIVE ROLE IT PLAYS IN THE WORKPLACE?

While the topic of D&I isn’t new, advancing workplace diversity is more important today than ever before. We can see the signs: • Companies are re-examining their D&I initiatives. For

THERE BEEN AN

example, enabling diverse career paths across roles and regions, enriching employee experiences such as offering internal gigs and flexible work arrangements to improve inclusion, programs that support human connectivity and purpose in society, appointing dedicated D&I team

• Consumers are taking their business to companies with a proven commitment to D&I

• A growing number of laws and requirements are being enacted to support greater diversity

PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR DREAM WORK ENVIRONMENT AND WORK CULTURE?

It is where my work contributes to improving people’s lives. It is also where I am engaged, exposed to challenges & growth opportunities, and work with people from various cultures and walks of life

WHAT IS THE MOST ENGAGING OR SATISFYING ASPECT OF YOUR JOB ROLE?

Nothing can bring me Euphoria like that I experience when we materialize ideas into working products. It is never easy, we have to envision the building blocks, work closely with each other, and manage unforeseen challenges –but the journey is satisfying as it is challenging.

I also feel lucky to be working in this field in this time of human history where technology is in everything we do.

WHAT IS THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECT OF YOUR JOB ROLE?

My company has digitalization as an important topic on its agenda.

It is amazing that my work directly contributes to the company’s strategic edge – but then we have to manage the challenges of projects portfolio optimization, value engineering, cyber security, data privacy, a design that is oriented towards optimizing the customer journey and data governance.

However, I think that the mother of all challenges is partnering with my business stakeholders to support them in a world where technology prevails, yet it is not their primary experience.

WHAT IS YOUR 2022 PLAN FOR YOUR DEPARTMENT? HOW DO YOU PLAN TO TAKE THE BUSINESS FORWARD WITH TECHNOLOGY?

In 2022, we will be engaged inpatient service solutions like educational websites, mobile apps, and IoT solutions. We will also have projects related to smart supply chain, innovative customer engagement, and eCommerce.

The increased challenges in the Gulf healthcare industry like prices unification, new taxes, and generics will lead to an increase in process automation requirements and cost-saving initiatives.

HOW DO YOU PLAN TO BUILD YOUR TEAMS?

I consider myself a servant leader. I find pleasure in developing others to achieve their potential.

Several colleagues whom I led are now leading successful careers. My team is always the ACE team (adopting Agility, Commitment, and Engagement).

Currently, I work with a mix of diverse internal employees, global centers of excellence & shared services, and third-party partners.

CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT A TIME YOU LEAD A CULTURALLY DIVERSE TEAM?

Throughout my career, I was blessed to lead people from different countries (Europe, Asia, and Africa). This increased the depth & breadth of human interactions I have. These experiences add to my growth personally and professionally. I learned that people from various cultures have different thinking styles which eventually enriches the overall team capabilities.

WHICH WAS YOUR MOST SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO YOUR COMPANY IN 2021 AND HOW DID IT IMPACT OR INFLUENCE THE BUSINESS?

In 2021, we successfully delivered eCommerce & loyalty programs platforms in various countries. This is a massive disruption aiming to add eCommerce in the value chain of hospitals and pharmacies in order to ensure products availability, improve customer service, and in the future, save cost saving from reducing middlemen commissions.

DEFINE 2022 IN 3 WORDS.

Dream – Dare - Endure

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE INDUSTRY HEADING IN 2022?

I can see that the ICT industry will be changing very dramatically and new technologies such as AI, IoT, 5G, Quantum Computing, VR

Future Technology and

IT Needs

and AR, Cyber Security, Machine Learning etc. will take over all of the conventional technology in the world. Also, Big Data Science will be one of the most valuable sciences in the coming years as it is a threat to any community.

NANI M. BUTTI, Director of Information Systems Ministry of

My work offers me the freedom and flexibility to implement new technology and adopt new changes in the environment that ends up giving me a sense of achievement at the end of the day.

Youth and Sport Affairs

PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR DREAM WORK ENVIRONMENT AND WORK CULTURE?

From my point of view, the ideal type of work environment enforces a positive work culture. A place where the employee feels comfortable using his/her skills and learning from others is a good fit to do better, a place where everyone has clear objectives they are working towards, and where they can use their skills and qualities to help the team progress forward.

Personally, I prefer to work in an environment that encourages everyone to reach their full potential, where everyone embraces change positively and where my ideas and suggestions are listened to and considered.

WHAT IS THE MOST ENGAGING OR SATISFYING ASPECT OF YOUR JOB ROLE?

My work offers me the freedom and flexibility to implement new technology and adopt new changes in the environment that ends up giving me a sense of achievement at the end of the day. Also, the freedom in decisionmaking shows trust between me and my management as they are

giving full authority.

WHAT IS THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECT OF YOUR JOB ROLE?

Keep up the achievement and try to continue with better than what we did before 10 years, with all of the challenges we are facing nowadays is very difficult to maintain in the same level (IT is changing dramatically so change management now a day is a must to be adopted in any organization. Financial issues due to the pandemic makes this challenge more difficult).

HOW DO YOU PLAN TO BUILD YOUR TEAMS?

Building a successful team is about more than finding a group of people with the right mix of professional skills. While interviewing any employee, I asked them all about the art of fostering a strong sense of teamwork. Their insights can help you lay the groundwork for a highly productive team that can communicate, cooperate and innovate in an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect. The first rule of team building is an obvious one: to lead a team effectively, you must first establish your leadership with

each team member. Remember that the most effective team leaders build their relationships of trust and loyalty, rather than fear or the power of their positions.

CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT A TIME YOU LEAD A CULTURALLY DIVERSE TEAM?

Culturally diverse teams can help deliver better outcomes in today’s organizations. But these teams often suffer from conflicting norms and differing assumptions between members, which can keep them from reaching their full creative potential. To be a successful team leader in an environment like this one, do your best to make all your colleagues feel comfortable by overcoming the language and cultural barriers, considering different cultural communication styles, organizing cross-cultural training, encouraging trust, and cooperation among employees on your team.

WHICH WAS YOUR MOST SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO YOUR COMPANY IN 2021 AND HOW DID IT IMPACT OR INFLUENCE THE BUSINESS?

MYS has been ranked by Information & Government Authority as the 3rd Ministry among all the ministries in the digital transformation. Also, MYS has recognized an award for the best mobile application which put us on top of others.

DEFINE

2022 IN 3 WORDS.

The year of difficult decisions.

LAILA AL HADHRAMI, Smart Cities Development Manager National Energy Center

How Diversity Boosts

Creativity and Innovation?

PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR JOB ROLE?

I am currently leading the Smart Cities Development Department which is happy to say proudly the first innovative title in Oman to meet the vision of 'National Energy Centre in Oman' to implement smart cities solutions in different sectors.

As we are a company dealing mostly with smart city projects, there will definitely be new use cases to implement that involve the integration of different technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Big data to have a sustainable improvement in our services and products. We have launched Smart Innovation Hub in NEC that aims to empower sustainable innovation with all our different stakeholders in our own

model in the Smart ecosystem.

I am very proud to say that we have launched recently two new smart solutions; Smart Environment solution and Smart Street lighting.

National Energy Centre is taking the lead in proving and executing smart cities projects in Oman and regionally. Our ambition is to lead Smart cities projects in Oman and to contribute to Oman 2040 Vision in improving the quality of life for citizens.

OPINION

and it is a global concern but I am so proud to say that I am the first woman in my company in a C-Level position. Diversity is very important to guarantee a mix of creativity and innovation and at our company level we have diversity when it comes to gender, nationalities, capabilities, and so on.

I always believe that each member of the company has a unique value to add to the business and that is the way I work with my team. Each member of my team has unique skills and experience and they are working together as one team. If anyone of them is facing a challenge, the rest of the team supports him/ her with their own skills.

In the past, you could hardly find women leading tech departments

DESCRIBE YOUR DREAM WORK ENVIRONMENT AND WORK

PLEASE

CULTURE?

As I am a big fan of this statement “Learning from anywhere and anytime” as I got my master's degree in “Online Education” in 2008 and I have experienced the advanced platforms for learning like the virtual worlds as it is known today by Metaverse platforms, I believe working from anywhere and at any time with no restrictions to go beyond the routine will defiantly increase the innovation and productivity in the work environment.

IN YOUR

HAS THERE BEEN AN INCREASE IN THE AWARENESS OF DIVERSITY AND THE POSITIVE ROLE IT PLAYS IN THE WORKPLACE?

Diversity is very important to guarantee a mix of creativity and innovation and at our company level we have diversity when it comes to gender, nationalities, capabilities, and so on.

Technology with Its Forthcoming

New Phase

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE INDUSTRY HEADING IN 2022?

Based on a study by International Monitory Fund it is expected

that 65% of the World's GDP to be digitized by 2022, which will definitely lead to an increase in data availability and the implementation of AI tools in

KAWTHAR ALI ABDULLAH AL HINAI

Senior Digital Transformation Specialist and Government Digital Transformation Empowerment Leader Ministry of Transport, Communication and Technology, Oman

Technology itself is an exciting field as in order to cope with it, it requires continuous learning and development.

business working environments. To businesses, this means that they will be able to analyze consumer behaviour and predict their future actions based on their previous data patterns. Thus, allow data-driven decisions which can help organizations better achieve their objectives while saving costs and time. Moreover, it will help to create a customized experiences for their targets to match their individuality and preferences leading to more loyal customers.

PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR DREAM WORK ENVIRONMENT AND WORK CULTURE?

My dream job is to be in a role where I can make an impact and witness the results. I always wish to work with people from different nationalities, backgrounds, and experiences and have the chance to learn, improve and make a difference.

Also, I would like to be part of a dynamic workplace where every day is another challenge. As I strongly believe where there is no challenge, there is no growth. Flexibility is another important aspect of today’s busy world. Most people thrive to work in a place that has no restrictions/limitations to location or time and to maintain a healthy life-work balance. I think if organizations will adopt/ apply this, they will have less turnover rate and more happy employees. In return, this will influence their working performance, allow creativity and

innovation.

As they say; happy employees mean happy customers and therefore successful organization.

WHAT IS THE MOST ENGAGING OR SATISFYING ASPECT OF YOUR JOB ROLE?

Leading a government digital transformation will expose you to different fields which gives a deeper understanding of the government processes in a holistic view and how they are connected to each other.

Having to work in this field has given me the chance to meet different people in different organizations which is something that I enjoy.

Technology itself is an exciting field as in order to cope with it, it requires continuous learning and development. This has helped in boosting my motivation to widen my knowledge and keep myself updated with the latest technologies trends.

On the other hand, empowering digital transformation leaders means putting yourself into other people’s shoes first to have a deeper understanding of their needs and listening to them to identify the gaps and contribute to their development. Having this responsibility and dependency is itself a motive to keep giving and thriving to make a positive impact.

WHAT IS THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECT OF YOUR JOB ROLE?

Dealing with different personalities requires lots of effort

to change their perceptions and previous beliefs. Technology is a dynamic and rapidly changing industry. So People working in this field need to adapt fast and get hands-on experience to keep pace with the developments. In some cases, employees tend to show resistance to change with their behaviour or new working mechanisms/technologies. However, understanding people’s psychology, change management techniques/tools along with learning persuasion techniques can enable to change their mindsets.

CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT A TIME YOU LEAD A CULTURALLY DIVERSE TEAM?

First of all, accepting everyone despite their background, gender and qualifications and believing that everyone has value and something to say are highly important.

By accepting people, we understand that everyone has an important thing to say and could contribute to improving the business work.

Diversity helps to get different opinions and helps you to see other angles and sides that are unable to see sometimes. Therefore, help to improve the quality of the business by fulfilling your target needs despite their different nature and behaviour.

DEFINE 2022 IN 3 WORDS. Enriching, innovating, and inspiring.

Towards the Way of Diversity and

Empowerment

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE INDUSTRY HEADING IN 2022?

I believe AR and VR, along with the Internet of things will revolutionize the world in 2022. Further, customer experience will be the key. Experience-based technologies with augmented reality and virtual reality are and will transform the way consumers

review and make decisions. Also, though threats and personalized phishing campaigns seem to skyrocket, I believe AI - powered cybersecurity technologies, may be able to monitor and guard networks to a certain extent against hackers in real-time rather than responding to the threat after the damage is already done.

Definitely, there is an increase in awareness of workplace diversity. Several important laws for employee wellbeing have been enacted in UAE. Employees

DR. KADEEJA

Sharjah Ladies Club, Government

IN YOUR OPINION HAS THERE BEEN AN INCREASE IN THE AWARENESS OF DIVERSITY AND THE POSITIVE ROLE IT PLAYS IN THE WORKPLACE?

are aware of the positivity that diversity brings such as enhancing creativity, broadening the skill base, aiding better decisionmaking, and problem -solving.

PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR DREAM WORK ENVIRONMENT AND WORK CULTURE?

A collaborative environment that fosters empowerment, team spirit and unique talents excites me. To be very frank, we have such an environment within our IT team, wherein we brainstorm ideas and even solutions and get unique responses and solutions. I believe team leaders are the ones who creates a positive environment. If we can foster growth and talents at every level, we can transform our team beyond expectation.

WHAT IS THE MOST ENGAGING OR SATISFYING ASPECT OF YOUR JOB ROLE?

A team of diverse individuals and

skillsets, that trusts each other communicates well, and enjoys each other's company. Further, we have a management that believes and supports you.

WHAT IS THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECT OF YOUR JOB ROLE?

The evolving and rapidly developing cybersecurity threats and the necessity to track and implement the latest detection and prevention technologies is one of the major challenges any IT head faces.

CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT A TIME YOU LEAD A CULTURALLY DIVERSE TEAM?

We are lucky to be living in UAE, which is culturally diverse. Leading a culturally diverse team is both a rewarding and challenging experience. For example certain cultures are more straightforward and loud while communicating whereas this may be considered

rude in some other cultures. Same with acceptable discussion topics, punctuality at business meetings etc.

It is the team leader who can create a climate of respect by making the team culturally intelligent. Focusing on commonalities rather than differences and creating an atmosphere for open conversation can definitely lead to organizational success.

WHICH WAS YOUR MOST SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO YOUR COMPANY IN 2021 AND HOW DID IT IMPACT OR INFLUENCE THE BUSINESS?

A diverse workplace will generate new and different ideas, thoughts, and perspectives which helps to collaborate with the team members more effectively. The business can benefit from an effective mobile app characterized by diverse features in it.

Launching of the company mobile app with the latest technology and diverse features – such as VR, Google fencing, robust notifications, complete event management, online booking management; membership renewals; food ordering from multiple kitchens; availing discounts and promotions; cross promotions between different profit centres; loyalty ; digital vouchers ; retail purchase; Digitally approved access via pass purchase etc.; Digital cards for customer/ staff/ members and walk -in. All these integrated into our financial systems seamlessly was the significant project of 2021.

DEFINE 2022 IN 3 WORDS.

Optimism, Resilience, and Hope.

HUWAIR

HANAN

Executive Director, Business Technology at Dubai Holding Asset Management

Transcending Business Through Transformation Digital

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE INDUSTRY HEADING IN 2022?

It’s an exciting time for the tech industry – many advanced technologies are driving a change in how we live and do business.

I see artificial intelligence (AI) playing a larger role moving forward.

I also imagine that conversations around digital assets and cryptocurrency will gain traction, creating a shift in how we conduct our businesses and go about our lives. At Dubai Holding Asset Management (DHAM), we continue to innovate with technology to provide enhanced digital experiences and drive competitive differentiation.

IN YOUR OPINION HAS THERE BEEN AN INCREASE IN THE AWARENESS OF DIVERSITY AND THE POSITIVE ROLE IT PLAYS IN THE WORKPLACE?

The importance of inclusivity and gender balance is of greater importance than ever. We are immensely lucky to live in a country like the UAE, which has always supported inclusivity on a national level, from our leadership’s vision for women’s contribution to the social and economic fabric of the country, to focused initiatives like the UAE Gender Balance Council. At DHAM our inclusion and diversity strategy focuses on building a workforce that reflects our communities and international presence and on embracing talented employees with different backgrounds and perspectives while creating a safe and inclusive environment based on collaboration and respect where people value their differences.

PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR DREAM WORK ENVIRONMENT AND WORK CULTURE?

'Where I am' is my ideal work environment! Working in a cosmopolitan city like Dubai means that you’re constantly engaging with people from different cultures– you keep confronting new viewpoints and expanding your knowledge. Dubai’s vision for the future also means there’s always room to grow, experiment, and innovate.

WHAT IS THE MOST ENGAGING OR SATISFYING ASPECT OF YOUR JOB ROLE?

Tech is a big part of our lives and how we do business, and its impact is continuously evolving. It is extremely satisfying for me to leverage technology to nurture more impactful business ecosystems, finding innovative ways to bring value to our business partners, improve customer experience and fortify Dubai’s competitive business environment in the process.

WHAT IS THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECT OF YOUR JOB ROLE?

Definitely the fast pace of change. The tech sector is in a constant state of evolution with new updates and trends, so you have to keep abreast of this constant transformation to evaluate and adopt the solutions that enhance your business prospects and improve customer engagement. Fortunately, in Dubai, the Government-led strategies enabling digital transformation make it much easier to stay in step with vital changes.

HOW DO YOU PLAN TO BUILD YOUR TEAMS?

Finding, retaining, and nurturing skilled talent is crucial. I value diverse teams because you have people with different perspectives who can challenge each other’s assumptions, but it’s equally important to find people who are committed to upskilling. Tech is creating an entirely new set of

jobs – the jobs of tomorrow – and it’s important to find people with the right skills and a desire to attain excellence.

CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT A TIME YOU LED A CULTURALLY DIVERSE TEAM?

I actually lead quite a culturally diverse team right now. Having access to people from different backgrounds and walks of life is one of the many benefits of working in a city like Dubai and an organization like DHAM. There is a great focus on elevating diverse voices, a value that is embraced by the whole Group.

WHICH WAS YOUR MOST SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO YOUR COMPANY IN 2021 AND HOW DID IT IMPACT OR INFLUENCE THE BUSINESS?

Digital Transformation. At DHAM, we created a customer-driven experience that enables our business partners to manage their business activities digitally, from applying for licenses to visas and more. It’s a very userfriendly interface that ensures a seamless experience for all. We are also enhancing our datadriven capabilities to improve our insights into customer behavior so as to predict trends and enrich our decision-making process to better support Dubai’s larger economic vision.

DEFINE

2022 IN 3 WORDS.

Create, Adapt, and Transform

THURAIYA MOHAMED

Senior Specialist of Innovation and Emerging Technology Development, Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information

Thriving Technology in the

Competitive World

The technological advancement keeps changing the world resulting in innovation and invention in significant areas.

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE INDUSTRY HEADING IN 2022?

With rapid changes and constant updates, ICT seems to be moving towards innovation and creativity in service delivery, making it accessible to all. Government, businesses, and individuals are demanding to access highly integrated and sophisticated ICT infrastructure even in most difficult places including rural and remote areas. Therefore, the focus is now shifted towards creating smart cities that are IoT and AI enabled that facilitate applying technology in all aspects of life and for everyone.

IN YOUR OPINION HAS THERE BEEN AN INCREASE IN THE AWARENESS OF DIVERSITY AND THE POSITIVE ROLE IT PLAYS IN THE WORKPLACE?

Every employee has the right to have access to new opportunities at their workplace, irrespective of gender, race, disability, and religion. Many studies showed that inclusion and diversity are the main keys to success, innovation, and creativity. Moreover, the female employees

in our organization are equal, in percentage, to the males, which enabled the provision of different and prospective, insights and ideas to enhance the work and projects. In Oman, we believe in maintaining a gender balance in different work environments.

PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR DREAM WORK ENVIRONMENT AND WORK CULTURE?

I aspire to work in an inspiring joyful environment with spacious areas and a great relaxing view (greenery or the seaside) that evokes the spark of innovation. I would love to work in a workplace that has the work-from-home approach as this empowers me a lot as a working mother along with flexible hours as some people are early birds while some are night owls :).

As for the work culture, my dream workplace will be safe enough for employees to speak their minds and pitch their ideas no matter how crazy they sound.

WHAT IS THE MOST ENGAGING OR SATISFYING ASPECT OF YOUR JOB ROLE?

I enjoy being in an exciting

environment with people who are not afraid to speak out their ideas loud. And I was blessed to have such a team that is ready to unleash their ideas, even if there is a chance of rejection, as this is never a restriction for them. I find that it impacts me positively. I find it truly satisfying and pleasing once our ideas get reformed and built into a new approved plan or project.

WHAT IS THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECT OF YOUR JOB ROLE?

Technology is constantly changing, and one should ride on the waves of change or he/she will drown. Keeping up with all the emerging trends and tools could be challenging sometimes, but it can be done with determination and persistence.

WHAT IS YOUR 2022 PLAN FOR YOUR DEPARTMENT? HOW DO YOU PLAN TO TAKE THE BUSINESS FORWARD WITH TECHNOLOGY?

We are working on a number of major national projects such as the Digital Transformation of the government in which I am handling the National

Unified Platform project that translates plans into action. This will create harmonious and smooth processes with highly satisfied customer that are of great impact on the community, businesses, and establishments as well. We are also planning to empower individuals by giving them the tools to contribute to government performance. The use of new technologies and AI is a fundamental and crucial step for the coming phase of our work.

HOW DO YOU PLAN TO BUILD YOUR TEAMS?

My future dream team will be diverse with different nationalities, different age groups, and different genders, leading to different mindsets. A team that is excited to create a positive change in the future, and the world. I am eager in providing as much training as I possibly can for their development. I will work towards creating an environment where

team members can enhance their skills and discover new horizons of creativity to add bigger values to their work. An environment that allows the employee to be his/her true self.

CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT A TIME YOU LEAD A CULTURALLY DIVERSE TEAM?

I once lead a team with members of different ages. In the beginning, it wasn’t easy since they couldn’t accept a younger leader, thinking I am incompetent. I tried talking to them in groups but it didn’t work. To tackle this, I decided to sit down with each one of them individually and talk about them, their experience, and their worries. I opened up to them and they did as well. This created an understanding between us and eventually, even the quiet ones started engaging.

WHICH WAS YOUR MOST SIGNIFICANT

CONTRIBUTION TO YOUR COMPANY IN 2021 AND HOW DID IT IMPACT OR INFLUENCE THE BUSINESS?

One of my remarkable and unprecedented technologyrelated achievements in Oman is the recent development of an Omani chatbot called 'Manshood' – which means “the one who receives questions using machine learning and Artificial intelligence (AI)”. 'Manshood' humanizes information service by programing it to respond in an Omani accent for a better, localized service.

I presented this initiative to a community consisting of 7 Cabinet Ministers and other Government Officials, after which the project 'Manshood' was approved. It has already been implemented in the Oman official government portal and has been requested by other government entities.

DEFINE 2022 IN 3 WORDS. A Leap to the Future.

When BFSI Undergoes

Transformation!

MIRZA R. BAIG

Head of IT – Digital Transformation & Cybersecurity, Finzey Finance Company

WHAT IS YOUR OBSERVATION ON DATA INTEGRITY AND ANALYSIS IN MODERN BANKING SECTOR?

Data integrity has now become a critical consideration in the BFSI sector, as reduced profit margins, regulatory pressure, and the explosion of data threaten to overwhelm current approaches to the issue. For several internal and external reasons, BFSI Sectors now need higher quality data

and better processes to analyze it. Technology budgets are tight, however, and Financial Institutions have to get more out of their current infrastructure.

In view, the data integrity value chain has four distinct elements: Matching Quality Consistency, Transformation, Integrity, Distribution of course, vast improvements in technology mean that implementing almost any modern Fintech-focused

solution will improve data integrity and control. Most commercial applications that focus on collateral management, core banking, market and credit risk, or regulatory reporting have very significant data management components. In a market where margins are under pressure, accurate, high-quality data is a must for any Financial Institution: to keep the regulators happy, and to supply internal executives with strong, comprehensive data so they can assess their own risks and returns. Regulators’ demands focus on adaptable infrastructure (a technology infrastructure that adapts to new business needs and data types), and new requirements for regulatory disclosure and transparency. One cornerstone of data integrity and control is reconciliation, and this will be a key theme.

COMMENT ON THE FOLLOWING:

a. Outsourcing security

The adoption of managed security services is often driven by the cost-effectiveness of gaining access to specialized security tools and expertise on a shared basis. While your organization may not be able to bear the budget requirements of hiring a full-time advanced intrusion analyst that might only investigate a few incidents per week, a Managed

Security Service Provider can remunerate the cost of this advanced experience over multiple enterprise customers. The most common scenario is the need for merchants that operate credit card processing systems to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). For example, the requirement that you “review logs for all system components at least daily” requires staffing your security monitoring function seven days a week. In this case, a PCI DSS certified service provider for log monitoring may be able to provide this service, along with advanced monitoring and analysis capabilities, on a much more costeffective basis.

b. Managed IT Services – the scope and trust

The IT landscape is becoming increasingly complex, with most companies relying on multiple systems, processes, and hardware to keep your businesses in operation. This can be challenging to set up, maintain and repair using in-house resources –particularly for BFSI with limited manpower. In light of this, many businesses choose to outsource requirements to an IT Managed Services Provider (MSP), who can help you establish and run technologies in the best way for your organization. External IT support services can have a positive impact on any company. Being able to easily prove compliance can also make the process of staying aligned and

tendering for new business contracts much easier. Industry legislation is constantly evolving in finance, and regulation changes often impact IT infrastructure and data storage.

WHAT ARE THE GAME CHANGING INNOVATIONS TO REBOOT

BFSI SERVICES?

Banking Apps. Contactless. Bots. Blockchain. Biometrics, AI, The Cloud. The financial services industry has committed itself to digital innovation over the last few years.

1. Digital innovation starts a new age of self-service

2. Contactless payment: set to

change the way we pay

3. Banks are investigating new forms of biometric authentication

4. Banking as a service.

5. Machine learning: Efficiency that adds value to BFSI every year.

6. Banking goes beyond cash with digital engagement.

7. Blockchain: the next big revolution in digital banking.

8. Work-from-home must work across financial services.

BOTS, BIOMETRICS, AI, CLOUD – WHAT LIES IN THE FUTURE?

In reality, AI is already at work all around us, impacting everything from our search results to our online prospects, to the way we shop. Data shows that the use of AI in many sectors of business has grown over the last four years. Investments in financial AI have tripled according to observers in that BFSI sector, Decisions about loans are now being made by software that can consider a variety of finely parsed data about a borrower, rather than just a credit score and a background check. In addition, there are so-called roboadvisers that create personalized investment portfolios, obviating the need for stockbrokers and financial advisers. Fraud detection represents another way that AI is helpful in financial systems. Sometimes it is difficult to discern fraudulent activities in large organizations, but AI can identify abnormalities, outliers, or deviant cases requiring additional investigation.

The most commercial applications that focus on collateral management, core banking, market and credit risk or regulatory reporting have very significant data management components.

New Windows

Opening in BFSI

HOW DO YOU SEE THE EMERGENCE OF BFSI POST PANDEMIC?

The recent lockdowns that we saw around the globe as a result of the pandemic brought an increase in digital and contactless payments worldwide. Recent research by Visa Back to Business Study has found that 68% of consumers indicated that the pandemic has changed how they pay for things. The main driver of this trend was concerned over physical contact with people and the handling of cash.

According to the same Visa Study, 60% of consumers are expected to use contactless payments and online shopping as much as possible.

PEDRO MARTINEZ CIO ZENUS BANK

As one can imagine, these trends in payments will create a huge opportunity for the banking and financial services industries, with Fintechs at the forefront of the technology that will enable them. Companies are already developing the next-generation embedded banking and Open Banking platforms that will serve the B2B and B2B2C banking models with a strong focus on Emerging Markets. The winners are going to be those that can solve the cross-border pain points as we are moving to a global-sensitive economy where what happens on one side of the world may affect the rest of us.

WHAT KEY ROLE IS PLAYED BY DATA INTEGRITY AND ANALYSIS IN THE

BANKING SECTOR NOW?

Data has become everything! Not just in banking but in any industry that relies on customer satisfaction and continuous development of products based on demand. Nowadays, the banking sector has found some solutions such as data aggregation, automation, and even the deployment of federated data. However, the banking industry still struggles in a few areas, such as data quality, the scope of data programs, data lineage, and transaction testing. Understanding the scope of their data programs is essential to create a basis and identify any actions that need to be addressed. Data lineage is another aspect that needs improvement in the banking sector. Data lineage can be described as how the data flows in the infrastructure of the organization, from the point of origin to the consumption by users. This is important to make sure that information travels fast within the company. Data quality is the main goal of data management, and nowadays, most banking systems have programs that measure its quality. This is necessary to have consistency and validity, so the client's concerns can be addressed.

Building a robust Data Factory with the fundamentals including the management of Metadata, Data Quality, Data Catalog,

Companies are already developing the next-generation embedded banking and Open Banking platforms that will serve the B2B and B2B2C banking models with a strong focus on Emerging Markets.

With that said, there is a solid trend for “Service as a Service” or Managed Service engagement where a few tech players have specialized in solving common problems in IT. In a well-regulated industry, such as Banking or Financial Services, the consideration for outsourcing involves a high degree of risk management and strict implementation of Cybersecurity frameworks.

WHAT ARE THE NEXT GAME-CHANGING INNOVATIONS TO REBOOT BANKING AND FINANCE SERVICES?

Data Lineage, and most importantly; Security will be the key to a successful platform implementation in the Banking Sector.

OUTSOURCING IT/ MANAGED IT - WHAT IS THE SCOPE AND TRUST?

Outsourcing usually happens when the company is under tremendous growth, or when the organization’s budget is low. While this strategy may be costeffective, it is not always the best practice, mainly because by outsourcing, you are adding resources with a different level of commitment, adding risks to your company’s security and team chemistry, as well as lowering trust and expectations.

The biggest game-changing innovations, as I see them, are in the cross-border banking and payment space. Real-time digital and contactless paymentsregardless of where the customer is located around the globe, are the problem that the industry has tried to solve for quite some time. At Zenus Bank, we have built a framework that solves a major bottleneck in cross-border payments and international banking. Now anyone, from anywhere can use the bank safely within the American banking system directly with Zenus. The next step is to optimize our services towards B2B & B2B2C enablement.

We aim to become the regulated infrastructure layer that enables businesses around the world to provide bank accounts, visa cards & payment rails to their own customer base. This is

effectively a Paypal, Venmo, Visa and a Multicurrency Wire transfer service safely powered by an American bank that is available for clients literally anywhere. Our infrastructure needs to be ready to scale into millions of users with each enterprise client we have on board as a partner, and this can only be achieved via Open Banking.

BOTS, BIOMETRICS, AI, CLOUD - WHAT LIES IN THE FUTURE OF BFSI?

One of the key requirements for

a bank is to be able to identify the customer (KYC) and monitor the behaviour of the customer in relation to established anti-money and fraud policies. This must be done while providing a delightful customer experience and in a way that promotes customer trust. In recent years, the top public cloud providers, such as Microsoft Azure, and other top tech players have come up with technologies such as Biometrics, Bots Cloud, and Artificial Intelligence. The Banks that will succeed are those that can employ those tools from

the on boarding of an account to the management of products and transactions, giving the consumer the experience that will make banking part of their lives in a seamless, natural manner.

I specifically see an increase of Biometrics used for KYC, AI for identifying consumer behaviour, Bots for interacting with the consumer in a self-service way, and the Cloud, whether private or public, as the fabric that is connecting all those services that the BFSIs are providing the customer.

FLICKR

CIOANDTHEBIG CLOUDBUDGET

Heading Towards

Digital Transformation

Regardless of size and type, every organization across all industries is making leaps and bounds towards digital, leveraging advanced technologies, such as AI, machine learning, robotics, and the cloud. Cloud adoption is perceived as a way forward to sustain in the digitally empowered

market, and therefore IT leaders pursued cloud adoption as part of their digital transformation strategy. IT leaders are under constant pressure to explore the hybrid /multi-cloud architecture for reasons very specific to their industry. Because cloud players are driving differentiated offerings

SELESTIN K THOMAS

GM–Digital Technology and IT Infra Nissan Digital India LLP

that have unique benefits for particular forms of work. In a multi-cloud environment, IT leaders have the flexibility to pick the platform that makes the most sense in terms of use case, cost, existing utilization, and so on. Therefore, it will be hard for an organization to resist cloud adoption. Multi-cloud is the catalyst for the accelerated adoption of microservices

Even though cloud computing simplifies the business processes in an organization it is very difficult to resist cloud adoption. It became a challenge for CIOs for implementing the cloud strategies with a leveraging insight into the business outcomes.

architecture. Containers and platforms like Docker and Kubernetes are becoming very popular.

Cloud removed the hassles of building and maintaining a data center; you can continue to focus on modernizing your application stack and simplifying the business processes. CIOs need to be aware that the spending on cloud technology will continue to grow as we move forward. As

The cloud has intensified the complexities for CIOs with the need for dedicated manpower & skillsets. Multi-cloud is very complex due to multi-platform, multi-vendor, multi-contract, and SLAs. This needs to be managed well; else the mismanagement will cause significant cost escalations. Monitoring is very important in a multi-cloud landscape. We need to be conscious of the problems that we didn’t even know could

cloud spend is to plan migrations properly. To avoid cost overrun, the migrations must be planned well ahead, and the workloads are to be identified in coordination with functional units. The Traditional ‘lift and shift’ approach will no more work; a pragmatic approach to be adopted by prioritizing cloudnative applications for your digital transformation journey. Also, using different providers for IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS will help balance costs across multiple cloud environments. The ultimate aim of CIOs should be to re-architect application portfolios and upgrade technology platforms

the organization embraces many benefits of the cloud, managing the cost of cloud computing is an ongoing challenge. The cost escalations in a multi-cloud environment are common as the cloud vendors keep adding new features and sunset a few others. In addition, vendor lockin periods and SLAs are to be closely monitored to avoid cost overrun. Gartner predicts 60% of Infrastructure and Operations (I&O) leaders will need to face cloud cost overruns through 2024.

occur. This is the fundamental idea behind monitoring. IT teams now need to monitor and manage services across cloud environments on top of existing legacy infrastructure. Traditional monitoring isn’t enough. Organizations must capture and quickly analyze all data, irrespective of volume, variety, and velocity. Cognitive insights provided by AI and predictive analysis will help here to make accurate decisions

The best strategy to optimize

Another critical line item in multi-cloud budgeting is the low latency and consistent connectivity to on-prem. The Direct Connect/ExpressRoute/ Interconnect transport models and the access control rules for security and compliance cannot be overlooked. Proper identity and access management will save the cost ensuring complete control over data access and resource consumption.

Cloud technologies play a critical role in business continuity and accelerate the digital transformation journey. Organizations need to develop their cloud strategies keeping this in view, and this will demand a large budget. The budget for cloud implementation is no exception as the cloud is here to stay. Creating consistency and transparency is the most effective way to acquire control over cloud spending.

Cloud Budget,

to be Better Served!

Companies are sometimes unwilling to move to the cloud because they fear spending more money as compared to their legacy solution and while any technical challenge can be overcome if you throw enough money at it, that's not a sensible cloud migration strategy.

You can see everyone talking about the cloud these days, but what do they really mean by that? What most people are referring to is nothing but cloud computing. Cloud computing is nothing but moving on-premises computing to the internet. Your employees, teams, and customers have

access to an open pool of resources like apps, services, servers, data, and computer networks and all this comes at a promise of saving both time and money.

Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the need for cloud adoption as more

SHRENIK JAIN CIO

Siemens businesses transitioned to remote and hybrid work environments and needed company resources to be made available anywhere, anytime.

For most early adopters, cloud computing was sold to IT leaders to significantly reduce IT spending. While there is a definitive shift from Cap-Ex spending to Op-Ex in most organizations, the cost savings never materialized and for some year-on-year costs even

went up.

Even today as more and more businesses are moving from their on-premise data centers to the cloud, they may face several unexpected challenges forcing them to go over the initially allocated budget.

In some cases, cloud migration processes are not optimized to the point they should be, or they are inadequately planned from the very beginning.

Obtain an understanding of the month-over-month costs associated with the complete delivery of the current solution. Not all costs are direct and easy to quantify, and in some cases, the costs are not directly part of the IT budget (power consumption, for example) — but all costs affect the organization's bottom line. Having a holistic overview of the current costs can help you better plan for the cloud budget. Timing can also be a major player to manage your budgets on migration to the cloud. It is important to understand when it is time to renew legacy solutions, e.g., on-premise data center lease, hardware upgrades, software licenses, maintenance, support contracts etc.

When you move to the cloud infrastructure, your company will rather have to invest a certain lump sum amount to move your environment in the cloud and plan for regular ongoing expenditures for the cloud capacity in use. When planning for the cloud budget, it’s important to plan with the end goal in mind and have

the strategy for the existing and the future environment. As for the initial project investments of cloud migration, a company may need to allocate costs for system configuration, deployment and integration of cloud applications, testing data conversion, training for IT staff members and users. It is important to analyze individual resources that are to be migrated to the cloud, choose a simple liftand-shift migration, which could

move everything on the cloud.

IT leaders need to help nonIT team members learn about cloud computing, set the right expectations, and analyze which services make sense to move to the cloud.

Whether you decide to use IaaS, SaaS, or somewhere in between, you'll need to understand what you're using in the application stack. Oftentimes, on-site applications contain a

mean reduced efforts or spending the time and effort needed to gain productivity benefits and opt to rearchitect and refactor.

If you are considering moving your legacy infrastructure to the cloud, you could always use any of these multiple tools available from cloud providers to get an estimate of cloud services. I personally like using the AWS price calculator tool.

Even if you have a companywide strategy or push to be cloud-ready, don’t rush to

lot of features that were never deployed or went unused in your environment. What you don't want to do is pay to both moves and support those unused features in the cloud.

Another aspect that can blow up your cloud budget is moving unused, stale, or not needed data. IT leaders should guide businesses to clean up and to cloud what’s needed. This is especially helpful when you are trying to contract storage tiers.

FAWAZ SHAKRALLA

Head of IT Department BIPD

Strawberries in the

Cloud is the only and best way to manage the risk of disruption and bring innovation in the business.

Should your business go to the cloud or not?

I will explore how the cloud can contribute to your Unique Value Proposition and how it can prove to have a competitive advantage for your business. We will also explore how migrating to the cloud can help leapfrog your market share and the long-term approach for customer acquisition on a global scale.

Background about the Cloud: Initially, websites were running in data centers across the world mainly North America and Europe. Website service providers would lease servers/ networking and storage from Data Center Providers, and they would provide website hosting for the public for anyone who wanted to have a web presence online. Traditionally the Website hosting providers would inform their Data Center suppliers to increase RAM, storage capacity, and networking bandwidth on the Data center servers, all at a higher cost of course.

Amazon discovered this a long time ago back in the early 2000s. So what they did was order large capacity hardware which consisted of storage

and networking and bandwidth assuming that in the future the demand will increase. This presented a very high cost in terms of CAPEX, and hopefully, the demand from consumers would follow.

Amazon management had an idea, what if they could provide their excess infrastructure as an online service, where website service providers could rent the servers/storage and networking from Amazon for a monthly fee. Amazon would provide this at very low prices just to test it, and see the results. This was a gamble and it worked to Amazon’s advantage, hence – AWS was born. Today AWS contributes significantly to Amazon’s annual revenue. Additionally, because Amazon had such high excess capacity, if a Website service provider wanted additional RAM or Storage, Amazon can provide it immediately at a low price since they already have it in their stock. This improved time to market and service quality to their customers. Hence demand followed exponentially with EC2 and S3 their primary service of computing and storage at that time.

Business Advantages:

CloudIf your server infrastructure is over five years old, chances are you will be changing a lot of the server components, such as storage capacity, Tape backup server, if you are using SAN or other storage types from different vendors. Or maybe your servers Xeon Intel processors are used up and must be changed, or installed new physical servers. Just like a car, after x number of years, physical servers must be replaced or go through an overhaul.

Managing physical data centers is a huge pain point for IT directors, not to mention the costs of having resources to manage it or if you are leasing it to a 3rd party, the monthly costs. Imagine shifting all your data and infrastructure applications to AWS cloud services where it can be managed by one or two Admins, depending on the size of your infrastructure. One of the biggest advantages is business agility.

If your applications are having high transaction volumes you can easily scale up your servers and storage, simply the IT Admin can log in to the AWS console and with a few clicks can increase the CPU power or add additional CPUs or increase the storage on the

database if you are reaching full capacity on your databases.

Cost Advantages and Disadvantages:

Amazon AWS currently offers the most competitive rates when it comes to infrastructure services such as Windows or Linux servers as well as storage and network services. The difference is, in the past in your physical data centers, you buy everything once-off, and

old then you definitely want to consider moving to the Cloud for other competitive reasons.

• Costs Advantages: pay per month or per year based on what you use.

• Cost Disadvantage: payment is on an OPEX model and not a CAPEX, you have to keep paying for your infrastructure service needs.

Business Value Proposition:

(Robotic Process Automation), Blockchain and Cryptocurrency, and AI (Artificial Intelligence). For example, WhatsApp disrupted the revenues of Telecom operators impacting their international calls and SMS revenues. Bitcoin is impacting the international bank transfers revenues thanks to blockchain technologies. It’s only a matter of time. So how do you mitigate the risk of disruption, by leveraging new technologies? One of the best way and most efficient ways of levering new technologies is by moving to the cloud. Why? Because a massive advantage in cloud services allow you to test new applications on your products and services using a few clicks.

Innovation Advantages:

leave for 5 to 6 years with no additional fees except the yearly maintenance fees that you incur from your vendors. In the Cloud world, you pay monthly and hence yearly fees to keep your infrastructure running. They were all used to having to pay a large CAPEX once at the beginning and then not having to worry about it for years. However, if your physical infrastructure is over five years

We all see how the business world is shifting due to largescale innovation across different technologies. In a report published by Harvard Business Review in 2017, more than 50% of global fortune 500 companies no longer exist today due to disruption, digital transformation, and technology evolution. The technologies that are leading this disruption are IoT, RPA

AWS has an enormous marketplace where you can rent out new application services by the day, and test them out with your Marketing/Sales, logistics, or Supply chain departments and see what works for them. The other advantage is if you don’t like Application X, you can stop renting it, and then move to Application Y and start migrating your data to it, and provide access to your departments with a few clicks from your IT admins.

All the above will help you be more agile to new competition that may threaten our existing market share, and or improve your valuable services to your customers at lower prices to keep them. The cloud will improve your chances of maintaining your existing customer base on an exponential factor.

How Cloud Computing Navigate the

Business Operation?

Cloud Computing is now a day a core component of the IT provision for most enterprises. In the Cloud Computing Survey, we found that 81% of the companies surveyed were already using cloud computing infrastructure or running applications in the cloud. These companies are expected to

allocate about a third of their total IT budget to cloud computing in the next year.

Businesses need visibility and an accurate picture of their cloud computing use, and central tools to allocate resources and track how they’re being used. They need the ability to identify

SHAH-E-ROAM KHAN

Information

Technology Manager-CIO

Emirates College of Technology

their major cloud cost centers and to drill down and find cloud instances that aren’t being used and decommission them to reduce unnecessary outlay. This may include a lack of governance and poorly configured cloud workloads, without proper policies in place may spin up cloud services and its cost.

My first concern about cloud cost

Every organization need an accurate picture of their cloud use and conduct a regular meeting to review their usage and services. Cloud computing enable CIOs to lead their journey from a technical role to a business role.

management is to ensure that you have an accurate picture of your organization’s cloud use, most companies often have astronomically large amounts of cloud use that is not being tracked centrally. Once you have a handle on exactly what you have, you can start to employ cost management tactics like rightsizing and autoscaling.

I believed organizations should ensure that resources are correctly allocated and that you consistently optimize and have accurate growth projections.

Capacity planning and policy have a major role in controlling cloud costs as well. Many companies in the middle east spend massive amounts of money on resources which is no longer in use.

It is mandatory to do a regular review on your cloud assets to make sure that every asset is tracked and registered with owner, purpose, and approved. I strongly

recommends and suggests that organizations use a top-down approach to identify services which are the main contributors to your monthly spend, then focus on how to reduce their costs.

You’ll be surprised how many redundant assets still exist and which are still incurring usage costs.

The cloud experts who have technical experts in the data center may need to shift their skills and roles considerably to get a good understanding of the different costs involved and how they manage them.

One of the big issues is understanding the variable costs involved in the cloud and the behaviors that could drive those up. This means that IT leaders and technology experts need to develop skills in financial modeling, contract management, and negotiations. The company’s CIO should work and have a

dedicated account manager at their cloud provider and establish regular meetings to review their usage and services. This will give them an opportunity to discuss your business objectives and offer cost-saving solutions.

I think it’s vital to make sure organizations are aware of contractual agreements with cloud providers, especially termination date and pricing model. CIOs/IT head/Leaders should negotiate early to take advantage of their position as an existing customer when renewing contracts. There are a lot of savings to be made if you negotiate rightly and on time. I believe in leaning into the strengths of the hybrid cloud. From the administrative point of view, the use of the cloud and hybrid clouds enables implementation of dynamic policies, faster encryption, drives down costs, and provides more transparency for access control.

THAILAND

FINALE