The Titans 2018

OCTOBER 2018 | VOL 3 ISSUE 3

2018 THE CHANGE-SPOTTERS AND CHANGE-MAKERS

YAROB SAKHNINI, HEAD OF MIDDLE EAST, TURKEY AND AFRICA, JUNIPER NETWORKS

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OCTOBER 2018 | VOL 3 ISSUE 3

2018 THE CHANGE-SPOTTERS AND CHANGE-MAKERS

H.E MANSOOR JUMA BU OSAIBA, CEO OF NEDAA

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EDITORIAL

RAISING THE BAR

ANUSHREE DIXIT EDITOR anushree@gecmediagroup.com

When William R. Synnott, former Senior Vice President of the Bank of Boston and William H. Gruber, former professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management defined the role of CIO in the 80’s nobody imagined the transformation that this role would undergo.

Today, business is information and information is business. After hurdle jumping catalyst technologies, today the technology leaders are faced with the responsibility of leveraging their visibility across several departments and determine the outcome that a business can realize by bolstering newer technologies. To ensure this CIOs have to first understand that digitization or digital transformation is not a technology but a journey that demands a longterm commitment.

Though a cliché, this is true that digitization has left no sector untouched regardless of the size of the organization. In this issue of The Titans, we have brought you some unconventional stories and inputs of CIOs and IT heads who have changed the norms and transformed everyday activities of the business and optimized investments and costs. They tell us, through the stories, how the final destination os this transformation is nothing but to make business simple and agile. Nedaa Communications’ CEO His Excellency Mansoor Juma Bu Osaiba’s ideology of making technology reliable and simple is one of the stepping stones towards this transformation that we are aiming for. Read our special story on Nedaa’s vision for empowering critical communications. Simplicity as we say is also the theme of our cover feature this time, where Juniper’s Yarob Sakhnini, Head of Middle East, Turkey and Africa talks about how the company is driving network simplicity and making Multicloud a reality for the modern enterprises.

The priorities are already set for 2019! Read on to see the varied thought processes of the champions.

Happy reading!

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OCTOBER 2018

THE TITANS

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CONTENT

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THE TRANSFORMATIVE CIO The Titans sat for a quick byte with Ajay Rathi, Director of IT at Meraas Holding. Read excerpts from the Interview.

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EVOLVING WITH THE TECHNOLOGY

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OCTOBER 2018

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THE TITANS TALK SHOW WITH VENKATESH MAHADEVAN

VENKATESH MAHADEVAN, CIO, DUBAI INVESTMENTS PJSC “Ok, so it’s a lovely nice and HOT Saturday morning and I am at a Talk show hosting The TITANS.” And the chosen kick off for the discussion, “Digital Transformation”. We all know that Digital Transformation is no longer about just a Nice to Do or a journey that is fun to embark on. Digital Transformation is clearly

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a Way of Life for a lot of organizations to survive in the next decade.

I know you are looking at me and asking, “But I know organisations who are surviving with legacy systems and outdated solutions”? and the answer is a YES, but the question here is, “For how long more?”. A couple of years or a year or little more? If

you are serious about staying Alive and wanting to participate in the market place and make a difference by catering to your customers’ requirements and bringing out latest products, then Digital Transformation, where moving to the next level of Systems automation is a good beginning.

So, what is going to be the role of the CIO

TOP CIO IN MENA

in a Digital Transformation program for an organization?

Today, a CIO plays a Key role in Digital Transformation for a company and I can say this with a lot of gumption. While Digital Transformation and its related knowledge will proliferate across the organization, running through all the levels.

I remember the CEO of GE saying that the role of a CIO is one of the most important, if not the most important role at the Leadership Table!

While I got speaking to the CIOs, they also felt the same. Infact, some of them were actually on the drivers’ seat for their organization’s transformation program.

In my opinion, it is time for the CIO to take charge, or catch a bull by its horns, if I may add. This is one good way of staying on top of the digital transformation program and ensuring that it transmits across the desired levels in the organization.

What is also important to note here is that a CIO today, will play a limited technology role as compared to his business role. The business Hat that a CIO wears needs to be bigger during this transformation program.

Since its transformation of business and Technology is just the Enabler!

Some ‘Top of Mind’ Recalls for CIOs: -

Are you ready to Partner?

CIOs need to be ready to partner and collaborate with business owners or stakeholders, whose business is undergoing a transformation. This is the stage in a CIOs career when he seriously needs to play the “Partnership” role. A CIO partner is what the business and its stakeholders need at this time. One of the Keys to a Successful Digital Transformation program is the Stellar Ability of a CIO to Partner with Business.

If you are enabling your organization for the next wave of digital transformation on the path to success and want to seize opportunities by riding on technological innovations, then it is imperative to work in partnership mode with your Business Stakeholder.

Only if you are convinced and ready to work in partnerships, that you will start to clearly understand and even appreciate your stakeholders’ unique requirements and dynamics that they face in their workplace and while addressing customer needs.

There are a few who do it really well and they reap the benefits of the partnership model and derive tremendous benefits.

At the World Economic Forum, it was highlighted that Partnerships is the Business Trend to watch!

It is time for Leaders to view each other as Collaborative and bounce off each other’s strengths, rather than seeing it as a competitive or threat landscape.

Look at the Market, study your competitors, evaluate the technology and then come up with a robust partnership model that can leverage on the strengths and help the organization succeed.

Stop being only a Fire Fighter!

A CIO needs to make a conscious decision to step back from the day to day issues, if he or she is serious about playing a key role in the Digital Transformation program. They will have to delegate the day to day issues to their teams, who are there for this reason. A CIO will not have the quality time to make high level decisions if he decides to keep himself busy with keeping the lights on.

This obviously does not mean that you take your eyes off the Mission Critical Systems, but surely you need to figure out a way to practice Leadership by Exception. Provide an overall direction and set pointers for the team or your leads to approach you. Give them the overall direction and objective and monitor on a periodical basis through a well setup process.

As a Senior Technology Leader, ‘Stop Reacting’ and ‘Start Responding’. Pro-active is really the way forward for any CIO. While there will be fires that will be caused and issues that will crop up for you to attend, the reality of the matter is that you have to consciously stay away from being in your Fire Suit always. Step off your Fire Truck and wear the Proactive hat and adopt a strategic approach.

Use the data points available in the public domain today and use that to effectively make decisions that will prevent or reduce fires breaking out across the organization.

Are you ready to Adapt?

Takes me back to School with the Most famous quote of all time….

It is not the strongest of the Species that Survives, Nor the most intelligent that survives.

But the One that is most Adaptable to Change.

-Charles Darwin This is so true that I believe this should be

cast in Frame in every CIOs office .

A CIO is expected to Change and Adapt. I say, so is the organization. Part of every Digital Transformation Project is discovering new technology trends, adjusting to expectations of business and formulating the overall objective of the organization.

While we are expected to lead IT and keep our organizations at the forefront of technology, but what is also expected of every CIO is to learn to adapt himself to new technology and also prepare the organization. This goes back to my point no.1 of Partnership.

Adaptation is an important facet for achieving success in every project, more so in a Digital Transformation project. There is a lot of uncertainty that exists in a “Digital Trans..” project and hence it is important to clearly prepare the organization for adapting to the changes that will take place during the course of this program and users across levels need to be conditioned to accept those changes.

This adaptation strategy has to start at the Top. Just like the Digital Transformation project, this Lever of Adaptation has to be driven from the top and drilled all the way down.

It is imperative that the Leaders work in partnership to drive Change across the organization and lay the foundation for the organization to be able to adapt itself to the changes, both digitally and otherwise in the coming days.

One effective way I believe in carrying this out, is to identify champions across the organization and work with them in leading the Adaptation. The Dialogue which senior management has on this subject should transmit across the organization by channeling it through these digital champions. Needless to say, CIOs have to play a stellar role and take leadership in driving this forward.

Ultimately, a Digital Transformation Project is successful, not due to the technology it implements, but the way in which the employees and organization have successfully adapted themselves to the change!

Digital Adaptation is the Key! Use it to unlock the minds.

Before I sign off, three Key takeaways....

• Remember to Partner • Stop Reacting • Adapt!

Happy Surfing!

OCTOBER 2018

THE TITANS

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TOP CIO IN MENA

CHAMPIONING TRANSFORMATION The tranformation of IT department from cost center to profit center has been one of the biggest and significant milestone for Al Masah Capital and the CIO who championed this initiative. Excerpts from the candid interview with Ashith Piriyattiath, Group Head of IT, Al Masah Capital Management.

Recently Al Masah’s IT department transformed to profit centre. Tell us about this venture.

We were centralizing the IT department with full capability off shore Backoffice and our own Private CLOUD Datacentre. We are building our own offshore IT back office in India with centre of Excellence team responsible for Business Applications & Digital and online reputation management team, NOC, SOC, Digital Innovations team and 24 hours Helpdesk with Call Centre . In this way, we are restricting our onsite resources in Dubai and building a skilled employee’s team in India which will significantly give us a better control, security and stability in addition to all the benefits of PRIVATE CLOUD Datacentre.

How did you present this concept to your management?

What were the initial challenges faced?

ASHITH PIRIYATTIATH, GROUP HEAD OF IT, AL MASAH CAPITAL MANAGEMENT.

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Ihadsubmittedthisproposaltothemanagement 2 years ago and recently got it approved. They have realized that, we are now mature enough to go for this model with the number of entities that we are handling from a group perspective.

Al Masah, the complete group itself is having its own revenue verticals like asset management, realestate,privateequityandcorporateadvisory.

We manage close to 150 individualassets.Two to threeyearsago,wemigratedallourinfrastructure towards one ofthe leading cloud platforms. Now the amount thatwe are paying for public cloud is sufficient enough to build our own private cloud data centre.

Being a Group Head of IT, the other challenge that I was facing was, we have individual segments and those segments have their own IT division as well. The problem was they were centralized only segment wise. And moreover, we were spending more than over 2 million USD

every year on IT operations across the globe. So, when I proposed this idea to the management, my thoughts were very simple. Changing my IT division from cost centre to profit centre with an equal revenue to be generated.

What were the benefits reaped?

Firstly, I identified where the money is going.

63% of my IT operations goes into payroll and more than 25% is going towards cloud charges and 12% is going towards annual maintenance contracts. The major benefit as I mentioned earlier, we were spending 2 million USD and now we are generating the same revenue.

This entity itself is a profit generating entity, which means we don’t have to bother other group entities/parent companies to meet our expenses. On top of this, we have better centralized control, security and stability.

This project itself is two components – private cloud data centre and our back office. By having ourown private cloud, it has its own benefits.The other benefit of having centralized IT is having bettercentralized controlon infrastructure, data sovereigntybelongs to us, betterSLAto support.

My new team is equipped with a business application or ERP development support.

We have in-house team available for digital marketing, call centre to support business entities. We are benefitting in terms of purchases of licences. We are getting special prices from vendors. Also, being into the financial segment and into other segments, the fintech product integration with multiple security levels, we could build in house. Now my team is exploring capable of building blockchain in capital market, healthcare, education, etc. We have separate NOC and SOC team which is capable of building the architecture. I am also in discussion with HP, Samsung to have their own experimental labs in our education institutions.

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EVOLVING WITH THE TECHNOLOGY “Regardless of whether you are a diehard tech fanatic, always after the latest devices, or a laid-back “average” consumer, if you are like me, you can’t help but look forward to the tech developments and trends that lie ahead” says Zaheer Kazi, Ex- Head of IT of Liberty Investments LLC.

member of the board tasked with delivering growth.

Our mindsets can lead even high digital acuity leaders astray if they are not attuned to the prevailing or changing market realities.

It’s important to regularly challenge and invite challenge from others to evolve your mindset assumptions, beliefs and paradigms – especially in light of our particular marketplace reality.

The good news is that mindsets can change.

Were you able to stick to your New year resolutions? Did you achieve/over achieve/ under achieve?

ZAHEER KADIR KAZI, EX-HEAD OF IT, LIBERTY INVESTMENT COMPANY LLC Tell us about the year 2018.

What changes/evolution did it bring to your thinking or mindset as a CIO/IT head?

The role of Chief Information Officer (CIO) has evolved in parallel with the growing economy and influence of technology. As tech has become more important, and now essential for businesses, CIOs have become a mainstay of the organization. They have switched from being merely a back-end IT executor to a strategic and influential

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Well, it has been a tough year, but we managed to complete our half yearly goals and hope to achieve the same in the second half. Technology wise, our main concentration was towards IT security and Business Continuity Planning. We were able to do our Risk assessment based on the KPI set for our business lines and the results were very much satisfactory.

In brief, which technology of 2018 attracted you the most?

Have you planned to implement the same in your organization?

Business Intelligence (BI) is a technologydriven process for analyzing data and presenting actionable information to help executives, managers and other corporate end users make informed business decisions.

Businessintelligencetoolsaretechnologywhich can never die down. The technology not only tells the businesswhat theyhave donewith their businessbutactuallyguidesthemanagementto what else can be done to achieve the business vision and goals.

In contrast, which technology of 2018 did you find futile/ non-relevant for the present and why?

Regardless of whether you are a diehard tech fanatic, always after the latest devices, or a laid-back “average” consumer, if you are like me, you can’t help but look forward to the tech developments and trends that lie ahead.

How active are you as a CIO/ IT head on social media platforms? Do you find them a good platform to share knowledge or has it become too monotonous?

Have been using LinkedIn since I started my career. I am available to connect at https://ae.linkedin.com/in/zaheerkkazi.

Like any social site, LinkedIn is about networking, but because it is a site that’s focused on professionals and businesses, we can network effectively with prospective client organizations and professionals.

Don’t link with people just to build the number of connections you have. Use your connect requests more strategically to engage and build relationships with your target professionals and influencers in your market space.

With GITEX around the corner, what do you look forward at this tech fest this year?

I have been a regular in GITEX since I first landed in UAE in 2007. It is an amazing platform to understand the current market technology trends. My focus this year in GITEX would be to checkout the innovations in AI for Business Intelligence tools and also would like to see the current security trends.

TOP CIO IN MENA

CHANGE IS CONTINUOUS With 15+ years of dedicated exposure in GCC healthcare and deep understanding of Healthcare IT systems, Justin Thiraviyam has been driving his passion of innovation with continuous business transformation. Associated with Avivo Group as a “Group IT Head” since 2017-March, he has been managing the technology division, strategically with the alignment of business & business vision.

Were you able to stick to your New year resolutions? Did you achieve/over achieve/ under achieve?

Yes, partially achieved and on track towards fully achieving the goals by end of the year.

In brief, which technology of 2018 attracted you the most?

Have you planned to implement the same in your organization? l Artificial Intelligence (AI) l Blockchain As an industry, healthcare organizations habitually face numerous business challenges in “Technology Adoption” at Patient care, Customer Engagement (internal & external), Revenue Cycle Management and regulatory compliance. These are real sensitive segments which needs to be simplified thru Technology or systems.

Yes, with a direction of CEO, we agreed to adopt “Artificial Intelligence” in Avivo Group To commence the voyage of “AI” we tailored and implemented Customer Service fused with “Artificial Intelligence” and the delivered outcome has exceeded our expectation.

Also, we are planning for next phase of “AI” which includes clinical & non-clinical journey.

JUSTIN S. THIRAVIYAM, HEAD OF IT, AVIVO GROUP Total number of years in service: Avivo Group is one of the fastest growing healthcare service providers in GCC, offering quality healthcare services through our 47 healthcare assets across GCC region. Our integrated approach in healthcare delivery positions AVIVO as a one-stop solution for one’s needs ranging from acute care to preventive and wellness medicines. We always believe that patients & their families are the centre of our universe and always strive to deliver our best through the AVIVO

“Bond of Care”.

Responsible for IT Services & Technology based transformation across the group.

Tell us about the year 2018.

What changes/evolution did it bring to your thinking or mindset as a CIO/IT head?

Continuous re-alignment of technology and business is vital to eliminate surplus manual or routine intervention, regardless of industry. This is the key change required form the role of CIO/IT Head.

How active are you as a CIO/ IT head on social media platforms? Do you find them a good platform to share knowledge or has it become too monotonous?

The social media platforms are very important as it keeps you updated on various technology & industry trends. The professional social medias are a nursery schools, where everyone can unveil the new things.

With GITEX around the corner, what do you look forward at this tech fest this year?

IoMT (Internet of Medical Things) & Blockchain in Healthcare

OCTOBER 2018

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MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICE OF TECHNOLOGY As the Head of IT for Gourmetgulf, Soji Varghese says that businesses should understand and make the right choice of technology at the right time to gain success.

Data works on the principle that the more we know about any scenario backed up by data, the more reliability we gain leading to new insights and better predictions.

Were you able to stick to your New year resolutions? Did you achieve/over achieve/ under achieve?

Yes, I was able to stick with my new year resolution but as a part of improvisation I’m still adding more points to polish the resolutions and I think still I will completely achieve it by the end of this year.

In brief, which technology of 2018 attracted you the most?

Have you planned to implement the same in your organization?

SOJI VARGHESE, HEAD OF IT, GOURMETGULF

Tell us about the year 2018.

What changes/evolution did it bring to your thinking or mindset as a CIO/IT head?

As an IT head, I realised the importance of connecting Big Data Analytics with AI. As a study rightly says that 80% of data available with any business is not used for analysis and by connecting the big data with AI, we can give more or different views of reality and get suitable suggestions for business road map and future forecast & budgeting.

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AI, IA and Big Data Analytics have attracted me most. Artificial Intelligence and Industrial Automations are very important for any organization. One needs to identify the repeated tasks and automate the same so that company can utilize that resources for creating more value adding tasks.

Artificial Intelligence can reduce the manual intervention and can speed up the process.

In this high competency world, data is the life source for any business. Data can be of different types text , photos or videos and in most cases we utilize only 15 to 20 % of data to make analysis but in reality, the crucial data may be in the 80 % which was not utilized for analysis or in other words if we utilize and analyses 100% data business could have a better understanding of their present position and could develop or come up with better solutions to achieve their underachieved goals and here comes the role of AI and Big data analysis . So, I think BIG data with AI can revolutionize the data

system can lead business to a different level and I am planning to implement the same in my organization.

In contrast, which technology of 2018 did you find futile/ non-relevant for the present and why?

All the technologies are important in their respective domain. It is very important to understand the need of the business and make the right choice of technology at the right time. A technology can drive your business to heights only if we choose the right one and can lead to disaster if we compromise with the wrong one. So, the selection of right technology at right time is very important for any business to achieve their goals.

How active are you as a CIO/ IT head on social media platforms? Do you find them a good platform to share knowledge or has it become too monotonous?

I am moderately active in social media. I think social media is a good platform for sharing the knowledge. However, it can guide us in wrong directions with some wrong informations. I think to identify the correct information from the data sea will be future challenge for all social media users.

With GITEX around the corner, what do you look forward at this tech fest this year?

With GITEX around the corner, I am excited to know more about Blockchains and Big Data Analytics. I hope companies like IBM / Microsoft will showcase new technologies to promote and boost Blockchain and Big Data Analytics.

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TRANSFORMING WITH IT AUTOMATION Looking at various technologies with a focus on customer experience enhancement for Jumbo Retail stores as well as providing excellent after sales services for our customers, V Suresh, CIO of Jumbo Group aims to finish the technology implementation roll out by next year.

V SURESH, CIO, JUMBO GROUP

Tell us about the year 2018.

What changes/evolution did it bring to your thinking or mindset as a CIO/IT head?

Among the technologies that we are looking to implement within Jumbo Group is IT automation that aims to improve efficiency,

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optimise cost, reduce human intervention with IT systems and ultimately enforce a paperless office. Another technology that caught our attention is the Robotic Process Automation (RPA), which streamlines enterprise operations and reduces costs. As an application technology, we can configure software or a ‘robot’ to automate mundane rules-based business processes and capture and interpret applications for processing a transaction in an ERP system.

The holistic approach of IT automation and RPA helps us to reduce repetitive, manual tasks. These technologies will allow teams to be more productive and reduce errors while devoting extra man hours to serve customers, enhance business processes, and come up with better collaboration and meaningful works that will benefit the company in the future.

interactions on our ecommerce site, chatbots offer a prime opportunity to interact with our customers and offer solutions and answers to their searches and queries through Artificial Intelligence (AI). Chatbots also drive more sales online and improve customer experience by providing the same kind of excellent service that our shoppers will get from either Jumbo in-store or on our ecommerce site.

In terms of the next big thing, there has been significant focus on technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), due to increasing consumer demand for new sensory experiences.

Innovation and immersive experiences are at the forefront of consumer technology and are some of the biggest factors impacting the latest trends.

Were you able to stick to your New Year resolutions? Did you achieve/over achieve/ under achieve?

In contrast, which technology of 2018 did you find futile/ non-relevant for the present and why?

The implementation of the above technologies is ongoing, and we are aiming to finish the rollout by mid of next year. At the moment, we are also looking at various other technologies with a focus on customer experience enhancement for Jumbo Retail stores as well as providing excellent after sales services for our customers.

While moving to the cloud has been the talk of the town for many years now, this technology is something that we are not yet keen to wholly implement within the group.

It may work well and is quite effective for sales, but economically, we are still trying to justify the ROI if we decide to move forward with cloud-based solutions.

In brief, which technology of 2018 attracted you the most?

Have you planned to implement the same in your organization?

With GITEX around the corner, what do you look forward at this tech fest this year?

Aside from the technologies I mentioned above, chatbots are another technology that we plan to implement this year. As we don’t want to miss out on any customer

This coming GITEX, I am still on the lookout for the latest offerings around IT automation, RPAs and business analytics including Bluetooth-enabled automation, IoT and Artificial Intelligence.

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COVER STORY

YAROB SAKHNINI, HEAD OF MIDDLE EAST, TURKEY AND AFRICA, JUNIPER NETWORKS

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COVER STORY

Making Multicloud a Reality Contrail Enterprise Multicloud provides a unified approach to enterprise operations that streamlines workflows and improves end-to-end visibility across bare metal servers, virtual machines and containers, along with network devices.

WORDS BY ANUSHREE DIXIT Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man, also needs a strong ‘platform’ to run.

Muscular strength, agility, speed and flexibility can take a step back if the platform on which you run is not compatible to the capability that you are putting on it.

It is the age of multi-cloud (or multicloud) and enterprises today have the option to distribute their assets, software and workload in multiple cloud environment. The dependence on a single vendor has also diminished from the marketplace. With Multicloud, organizations have the choice to have multiple vendors, cloud accounts and multiple premises to host their data.

It was exactly a year back that we brought you the Juniper’s vision for a cohesive future through our October 2017 cover feature. Cohesion was the vision and multicloud was the destination. This October, with Juniper we are also moving ahead and taking a look at how the organization is making the multicloud a reality for modern

enterprises to build their networks.

We sit down with Yarob Sakhnini, Head of Middle East, Turkey and Africa, Juniper Networks for some exclusive insights into Juniper’s 2019-2020 roadmap.

WEARING THE JUNIPER HAT Coming from Brocade Communications, Yarob brings in a wealth of experience in network automation and security and says that he sees Juniper as a company that is ideally positioned to satiate the demands of organizations that have embarked upon the journey of digital transformation. Speaking about the company’s capabilities in unifying the cyber security platform, Yarob says “Juniper Networks has continued to provide the building blocks for its security model, Juniper Networks’ unified cybersecurity platform powered by Software-Defined Secure Networks (SDSN). This solution integrates, centralizes and automates

defense from today’s sophisticated threat landscape. The company has continued to strengthen its security portfolio that extends threat prevention deeper into the network – down to the switch level. These new and upgraded solutions include a Policy Enforcer, which automates the enforcement of security policies across the network and quarantines infected endpoints to prevent threats across firewalls and switches through Junos Space Security Director and Contrail Security, a solution specifically designed to allow enterprises and cloud providers to protect applications running in multiple cloud environments.”

“With many other extensions, enhancements and collaborations, Juniper will continue to work with our partners through the Juniper Partner Advantage program in order to deliver network infrastructure and virtualization to our customers in the region,” he adds.

KEY ANNOUNCEMENTS AND COLLABORATION Two new cloud specializations that will address the role cloud is playing in driving IT adoption

Cloud Integrator Specialization - designed to support our existing partners to build their cloud practices

Cloud First Specialization - for born-in-the-cloud partners wishing to expand their expertise in secure cloud infrastructure

Address new market opportunities through new partner specializations based on emerging opportunities

Simplified core requirements, plus new partner specializations.

Enriched rewards aligned to specializations will elevate partner OCTOBER 2018

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JUNIPER PARTNER PROGRAM IN A GLIMPSE Two new cloud specializations that will address the role cloud is playing in driving IT adoption.

Cloud Integrator Specialization - designed to support our existing partners to build their cloud practices

Cloud First Specialization - for born-in-the-cloud partners wishing to expand their expertise in secure cloud infrastructure Address new market opportunities through new partner specializations based on emerging opportunities

Simplified core requirements, plus new partner specializations.

Enriched rewards aligned to specializations will elevate partner

A SMOOTH DRIVE DOWN THE NETWORK In heterogenous compute environments, where emerging technologies like self driving networking are putting increased burden on the networking infrastructure, Juniper is making networking radically simple from the core with its engineering.

Simplicity in sophistication is a walk on a tight rope. In the era of immense network complexities and overriding operational costs, Juniper is bringing in innovation at steadfast speed. “While we’re no longer physically tripping over ethernet cables, we are now caught between rigid network infrastructure and complicated programing interfaces. Engineering Simplicity is a move towards user-friendly, intuitive networking. Juniper Networks has always been about innovation that stems from a focus on engineering and we believe that creating simplicity through engineering is the highest form of innovation,” says Yarob. An industry example to illustrate this can be seen through how data centers are highly virtualized spanning multiple 20

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geographies and clouds. While this helps to reduce total cost of ownership and increase long-term investment returns, the complexity of building and managing them can be challenging. “At Juniper, we are seeing that data center networks that are specifically optimized for the cloud are in high demand as they reduce complexity, risk and cost while increasing agility and enhancing customer and employee experience.

Organizations that choose to implement automated infrastructure means they are quickly able to deploy new applications, services, and technologies with a range of capabilities,” he adds.

NETWORK AUTOMATION FOR BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION Automation and digital transformation are on the priority list of any organization, but what to automate and how much to automate is still a debate.

How is Juniper helping organizations in building the right security automation architecture?

“IT security is integral to the network, as much as the network is to business transformation. The biggest data security challenges faced by enterprises are the evolving nature of

attacks, the threat surface expanding exponentially and lastly, that many companies are struggling to keep up.

In a new study launched by Juniper Networks and Ponemon Institute, it is reported that fighting cybercrime will cost businesses globally more than $6 trillion annually and there will be 3.5 million unfilled security jobs by 2021. Therefore, building automated security into the network fabric provides enterprises with exceptional performance, reliability and intelligence to thwart attacks, minimize the disruption of services and maintain positive reputations amongst customers,” says Yarob.

DO IT YOUR SELF The Self-Driving Network, similar to a self-driving car, is an autonomous network that is predictive and adaptive to its environment. It simultaneously increases economies of scale and efficiencies, while decreasing operating costs. As a result, it delivers an optimized and customized quality of experience inexpensively to the enduser. Yarob says “When automation frameworks are infused with telemetry, big data analytics, and machine learning, and network guidance is provided to self-analyze, self-discover, self-configure, and self-correct, the autonomous network is born. The aim of the Self-Driving Network is to eliminate the “manual work” required to keep networks running. By implementing a Self-Driving Network that encompasses all of the advantages provided by automation, companies can redeploy their resources to focus on other tasks that provide a higher return on investment (ROI). This greatly benefits the individual who no longer needs to devote time, energy, and labor on repetitive tasks, and the company as a whole by having resources/capacity available to refocus their talent towards strategic activities requiring nuanced thought and reasoning.”

DRIVING PARTNERS AND DRIVE WITH THE PARTNERS Juniper has always believed in walking

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À LA CARTE GITEX

continuously to future trends.

Simple path to secure automated Multicloud

5G/IOT Distributed mobile cloud

hand-in-hand with the partners to ensure partners feel empowered to serve customers and are prepared for the industry changes ahead. Juniper Partner Advantage Program is one such initiative that is designed to deliver greater value to partners.

As digital transformation emerges as the new reality for enterprise, Juniper is making sure that its partners are armed up for the journey. “Juniper is driving digital transformation with partners by equipping them with the tools they need to sell network infrastructure solutions successfully.

Partner-focused marketing campaigns have enabled Juniper’s partners to tap into new business opportunities around data center and network security. These campaigns arm partners with the tools they need to sell our entire, secure infrastructure solutions as well as understand the needs of specific environments like campus and data center architecture.

Juniper fundamentally believes in interoperability and choice, and this is why the company is expanding unified cybersecurity platform through forging alliances with key technology alliance partners,” says Yarob.

THE FASTEST RACE TO 5G The enterprise demand for high speed networking and high security will triple in a few years as IoT, 5G and hybrid cloud will dawn as the new realities rather than roadmap. It is très important to increase the bandwidth demands that would drive this while protecting

Multi-touch interactive story board for cloud transformation

the network against advanced cyber attacks.

Juniper is all set to lead the ethernet game and champion 5G with its 400GbE transition roadmap. “We recently announced a broad 400GbE refresh to our wide-area network, data center and enterprise portfolio with leading routing and switching densities. The new technology will help Juniper’s service provider, cloud and enterprise customers recalibrate network economics as they transition to 400GbE to lower cost-per-bit while keeping up with increasing bandwidth demands from emerging 5G, augmented and virtual reality, cloud, and 4K video production and distribution. This highlights upcoming 400GbE innovations across Juniper’s networking solutions for a wide range of use cases, including backbone, peering, data center interconnect, scale-out metro core, telco-cloud services and hyperscale data center IP fabrics, all of which demand high bandwidth, low latency and uncompromised security.” Yarob also says that as service providers, cloud operators and enterprises all face the challenge of keeping up with exponentially growing traffic, Juniper continues to challenge the existing economics of networking across our major product lines to meet the needs of a variety of key customer use cases.

With these innovations, Juniper is giving customers unprecedented capacity while also providing the flexibility and programmability needed to adapt

COMING TO THE REALITY When we talk about a smart city or a smart enterprise, it is not necessary that the city or the organization will have all new components or equipment. Smart also means retrofitting. Smart also means updating the exisiting systems or components and make it smarter by adding additional capacities to it, so that they can co-exist in the new hybrid atmosphere.

Juniper also believes in the fact that evolution requires the graceful coexistence of both existing and new infrastructure, Juniper has architected Contrail Enterprise Multicloud to support multivendor environments. Based on open interfaces and standard protocols, Contrail Enterprise Multicloud can be inserted into diverse networking environments, allowing enterprises to avoid unnecessary vendor lock-in.

“Contrail Enterprise Multicloud integrates both overlay and underlay management into an open platform. Whether an enterprise is looking for device or fabric management, or overlay policy and control, Contrail Enterprise Multicloud provides a unified approach to enterprise operations that streamlines workflows and improves end-to-end visibility across bare metal servers, virtual machines and containers, along with network devices,” says Yarob.

FINALLY We are living in a complex world – physically and virtually. Physical complexities have not allowed engineering geniuses to build another Burj Khalifa, even though we have all the raw materials in place.

Self-driving networks and Multicloud environments are the complex scenarios of today that are bringing simplicity to the business en route transformation – paradox it is. The networking infrastructure is a barbed fence that not all vendors can enter. For Juniper, the stage is set and the road is clear and the milestones that it has crossed so far has been promising for the digital enterprises.

Let’s see what the customers have to say at their stands at the GITEX. OCTOBER 2018

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SPA WITH A DIGITAL TOUCH From offering the latest modern treatments to connecting with guest on social media, technology is part of every aspect of the spa, salon and beauty industry. The Titans in an exclusive conversation with the IT Head of House of ENSPA on a how the new technologies that spas are incorporating into their treatment offerings and how traditions continue to have a place in a high-tech world. Hemanth Shetty also discusses on a special feature how UAE provides a special platform for the start-ups to grow.

operating space.

What are the technological advancements that have taken place in the salon and spa industry? What are the implementations you have made in your company?

Spa Salon booking software, Cloud computing, Gadgets, Apps, integrated systems, loyalty systems, online booking, contact centre, professional website, Wi-Fi, Audio Visual systems, Database, ERP, AI , BI tools, Social media marketing and visual imaging are some of the technological advancements that have taken place in the salon and spa industry.

We have a data centre and a contact centre of our own. We have implemented spa salon software, cloud hosting, Apps, Integrated systems, Loyalty programs, online booking, professional website, music system, digital signage system, ERP, Database and social media marketing.

HEMANTH SHETTY IT HEAD, HOUSE OF ENSPA Tell us more about your company.

Through our three companies, House of ENSPA, focuses on offering the highest level of spa, salon and beauty services and products to customers across the region. Formed in 2013 as a holding company for two grooming concepts and a retail distribution and training company, House of Enspa operates 18 spas and salons comprising 20,000 sq. ft. retail and

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How do technology-oriented start-ups establish market orientation for their businesses?

In technology-oriented start-ups, Innovation and technological brilliance take higher status than the marketing skills. Having said that market orientation along with superior technology is crucial for achieving market place success. Some of the strategies followed by the companies are: Networking- Networking can help you generate new sales leads, deepen connections with existing contacts and learn useful information about your markets. User recommendation and word of mouth play an important role in marketing the remarkable product

Virality into their product- marketers around the globe started using a new technique that allowed them to implement virality to products or services. Some of the startups have attracted millions of customers by building virality into their product. Viral marketing is scalable. Even if you’re a start-up, it can help you get high-quality customers with low acquisition costs.

Target customers-Big data, Artificial Intelligence and Business Intelligence tools are crucial to understand the behaviour of the potential customers and increase the conversion rate.

Social Media-Advertising on social media channels is cost effective and at the same time provides more visibility and conversion Affiliation- Offeraffiliate program throughvarious networks available. Affiliation brings unique opportunities for the business resulting in more customers and more revenue Customer feedback - is very important as it helps to improve the product and match the market demands.

What is your roadmap for the year 2019?

We are opening 4 new branches in Dubai and have a plan in place for Sharjah. As a part of expansion plan we are recruiting 100+ employees and expanding our office space and setting up a new training centre in Dubai.

We are expanding our distribution business to 2 more countries in Asia and are planning to collaborate with many new product suppliers from Europe.

Wi-Fi access to customers, IPads and new loyalty program are some of the other plans we have in place to improve customer experience in spas and salons.

IT Security and Disaster recovery site are some of the other priorities we are planning to implement soon

TOP CIO IN MENA

EVALUATING TECHNOLOGIES TO TRANSFORM BUSINESS PROCESS Flemingo is one of the travel retail operators with business across several different channels. In an exclusive conversation with Shailesh Mani, GM – Information Systems of the company.

Tell us about the year 2018.

What changes/evolution did it bring to your thinking or mindset as a CIO/IT head?

During 2018, it has been observed that the transition of CIO from technologyoriented delivery head to a senior business executive has become a need of the hour process. To bring IT along with business diversion process (which is very common with most of the leading business house now a days), a CIO should have a thought process similar to CEOs / CFOs. Thus, according to me the thinking / mindset of a CIOs should transform to a businessoriented thought process incorporating technology into the same.

Were you able to stick to your New year resolutions? Did you achieve/over achieve/ under achieve?

SHAILESH MANI, GM -INFORMATION SYSTEMS, FLEMINGO INTERNATIONAL

To me, a new year resolution in terms of technology is a motivation to think differently as the way you were handling technology. Whether you shall get 100 % success on the same is secondary.

These are actionable ideas and that might get changed from initial thought during the time passes as technology is always fast growing. In my case, I will not be in a position to evaluate the new year resolutions were a success in terms of achievements, but definitely can confirm it influenced a lot in my way of working and thought process. At the same time, I feel its early to evaluate the result as well. .

In brief, which technology of 2018 attracted you the most?

Have you planned to implement the same in your organization?

In 2018 , there are many technologies which got more acceptance and maturity. Blockchain and AI has got better acceptability within different verticals

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and cloud technology had expanded its wings to larger areas. As per my thought process, adoption of these technologies should be purely based on the business requirements and suitability. The attracted technology concept was of blockchain , but unfortunately there was no immediate business requirement from my organization and we had initiated the process of evaluating the cloud platform acceptance in our business line and the process is on…

How active are you as a CIO/ IT head on social media platforms? Do you find them a good platform to share knowledge or has it become too monotonous?

Involvement of an individual to social media is purely depends on person to person. In my experience the available social media platforms are not contributing much in terms of knowledge sharing or technology releases / updates. At the same time some of them are definitely provides some leads to the new products or technologies. You have to get to other platforms to have a detailed/specific technical information.

With GITEX around the corner, what do you lookforward at this tech fest this year?

As always there are lots of technological developments / improvements that have taken place or still taking place all over the world and this is the best opportunity to evaluate, understand and compare the utilization of such technologies globally.

The best part of the GITEX is that we can interact deeper in terms of technology and its effective utilization directly from the Principles / direct distributors, which will enable any CIO / CTO / Technology leader to co-relate the same with their business requirements in a better way.

TOP CIO IN MENA

VISION: TO CONNECT IT WITH BUSINESS Recalling 2018 as the year of digital transformation and other technological innovations, Shine Ibrahim, IT Manager of MAZ investments continues to see more digital acceleration specially in technologies such as IoT and AI. growing landscape of technologies and solutions such as mobile, cloud, IoT & AI the opportunities are just as great as the challenges.

Were you able to stick to your New year resolutions? Did you achieve/over achieve/ under achieve?

With the vital relation to the top management, IT team is heading to this achievement which requires lot of Digital experiments or case studies and unparalleled gathering of industry experts, peers and solution providers will help to achieve it.

In brief, which technology of 2018 attracted you the most?

Have you planned to implement the same in your organization?

SHINE IBRAHIM, IT MANAGER, MAZ INVESTMENTS

Tell us about the year 2018.

What changes/evolution did it bring to your thinking or mindset as a CIO/IT head?

I like to recall the year 2018 as the one which boost the pace of Digital Transformation and technological innovations. The vision of CIO should be to connect IT with business and functional leaders of his organization.

Businesses must extract suitable insights from a growing diversity of content, transactions, and feeds in which companies need to changeround how data is captured, preserved, accessed and transformed; and CIO’s need to shift not only technology but also their leadership role and IT culture.

In the year 2018, we see even more digital acceleration and diversity. With a

As CIO from the investment division focusing the real-estate & property development divisions, we have a plan to implement DX based solutions for finding the rental, visiting the units, lease application, fraud prevention and sign lease with customers complete digitally. From the CIO perspective, we would like welcome any of new invention from service providers.

If you are a part of real estate industry, then, you need to be aware of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as the revolutionary technology. In this industry, the best way to get the best chance of acquiring a sale is to provide clients with the property that’s perfect for them. The AI will then be able to take over by personalizing every customer interaction, bringing all of your marketing activity composed in such a way that it can aggregate the data and figure out what will work best at every fingertip. For instance, it can mold its messaging and the imagery it uses based on what’s worked well for other, similar customers. AI can even be used in the field of property management to monitor vital metrics and to predict when maintenance will be essential or when errors might occur. It can even be used to monitor

specific geographic areas and long-term trends in crime rates, property prices and more.

In contrast, which technology of 2018 did you find futile/ non-relevant for the present and why?

In the view of past tendencies, time was taken to reach the customers, as most buyers and sellers were not present in the real estate market and also they were not tech savvy, but the evolution is taking place in the Middle East market. When the crowds do adapt, technology can wipe-out industries overnight, we’ve seen it many times. That’s how industries change, in today’s world of rapid technology change takes place quickly.

How active are you as a CIO/ IT head on social media platforms? Do you find them a good platform to share knowledge or has it become too monotonous?

To stamp success tiles in innovative technology world, regardless of any industry, gathering of industry experts, peers and solution providers is vital. However, Social Media platforms like CIO-200 by Enterprise Channels MEA, GITEX and Symposiums featuring cyber security and digital transformation also win the approach to connect, meet and share ideas.

With GITEX around the corner, what do you look forward at this tech fest this year?

As major predictions suggest, at GITEX people will look more at innovative ideas or solutions based on AI to achieve Digital transformation of their business bases mostly on SME sector, which is 94 percentage in total volume & 86 percentage in the workforce. Apart from that digital transformation, including blockchain, drones, robotics, 3D printing and the Internet of Things (IoT) will feature its presence through pioneering products.

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VISION AHEAD OF ITS TIME As a start-up company, Alliance Bankey CSP is far ahead from the goals they set for this fiscal year. As an IT Director for the company, Anas says that he has acheived his new year resolution in developing a reputed technology secured ecommerce platform built on trust.

into the market will be a boosting factor in promoting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

Were you able to stick to your New year resolutions? Did you achieve/over achieve/under achieve?

When I look back into the new year resolution in developing a reputed technology based secured ecommerce platform which can built on trust, I can say that I have achieved. As a startup company we are far ahead from the goals we set for this fiscal year.

In brief, which technology of 2018 attracted you the most?

Have you planned to implement the same in your organization?

ANAS K, IT DIRECTOR, ALLIANCE BANKEY CSP

Tell us about the year 2018.

What changes/evolution did it bring to your thinking or mindset as a CIO/IT head?

As an IT Director, I am responsible to learn and implement new technologies to develop myself and to improve the productivity of our organization. Exercising free-thinking and embracing changes can create situations that produce problem-solving, market ready products and services.

Considering the present macroeconomic factors in the region and the importance of implementing the innovative technologies 26

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In my view, Cloud Based Artificial Intelligence Services will be the most impacted Technology introduced by this year. For years, Engineers are working on machine learning and artificial neural network technology in order to make it more affordable, easy to use and easily available to anybody. Amazon Web Services is one of the best examples of this and this is the technology behind amazon Alexa. Artificial Intelligence tools in the cloud means that advance machine learning widely accessible to many different businesses and that will make information technology as the backbone for many businesses. The use of artificial intelligence will be deployed in our upcoming ecommerce project and it will be launched in the coming months.

In contrast, which technology of 2018 did you find futile/ non-relevant for the present and why?

Out of the most technologies, Internet of things (IoT) is introduced to makes human effort easier. But the decrease in the Market for the IoT is a reality now. Just a few years

ago, it looked like every home and business were on their way to being fully connected to the internet. This was the promise of the Internet of Things (IoT). Internet of Things is still alive and well to some degree.

According to the latest statistics and predictions worldwide spending on IoT is forecast to reach $772.5 billion by the end of 2018. IoT market share will be dominated by smart cities and industrials, with smart utilities and wearables at the very bottom.

But still consumers are taking their time adopting new technologies. The main reasons for consumer applications lag so far behind are scalability and security, as well as troubling instances of hacking and privacy breaches. In fact, cyberattacks are increasing in a very high rate.

On the business side, IoT is a trouble maker.

A recent Cisco study of 1,845 business and IT decision-makers found that almost 75 percent of IoT projects fail. So 75% of IoT are futile which doesn’t make it non relevant but it has miles to go.

How active are you as a CIO/ IT head on social media platforms? Do you find them a good platform to share knowledge or has it become too monotonous?

Social medias are making a large impact on society, like that it can help people to learn and understand new techniques and technologies and implement same on their business as well. I am an active participant of social media and I don’t have the opinion that social medias are monotonous.

With GITEX around the corner, what do you look forward at this tech fest this year?

GITEX is one of the best ways to uncover new perspective. As a Tech enthusiastic, in my view Artificial Intelligence (AI) will rule the tech-world for the coming years and I hope it will reflect in the GITEX 2018.

TOP CIO IN MENA

JOURNEY TO THE TOP Although AI in Healthcare is at its infancy, Keith Francis, CIO of Oasis Hoapital belives that the technology has great potential in the years to come. The CIO has already begun his research and engagement with vendors to fully understand the unique capabilities of AI solutions.

low from their previous experiences. Given these challenges and the multiple issues we faced during the phases leading up to the go live, I had to make changes to my thinking and my mindset in order to ensure we succeeded. I learnt to be more resilient, find better ways for the team and me to cope with stress and bring positivity to our Stakeholders by showing movement. I learnt to reflect on my learning every day, acknowledge my strengths and weakness which in turn helped me grow in confidence, momentum and yet have reasonable expectations of myself.

Were you able to stick to your New year resolutions? Did you achieve/over achieve/ under achieve?

KEITH FRANCIS, CIO, OASIS HOSPITAL

Tell us about the year 2018.

What changes/evolution did it bring to your thinking or mindset as a CIO/IT head?

Changes to oneself is usually driven by the experiences that one faces in life.

The year 2018 presented itself with some major challenges. We were in the midst of replacing our Hospital Information System with a new Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system and the go live was set as 30 Mar 2018. I was tasked with the job of implementing the EMR within a tight deadline. To add to the pressure was the fact that the Hospital had several failed EMR implementations before I had taken over and the expectations from the stakeholders were 28

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I accomplished a number of goals that were set out at the beginning of the year be it personal or business. However, like all things in life, things never go as planned. Goals that you envisioned at the beginning of the year either become no longer relevant in the middle of the year or more important priorities take precedence. The year 2018 has been good as I have accomplished what I set out to do apart from a few that did not materialize or have been pushed back.

In brief, which technology of 2018 attracted you the most?

Have you planned to implement the same in your organization?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) did not start this year but it certainly has increased its pace in 2018.

I have taken a keen interest to get to know more about this technology. Although AI in Healthcare is at its infancy, the technology has great potential and hopefully in the coming years, we see it grow. A lot more lies ahead. We have not yet implemented the technology at our Hospital but have started our research and engagement with Vendors to fully understand the unique capabilities of AI solutions and tools that are on offer that

can vastly improve patient care or any other healthcare related activity.

In contrast, which technology of 2018 did you find futile/ non-relevant for the present and why?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the one technology that I find futile at least for the present. It was set to revolutionize the industry but this technology is rife with issues. Unless major steps are taken to address these concerns, the adoption of this technology for business will remain less than promising. Issues such as difficulties in integration, lack of standards, security dangers etc. have caused major headaches to the companies that tried to implement them. According to a study conducted by Cisco, nearly 70% of the IoT initiatives taken up by business have failed. Hopefully this technology will mature in the coming years.

How active are you as a CIO/ IT head on social media platforms? Do you find them a good platform to share knowledge or has it become too monotonous?

I am semi active on social media platform but in my opinion, it is a good platform to share knowledge and inform Customers about new/upcoming products and is also effective when dealing with customer’s doubts and issues. If used wisely, social media can be a powerful business tool.

With GITEX around the corner, what do you look forward at this tech fest this year?

This tech fest, I am looking forward to see what’s on offer in the space of Augmented and Virtual Reality technologies. Also interesting to me would be to know more about the advances that have been made for Smart cities.

TOP CIO IN MENA

IN SYNC WITH FUTURE “Edge Computing stands to shake up how we think about the cloud, and how it will be used in 2019 and beyond.Edge computing is a return to “distributed computing,” where processing power is spread out over multiple computers. You might think cloud computing is a form of distributed computing too, considering that the cloud can route your request to an available server”

In my humble opinion, I believe I was thankfully able to achieve our business objectives and New Year resolutions in relation to my goals for this year so far. We have many projects that are underway and many that have already been completed to support the objectives we set for year 2018

In brief, which technology of 2018 attracted you the most?

Have you planned to implement the same in your organization?

We’ve gotten so used to “the cloud” that this next tech trend sounds counterintuitive.

Edge Computing stands to shake up how we think about the cloud, and how it will be used in 2019 and beyond.

Edge computing is a return to “distributed computing,” where processing power is spread out over multiple computers. You might think cloud computing is a form of distributed computing too, considering that the cloud can route your request to an available server. It’s actually not: that server itself is still handling all the computing work on a single machine.

How active are you as a CIO/ IT head on social media platforms? Do you find them a good platform to share knowledge or has it become too monotonous?

FAHIM HALAWA, HEAD OF IT, GULF CAPITAL

Tell us about the year 2018.

What changes/evolution did it bring to your thinking or mindset as a CIO/IT head?

Looking into the year 2018, and being a leader within the technology industry, I focused my mindset and direction towards the Cyber Security and Cloud Computing, in addition to Business Intelligence as this is where the future is heading in terms

of information technology as well as the business world in general. It is said that the only true constant is change, and this is especially true for the constantly evolving world of technology.

Were you able to stick to your New Year resolutions? Did you achieve/over achieve/ under achieve?

I believe to be quite active on various social media platforms as I believe they are great communication channels and can provide a lot of insight regarding many different market trends

With GITEX around the corner, what do you look forward at this tech fest this year?

During the upcoming GITEX 2018 convention, I am eagerly looking forward to exploring more on Cyber Security & Cloud providers

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INFLUENCING THE BOTTOM LINE The investment in technology must be able to justify the impact to a certain degree in the area of innovation, risk , productivity etc.. If that not possible then the investment will not have expected outcome especially in current volatile market condition

really paid off in improving productivity and digital transformation. We also have done substantial investment in those areas and have really helped us in our business.

In contrast, which technology of 2018 did you find futile/ non-relevant for the present and why?

I don’t believe there are any technologies that are futile. It’s a matter of knowing what your business needs and taking right decision in placing right technologies in the company. The investment must be able to justify the impact to a certain degree in the area of innovation, risk , productivity etc.. If that not possible then the investment will not have expected outcome especially in current volatile market condition. Its our duty to safe guard investors’ money by choosing technology that have an impact in the organization.

SHANAKA PERERA, TECHNOLOGY MANAGER, INTERCONTINENTAL DUBAI MARINA

How active are you as a CIO/ IT head on social media platforms? Do you find them a good platform to share knowledge or has it become too monotonous?

Social Media is part of our life style. Its need and required in to live up with. Twitter / Linkedin had being the popular for us to reach out and share knowledge.

Tell us about the year 2018.

What changes/evolution did it bring to your thinking or mindset as a CIO/IT head?

In brief, which technology of 2018 attracted you the most?

Have you planned to implement the same in your organization?

With GITEX around the corner, what do you look forward at this tech fest this year?

In contrast year 2018 is a slow growth despite of many emerging technologies. This has strength potential opportunity for looking at best practices in running IT operation and finding workable alternative models in day to day business needs. I believe due to the flat growth in current market conditions, as an IT Head we are forced to look at various factors that will influence bottom line of the company.

There are many emerging technologies at our finger tips such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things (IOT) Blockchain, Cloud Computing, Mobile/ Social Internet etc. though some of those technologies yet to mature in the Hospitality sector where it will take some time in adapting in to the industry.

However, there are some technologies such as Cloud Computing / Automation / Mobile & Social internet, IOT, Big Data which have shown significant influence and have

GITEX is an important event that provide us an opportunity to Experience, Learn and Network. As an IT Manager it’s important that we keep our self with all the new technologies that are available. GITEX provide us an opportunity to know and experience those technologies and most importantly build relationship with vendors, tech giants etc. This year I am really interested in knowing all the innovation that are with AI and Big Data.

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Visit us at Gitex 2018 Dubai World Trade Centre Hall 6, C6-01

COVER STORY

H.E MANSOOR JUMA BU OSAIBA, CEO OF NEDAA

Critical Communication

Reliable, Refined Since its inception in 2008, Nedaa has adopted the best managerial and operational practices in order to achieve highest standards in the world of communications. In an exclusive rendezvous with H.E Mansoor Juma Bu Osaiba, CEO of Nedaa who tell us how Nedaa is not only seeking to meet customers’ needs, but also to provide high end solutions and most advanced technologies in line with its vision, objectives and overall strategy that goes hand in hand with the strategic approach of Dubai government and its private sector

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COVER STORY

How was Nedaa established and what were the core objectives of the organization?

Nedaa was established as a small department of Dubai Police in 2002.

The core objective of the establishment was to pursue technology that will befit the IMF forum that was held in Dubai in 2003. We were in pursuit of a technology platform that can complement the organizing committees and other government organizations who had stakes and role to play in the forum. The committee zeroed in to go with TETRA systems which was established by the European standards. It was a good decision that was followed by a successful installation. From there we decided to roll out more TETRA networks.

that you walked through?

Since 2011, we took the initiative to implement our own dedicated network— 4G network for NEDAA and for mission critical operations. We faced a lot of challenges initially with the standardization and regulation from the other organizations responsible for broadbrands as 4G network in the market was extremely commercialized.

We were looking for a mission critical network which can contain mission critical features. The 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) imbibed the changes into the standardisations to have mission critical features as a part of the releases. These releases were further implemented by the manufacturers. The committee of 3GPP & manufactures gathered and accepted the features. From 2012 to 2014, we did some intricate studies with our key customers on how we will be implementing 4G for the government.

We had many workshops, to determine their requirements & what is their scope of this networks. Our customer’s needs, drove the scope of this network.

How did Nedaa go on to become a government entity?

In 2008 Sheikh Mohammed issued a decree, officially establishing Nedaa as a government entity and the objective was to unify the communications for all Dubai governments under one network which is TETRA and also provide services for such events in Dubai and northern emirates. Since then, we started adding more base stations & we have many clients that vary from governments, semi governments, private sectors focusing on public safeties etc... We cater to different verticals like transportation, utilities, etc. One of the examples is Dubai police ambulance and civil defence. In a month we have around 27000 users using TETRA systems. Moreover, as technologies grow rapidly, the demand from our clients for broadbands and networks is also increasing equally.

Tell us about your 4G Network implementation and the critical journey

That pretty much looks like a long drive down the network that you had. So what were the next steps in allocating the frequency bands and tendering that followed?

From 2013 to 2015, we had huge discussions with the telecommunication regulatory to have dedicated frequency bands to operate such networks. We had workshops with TRA in UAE. They then allocated the frequency bands to run those networks. From 2015 to 2016, we had tendering and, in the beginning of 2016, the project was allotted to Nokia. We split the project into phases.

Phase 1 had 43 sites bifurcated which ended in 2017. In 2018, we moved in with 54 sites and for 2019 we have plans to cover the southern side of Dubai, Expo 2020 site and Al Maktoum Airport. We shall continue our roll outs till 2020 to cover the entire Dubai including Hatta.

We have reliable critical communication infrastructure in Dubai

property management, contract and procurements. In 2012, I moved to Nedaa as the Deputy CEO. In 2016, I got promoted as the CEO by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, crown prince of Dubai, UAE.

WORDS BY ANUSHREE DIXIT

Tell us about your early life and career, prior to Nedaa.

My early career started with Dubai Ports Authority in 1995 -1998 as Network Engineer. In 1998, I got an opportunity to join Thuraya Satellite Company as a Satellite Control Engineer. This was before the first satellite launch in 2000. I worked with Thuraya from 1998 – 2004. Then I again got an opportunity to go back to DPA to work as Business Information Manager to manage all IT and technology. In 2006, I moved to Dubai Customs where I handled a very different portfolio of

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– from TETRA to LTE networks. An example would be The Address Hotel incident during which everyone used the TETRA network and not the regular commercial networks. We are there anywhere, anytime. We have supported major events as well in Dubai. We support Dubai World Cup (Horse Race) every year as well as critical events in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain government etc.

This has been an achievement for the organizations.

This network is 100% managed by UAE nationals. We do not have subcontractors.

During 9/11, the US discovered that there is a big issue in terms of coordination during calamities as such.

There are tons of networks but the civil defence is isolated from the rescue team. The rescue team is isolated from the Police and the police isolated from the ambulance. And this is also what used to be in Dubai. Our objective was to unify everything under one team.

Earlier there was no cloud or other technologies as exist today. But since inception, and till date, there have been major changes not only from the technology perspective but also from the needs of the customers.

Hackers are always interested in attacking the critical national grids and Nedaa happens to be the spine of critical communication. How are you keeping security worries at bay?

Now-a-days, no one is 100% cyber safe. We have added a lot of measures to protect our networks. We are not commercial but into public safety.

We are completely isolated and not connected to any networks such as the internet. The major difference lies in that fact that we do not cater to the regular customers but only government organizations. The commercial space is more exposed to hacking rather than private networks like mission critical networks.

You recently participated at the

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CC MENA 2018 held in Dubai. What did you showcase?

We demonstrated many applications on our booth and some of them were new technologies like AI. We have two networks – we introduced Airbus, a new handset. It can be used on the field which works with two modes – TETRA and 4G. It can do biometric and facial detections, onsite database queries etc. This technology did not exist 4 years ago. These kinds of networks are needed by Police, Civil Defence and those organizations who need two networks onsite. They can carry one device instead of two and this is designed specially for mission critical operations. Secondly, we introduced an application used for control rooms. We have our subsidiaries who offer control room solutions for major clients in Dubai. One of them is civil defence and Dubai airport control rooms. They have the state-of-the-art solutions. Other than these, we have a smartwatch which can show vital signs of human beings like pulse, heartbeat ratings, ECG, etc. From the control room, they can see and gauge the body language or state of the officers and they can talk to them. The smart watch is connected to our networks. We also have high definition cameras connected to our 4G networks. We also have had successful drone demonstrations last year.

We are heading steadfast to 5G. Regional carriers have also tested the 5G and making various devices IoT enabled and ready for the transformation. How armed up are you?

When we procured the systems, we did procure some main elements with 5G compatibility. We might see the first 5G handset in 2019 and then we shall approach our clients and look into their requirements. In 5G, we look into two sides – Fast network and low latency which is used for autonomous operations like autonomous cars. For example, if the doctor wants to operate a robot, they can use low latency

networks. But this all depends on the customer requirements.

As the CEO of Nedaa, what are your top three priorities in positioning your company in 2020?

We are working very closely with organizational committee of 2020. We are moving towards the target as all the sites should be ready 6 months before the event. As a CEO, I am looking forward to have my networks cater its purpose and cater for all the government and semi government entities within the events.

Every day, we have intense brainstorming with the team to discuss our objectives and review our networks.

We make sure our objectives are achieved and our networks are 100% available. We also discuss how the issues, if any, can be tackled.

Are you planning to expand your services beyond Dubai or UAE? We started in Dubai. But we have also extended our services to the other emirates as well. Sharjah airport , Sharjah government etc are connected to our TETRA networks, but all government.

As an operator for mission critical networks, we are the only established entity in UAE and our services have been a benchmark. We have had visitors from KSA to see how we have been functioning. We have had visitors from Kuwait as well. We are the only dedicated network worldwide with dedicated frequency allocation.

How are you gearing up for GITEX 2018?

We shall be demonstrating state-ofthe-art technologies at GITEX with our partners as well as Nokia. We are also shortlisting the applications that can be demonstrated at GITEX. This is our third year at GITEX. This year we shall look into other applications related to AI and how this mission critical networks can cater to AI needs of different organizations.

TOP CIO IN MENA

TECH TO WOW “To effectively implement the new technologies to wow the guests and at the same time adding value to all the stake holders. Developing inner talent would be another milestone to keep the standards intact and sustain quality of service”

Tell us more about your company and your role in it?

I am working as a Cluster Director of Information Technology for group of Marriott Hotels based in Riyadh under the ownership of DUR Hospitality Company. Marriott International, Inc. is a leading global lodging company with more than 6,700 properties across 130 countries and territories, reporting revenues of more than $22 billion in fiscal year 2017. Founded by J. Willard and Alice Marriott and guided by family leadership for more than 90 years, the company is headquartered outside of Washington, D.C. in Bethesda, Maryland. And Dur Hospitality is another leading Saudi hospitality company established in 1976, recognized for its extensive record in managing, developing and operating a wide portfolio of hotels and residential compounds across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In my new role I will make sure make synergies between the properties in the group and maximum revenue by implementing the right technologies making sure of the benefits of merging together.

SYED ATHAR, CLUSTER DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, RIYADH MARRIOTT HOTEL

Tell us about the year 2018.

What changes/evolution did it bring to your thinking or mindset as a CIO/IT head?

2018 is a game changing year for me. I have given responsibility of Cluster Marriott hotels owned by DUR Hospitality Co. In current politico-economic situation, my role got significant as we need to maximize the productivity in minimum resources available.

Were you able to stick to your New Year resolutions? Did you achieve/over achieve/ under achieve?

AYes, I am. The start of the year was superb.

I took initiatives curb the extra recurring expenses to the great extent. Achieved more than expected.

In brief, which technology of 2018 attracted you the most?

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the same in your organization?

Cloud and Virtualization attracted me a lot especially this tenure as I need to manage multiple properties at the same time. Already pushing for cloud solutions for many applications. Also, have planned Virtualization for new entities coming up in couple of months.

In contrast, which technology of 2018 did you find futile/ non-relevant for the present and why?

I strongly feel IP - Telephony is one of best technologies in recent times, but not so for Hospitality sector. With emergence of smart devices, IP telephony makes no real difference in guest experience.

How active are you as a CIO/ IT head on social media platforms? Do you find them a good platform to share knowledge or has it become too monotonous?

For sure, it’s a social media is not only good sharing information also useful building our PR across the region and in our field of expertise.

What is your roadmap for the year 2019?

To maintain on the top in guest satisfaction across the region and get the recognition on global level will be primary objective of 2019. To effectively implement the new technologies to wow the guests and at the same time adding value to all the stake holders. Developing inner talent would be another milestone to keep the standards intact and sustain quality of service. Gaining completive edge with successful integration of systems without the cluster hotels would be on focus for the year 2019.

With GITEX around the corner, what do you look forward at this tech fest this year?

Expecting as interesting as every year with loads of new things to uncover.

SOLUTION SHOWCASE

DATA MANAGEMENT IS THE KEY As the data authority for hybrid cloud, NetApp provides a full range of hybrid cloud data services that simplify management of applications and data across cloud and on-premises environments to accelerate digital transformation, empower global organizations, foster greater innovation, and optimize business operations.

solutions to help data-driven organizations thrive. As per our first quarter fiscal year 2019 financial results, our global net revenues grew 12% year-over-year to reach $1.47 billion over the previous year’s $1.32 billion.

Our product revenue grew 20% year-overyear and our all-flash array annualized net revenue run rate of $2,2 billion increased 50% year-over-year.

What are the various solutions you go to the market with? And how have they leveraged your position in the market?

We offer cloud-connected, all-flash systems and data management solutions, in addition to moving furtherahead forus to executewithin the Leaders Quadrant. NetApp, a Leader in the 2018 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Solid-State Arrays, has been recognized for its superior support for organizations modernizing their IT architecture with cloud-connected flash in a bid to transform their respective businesses. Our extensive portfolio of solutions and industry-leading applications greatly benefits our customers in terms of higher performance and efficiency, to name a few.

MAYA ZAKHOUR, HEAD OF DISTRIBUTION AND ALLIANCES, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA, NETAPP How has this year been for the company?

We delivered a very strong first quarter with revenue, gross margin, operating margin, and earnings per share all above our guidance. In Q1, we introduced substantial innovation across our portfolio, expanding our industry-leading cloud data services and introducing new partnerships, products and

What does your partner ecosystem look like?

Our channel partners are located in different key countries across MENA and we are further expanding our network of trusted partners in the region and worldwide, which we hope to achieve via GITEX. We work closely with our leading technology and reselling partners to ensure that they deliver tailored solutions that fit the needs of our clients.

If you are participating in GITEX, what are you planning to showcase this year?

NetApp will showcase its portfolio of nextgeneration data management solutions

in this year’s GITEX. Some outstanding examples are our artificial intelligence (AI) solution NetApp ONTAP AI powered by NVIDIA DGX supercomputers; NetApp AFF A800 cloud-connected all-flash storage; NetApp HCI and its cloud-like simplicity and automation; and NetApp Cloud Volumes, a fully-managed, cloud-native file storage service that integrates with the world’s largest public clouds.

How are your solutions aligning with the GITEX theme – ‘Experience Future Urbanism’?

In today’s digital era, more and more are gearing towards building new smart city ecosystems where tech-savvy citizens are able to access information easily using intelligent services and applications. This is the future urbanism. Data management is the key to unlocking value from connected devices and this is where NetApp solutions come in. As a data management specialist, we provide the simplest and most secure storage capabilities, empowering users to pull up the data anywhere, anytime.

Through our solutions, we can contribute to the smart transformation efforts taking place in different parts of the region such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia. NetApp is currently working with several government organizations in the Middle East that are involved in turning smart city concepts into reality.

What is your roadmap for the year 2019?

We see high IT spending in 2019 and we intend to capitalize on many opportunities related to this. As we work towards sustaining NetApp’s leadership in our industry, we are also looking at building new strategic partnerships; creating awareness of the benefits of digital transformation and the solutions to help make this happen.

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TOP CIO IN MENA

AN AGILE APPROACH “Our strategy for Agile approach worked very well and as a team we were able to deliver solutions to multiple business requirements at the speed of expectations.”

PRAFUL THUMMAR, VP - IT, JAZEERA AIRWAYS

Tell us about the year 2018.

What changes/evolution did it bring to your thinking or mindset as a CIO/IT head?

In brief, which technology of 2018 attracted you the most?

Have you planned to implement the same in your organization?

Year 2018 was planned to bring big changes at Jazeera Airways after several years of a stabilization phase. These changes, including expansion in flight routes and number of employees, translate to higher demands from IT. This brought immense challenges in terms of changes in culture, mindset and strategy. The case was similar at the whole organization: the time for preparation was limited. As the CIO, I had to envision a revised strategy along with getting the team to understand my approach. Earlier we seldom utilized the Agile approach, whereas now, we are applying this to most of the projects. We have been always ahead in terms of Digital Transformation, however, the rapid expansion added the fuel to apply it in new areas like customer experience, flight operations etc.

The customers today are so technology driven that there are many more expectations, other than those of basic service, which demand integrations at all levels of interactions.

The rapid growth also raises management demand for the Business Intelligence solution to provide the right information anytime anywhere for quick decisions. All in all, year 2018 opened new gates of my thinking and looking at every single situation as opportunity to do something different.

There are several technologies which are on the brink of maturity: Cloud, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Transformation and Internet of Things. For example, we adopted the cloud version of Oracle ERP since Oracle Fusion has many new and improved functionalities from its past versions. We had been using airline system on cloud since beginning, however few other systems are being migrated to cloud now. Additionally, this year, we, at Jazeera Airways built our own private airport terminal and developed a huge technological roadmap to improve customer experience. As for the upcoming technologies, I would say Blockchain is something which has made inroads in many industries and I would like to explore its potential in travel industry.

Were you able to stick to your New year resolutions? Did you achieve/over achieve/ under achieve?

Generally, it is very difficult to change from slow pace to rapid growth unless you take the right approach and maintain a system of checks and balances. I am happy to say, yes, our strategy for Agile approach worked very well and as a team we were able to deliver solutions to multiple business requirements at the speed of expectations. It is great learning too and at such times you can really see yourself, you can achieve much more than you think!

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In contrast, which technology of 2018 did you find futile/ nonrelevant for the present and why?

In my opinion, every new innovation finds a way. Something which is non-relevant today could become a trend down the line and Blockchain technology is very good example of it.

How active are you as a CIO/IT head on social media platforms? Do you find them a good platform to share knowledge or has it become too monotonous?

I am mostly passive user of social media platforms. I agree that yes, it is good platform to share knowledge, however more often than not, the sharing and forwarding becomes too much and repetitive, occupying most of your time if not managed well.

With GITEX around the corner, what do you look forward at this tech fest this year?

My focus would be on customer experience solutions. I am looking for good use cases of Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and Blockchain technologies, which can be adopted in cost efficient ways.

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TOP CIO IN MENA

THE TRANSFORMATIVE CIO The Titans sat for a quick byte with Ajay Rathi, Director of IT at Meraas Holding. Read excerpts from the Interview.

AJAY RATHI, IT DIRECTOR, MERAAS HOLDING

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TOP CIO IN MENA

‘Ajay Rathi’ as we all know, has been a well-known, influential, and popular CIO for over a decade now. How exciting or challenging has the journey been?

The journey till date has been very fulfilling.

Working in a public sector with the biggest oil company in India exposed me to massive projects. I left the comforts of a public sector company and joined a construction company, Damac in 2007 to take up the challenge of transforming the IT and the business. Worked through the hype and recession and in 2013 moved Meraas holding to take a bigger challenge of digital transformation of a holding company. I have been fortunate enough to work in organizations which were amiable to use IT to transform business.

There are n number of studies that show the gap between the Generation X, Y and Z and adoption of technology. But for CIOs like you, its always the other way round. You have been close to

Quick Bytes

technology like none other. How has the love for technology grown with you?

leisure and entertainment to foods and beverages.

There was a time when technology was a blackbox to business. But over the years business have understood that technology can help the business to grow. There has been a massive increase in adoption with the new generation, who have grown up with technology, entering the job market. Also as a CIO, we see the business getting benefited from technology and they are getting closure to IT.

Connected building, open networks, free-wifi…..etc are the demands of any modern infrastructure. Tell us more about innovation in these areas in light of your recent projects and implementations?

As Meraas, what kind of development or innovations are you seeing in the real estate and property development areas with technology playing a key role?

Real estate is a very important sector for GDP of UAE. Over of period of time, there has been many innovations which are differentiating one developer from the others. Using best of the design softwares to building on IT across the destination is helping business in terms of seamless movement of customers from malls to

2018 was the year of automation and 2019 will be year of

Bots and AI will be something we will be focusing in 2019

Wifi and connected building is done and over. Customer are expecting more and more from the business. Seamless access across destination and B2B platform to connects customers from other countries are something we are looking in near future.

2020 is just round the corner.

How is Meraas putting up a game-changing blueprint?

Meraas projects are unique and they remain unique till they are launched. We are bringing properties which are iconic with IT built in each elements.

Titan is fighting yourself to achieve more than people envisage. Titan is always having a bigger target.

Block chain was a little hyped and did not move from pilot projects and digital currency. Hope to see this grow up in the coming years

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TOP CIO IN MENA

LOOKING FORWARD TO DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES

Dr. Anis Mattur, Group Head of IT for Al-Yaqout Group says that there is high demand on retail technologies but not enough reliable vendors or solutions. At GITEX this year, he expects to see new technologies for the retail sectors and plans on implementing the same.

Those expansions gave us the opportunity to move the business from the manual regular business process to an automated state of art business technology wise, which helped our organization control the expansion and cut running cost which reflected positively on the ROI.

Were you able to stick to your New year resolutions? Did you achieve/over achieve/ under achieve?

So far, we still have some goals to achieve as per our plan. We still have time and are moving towards over achievement this year keeping in mind the resources and the budget, as it is all related.

In brief, which technology of 2018 attracted you the most?

Have you planned to implement the same in your organization?

DR. ANIS MATTUR, GROUP IT HEAD, AL-YAQOUT GROUP

I was interested mostly in retail technology tools which ease the business flow, increase staff productivity, control stock and products movement and tracking, give the management the analysis they are looking for to get the best results possible and increase their profit.

Mostly I was concerned on ERP implementation, RFID technology for retail, digital price tags, logistics management and van sales.

Tell us about the year 2018.

What changes/evolution did it bring to your thinking or mindset as a CIO/IT head?

In contrast, which technology of 2018 did you find futile/ non-relevant for the present and why?

2018 was an interesting year in terms of business, despite the cash flow issues in Kuwait market. In general, we noticed huge expansions for some groups including Al-Yaqout Group which I am managing the IT for.

Cloud computing when it comes to ERP, specially for the companies that implements all their business process on cloud.

This has high risk specially in Kuwait as we still do not have solid internet connectivity 24/7, which is risky and might cause huge

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business distribution in case of any network issue specially for retail business sectors.

However, I am with the hybrid designed infrastructure which utilize the cloud by providing local on premises offline capabilities, with selective services.

How active are you as a CIO/ IT head on social media platforms? Do you find them a good platform to share knowledge or has it become too monotonous?

To be honest I am not so active on social media specially this year. As I mentioned earlier, this year we had a lot of activities and goals to achieve which consumed most of my time covering the organization expansion.

As from my opinion, social media platforms overall is a main tool which should be utilized wiselyas it gets anybusiness connectedwith the community itself, giving business indications of marketneeds,companiesfeedbackandtheirown experience.

Having said that, social media can be a twoedge weapon, if any organization mis-used it; it can damage the business instead of pushing it forward.

With GITEX around the corner, what do you look forward at this tech fest this year?

I would like to see new technologies for retail sector, as this business sector is expanding rapidly and lacks the technology and automation which will definitely increase the products quality, service quality and even the prices will go down for the end user. At the same time, increase the profit and the ROI for the retail business owners.

So it is a Win-Win situation and from my experience especially this year, there is a high demand on retail technologies but not enough reliable vendors or solutions.

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND CORPORATE SERVICE CATALOGUE A quick note by Loay Ahmed Alnakhal on why Dubai, truly, deserves to be termed as the pioneer of AI implementations, specially when the government is equally smart.

LOAY AHMED ALNAKHAL, DUBAI MUNICIPALITY AMBASSADOR AND ICT PROJECT MANAGER Corporate service catalogue is the customer guidance in benefitting from government or commercial organizations. This guidance should include regulations of running a service, service request submission, required documents, service timeframe, and so on. Recently corporate services can be requested online without a presents of the customer, but if you are looking for exceptions, or if service delayed then you need to call the organization or visit to clarify and complete your issue.

How artificial intelligence can reduce the need to visit the organization? The answer is through AI tools. Chat bot is one of the tools, where most frequently asked questions can be entered to the database of questioning 44

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and related forms which can be given to the customer when it is requested through chatting, billing information, clarifying organization emails, or SMS, …etc.

Furthermore, another AI technique is Machine Learning. Where machine can remember what kind of service frequently visited by each customer, what is the default answers and simply report.

Robot can be implemented in organization information desk and have an access to organization service catalogue where can answer visitors enquiries and print or input customers applications.

AI also can remind customer with other services that might need to request, to apply in parallel rather than sequential.

DEWA (Dubai Electricity and Water Authority) used a bot chat called “Ramsah”, this to answer enquiries of customers, they started frequently asked questions that has been recorded during the past 10 years, as one important things in AI is you have a historical data years and years. Then the chat-bot will be able to analyze your enquiry and answer your questions, and most of the answers are correct if it is related to DEWA work field. Furthermore the robot connected to consumers accounts, so if a customer enquiry about electricity disconnection then system will answer him reason of that maybe late overdue payment, or if consumer want to disconnect or got a clearance letter, then robot can tells how much need to pay in order to get clearance letter.

Another example is in RTA (Road Transportation Authority), if you check the service catalogue presented at the web page for any kind of service like car registration or driving license or using the metro, then the chat-bot can answer your questions, without a presents of a human.

Other type of AI used in network systems, like what is applied at Dubai Municipality, an initiative called “White-ticket” used for technical support, the system will check all the nodes connected, run preventive scripts for technical support, cleaning hard disk from bugs, removing corrupted files, checking antivirus status, printer driver activities, ..etc. and it will register an incident in the Organization Technical Support System, it makes the staff a very happy staff, it reduce number of incoming emails and phone calls requesting technical support, reduce workload to the technicians, and make the work environment more productive.

At the end organization toward making their services easier to reach and faster to serve with more benefits.

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TOP CIO IN MENA

TRANSFORMING DIGITALLY FOR SUCCESS “Businesses that digitally transform will be able to connect more closely with customers, speed up the pace of innovation and, as a result, claim a greater share of profit in their sectors.

Today, digitally transformed companies have an edge; tomorrow, only digital businesses will succeed.”

achieve/over achieve/ under achieve?

Until now I have achieved more than what is expected for this year and looking forward to achieving more. The IT department in Ministry of Youth and Sport Affairs has won around 5 awards.

In brief, which technology of 2018 attracted you the most?

Have you planned to implement the same in your organization?

ArtificiaI Intelligence, and now we are working on the first chatbot that will fully replace the role of the call center.

In contrast, which technology of 2018 did you find futile/ non-relevant for the present and why?

NANI M. BUTTI, CHIEF OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, MINISTRY OF YOUTH & SPORTS AFFAIRS, BAHRAIN

Tell us about the year 2018.

What changes/evolution did it bring to your thinking or mindset as a CIO/IT head?

In 2018, I worked hard on the digital transformation and the Artificial Intelligence (AI). Today, every part of the business is subject to new expectations, competitions, channels, threats and opportunities. Every business has the potential to be a digital business. Thus, businesses that digitally transform will be able to connect more closely with customers, speed up the pace of innovation and, as a result, claim a greater share of profit in their sectors. Today, 46

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digitally transformed companies have an edge; tomorrow, only digital businesses will succeed.

Moreover, AI in simple words is implementing human senses in machines.

Humans will surely benefit from Artificial Intelligence. Though we are seeing automation of tasks is leading to people losing jobs, in long term it is going to turn out to be a major benefit. Artificial IntelIigence can surely process all trivial tasks at huge pace compared to humans.

Were you able to stick to your New year resolutions? Did you

I don’t think there is any non-relevant technology, from my point of view. Each technology can be tailored according to the needs.

How active are you as a CIO/ IT head on social media platforms? Do you find them a good platform to share knowledge or has it become too monotonous?

I am active in terms of reading, reposting and retweeting useful information. I find social media platforms very useful if we know how to benefit from it.

With GITEX around the corner, what do you look forward at this tech fest this year?

I am looking forward for the new ideas and gain more experience from those entities who make the right choice in selecting the latest technologies, in doing new projects in an innovative way.

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TOP CIO IN MENA

DIGITIZING THE ‘BANK FOR LIFE’ POLICY “We in IT are undergoing an overhaul by upgrading and implementing the latest technologies which touch infrastructure and applications landscape, in terms of changing Cards Switch, introducing new mobile applications, new cards, different online payments methods and a new state-of-the-art contact center and Virtual IVR solution.”

Tell us about the year 2018.

What changes/evolution did it bring to your thinking or mindset as a CIO/IT head?

ZIAD ALHASAWI, CIO, KUWAIT INTERNATIONAL BANK

Kuwait International Bank (KIB) had initiated a five year strategy that kicked off back in 2016 to transforms the Bank into a digital one to instrument its transformation strategy, accordingly, IT has built its five year strategy to align with the Bank’s innovation and digitalization strategy to provide Bank Clients with the latest products and technology, and to ensure banks 24/7 availability regardless of business working hours, as well as retaining and growing customer loyalty and satisfaction. To achieve these goals, we in IT are undergoing an overhaul by upgrading and implementing the latest technologies which touch infrastructure and applications landscape, in terms of changing Cards Switch, introducing new mobile applications, new cards, different online payments methods and a new state-of-the-art contact center and Virtual IVR solution.

Were you able to stick to your New year resolutions? Did you achieve/over achieve/ under achieve?

Thankfully my New Year resolution list is over achieved which helped to put the bank on the map and assisted in the growth of the customer base. Moreover, a lot of projects are lined up for release before end of year

In brief, which technology of 2018 attracted you the most?

Have you planned to implement the same in your organization?

I am interested in all technologies that are related to customers’ payments, such as

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Apple Pay and Visa Pay, and other related to communication like Chabot that connects you with customers immediately anytime anywhere, and any other solutions that can enhance customers experience with the bank.

Currently in KIB we are working hard to implement the latest solutions to provide our customerswiththebestservicesinKuwait,andto align with our moto: Bank for Life.

In contrast, which technology of 2018 did you find futile/ non-relevant for the present and why?

None that I can think of as all technologies are useful in some ways and to someone.

How active are you as a CIO/ IT head on social media platforms? Do you find them a good platform to share knowledge or has it become too monotonous?

Personally I’m not very active on social media due to lack of free time, however, I do think social media is an excellent mean to get to the masses and to get all the latest information and trends about someone’s interest.

with GITEX around the corner, what do you look forward at this tech fest this year?

From my perspective, attending GITEX is necessary every year to catch up with the latest technologies. This year specifically I look forward to see payments and security related solutions and technologies and new ideas related to AI/AR

TOP CIO IN MENA

TRANSFORMING WITH AI The Titans in an exclusive chat with the CIO of Transworld Group, Prabhakar Posam who reveals that the company has already embarked its digital transformation journey and Artificial Intelligence shall soon be a part of the program.

Intelligence, Blockchain & Analytics are getting adopted all over. New technologies have prompted companies all over the globe to recognise that they are no longer simply for streaming business processes, reducing operational costs, and increasing sales.

These latest innovations are pushing the boundaries and have become an imperative aspect of driving business growth.

It’s no longer about what your company can make possible with new technologies and innovations; but rather how you can use these technologies to drive the profitability of your business.

Were you able to stick to your New year resolutions? Did you achieve/over achieve/ under achieve?

Yes, fortunately I was able to stick to my new resolution plans.

PRABHAKAR POSAM, CIO, TRANSWORLD GROUP

Tell us about the year 2018.

What changes/evolution did it bring to your thinking or mindset as a CIO/IT head?

This year has been very exciting with all new technologies like Cloud platforms, Artificial

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In brief, which technology of 2018 attracted you the most?

Have you planned to implement the same in your organization?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is truly revolutionary. Its impact can be heard in almost every section of our society. Nearly everyone, whether they are aware of it or not, are currently using some sort of AI in their day-to-day lives. Even if the intelligence still has much to learn, the discoveries that have been made are incredible. As business continues to move faster into the future, the next step is for the community to recognize, acknowledge, and fully embrace how AI can transform the way people work.

Transworld has embarked its digital transformation journey. AI implementation will be part of the program soon.

In contrast, which technology of 2018 did you find futile/ non-relevant for the present and

why?

The wires and cords that once ruled our technological lives, the continued development of technologies such as Bluetooth, NFC, and Wi-Fi networking.

Sure, these technologies haven’t yet banished all the wires, but soon several accessories around us will have the ability to communicate with one another without a physical connection. We are now entering the era of wireless charging, the need to carry around a phone charger will disappear after sometime. Pretty soon, we will be annoyed if we are forced to plug a device into another device instead of having it all just happen magically through the air.

How active are you as a CIO/ IT head on social media platforms? Do you find them a good platform to share knowledge or has it become too monotonous?

Today, people are spending more time on social media than their family. It has become part of life. I am active on social media and getting connected to more people, sharing knowledge and lead digital initiative of the company. Social media is creating digital identity for individuals and organizations.

You have been recognized, understood and rated based upon your engagement on the social media.

Social media platforms are really good to share knowledge and gain also. But yes, sometimes because of repetitive posts it become monotonous and people shift social media platforms.

With GITEX around the corner, what do you look forward at this tech fest this year?

GITEX always gives opportunity to explore innovative solutions around cloud, AI, blockchain, robotics and other technology trends

PRESENTS

TECHTALK AND META CIO AWARDS

25.AUG.2018

07.SEP.2018

VENUE: GHANA

12.NOV.2018 VENUE: KSA

VENUE: KENYA

07.NOV.2018 VENUE: BAHRAIN

27.OCT.2018

20.NOV.2018 VENUE: QATAR

VENUE: EGYPT

27.NOV.2018 VENUE: KUWAIT

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