“Faster, Cheaper, and Better is the Premise of Modern Tech” Nabil Abbas, the Principal at Booz Allen Hamilton MENA, speaks about how tech is driving our economic recovery How do you think technology today helps businesses grow? Advanced technology is transforming the way organizations do business turning almost every business into a tech business. Take grocery stores for example, which now have to compete with the likes of Amazon for business. The increasing adoption of 4.0 technologies such as AI and IoT makes it possible for businesses to reconfigure their value chains and achieve new levels of value creation. Innovative platform-based business models, such as Careem, LinkedIn Learning, and Fiverr, enable scale and efficient matching of supply and demand, creating new sources of revenue and expanding market reach. Emerging technologies such as AI can be used to enable predictive services delivery and deep personalization of customer experience. Digital technologies offer multiple new paths to value and growth in every industry, and agility, experimentation, and resilient execution will separate winners from the crowd. How is tech driving our economic recovery? Faster, cheaper, and better is the premise of modern technology, which is contributing to economic recovery through productivity gains, efficiency, and the creation of new jobs. The acceleration of digital transformation due to COVID-19 has made the case for digital-first—and in many cases, digital-only—interactions. During the pandemic, physical outlets, branches, and offices were rightsized. While they are unlikely to disappear in the near future, their role will definitely change. Banks may operate just as efficiently without as many physical branches and Governments can boost public value with a few in-person service centers, supported by more robust digital offerings. The resulting savings will free resources that can be deployed elsewhere for better
returns. The digitalization of the workplace is making way for new and more productive ways of work characterized by rich collaboration and data-driven decision making, and new jobs are being created at a rate that will outpace jobs lost to disruption. This rapid transformation, known as the fourth industrial revolution, will require attention to human capital development and social inclusion, but will eventually shape a bright future for the global economy. How is tech shaping the infrastructure of tomorrow? Industry 4.0 technologies specifically cloud computing, IoT, 5G, and AI are rapidly transforming infrastructure into a smart, connected, and efficiently scalable ecosystem of services. Today, for example, cloud computing enables on-demand access to cutting-edge computing and storage resources not only at a fraction of the cost of setting up and operating traditional data centers but also with the potential for rapid scaling with fewer constraints. Using cloud computing, businesses can set up data centers virtually and replicate them around the world with little capital investments. This means barriers to entry to large-scale computing have diminished significantly for businesses, making way for more innovation and disruption. In cities, buildings, utility meters, and traffic lights communicate within and among each other, thanks to IoT technologies, generating vast amounts of data that feed AI and Machine Learning optimization and prediction algorithms that can transform urban planning, consumption patterns, and traffic management. The integration of these technologies makes it possible to have autonomous vehicles, which promise to revolutionize mobility and transport and consequently
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society at large. These are just a few examples of how modern technology is transforming infrastructure. As infrastructure becomes increasingly interconnected and dependent on technology and data, cyber threats will continue to rise in frequency, scale, and impact bringing to bear the mission-critical significance of effective cybersecurity defense mechanisms. How according to you, are women powering the tech industry? It’s incumbent upon all of us to help bring more inclusivity and diversity into the workplace, and for women to also lead the industry as the demand for technology grows across all of our services and operations. Women are increasingly choosing STEM majors and taking the lead on significant R&D initiatives. Engineer and computer scientist Katie Bouman, for example, was instrumental in the creation of the first viable algorithm for photographing black holes. They are creating their own tech startups and making major contributions to the technology industry – VMWare, for example, was started by Diane Greene in 1998 and is now one of the world’s biggest technology companies. These are just two of the countless examples of how women are impacting and improving the future of the tech industry. Women are also helping to build and empower the next generation of female technologists. The TechWomen program, for example, is a global community of more than 600 women fellows and 800 women mentors who help each other progress their careers and achieve their full potential in technology.
