Smart SMB May 2020

EDITORIAL

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A TEST OF ENDURANCE PUBLISHED BY Business Media International REGISTERED OFFICE: Office 10, Sharjah Media City www.bmi-digital.com EDITOR IN CHIEF Raman Narayan narayan@bmimea.com Mob: 971-55-7802403 SALES DIRECTOR Ankit Shukla ankit@bmimea.com Tel: 971-4-2618885, Mob: 971-55-2572807 EDITOR Diksha Vohra editor@smartsmb.net Mob: 971-50-6395616 ASSISTANT EDITOR Arya Devi arya @bmimea.com Tel: 971-55-8542917 CIRCULATION MANAGER Jinal Chheda jinal@bmimea.com Tel: 971-52-5875607 SALES Mohammad Mubin mohammad@bmimea.com Tel: 971-58-5875607 DESIGN Sunil Kumar design@bmimea.com

Beyond our resilience, the pandemic is also testing out our capabilities to work around the challenge and innovate. While it is reasonable to assume that not all jobs can be done on remote basis, there are several functions within most companies that can be done so.

Finding a way out to optimize what percentage of workforce can work on remote basis for the longer term ahead until we have put this pandemic behind is quite a necessary issue to address.

In several vital sectors, there is no substitute to physical presence of employees and yet automation on an increasing scale and use of robots in some contexts has ensured there are ways out to address these challenges.

There is no escaping the fact that these are the amongst the toughest times for Businesses ever in recent decades. Unfortunately, many smaller Businesses will run out of steam globally in the short terms and will have a say in terms of employees becoming redundant. Perhaps there would be more freelancing opportunities coming up as companies look to outsource and optimize costs, at least in sectors where freelancing is possible. The heart of the matter is, while the scenario is overall grim worldwide with several economies contracting, we still need to look at rebuilding scenarios and salvage the best alternatives that can make Businesses ride out the storm over the next few months.

In this issue, we have stories from the IT distributor sector and the cover story that look at how entities in the region have been responding to the challenge by relying on digital collaboration tools. Likewise, companies across sectors have to ramp up their digital transformation now so that most workflow can be handled on remote working basis. Those who were slower in doing so prior to the crisis, would have felt the pinch more than those who could swiftly make the transition and ensure their Businesses didn’t have a downtime in terms of operations.

R. Narayan Editor in Chief, Smart SMB

Management Chairman S.N. Tiwari

CEO Saumyadeep Halder

Publisher Raman Narayan

Managing Director Ankit Shukla

sn.tiwari@bmimea.com

narayan@bmimea.com

saumyadeep@bmimea.com

ankit@bmimea.com

Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to validate the accuracy of all information included in the magazine, the publishers wouldn’t be liable for any errors therein Copyright@2019 Business Media International LLC. All rights reserved.

May 2020 / SMARTSMB

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CONTENT

CONTENTS Cover featurE

TALKPOINT SIZING UP THE THREAT LANDSCAPE - 14 A BRIGHTER PICTURE - 15 REINFORCING VALUE THROUGH ENHANCED STORAGE - 16 A MEASURED RESPONSE - 26

WORK FROM HOME, HERE TO STAY? - 18

Column

IN FOCUS VISA SUPPORTS MOVE IN UAE TO INCREASE PIN-FREE CONTACTLESS TRANSACTION LIMITS - 11

MANUFACTURING

ZOOMING IN ON THE REMOTE WORKPLACE - 28 NETWORKING IN THE TIME OF COVID-19 - 30 THREE FACTORS TO KEEP YOUR REMOTE TEAMS CYBERSECURE - 32

GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAINS UNDER HUGE PRESSURE FROM COVID-19 IMPACT - 12

FEATURE RIDING OUT THE PANDEMIC - 22 SMARTSMB / May 2020

KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR ENABLING VDI - 34

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NEWS

RETAIL REELS FROM COVID-19 SHARP DECLINE IN SALES, THOUGH ONLINE GROCERIES SHOW UPTICK: KPMG REPORT as much as 50-60% compared to the same period last year. Subdued consumer sentiment and volatility in gold prices contributed to declining sales in the jewelry and watch segment.

Anurag Bajpai, Partner, Head of Retail at KPMG Lower Gulf, said: “The Covid-19 outbreak has reshaped the UAE’s consumer landscape, disrupting businesses and impacting socio-economic health. With no end to the current crisis in sight, businesses that are agile and already thinking of various future scenarios are better positioned to survive and potentially thrive.”

KPMG Lower Gulf’s latest report, ‘Navigating the pandemic,’ has revealed a mixed bag of challenges for the UAE’s consumer and retail sector, currently battling the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.

Among the strong performing sectors, online retail, particularly of groceries, has witnessed significant growth.

Grocery retailers witnessed a 20% to 40% increase in sales during the first half of March, compared to the same period last year. Online marketplaces also saw surging demand, particularly for laptops/tablets (online learning and remote working requirements) and gym equipment (due to the closure of gyms and fitness centres).

On the other hand, with malls closed, sales at most luxury and fashion retailers declined by 20-50% in the first half of March. Across F&B concepts, sales have been down by 30-80%. Several prominent non-food retail businesses, which have been seeing a decline since February, indicated that sales in the first half of March were down by SMARTSMB / May 2020

Business continuity is a key near-term challenge for retailers right now, as operational costs are being incurred against low revenues, straining cash flows. Retailers are working with banks to defer payments, roll over lines of credit and activate additional ones, while also renegotiating business terms with suppliers. The UAE government has already announced a substantial stimulus package to support the national economy and ensure business continuity, while various mall operators have offered rent relief.

For UAE consumer and retail businesses to weather the Covid-19 storm, KPMG advises managing demand fluctuations, evaluating current cash positions and assessing the liquidity profile and potential changes in working capital dynamics. Retailers must have a plan for the health and safety of their employees and consider managing their workforce under evolving scenarios. While it would be difficult to predict recovery, businesses are relatively more upbeat about the last quarter of the year. Retailers that have been slow to digitalise will now need to swiftly develop an omni-channel strategy.

Nutanix FastTrack for VDI helps swift onboarding of remote employees The offer includes services to set up and provision of desktops in under 5 business days for predefined Nutanix configurations Many organizations across the Middle East are dealing with the reality of needing to set up all their employees to work remotely, while still maintaining access to the same tools and applications they require to be productive. To help organizations deal with this challenge, Nutanix announced a new offer called FastTrack for VDI to support companies anywhere in the world quickly deploy a virtual desktop infrastruc-

NEWS

ture (VDI) solution. Setting up and provisioning desktops, something that used to take weeks, will now be done in record time.

Nutanix FastTrack for VDI allows organizations to onboard thousands of remote employees in record time.

The offer includes services to set up and provision of desktops in under 5 business days for predefined Nutanix configurations. It will help enterprises provide secure, seamless access to business apps and desktops employees want while maintaining the security and control businesses need. The simplicity and flexibility of the Nutanix infrastructure makes deployment easier, enabling the company to expedite delivery service.

Paulo Pereira, Director, Systems Engineering – Emerging Markets and Eastern Europe at Nutanix said, “Although the concept of a mobile workforce has been around for a while, regional enterprises are still not fully equipped with the technology, tools and processes to enable remote working. The current Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak has disrupted businesses. Many of them are struggling to put the right technologies in place to maintain productivity and business continuity at a time when an increasing number of employees are working from home.”

“Nutanix recognizes these challenges and in response has introduced the new ‘FastTrack for VDI’ offer. Deployment of VDI infrastructure to support remote working can now be done in record time. The solution can scale from hundreds to thousands of users and can reduce downtime by up to 85% and TCO by up to 62%. We see this Nutanix offering as highly beneficial to companies that recognize that remote working can no longer be ignored - not just because of the current crisis but also because technology workers are going to increasingly demand workplace flexibility in future.”

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SHUAA CAPITAL LAUNCHES SUPPORT PACKAGE FOR UAE TECHNOLOGY SMES Supports SMEs directly impacted by COVID-19 SHUAA Capital psc, the leading asset management and investment banking platform in the region, announced it will provide free expert advisory services and interest-free loans through regulated partners to support UAE-based small and midsized technology enterprises (SMEs) that have been directly impacted by COVID-19.

In alignment with the UAE government's support and relief measures, the financial package aims to help provide the capital and expert guidance tech SMEs will need to emerge from COVID-19 on a healthy footing.

SHUAA's regulated partners will provide the interest-free loans, while SHUAA sector experts in manufacturing, logistics, construction, healthcare, travel and tourism, retail and real estate will offer free advisory services. To be considered for the support, the tech SMEs need to be active and demonstrate how they have been impacted by COVID-19.

Companies interested in learning more about the support package should contact sme_aid@shuaa. com.

Jassim Alseddiqi, Chief Executive Officer of SHUAA Capital psc, said: “SHUAA Capital is committed to helping build a sustainable and investable private sector in the UAE, fostering economic growth and prosperity for future generations.

Small and mid-sized technology companies are an integral part of the UAE's economy and society and

will spearhead our country's post COVID-19 economic recovery. Our support package will help empower those firms to continue to create innovative products and services in key sectors for our nation."

According to the UAE Ministry of Economy, SMEs represent more than 94 per cent of the total number of companies operating in the UAE, employing about 86 per cent of the country’s private sector workforce and generating 52 per cent of the non-oil GDP. Tech SMEs leveraging cloud computing and storage, artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain and the Internet of Things within strategic sectors such as education, construction, logistics, healthcare, eCommerce, agriculture and finance have been key drivers of this development.

May 2020 / SMARTSMB

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NEWS

GCC set for FinTech surge during global COVID-19 outbreak Online banking and cryptocurrencies are among the products with the biggest increase in transactions Mr Parker said: "At a time when few customers can access physical services, FinTech platforms across the GCC are experiencing a surge in use – something we anticipate continuing well into the summer months.

"BenefitPay's significant increase in transactions shows the region's growing appetite for new technologies, and that being digital-first is no longer optional.

David Parker

Co-Chief Investment Officer, Bahrain Economic Development Board

The GCC is set to experience a surge in the use of FinTech platforms as consumers turn away from physical offerings during the ongoing global COVID-19 outbreak.

It comes after Bahrain’s national electronic wallet BenefitPay announced a 1257% increase in the number of remittances through its Fawri+ service during the month of March 2020 – worth some BHD103 million (USD273 million).

David Parker, Co-Chief Investment Officer at Bahrain Economic Development Board, said that online banking and cryptocurrencies are among the products with the biggest increase in transactions.

SMARTSMB / May 2020

"The spread of COVID-19 has presented enormous challenges for banks, but it also highlights the need for rapid technological transformation and a new wave of innovation through collaboration with the thriving FinTech sector."

The GCC trend is echoed around the world, with a study by financial advisory firm deVere Group revealing that the use of FinTech apps in Europe surged by 72% in just one week at the beginning of the crisis. According to industry experts, the FinTech market in MENA is set to reach a record high of USD2.5 billion by 2022, with GCC countries playing a major role in the growth of the sector.

Bahrain is home to the oldest and most established financial centre in the Gulf region. The Kingdom currently hosts more than 300 financial institutions, with Bahrainis continuing to play a large role in the financial sector.

Among the most successful FinTech ventures in Bahrain are Sharia-compliant cryptocurrency platform Rain, open banking API provider Tarabut Gateway, NEC Payments and BENEFIT – the parent company of BenefitPay.

Avaya launches IP Office Subscription for SMEs without upfront investment Avaya IP Office subscription supports Avaya’s latest award-winning smart phones and devices and these can also be purchased with low monthly payments.

As global demand for easy-to-deploy communications solutions intensifies, Avaya has made it easier than ever for regional small and medium-sized businesses to leverage the power of agile communications with the launch of Avaya IP Office Subscription. This new offer is now available from Avaya Partners in select countries in the Middle East and Africa.

Coming at a time of increased remote working, necessitating the adoption of robust communications technologies, the launch creates a new, subscription-based way of consuming the leading all-in-one communications platform for companies up to 3,000 users, and which currently serves over 26 million users worldwide.

Avaya IP Office delivers powerful communications in a simple package designed specifically for small and medium-sized businesses, which account for up to 90% of registered businesses in the Middle East and Africa. A single app provides voice, video, messaging, and conferencing and keeps employ-

NEWS

ees productive on any device from any location. Avaya Call Reporting is also an option to provide simple customer interaction management.

Avaya IP Office subscription supports Avaya’s latest award-winning smart phones and devices and these can also be purchased with low monthly payments. For team collaboration, the cloud-based Avaya Spaces is also available in many areas.

Traditionally, the adoption of leading communication platforms involves large fixed costs and long-term vendor commitments, with cloud-hosted communications often untenable because of legal challenges. Avaya IP Office Subscription helps to answer these problems with an easy-to-deploy, technically advanced solution that can be consumed on a per-user, per-month basis.

Flexible user solutions tailored to fit the needs of different kinds of employees are available through the solution - from those who only require basic capabilities, through office workers with collaboration needs, to power users who are highly mobile. Organizations need only select the types and numbers of users that they need, and choose between a one- or threeyear plan.

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Kaspersky delivers tool for protecting remote workforces and highlighting shadow IT Helps ensure only trusted cloud services are used within their organization The new edition of Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud gives businesses more visibility over shadow IT. With the new cloud discovery feature, an IT administrator can safeguard compliance to corporate security policies by controlling the unauthorized use of potentially unsecure applications and sites by employees. The control over cloud services helps organizations minimize the risk of corporate data being exposed to a breach, while allowing employees to work from anywhere.

Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud now can help IT administrators to maintain more transparency over corporate IT and ensure that only trusted cloud services are used within their organization. The cloud discovery feature allows them to establish the list of authorized cloud services which meet corporate security policies, and to ensure following this list is adhered to. The data about the used categories of services and dedicated applications is visible in a dashboard where an administrator can tune the access to them for different user profiles, setting privileges for different groups of users according to their working needs.

In addition, to help organizations keep their cloud email inboxes and collaboration tools safe, Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud now includes Kaspersky Security for Microsoft Office 365.

Kaspersky Security for Microsoft Office 365 protects all Microsoft Office 365 applications including Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint Online and ensures secure file sharing through Microsoft Teams.

Sergey Martsynkyan

Head of B2B Product Marketing, Kaspersky.

“Remote working may naturally become the only way to keep business operations moving for more and more companies, during these turbulent times. This means extra challenges for those who administrate IT and ensure cybersecurity within their company — because they need to somehow control shadow IT so it doesn’t harm corporate data and doesn’t expose a business to cyberthreats. There is no way to just easily stop this. Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud arms businesses with the necessary tool to take control, along with proven endpoint and Microsoft Office 365 protection all in one,” says Sergey Martsynkyan, Head of B2B Product Marketing, Kaspersky.

May 2020 / SMARTSMB

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NEWS

MORO HUB IS NOW A DESC CERTIFIED CLOUD SERVICE PROVIDER Moro Hub (Data Hub Integrated Solutions LLC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), has announced that it is now a Dubai Electronic Security Center (DESC) certified Cloud Service Provider (CSP) in the UAE. DESC has developed a CSP Security Standard, which outlines requirements and guidelines for CSPs and those organizations consuming any cloud services. The CSP Security Standard mandates CSPs to comply with international best practices for cloud services. As part of the extensive DESC certification process, Moro Hub has implemented the Information Security Management System, complying

with all international standards for CSPs. Ensuring compliance with the CSP Security Standard is a mandatory requirement for CSPs looking to offer cloud services for government and semi-government entities in Dubai.

Mohammad Bin Sulaiman, CEO of Moro Hub, said, “The certification demonstrates Moro Hub’s commitment to providing secure cloud computing platform and services to our customers.

As a DESC certified CSP, our customers know that we have gone through a detailed process to ensure all their cloud service requirements are being met as per superior global standards and best practices. The certification further strengthens Moro Hub’s position as

DCG ADDRESSES CRITICAL CONCERNS OF MEMBERS ON COVID 19 IMPACT

Dubai Computer Group (DCG) has resolutely worked towards safeguarding the business interest of its members against any detrimental impact faced due to the global lockdown post the outbreak of COVID 19. The DCG COVID 19 RESPONSE TEAM , consisting of Dharmendra Sawlani, Ashish Panjabi and Suchit Kumar was formed to address the concerns and action plans to support the members.

Dharmendra Sawlani, President of DCG who is also the owner of Smile Computers LLC said, “Sales channels have changed since restrictions on movement in the UAE came into place. Many of SMARTSMB / May 2020

our members have had to improve their online presence and work more closely with the various e-commerce channels.

This has meant adapting their logistics capabilities and finding innovative ways to continue serving corporate clients.”

Ashish Panjabi, COO Jacky's Retail and Board member of DCG commented that the month of March saw a sudden surge in the demand for computers and other ICT products as e-learning and workfrom-home practices were adopted at short notice. "Many of our members reported stronger sales during that period as virtually everyone has undergone ma-

Mohammad Bin Sulaiman CEO, Moro Hub

customers’ preferred partner for their end-to-end cloud service demands.”

Moro Hub’s cloud operations and data storage infrastructures are fully operational within the UAE.

jor largest digital transformation in the last few weeks."

Dharmendra further commented that, “the pressure on SME’s has been immense because cash flow cycles have slowed down. As DCG, we’ve been trying to support our members where we can, be it in providing trainings for better managing finances, banking relationships, HR aspects or VAT" Commenting on the government level initiatives Ashish Panjabi commented that “the support of the Government bodies has been extraordinary. We’ve engaged closely with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry and they have helped us coordinate with other Government departments where necessary or find us resolutions to challenges we faced."

Suchit Kumar, Vice President of DCG said, “DCG has been closely monitoring and assessing the impact on IT business post the lockdown and closure of borders due to the pandemic. DCG will remain committed to doing its utmost to support members during this rapidly evolving situation. All our webinars has been well appreciated by the members with full participation.”

IN FOCUS

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VISA SUPPORTS MOVE IN UAE TO INCREASE PIN-FREE CONTACTLESS TRANSACTION LIMITS Shahebaz Khan

General Manager, VISA, UAE

V

isa announced that it welcomes the UAE Central Bank’s move to increase the Card Verification Method (CVM) limit for contactless transactions in UAE to AED 500 (from AED 300). The 67% increase in the PIN-free transaction limit will allow consumers to simply tap-to-pay using their card, mobile phone or a wearable device for larger purchases. Visa is working closely with local bank partners and merchants to implement the new limit on Visa contactless cards in the UAE. This move is in line with similar changes in the Middle East and North Africa region where Visa has been working with local governments to increase the limits to support the growing appetite for contactless payments.

Contactless technology provides the fastest, most convenient and highly secure way to pay for both consumers and merchants, enabling simple ‘tap’ payments. According to a 2019 Visa-DED Stay Secure study, about 80% of people in the UAE who already use contactless payment technology trust this payment method. With more than 50% of card transactions in the UAE already contactless, the increase in PIN-free transaction limits will continue to improve consumers’ shopping experience and reinforce their trust in the technology.

“The UAE Central Bank’s decision to increase PIN-free limits for contactless transactions in the country will allow larger everyday purchases to be made using this fast, easy and secure way to pay. It will even further support merchants and front line staff working during these challenging times.

Visa is working with our local bank and merchant partners to implement the new central bank-mandated limits for

Visa is working alongside local bank partners and merchants to implement new PINfree limit on Visa contactless transactions in UAE Visa cardholders that will facilitate the continued growth of highly secure and convenient contactless technology in the UAE,” said Shahebaz Khan, Visa’s General Manager for the UAE. Khan added: “The UAE has always maintained an appropriate limit for PIN-free contactless payments – for instance, the previous limit of AED300 captured over 90% of tap to pay transactions in the UAE. Today, with more consumers and merchants relying on contactless technology to pay and be paid, the new PIN-free limit is a positive move by the UAE Central Bank and reflects its responsiveness to consumer needs and evolving market conditions.”

In addition to convenience, contactless cards using Visa Easy Payment Service experience some of the lowest fraud rates of any type of payment, and fraud rates at point-of-sale remain at historic lows in countries where contactless payments are widely used. This is because contactless transactions are protected with multiple layers of security to ensure that sensitive cardholder information is not compromised. Contactless cards use the same dynamic EMV® Chip security as contact chips, and each transaction includes a unique one-time code, to ensure that stolen information cannot be used to create counterfeit cards.

Visa has been actively working with governments across MENA in enabling the growth in contactless usage. Central banks in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Egypt have increased the limits on contactless transactions before a PIN is required, effectively extending the speed and convenience of contactless to larger purchases.

May 2020 / SMARTSMB

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MANUFACTURING

GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAINS UNDER HUGE PRESSURE FROM COVID-19 IMPACT Manufacturing output will take at least 12 months to recover to 2019 levels

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ccording to a new report from Baker McKenzie and Oxford Economics, Beyond COVID 19: Supply Chain Resilience Holds Key to Recovery, the pandemic has produced an unprecedented global supply chain crisis, stemming from a lack of mapping and flexibility around the multiple layers of global supply chains and a lack of diversification in sourcing strategies.

On the upside the report forecasts that the hardest-hit manufacturing sectors across the world will be also the first to recover by H1 2021 as a release in pent-up demand is driven by a recovery in sentiment, and production ramps up. The current global supply chain crisis is due primarily to the pandemic creating temporary 'manufacturing deserts', whereby a city, region or whole country's output dries up so substantially due to lockdown conditions, they become a no-go zone to source anything apart from essentials.

The report highlights that the immediate impacts of a failing global supply chain are already being felt, from auto plants in Korea shutting down because of a lack of parts from China to smart phone manufacturers running dangerously low of components. As a result, global trade is expected to have fallen by more than 4% in Q1 2020, and decline even further in Q2

SMARTSMB / May 2020

As Mattias Hedwall, Global Chair, International Commercial & Trade at Baker McKenzie explains this has serious implications for global supply chains: "It is clear that the extended shutdown of parts of the world’s economy is now feeding through to impact supply chains as existing stocks are depleted. Businesses need to focus on how to minimize supply chain disruption and to adjust rapidly to a changing landscape. This includes among others, infrastructure, tax and employment implications of changes and the option of quickly reversing changes if the situation stabilizes quickly."

six months of this year compared to 2019, recover much of that drop in H2 2020 and finally exceed the 2019 position by early 2021.

Borys Dackiw, EMEA Co-Chair, Compliance & Investigations, and Gulf Head of Compliance at Baker McKenzie adds: "During this period of uncertainty, it is particularly important for companies to be alive to the risks arising from trade restrictions and supply chain issues, particularly when seeking out new sources of supply or dealing with new third party business partners."

All four key manufacturing sectors analysed for this report are predicted to start recovering in the second half of 2020 with the strongest recovery from the automotive and textiles sector growing at 10% and 8% respectively (relative to their levels in the first half of the 2020), and then all sectors will see at least some output growth on 2019 levels by 2021.

Impact on manufacturing sector globally While there remain a number of scenarios for the global economy over the next 24 months, Oxford Economics' baseline forecast is that global manufacturing will take a 5% hit in the first

As the table below shows the pace and extent of decline and then subsequent recovery varies by manufacturing sub sector. The automotive sector is set to see the biggest output falls globally in H1 2020 of 13%, followed by textiles (8%) and electronics (7%) although the forecast also shows the auto and other transport equipment sector is likely to see the swiftest recovery, along with textiles.

Impact on China Because of China's unique role in the global supply chain, and its sensitivity to drops in global demand as a leading export nations, the forecast sees a significantly deeper drop in output this year than the global decline as the table below shows, with sectors such as

MANUFACTURING

automotive and electronics not actually climbing back to 2019 levels until 2022. China's automotive sector will see a 19% drop in output for H1 2020 while electronics will see a 17% drop in output, all relative to Q4 2019 data.

Textiles sees a 14% drop in H1 2020 as well as headline manufacturing (11%) and aerospace (6%).

Long term transformation

The Chinese economy being largely out of action for several weeks has also left many multinational companies with limited contingency plans to deal with supply chain disruptions.

It has also rapidly exposed supply chain concentration issues for global companies that have relied heavily on China.

While the cost of such risk management processes can be high, it is often more than offset by the savings it can generate through helping to inform decisions around product pricing to shift the balance of demand towards less affected lines, inventory purchasing, and management and relocation of production processes across sites.

There has clearly been in increase in this activity as a matter of urgency, in order to mitigate some of the immediate impacts of COVID-19, including the huge fall in output in some sectors.

This has been further compounded for companies that are reliant on just-intime manufacturing processes — particularly important in sectors such as automotive — and/or with thin inventory levels.

Supplier insolvency As the epicentre of the pandemic has moved away from East to West, these same issues have become acute for those sourcing highly specialist goods and services in key markets such as Germany, Northern Italy and now the US. In coming months, there may even be challenges in securing some categories of commodities if the epicentre shifts again, to emerging markets.

The report highlights that supply chain risk management has jumped to the top of many companies' agendas because of the current supply chain crisis, and is likely to stay there well after the immediate threat of COVID-19 begins to recede.

Longer term, digitalization of supply chain will increasingly be the way companies begin to strategize and achieve business resilience against supply chain disruption. In this context, big data analytics can assist firms in streamlining their supplier selection process, while cloud-computing is increasingly being used to

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facilitate and manage supplier relationships.

Anne Petterd, Technology, Communications and Commercial Partner, Baker McKenzie based in Sydney, said: "Enhanced supply-chain management and adoption of digitalization has never been more important.

Companies with well-considered supply-chain risk management processes will be better-placed to identify the impact of disruptive events on their supply-chain and product-offering, providing them with an opportunity to assess how to best respond in tough circumstances."

The way forward The report concludes that to take advantage of the policy boosts around the world, businesses need to be agile, nimble and ready to tackle operational, labor and demand/supply constraints, re-address strategic and tax planning and re-consider business models post-COVID-19. This means structuring their supply chains, ramping up on digital transformations, which could lead to an even stronger commitment to sustainability goals alongside building resilient businesses.

New York-based Debra A. Dandeneau, Chair of the Global Restructuring & Insolvency Practice, Baker McKenzie, said there was also a growing risk of supplier insolvency around the world.

Dandeneau comments that some companies may have to support their supplier at least for the short-term, but understanding the source of the distress faced by the supplier is critical. Other suppliers may commence, or be placed into, some kind of formal restructuring or insolvency proceeding, which is likely to add delay to operations. Knowing how the law will work in each possible jurisdiction will help companies develop an advance strategy for dealing with that situation.

May 2020 / SMARTSMB

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TALKPOINT

SIZING UP THE THREAT LANDSCAPE Derek Manky, Chief -Security Insights and Global Threat Alliances, Fortinet discusses how the threat landscape is evolving and getting more sophisticated Please discuss how the landscape of network security has changed in the era of cloud and IoT? is there a perimeter anymore or is it redefined?

Perimeter security is still required, as we see many external attacks happening to public addressed space as well as malicious egress traffic from within organizations and distributed enterprise. However, ISFW (internal segmentation firewalls) and other technology such as Network Access Control have risen in the era of cloud and IoT. We see in our top 10 threats daily now threats impacting mobile (Android specifically) and many IoT devices, as they are targeted as ‘spring boards’ to infect and move laterally within networks.

Discuss how the rollout of 5G has broadened security concerns?

5G creates quick communication and will undoubtedly widen the attack surface, meaning more devices – and more security holes – will exist for attack. Because 5G operates at high speed, threats such as worms (think Ransomware) can spread very fast and this is a large security concern. Potentially advanced threats that haven’t fully risen yet, such as swarm botnets and attacks, are on the horizon.

Elaborate how the security challenges need to be handled as traditional OT systems such as in manufacturing are integrated using IoT gateways into the IT network?

OT is the next, largest attack surface that we are facing. Yes, they are integrated through various gateways including WiFi, IoT, VPN, etc. The challenge is the nature of OT is Cyber SMARTSMB / May 2020

Physical, meaning that as it is directly connected to our physical world the risk of any breach or denial of service is much greater. We have seen this in terms of attacks last year on OT, specifically targeted ransom that has cost some business in excess of $40M USD in damages. Therefore a resilient security strategy is required – from proactive security to incident response planning, and cyber hygiene training.

These numbers I expect to continue to rise next year.

With more Businesses looking for setting up ecommerce sites in the face of covid-19, what primary security challenges should these websites address for making themselves more secure?

Think of using hosted cloud services that have security stacks with trusted partners built within them. This makes it easy to set up and tear down sites that will have security controls already built in such as Web Application Firewall, etc to guard against traditional attacks. Always keep in mind security practices of the hosting provider, such as patch management since we see many attacks on Apache Struts for example.

How do you see the threat of ransomware playing out in near future?

With all our energy of the past several weeks focused on adapting to the global crisis, security may have taken a back seat. But cybercriminals haven’t forgotten. Networks have been turned inside out, and they have been very actively targeting remote workers that used to be protected by the network perimeter with fake COVID-related material and other social networking attacks. And they have been probing

Derek Manky

Chief -Security Insights and Global Threat Alliances, Fortinet

these new network environments for vulnerabilities in the hopes that may — By Diksha Vohra have been pulled together too quickly to have implemented adequate security protections and controls.

FortiGuard Labs has been actively monitoring the threat landscape during this time, and we have seen a significant increase in threats targeting individuals through phishing and infected websites. Email attachments contain infected and malicious content, which explains why we recorded a 131% increase in viruses during March of this year. It also explains why we have seen a reduction in traditional attacks as cybercriminals shift focus.

Incidents of ransomware are likely to rise as cybercriminals look to use compromised end user devices as a conduit back into a core network that may not be being watched as carefully as it once was.

TALKPOINT

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A BRIGHTER PICTURE Aaron White, Regional Sales Director Middle East at Nutanix discusses how the company has been coping with the challenges during Covid-19 and how its remote working solutions continue to see a growing demand

How has the company reviewed and adjust its workforce to work from home during the current lockdown due to Covid19?

First and foremost, our top priority is to protect the health and safety of our employees, customers, partners, and communities. We are assessing the situation daily, keeping the well-being of all of our stakeholders’ safety top of mind.

As a company, we are following the guidelines issued by the World Health Organization and local, regional and country guidelines to guide our actions.

Aaron White

Regional Sales Director, Middle East, Nutanix

At the start of the crisis, we immediately began the implementation of our business continuity plan, which is driven by a small group of global executives representing all of the critical functions inside Nutanix.

Capitalizing on our own technologies and business continuity plan, Nutanix remains open for virtual business around the world. We have also implemented a number of precautionary measures to ensure uninterrupted service to our customers and partners and the continued safety and productivity of our employees. In an effort to protect the health of our employees and visitors, we have implemented work-from-home procedures for our global workforce and ensured employees have access to laptops, VDI infrastructure, adequate internet bandwidth, and expanded VPN capabilities.

What have been some of the challenges that you have overcome during this phase?

As mentioned, we have transitioned smoothly to the new normal. In fact we have seen an increasing interest in our remote working solutions from enterprises in the region. Our solutions (for example, virtual desktop with our partner Citrix or desktop-as-a-service with our product Frame) can help organizations adapt to this rapidly-evolving situation by allowing them to support their employees to work productively from remote locations. We have many customers in different verticals, including government entities and educational institutions and it is a chance to help organizations quickly provide viable work- or learn-from-home options.

Is there a lot of relearning and reskilling expected from employees?

As a global IT company, our current infrastructure was de— By Diksha Vohra signed to support remote work, with half our global workforce already working remotely in their day-to-day roles. We were already well prepared to continue running our business and focusing on our customers during a crisis.

How are specific job functions like logistics or after sales support that is part of technology business impacted and being coped with?

We’ve conducted a supply chain analysis and created contingency plans with our key suppliers. Based on current information, we do not anticipate any immediate supply constraints, though the situation is obviously fluid and could change. We will keep our community in the loop as new information becomes available.

Our worldwide support teams and other key functions remain up and running and ready to attend to all customer and partner needs. Based on the analysis we’ve done to assess both hardware and software support capabilities, we have contingency plans in place to allow us to continue to provide 24x7 worldwide support to our customers at this time.

May 2020 / SMARTSMB

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TALKPOINT

Santosh Varghese

Vice President, Digital Products & Services Division, Toshiba Gulf FZE

REINFORCING VALUE THROUGH ENHANCED STORAGE Santosh Varghese, Vice President, Digital Products & Services Division, Toshiba Gulf FZE discusses the focus on — Bybrand R. Narayan the new consumer range under KIOXIA

Please elaborate on the storage portfolio for consumer as well as Business segments?

Toshiba MEA ‘s storage portfolio includes a complete range of storage products from Micro SD cards in your smartphones to 16TB Helium filled Enterprise Cloud Storage. The entire storage range comprises NAND Flash based MicroSD, USB and SD cards, SSD and Disk based internal hard disk drives, external hard drives, NAS, gaming, surveillance, enterprise mission critical and cloud based capacity drives.

SMARTSMB / May 2020

Elaborate on the new rebranding under Kioxia for the consumer range?

products for Micro SD cards, USB, SD cards and SSD .

KIOXIA is a combination of the Japanese word Kioku meaning ‘’Memory’’ and Greek word Axia meaning ‘’Value" which forms the foundation of the company’s vision which is unleashing the potential of memory to create new value.

What are the current products under the Kioxia range? Are they only Flash based products?

Toshiba Memory Corporation has been rebranded as KIOXIA Corporation effective from 1st of October 2019 and in mid-April recently, we launched KIOXIA branded consumer

Kioxia products are all NAND Flash based products. The current portfolio of KIOXIA memory products are 3D flash memory based with 96 layer BiCS FLASH. The mass production of this technology started in Sep 2018 under Toshiba Memory. BiCS flash memory will ensure higher capacity production. KIOXIA factory have an advanced

TALKPOINT

artificial intelligence production system to boost productivity.

the portable drives under the Canvio range?

have you managed to stay connected with partners across the region?

What is the go to market strategy for the new brand range in the region?

The Canvio range could see some refresh by second half of 2020 with more colors and models being introduced.

TGFZ has WFH policy for many years now. As we cover a wide geography with around 40 countries, remote working was a norm. It was easy to adopt to the current lock down situation. We have remote working software in our PCs with proper security solution. Also TGFZ had incorporated a major Digital transformation in CY (calendar year) 2018 which has also helped us during the current lockdown. Our Call center 800 –TOSH is AI driven and managed by Tosh BOTs. We have Smartphone based APPs -Toshiba SMART APP, where channel sales staff and even customers can get updates on Toshiba range of products and Technology

TGFZ (Toshiba Gulf FZE) has the expertise in developing the market for Toshiba Storage products in MEA region. We will continue our ‘Go Wide, Go Deep’ channel coverage policy providing a wide range of touch points to our consumers. KIOXIA products will continued to be sold across the region by a network of over 20 distributors across middle East and Africa (including South Africa). We have developed a diverse channel that includes Electronic SuperStores (LFR), Independent retailers, dealers, system integrators and e-tailers.

How do you see partner sales being impacted by covid-19? Are online sales for such products seeing any traction?

Sales will be impacted on account of COVID-19 mainly due to lockdown.

Online sales which is currently at 7% for storage products will continue to increase rapidly and are expected to grow to be around 22% within CY 2021.

WFH (work from home) will increase the need for more storage space in gadgets and consumers will continue to purchase them online which is more of an impulsive purchase Discuss any initiatives at your end to help boost sales during COVID-19?

TGFZ is planning to have campaign called No Matter What Gurantee ( NMWG) that will benefit a customer purchasing our storage products ranging from 64 GB to 4TB and in case they lose their job, TGFZ will reimburse five times the product value, provided the terms and conditions are met. At the time of purchase they should have a job (during the duration of the campaign). Only a maximum of 3 units purchased by a customer will be eligible under this. Employment contract and Job termination communication from the company need to be submitted at the time of claim.

How is the demand on the NAS range of hard drives/solutions?

The current WFH trend has increased the need for storage space at home and also for SMB customers who don’t have a full-fledged stack of storage solutions. NAS is a quick fix solution to expand storage space at home and also at office. Toshiba has a dedicated HDD range mainly for NAS solutions.

Has the company deployed work from home measures in the region? How

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WALKING THE TALK: KIOXIA DISTRIBUTES FREE HEALTH PACKS IN UAE Kioxia( formerly Toshiba Memory) launched an initiative in March to distribute free kits (health packs) in the UAE during these trying times brought about by the COVID19.

"We are all aware that doing good is doing great for brands. But, it is time to look beyond all of that, as it is the calling of the hour. From our perspective, as a responsible, committed, global organisation, we have initiated this purely as a human centred exercise meant to alleviate and support the multiples who have to go about their daily tasks and chores while being subject to the risks of exposure to the deadly virus. Since this is all about coming together and fighting the COVID 19, we have tagged this project " Together-Lets Make It A Distant Memory ". Two Surgical Masks, 1 Bottle of Hand Sanitizer and a Flyer that outlines the Do's and Don'ts for people to follow is what the heath pack will consist of ", commented Santosh Varghese, Vice President, Digital Products & Services Division, Toshiba Gulf FZE. KIOXIA Products are marketed by Toshiba Gulf FZE in MEA region.

These health packs, in thousands, were distributed free through select EMARAT Petrol Stations and Metro Stations in the UAE starting from 29th March, 2020.

Discuss if there are brand changes to May 2020 / SMARTSMB

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COVER FEATURE

WORK FROM HOME, HERE TO STAY? W

ith the Covid-19 outbreak showing no sign of slowdown, millions of people are forced to work from home. The tough news is that there is no immediate end in sight as to when the employees are expected to return to office.

The dates are being postponed on an everyday basis. Some of the employees are also given the freedom to work from home even after the pandemic ends. This shows that remote working is here to stay. Employers are seeing the benefits of remote working through the haze. The is enough to signal a growing shift in attitudes in certain industries toward remote working — a change that could have lasting implications.

Microsoft points out that in areas of the world that have started to return to work, many people continue to work remotely as is the case of many companies in UAE. With relaxations in the lockdown in UAE, some of the companies have partly reopened (with almost all the companies working with 30% employee capacity) months after the initial shutdowns.

Experts say that past stigma around working from home has largely been lifted and that they expect much more remote work to be incorporated into office life for the foreseeable future. Work from home is seen as a viable strategy in the present scenario. “Except showroom operations, rest of the departments are able to perform for the smooth operation of business,” says Madhu Suthan, Group IT Manager, Bahri and Mazroei. “We managed to deploy almost 90% employee work at home in first 3 weeks’ time. Departments’ process depend on physical document only were facing challenges in initial days. We al-

SMARTSMB / May 2020

The large- scale shift towards a remote working scenario shows that it is perhaps here to stay as employers begin to see that that there are several benefits that can outweigh the traditional considerations, ensuring that we are heading towards a future, where a higher percentage of the global workforce will now always be in the work from home mode —By Arya Devi

COVER FEATURE

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lowed users to use their office desktop at home which made this scenario as an extended office feeling working with their personalized device,” added Suthan.

Embracing the shift The UAE has handled the situation well with the stay at home measures for most sectors to being and initiating a guarded partial and gradual reopening. For example, Expo 2020 Dubai UAE implemented ‘Working from Home’ for its employees ever since the country started initiative to “stay at home”.

“Expo could easily implement work from home because of the digital readiness achieved over the course and it was just upscaling the huge traffic requirement for 1000 plus employees at Expo,” said Muhammed Rafeeque Alampady, Broadcast Technical Manager, Expo 2020. “Work from Home is viable and it’s realistic to assume that shifting to the ‘home office’ will become the new normal for many of us for a while. Since most of our time is spent on planning for the “Greatest Show on earth” it is productive to shift from meeting rooms to meeting room and productive since we spend less time on the road and unwanted corridor chats.”

There was a stigma around working from home earlier, but the views around work from home have undergone a sea change over the past few years. However, not all jobs can be done remotely.

“Most of our company’s workforce could follow the work from home, except some departments such as security, IT (for physical hardware maintenance team) and of course the construction/ Overlay team,” adds Alampady.

Almpady adds that WFH was one of their options even before the pandemic. Users had already been trained on remote working tools such as Conference system, VPNs to access company files or even complete paperless HR communications.

Madhu Suthan

Group IT Manager, Bahri and Mazroei

Since almost all industries have tried out remote working scenarios partially, got it up running and have invested time and effort into it, in the near future, there could be an explosion of “working from home" trends seeing wider acceptance.

Madhu Suthan, Group IT Manager at Bahri & Mazroei believes that remote working scenario is here to stay. “With the current experience, this can be a cost-effective solution for the business workspace and employees will also be comfortable to manage their work life balance. There is only an Initial difficulty to setup and adapt new changes.”

Remote working in future is expected to be very different from current adhoc conditions.

On the other hand, working from home scenario is not a viable strategy for sectors including the hospitality industry. However, it is possible to implement for some of the workforce based on their roles.

Lijeesh Rajan, Director of Centralized IT Services, Rotana Hotel Management Corporation, says “For the hospitality industry specifically, work from home is not going to be a long term way of working. Perhaps, Back office and some specific roles can continue in that fashion.”

Many companies are planning to make flexible and remote work models a more permanent part of their cost- and workforce-management strategies after COVID-19 recedes.

Interestingly, a study by Bloom found that Chinese call-center employees took fewer breaks and were 13 percent more productive when working from home. This shows that in the long run, the move toward increased remote working would benefit employers and employees.

“In general, productivity increase by working from home. Team members, managers and decision makers are always available online for quick clarifications or decision making. Regular review meetings and feedback collected by management improves facilities,” said Madhu Suthan.

Alampady also shares the same view on the productivity increase and adds “WFH indeed increased the productivity by quick starting the day without the need of hassle of driving to the workplace, fewer coffee breaks and with almost of all our calendars highly monitored and managed.”

In certain industries, though this may not be the case. Rajan says, “In general, WFH increased the productivity of the Information Technology department we manage and maintain.

May 2020 / SMARTSMB

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COVER FEATURE

Some companies have taken up this situation as an opportunity to go paperless and environment friendly.

“Our company had initiatives even prior to the pandemic to ensure maximum paperless processes enforced, ” adds Rajan.

Previously, remote working was on by choice on certain occasions, as an option for providing a quiet, stable environment for employees, contrary to the compulsions of the current situation such as public health concerns.

Muhammed Rafeeque Alampady

Broadcast Technical Manager, Expo 2020

However, this may not be a measure for all operational departments. Due to lack of resources or right information available at a given time, workflows and specific procedures could get delayed as well.”

Good for the environment Work from home scenario has also worked out quite well for the environment. Credit would be given to the fact of lesser number of people commuting daily to office. Earth-observing satellites have detected a significant decrease in the concentration of a common air pollutant, nitrogen dioxide, which enters the atmosphere through emissions from cars, trucks, buses, and power plants.

Some of the companies have also taken up this time to go greener and environmentally friendly. “Expo 2020 Dubai was always was on track in terms of adopting environment friendly green initiatives such as going paperless by enabling digital technologies,” said Alampady.

Madhu Suthan adds, “We were in the mode of digitalization since past two years which helped our organization to adapt the changes so easily and quickly.”

SMARTSMB / May 2020

Microsoft says it saw an increase of 12 million users for its Teams application in the first week of stay-athome orders. This shows that there are now over 44 million people using Microsoft Teams to stay connected to their teams.

One of their customer is Bahri & Mazroei. Madhu Suthan says “ All our business applications were already enabled to activate remote working.

We only had to implement Microsoft Teams and increase bandwidth of internet for VPN connectivity.”

Investing in new technologies Other than using various collaboration platforms for communication, companies have further implemented new technologies for making the work from home scenario work smoother.

“We have upgraded the Corporate IT systems recently in February 2020 to increase remote work capacity through VPN and most of us have enough internet speed to connect to the hotel system. Hence during covid-19 situation, we were able to manage and handle multiple remote works smoothly,” says Om Prakash Sharma, IT Manager, Radisson Blu Hotel Apartments, Dubai Silicon Oasis.

The increased use of tech-based platforms have allowed workers to stay connected and collaborate, from their homes. While initial chal-

Lijeesh Rajan

Director of Centralized IT Services, Rotana Hotel Management Corporation

lenges have been there and varying on case by case basis for different companies, the IT teams have been getting geared up to tackle the challenges.

Madhu Suthan says “The initial difficulty of users on the new platforms, applications setup, internet connectivity and speed issues are time consuming issues for IT for the remote support to address.

Workloads for the IT team has increased due to spending more time for each users to identify and resolve this issue, especially when it comes to users connected via lower bandwidth internet.”

Expo 2020 team had enabled various technologies to enable work from home smoothly.

Alampady says that Expo 2020 uses Cisco enabled network and security solution with SAP/Citrix for the employee portal. He further said, “Since the IT department of Expo was fully geared up for the remote working even before the pandemic it was easy migration for the users, in the aspect of understanding the system and thus the implementation was a smooth changeover.”

COVER FEATURE

Security concerns and crisis Digital platforms have seen similarly massive growth and considerable increase in users and daily interactions held over their virtual platforms over the past few months. Although Zoom has come under fire recently for security concerns it is currently working to address, daily participants in Zoom meetings grew from 10 million in December of 2019 to 200 million in March of 2020 — a twenty-fold increase. But security concern is one of the major issues faced by companies while during remote working.

Companies are taking various measures to ensure that their remote working capability is not compromised. “We are restricting unauthorized remote desktop software to access hotel network and we are not allowing users to access to hotel network via personal laptops. All systems are provided by the hotel with latest updated antivirus and company authorized VPN. We are regularly upgrading the Windows Update and AV and informing users to be more alert to avoid opening any unwanted emails and links,” says Om Prakash Sharma, IT Manager at Radisson Hotel Group.

Rajan adds that the company had deployed remote Desktop access and managed solution and have adapted for few users who preferred using their laptop and remotely accessed their workstations from the office. “The rest of the assets can be accessed and the allowed services can be taken securely based on the Global WAN we offer for our internal customers,” he adds.

Organizations of all kinds are facing email based threats, endpoint security gaps or other technology crisis as a result of the sudden shift to remote working workforce. Both security practices and ethical hacker perspective have to be considered in in order to stay secure. “Businesses must rapidly ensure the security of every device. Employers should dis-

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card hardware-based legacy VPNs in favor of cloud-skeptical and scalable network security solutions, Companies should carry out virtual training for team members to educate them on what to do in the occurrence of a cyber-attack and what potential risks they should watch out for, such as suspicious emails, malware, etc,” adds Alampady.

The active IT teams of companies can control and ensure security of Wi-Fi networks in the office, but as opposed to that home networks probably have a weaker protocol (WEP instead of WPA-2) which allows hackers easier access to network traffic. But companies are ensuring the security using remote IT teams.

Madhu Suthan says that they have not faced any issues so far and is expecting to stay the same as they are equipped with various security solutions. He adds, “We didn’t encourage employees to use personal devices, rather supported them to use their office laptop and desktop at home managed by spending few dollars on desktop wireless adaptors.”

About this concern, Rajan also opines that they have not faced any issues so far. He adds, “Many organizations, including us are in transition from traditional security frameworks on-premise to more agile and cloud based platforms. One of the notable such product would be to get a cloud based EDR solution compared to traditional Endpoint security products.”

Increase in phishers On top of these security concerns, there is an increase in phishing attacks as well, which is recognized as the top cause of data breaches.

Cybercriminals send emails claiming to be from legitimate organizations with information about the coronavirus. Cybercriminals have sent phishing emails designed to look like they’re from the Disease Control. The email might falsely claim to link to a list of coronavirus cases in your area.

“You are immediately advised to go

Om Prakash Sharma

IT Manager, Radison Hotel Group

through the cases above for safety hazard,” the text of one phishing email reads. Phishers have also sent emails that offer purported medical advice to help protect you against the coronavirus. Some of the emails read that they are from medical experts near Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus outbreak began.

“This little measure can save you,” one phishing email says. “Use the link below to download Safety Measures.”

Even with so much uncertainty on when our lives and work will be back to normal, remote working scenario has become the new normal in work environment. When the situation normalizes and when more employees return to office, it is expected that the office will not exactly be like how it used to be. With employees getting a taste of more freedom and flexibility under work from home arrangements, there could be a split in terms of employee preferences.

However, some functional roles will not have the flexibility or options to choose as their physical presence would be needed at the work site.

It also remains to be seen how the trust factor and monitoring balances out with the productivity of employees working from home.

May 2020 / SMARTSMB

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FEATURE

matured and IT infrastructure is now quite capable to enable remote working from home or anywhere. With applications like Zoom, Teams and several others, companies found a way out to connect and operate. While not all job functions can be executed remotely, companies have tried to work around options.

In the IT distribution sector, initially like all, companies were caught off guard as this was indeed an unprecedented situation, perhaps a disruption never faced by humankind on this massive scale. It did take some time, reviewing the situation and coming to terms with a suitable response to continue operations.

Anand Choudha, CEO & PRESIDENT, at Spectrum, a leading VAD says, “This has been an awakening call and quite frankly unprecedented for everyone. Initially, it was a little confusing but the first option was to work from home.

Thankfully we had an ERP in place taking care of HR, CRM, back office automation, Finance etc, all functions were integrated. So it was all organized and we just had to open the ports for remote working, put VPNs in place and we were up and working within a week’s time.

He adds further, “After working for 2 months on this model, the productivity has been similar to prior in terms of output and there has been no impact in terms of that. The impact has been more on the customer facing side, with those meetings at their offices is not possible. Our day to day operations is not affected. We have used Zoom and thankfully it has helped to create a digital workspace with everyone connected and added to that, our internal process automation has helped.”

RIDING OUT THE PANDEMIC Value add IT distributors rely on existing business pipelines and remote working tools to keep Business operations as normal as possible and productive — By R. Narayan

T

hese past couple of months haven’t been easy for individuals and Businesses as humankind faces unprecedented health risks from the continued pandemic. With stringent stay at home restraints in place initially for most verticals, excluding some essential services, Business and work as usual was disrupted.

Thankfully, with advances over past several years, virtual conferencing and collaboration technologies have fairly

SMARTSMB / May 2020

On the security factors that using Zoom was hogging headlines recently, Anand notes, “Every company is vulnerable and to ensure they secured, there are some basic processes to follow.

Convenience was at a cost as individuals who started using these tools found out. However, when you organize meetings with Meeting room IDs and use passwords to validate, then it is fairly safe. We wanted to go with an established product – the way Zoom is integrated with Google calendar in Gsuite. makes it convenient. But there are other tools like Microsoft Teams and it really is upto the company to use tools that they are comfortable with.”

Mario M. Veljovic, General Manager, VAD Technologies LLC says that they were also able to make the transition swiftly and the systems were all in place to support the shift as well.

He says, “Productivity has good up and we keep calling this new era The New Smart. We are in IT and know how to use IT, we literally changed to work from home over night and continue to do so even after the authorities have relaxed restrictions for business in the UAE.” Similarly, Bulwark Technologies, another distributor fo-

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cused on cybersecurity solutions says that they were able to make a transition that is enabling a higher productivity.

Jose Menacherry, MD, Bulwark Technologies says, “We have shifted from working-on-premise to a complete work-from-home environment. Although we are all working in remote working conditions, we are well connected with right technologies and advanced CRM systems, which have demonstrated a positive impact on our work productivity. We have also initiated on a tremendous increase in using digital marketing platforms in conducting product webinars for all our partners & customers across the regions (GCC & India). This has in turn showcased a positive increase in the work productivity.”

Negotiating challenges Not all Business gets done remotely and those face to face interactions are missed opportunities.

Mario concedes that partners are challenged with the prospect of finding new customer opportunities in the face of the safety restriction in place that do not allow face to face interactions, essential in most cases to taking forward sales conversations, especially around larger sales.

Mario comments, “This is the area of concern for us. While we keep ourselves busy with partners and vendors, partners face bigger challenges to generate new Pipeline, if this is not for some in high demand solutions that help manage the current crises. We might be used to video conferences and webinars, but there is no alternative to direct and personal interaction in order to build a successful business relationship.

Now we need to work harder and smarter to reach out to our partner ecosystem.”

According to Jose, their partners have likewise embraced the remote model effectively to work around the present challenges and keep the Business on track.

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Jose says, “Our partners have all embraced the digital platform in a remote work-from-home environment.

To assist our partners and as a part of our Channel Growth & Development initiatives, we are conducting roundthe-clock channel enablement and training sessions. This in turn helps the partners to undertake business challenges and meet their objectives and in turn work towards business growth & revenue generation for their respective organizations.”

On the sales front, Anand says that they were able to cope without major impact because they were able to wrap up previous fiscal year on a high although the rear end of the 4th quarter took a hit with the covid-19 challenges.

He elaborates, “The impact on Business was beginning to be felt from mid- Feb. our financial year is from April to March. So towards the close of our 4th quarter, we did feel a big impact as there was a lot of shock from the developments around the outbreak. Thankfully, we had done good Business before Covid 19 and overall, we clocked 25% growth in revenues for the year, compared to the previous year. Since we finished the financial year in the middle of the crisis, we were able to factor in the changing situation and challenges int our strategy for the new financial year. We knew the crisis was going to stay for some time and we came up with plans to work around these challenges.”

Demand for remote working solutions In the face of demand for remote working solutions, Bulwark has been well placed to meet those requirements since they already had several relevant solutions enabling remote working in their portfolio and have introduced some more.

Jose says, “We have introduced and providing many Secure Remote Access / Work From Home (WFH) Solution in our product portfolio. This includes WFH / Workspace Virtualization solutions from ACCOPS among other solu-

Anand Choudha

CEO & President, at Spectrum

tions in our current portfolio. As a responsible VAD in security space, we are constantly studying the needs of our customers and partners from time to time and doing our best for bringing in solutions which could address such requirements including Secure Remote Access to have seamless secure Work From Home experience.”

VAD Technologies has also several solutions that their partners can pitch to customers for enabling and securing remote working.

Mario says, “We have solutions from our Physical Security Business Unit, such as thermal cameras to perform fever screening, are in big demand.

Productivity solutions available through the cloud, such FreshWorks, ZOHO are another area of interest.

Last but not least, remote connectivity solutions, such as TeamViewer’s Augmented Reality (AR) powered “Pilot” or its flagship Solution to connect remotely, is experiencing a surge in demand.”

Cybersecurity is indeed a key aspect in May 2020 / SMARTSMB

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FEATURE

tions. Among our offerings, we have VPN solutions like from Pulse secure that are in high demand, penetration testing products to test readiness of customer networks like Artemis Pro, endpoint security products like Fidelis, Crowdstrike, Blackberry. We have ticked all boxes in terms of security solutions that customers would need during the Covid-19 phase for securing their networks. We are giving free remote health checks to customers, to understand gaps in the customer environment and what they need to fix to have a secure remote working environment.”

Jose Menacherry

MD, Bulwark Technologies

consideration as remote working from home becomes more prevalent. So demand for these solutions is expected to be higher in terms of priority for customers and has helped companies like Spectrami elude a negative impact to a great extent in their growth.

Anand says, “We are a channel driven company and we have a full view of the ecosystems around which the Business is happening. Fortunately, we had a huge pipeline in place and further cybersecurity was perhaps least impacted although there was an impact. Cybersecurity is an area that customers looking to secure their remote working environments were looking to invest in. So the demand has increased in the short term as customers looked to accommodate their workers accessing their networks working from home. There were also some sleepover deals that didn’t happen during the initial shock of the outbreak and then when things settled down somewhat, those happened. So it has been good so far.”

He adds, “We have some good solutions to address these security quesSMARTSMB / May 2020

Spectrami is also providing free remote health checks to customers, to understand gaps in the customer environment and what they need to fix to have a secure remote working environment. The company ran a small marketing campaign introducing all who at Spectrami from around different locations and also introducing the free healthcare check initiative. This according to Anand, was a great hit, with a lot of good feedback coming in.

In addition, their portfolio includes an offering to deploy everything remotely which is coming in handy.

lations from Government authorities.

Cybersecurity is a very important & crucial aspect for Secure Remote Access / Working from Home, where office based employees are allowed to access the company network remotely through Internet. Most of these users were not used to the working from home situation and maintaining security of data and information have suddenly became a herculean task for the IT team. Some important factors of cybersecurity to be kept in mind for Secure Remote Access include re-visiting and creating a robust Security Policy & Procedures & adopting a sound Network Security Methods among others. So, it is highly recommended for every IT organization to start and integrate the remote work into their strategy. Hence cybersecurity is one of the key aspects to be embraced & considered for Secure Remote Access / Work from Home.”

The distributors have been constantly engaging their partners through webinars and video conferencing sessions. As most industry events have gone virtual for the moment, so did Spectrami organize their channel event virtually.

“We have developed tools where everything can be done remotely. We offer SPECTRAMI HIVE, a unified platform to deploy, manage, migrate and monitor SPECTRAMI Security Solutions on the fly over a single pane of glass. We have automated the deployment process for a few of the vendors. Which means that a product which required weekend, can be deployed within hours, remotely without the need of a certified engineer.”

Anand says, “We did our annual kickoff with over 85 people via zoom.

From 9 in morning until 6 in evening.

We used to do this in exotic locations like Baku, Bangkok etc – those were great experiences to interact, network, learn and motivate. This year, it has been virtual and I have received feedback from several that in terms of value of content, this session was more rewarding. People have been quite involved with the session.

On the importance of ensuring remote working is secured, Jose says that the transition has come abruptly and has thrown up security challenges that need to be addressed by companies, including policies for employees and having a strategic response in place.

He adds, “We have launched an elite channel programs.so we have been interacting with the c-level executives of the partner companies through Zoom. We have also been doing webinars with customers. Every organization has found a way today to collaborate and communicate to do business. There are many available tools for collaboration. Companies need to just go with tools that they find comfortable.”

The partners in turn have been holding

Jose says, “Due to the spontaneous spread of Covid-19, organizations all over the world have been forced to adopt the WFH within a short span of time in accordance with the regu-

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virtual meetings and events with end users and prospects. Distributors are doing such sessions along with partners.

Mario says, “We obviously running a lot of webinars for our partners and along with our partners for their customers. The rest of the day is filled by video conference calls to ensure we are on top of our Business and active opportunities.

Companies indeed have found more purpose in channeling all work through digital platforms. This has been a quick transition for the companies, who seem to have found a way out to negotiate through the current situation.

Jose says, “We are connecting with our vendors, partners & customers on a proactive basis. We are continuously engaged in partner & end-customer webinars along with Remote POCs to serve our customers in the region.

We are currently organizing multiple product promotions along with free Cybersecurity Assessments to ensure that our customers are well protected during the current challenging environment.”

There are opportunities for partners attending to support initiatives for customers who are implementing or scrambling to deploy remote work from home arrangements.

Jose adds, “We are also providing Secure Remote Access/Work from Home solutions to address the current remote working from home requirements for customers. Due to the advent of the current pandemic affecting worldwide, Secure Remote Access/Work from Home has become a crucial need for customers across the globe. So, we forecast & foresee an active requirement for partners to deploy remote working arrangements for the security requirements of customers.”

Mario agrees that the demand for such remote working solutions will a driving factor for foreseeable future. He adds, “In fact In collaboration

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with our vendors we have been able to give our partners access to Work from Home solutions for their own use completely free or with very high NFR (not for resell) discounts. That in turn has helped partners to run POC and demos with their customers.”

In the short term and possibly even for several months ahead, cash flow challenges could be substantial for companies. The channel is no exception to these challenges ahead.

Mario opines, “Unfortunately, partners have still not improved on ensuring proper Working Capital Deployment for their Business. Hence, now in times of economic slowdown and complete lock down in some parts of the Region, they are squeezed. We are offering some relieve to our Partners that showed strong Payment Performance over the years with extended Payment Terms.”

Bulwark is confident that their model of managing credit facilities has given them an advantage to maintain growth.

Jose opines, “During the recent economic slowdown caused by the current COVID 19 pandemic in the region, distributors have managed their finance and logistics in an efficient manner. Bulwark is also managing their credit facilities and logistics for continued business growth and revenue generation. The innovative supply chain management has yielded financial benefits for the Specialized Value-Added Distributor. We are also in discussion with our loyal channel partners regularly, extending whatever possible from our end to support their business and maintain the channel ecosystem.”

Anand says that that though they have done fairly well, if the situation prolongs, impact will be felt. At the moment, though the company is upbeat with reasonable growth expectations for the year.

“If the challenges from the pandemic goes on for a longer term, there will be impact. But it is not easy to pre-

Mario M. Veljovic General Manager, VAD Technologies LLC

dict as the state of things is dynamic. We still see a prospect for decent 15-20 growth, much more modest than other years of course where we have seen growth rates of 50 to 70% year on year. We are geared up for a marginal increase. We haven’t laid off employees due to Covid 19 and we haven’t cut salaries. We have done what we do every year- letting performance dictate continuity of employees. We have recruited some new staff as well in lines with our growth plans. We appointed one of our senior Management executives, Mohammad Illyas as COO to lead the company.”

For the typical specialist value added IT distributor, therefore, it seems they have options to continue operations without disruption and enough Business in pipeline to negotiate and outlast a foreseeable challenging period.

This could be likewise for companies that were fortunate to be in domains across verticals with enough demand and growth over past year. But they would also keep fingers crossed that the challenges from the pandemic caused impasse get over sooner than later.

May 2020 / SMARTSMB

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TALKPOINT

A MEASURED RESPONSE Sakkeer Hussain, Director, Sales & Marketing, D- Link MEA discusses how the company has responded to Covid-19 challenges How has the company reviewed and adjusted its workforce to work from home during the current lockdown due to Covid19?

The safety of our employees precedes any business matter, and that’s how it should be across any organization.

D-Link Middle East implemented work from home policies much before the official lockdown in the UAE. Being a leader in networking and cloud solutions, we were able to swiftly and efficiently make the move. D-Link made sure employees had access to the corporate networks in a secure manner.

We had several virtual meetings educating our staff about security and the importance of being extra alert during this time. Besides meetings for work, we are also ensuring employees have access to the right kind of sources when it comes to information about the pandemic. We share insightful credible articles on our company chatrooms. Our IT team has been the best, always on call, helping the staff set up their home offices.

What have been some of the challenges that you have overcome?

Keeping up employee morale when working from home, especially during a pandemic, can be a challenge. The first step we took was to assure our staff about job and business continuity and share information transparently. Lack of information and clear planning can end up leaving the workforce frustrated and on the edge.

We have also gone the extra mile and kept communication lines open for employees to discuss mental health. It is also important to have a structure even when working remotely. This is why we have daily morning team meetings, regular one-on-one calls and even have our casual Thursdays. Collaborative and engaging meeting apps allow us to feel connected.

Sakkeer Hussain

Director, Sales & Marketing, D- Link MEA

SMARTSMB / May 2020

Digital transformation has been key to successfully managing remote working. Was the company ready in quick time to make a successful transition? What are some of the tools you have adopted during the phase as a team to be digitally enabled?

As a well-established leader in the networking and cloud space, we were able to make the transition to remote work-

TALKPOINT

ing securely, efficiently and successfully.

We are using GoToMeeting for our internal and external meetings. It has been very convenient and a great experience.

Do you see the role of digital marketing becoming more important during this phase? Is there a lot of relearning and reskilling expected from employees?

Digital marketing will dictate all future marketing campaigns and play a significant role. Earlier everyone knew digital marketing was the way forward but now we are forced to actually find innovation around it to stay differentiated.

Majority of the roles are able to function as usual as we have always been a digital-first firm. However, there are some designations that simply cannot work remotely. We were able to find new roles within the company for them during this time. All of us should be constantly learning and trying to add on to our skillsets in this fast-paced world.

Discuss some of the digital engagements you have executed/planned with partners/end customers?

We have strengthened our digital initiatives and issued several press releases announcing support and avenues of opportunities for our partners and customers. We continue to execute digital campaigns and promotions with our distributors. We have also made it possible for people to claim digital vouchers on specific product segments promotion and campaigns.

How are specific job functions like logistics and after sales support that is part of technology business impacted and being coped with?

It is not a 100% lockdown in terms of shipments. Although it is limited, there are incoming consignments that we have to manage. Adhering to government regulations, we have attained the required permits and approvals to keep our warehouses open during the lockdown. As per the rules, 30% staff can operate within a premise – we have made sure those staff who had to come in took all the necessary precautions and were monitored closely.

We are able to offer after-sales support seamlessly through digital channels.

What special message in one line would you like to send out to partners and customers about overcoming the challenges presented during the current covid’19 crisis?

Use the time to prepare calmly for a digital-led business future. In every challenge, there lies an opportunity, pushing us to go beyond our comfort zones. Let’s try to identify that opportunity. Stay strong and stay safe as we ride out this calamity.

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D-LINK URGES PARTNERS TO ADDRESS NEED FOR CYBERSECURITY SOLUTIONS DURING COVID-19 D-Link Middle East is urging regional channel partners to focus on cloud and network security solutions to help their customers navigate cybercrime in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today, nations are gradually easing quarantine measures depending on the progress each country has made in curbing the spread of the virus. However, remote working is shaping up to be a long-term strategy for many companies in the foreseeable future.

The biggest challenge customers are facing today is ensuring their employees have easy, immediate and secure access to company data. Unfortunately, cybercriminals are increasingly taking advantage of the pandemic and are launching COVID-19 related cyber-attacks on vulnerable employees.

Sakkeer Hussain, Director, Sales & Marketing, D- Link MEA, said, “Channel partners should stay abreast of the current market scenario and be a step ahead to assist customers in their cybersecurity strategies for their infrastructures and networks. They are in a unique position to become customers’ trusted advisors during this time of crisis.

Over the years D-Link has made some significant business alliances that have amplified the vendor’s enterprise and SMB product portfolio, especially in the network security space. For example, the partnership with GajShield Infotech allows D-Link’s extensive network of value-added resellers and systems integrators to offer innovative solutions across unified threat management (UTM), data leak prevention (DLP) and email security solutions to their customer base.

Gajshield UTM carries context-based network data leakage prevention (DLP), patent pending technology, BYOD security and enterprise cloud security.

“These solutions play a critical role for any organization, especially now that perpetrators are increasing their activities to take advantage of the chaos and uncertainty brought on by the pandemic. Partners should look at these areas where they are sure to add immense value to their customers. At D-Link Middle East, we are completely committed to our partners and continue to offer them support in every way we can,” added Hussain.

May 2020 / SMARTSMB

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ZOOMING IN ON THE REMOTE WORKPLACE Phil Perry, Head of UK and Ireland, Zoom discusses why video conferencing is crucial to building 21st century organizations longer defines a traditional work setting, the connotation of going to work is drifting. With people opting to go to co-working spaces, coffee shops, to stay at home, or even go outdoors – more places are deemed acceptable “workspaces”, so long as the process works for individuals and the job gets done effectively.

However, this flexible concept of the workspace is no longer a ‘nice to have’. Being able to work remotely is business critical. And businesses are having to adapt and rethink their dayto-day operations to ensure they can successfully continue.

Our vision is to ensure video communications can empower people to acWith governments around the world mandating millions of people to work from home to avoid potential infection, businesses are having to quickly adapt to managing remote teams and successfully transforming their organisations into fully remote operations almost overnight.

However, managing that type of workplace isn’t always easy without faceto-face communication. The answer lies in video conferencing as it gives people the ability to collaborate using the devices they already have and provides multiple channels of communication.

A new age In fact, Covid-19 has completely broadened what it means to be a video communications technology provider in times of need. Ultimately, we have a responsibility to do everything in our SMARTSMB / May 2020

"What is interesting is that even before the pandemic, advances in technology, interwoven with the new generation of the workforce, meant that workplace culture was already experiencing a paradigm shift. " power to support those impacted by the coronavirus outbreak by committing reliable technology, expanded access, and agile customer service.

complish more and create a connected culture. With that in mind, there are three elements that will impact the way business leaders run their organisations by using video conferencing during this challenging time.

What is interesting is that even before the pandemic, advances in technolSimon Fisher ogy, interwoven with the new genThe breakdown of geographVice President Gulf, ACE Group eration Executive of the workforce, meant- that ical barriers workplace culture was already experiencing a paradigm shift. When you With everyone working from home, consider the term ‘workspace’ – it has businesses will see that one of the somewhat lost its true meaning. It no

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main benefits of video conferencing is that it can help your team stay connected even when they aren’t in the same physical location.

As such, they will start to see the breakdown of geographical barriers and the fact that things like training numerous employees in multiple locations coherently can still take place successfully.

This will broaden their thinking on what other areas of the business are currently restricted to location. For example, talent hire, with everyone used to working remotely, will see businesses begin to hire the best talent anywhere in the world, rather than look at talent by geography.

Businesses will have the potential to hire the best people for the job, no matter where they are.

The environmental impact With employees working from home and not travelling for business, organisations will quickly see the impact they have on the environment in normal times. This will enable them to start to make proactive, positive environmental change thanks to remote working.

Last year we partnered with the Chorus.ai conversation intelligence platform to see just how much video meetings can reduce the environmental impact of a standard business meeting. An average daily commute of 30 miles results in annual CO2 emissions for a typical passenger vehicle of 4.6 metric tons. Air travel naturally is even less efficient. A single economy class round-trip flight from San Francisco to New York expels 1.4 tons of CO2.

Earlier this year, we found that by replacing face-to-face, in-person meetings with face-to-face Zoom video meetings, 10 companies reduced an estimated 685,205 metric tons of CO2 emissions over a 90 day period. That’s the same as the annual CO2 emissions from 148,958 cars, and the equivalent of planting 11,420,077 trees.

Phil Perry

Head of UK and Ireland, Zoom

Shifting to digital internal communications There is nothing more powerful for employees of all levels than to hear about their company’s wellbeing, its strategic direction, where it is winning and losing, and what the plan going forward will be.

Businesses may think that internal communications will be impacted without face-to-face communication. However, it can still be managed successfully no matter where in the world employees are working. Businesses must simply be open to embracing the tools available on their platforms and understanding their employee needs and desires.

We were already seeing trends towards organisations embracing the likes of town-hall-style video webinars. Gartner claims, by 2022, 40

percent of formal meetings will be facilitated by virtual concierges and advanced analytics. Now, with all employees working from home, internal meetings via video have already become the new normal. And there are many features of virtual meeting platforms that make them feel interactive – including leveraging in-meeting chats to share files and resources, polling features, screen sharing and whiteboarding.

We are entering a new era for every element of our life and work and we are committed to doing our part to help during this challenging time. When employees are not able to get to the office and when teams cannot travel to see customers, we want to provide a platform for businesses to continue to be productive. We also believe it is important to offer support so we are providing information sessions, mental health training and on-demand resources that anyone can use.

May 2020 / SMARTSMB

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Networking in the Time of COVID-19 Jesper Andersen, President and CEO of Infoblox discusses how the nearly complete decentralization of enterprise networks poses a real threat to business continuity and data security I’m writing this from home.

“So what,” you may be thinking, “I’m reading this at home.”

But as companies around the world have sent employees home to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are living through a global experiment to find out what happens when millions of people transition to working remotely overnight.

The ability of companies to become “virtual offices” almost immediately is due in large part to the dramatic transformations that have taken place in the technology sector over the past decade. Driven by the development of computing- and storage-asa-service models, these innovations have shifted enterprise technology out of on-premise hardware and onto cloud-based platforms. In doing so, they have enabled workers to access data, run analytics, and collaborate with colleagues from anywhere in the world—including their homes.

The COVID-19 pandemic is showing SMARTSMB / May 2020

us that this transformation remains incomplete. Recent questions about the resiliency of our networking infrastructure—including residential internet and corporate networks—demonstrate that networking is one of the few remaining bottlenecks in the true digital transformation of the modern workplace.

and protecting individual devices and overall network security have the potential to overwhelm IT professionals. Now, with work from home being the default across virtually the entire economy, the nearly complete decentralization of enterprise networks poses a real threat to business continuity and data security.

These limitations result in challenges to productivity and access for workers trying to log in from offsite locations and new devices, and open up networks to additional security risks.

Inherent physical limits like latency and bandwidth hamper the speed and responsiveness of our networks. And the complexity of modern networking functions and our modern enterprise network ecosystem results in a patchwork of networking and security solutions provided by a multitude of vendors that are challenging to conduct in harmony.

It doesn’t have to be this way. The reality is that in today’s cloud-based environment, these limitations don’t need to exist. Like computing and storage has done in the past, networks can be managed as a service, allowing managers to spin up and down critical functions automatically and as needed for individual users and branch offices.

Modern networks have become so complex that, even in normal times, the tasks of maintaining uninterrupted service, troubleshooting problems

When it comes to latency, there are a number of opportunities to put cloudbased applications near users as cloud providers or independent co-location vendors have provided points of presence (POPs) around the world.

And indeed, the world is increasingly becoming covered with high-band-

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width internet connections. This is one of the promises of 5G mobile technology—soon these connections won’t even need to be hard-wired.

But the biggest challenge is no doubt the complexity of the current enterprise network. Networking represents a much broader set of functions than a normal computing operating system or data storage facility.

Networking typically includes DNS and IP address management services to facilitate network connections, switching and routing to organize the flow of data, load balancing and proxy servers to maintain reliability, WiFi to provide access, firewalls to provide security and numerous other functions.

Traditionally, many of these functions have been performed by different networking vendors, and while some—like Cisco with networking hardware—have risen to dominate a particular niche or part of the networking ecosystem, no single company has become a market leader across those various networking functions.

Jesper Andersen

This evolution has resulted in a networking environment that is inefficient and resource intensive, and can have security gaps that leave remote users exposed to cyberthreats.

The networking systems of the future will have to be designed and developed to be intuitive, useable, reliable and secure—which means putting them on the cloud and building them with simplicity and ease-of-use in mind. Virtualizing old software and putting it on the cloud—as several members of the previous generation of networking companies are doing—won’t solve the problem. That approach simply dresses up cumbersome and costly software as stateof-the-art cloud networking—which it is not.

President and CEO, Infoblox

Actually tackling this challenge requires significant commitment and investment to build cloud-native, cloud-managed networking systems that use micro-services to leverage the power of open source software—just as was done in computing and storage—to connect and secure users whether they are accessing the network from the main office or their living room. There is no shortcut to building a cloud-native platform, but the sea-change that networking-as-a-service will bring to the way networking and security services are

provided will reward the first movers and make obsolete those who have not put in the research and resources to develop next-generation platforms.

The COVID-19 outbreak has exposed a weakness in the infrastructure that is driving the digital transformation.

Focusing on networking and security wherever the user is—whether that’s in a physical office or quarantined at home—will be the challenge and opportunity for networking companies of the future.

May 2020 / SMARTSMB

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COLUMN

THREE FACTORS TO KEEP YOUR REMOTE TEAMS CYBERSECURE Werno Gevers, cybersecurity specialist at Mimecast discusses steps to safeguard against impersonators seeking to exploit customers, employees and partners on the web As employees across the Middle East join the world of remote working in response to the current pandemic, companies are having to urgently implement policies and processes to keep their teams cybersecure. Countries in the Middle East have now implemented strict lockdowns to curb the spread of COVID-19, with most only allowing people to leave their houses with permission. If organisations didn’t already have work from home policies in place, they’ve quickly had to implement them if they wanted any business continuity.

There is a general escalation in cybercriminals’ activity during times of heightened disruption. Already, malicious actors are spreading disinformation with the sole purpose of SMARTSMB / May 2020

creating panic. Once panic settles in, rational thought goes out the window.

And that creates gaps that cybercriminals exploit.

Suddenly, there’s an increase in false specials and sales for in-demand products like face masks, hand sanitiser and protective gloves that are being promoted online. The Mimecast Threat Intelligence Centre has seen a large number of malicious emails impersonating trusted brands like the World Health Organisation and the Centres of Disease Control. Additionally, the Mimecast Brand Exploit Team found 59,700 spoofed coronavirus related websites in just two weeks. Even one mis-click on a link could initiate malware and put the user – and the organisation – at risk.

A combination of self-isolation and heightened tension also puts strain on people’s psyche which can lead to irrational or sometimes careless actions. People are desperate to find out more about the crisis and are letting their guards down, clicking on just about anything sent to them. When your entire workforce is working remotely, any careless action could have ripple effects across the organisation as security becomes vulnerable.

Companies need to ensure they are looking after the cybersecurity of their remote teams, so those teams look after the cybersecurity of the company.

Three factors should inform company policies and processes as they prepare for a swelling remote workforce:

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Factor 1: Web Security Despite a growing tendency among professionals to work remotely, very few companies have built policies to ensure web security maintains the same standards at the employee’s home as at the office. Home routers with default or easy-to-guess passwords could open the employee - and the company - up to compromise.

Connected devices - smart TVs, home automation, baby monitors and other devices that are connected to home networks - all offer potential entry points for cybercriminals. Employees should be required to change all default passwords and ensure all security software is up to date. In addition, now more than ever, organisations need to have an easy to deploy and manage service that keeps the web safe and consistently secures employees even when they’re off the company network.

The web is used in 91% of malware attacks and is the second-most commonly used vector for cyberattacks.

It’s also the top distraction for employees, especially right now as communication channels are flooded with links about COVID-19, that may or may not be legitimate.

Factor 2: Awareness Training Remote working means you are now sitting with a distributed workforce, and each employee is potentially an entry point into the organisation’s processes and data. Employees are the last line of defence against cyberattacks. One IBM study found that human error was a factor in more than 90% of security breaches.

Companies should conduct regular and effective cybersecurity awareness training, giving employees adequate and up-to-date information about how to identify and avoid risky behaviour. Alarmingly, only a third of UAE companies in Mimecast’s 2019 State of Email Security report offered regular awareness training.

Werno Gevers,

Cybersecurity specialist, Mimecast discusses

As more COVID-19 themed malicious emails make their way into employees’ mailboxes, user awareness is going to be vital. Just last week our Threat Intelligence Centre spotted a phishing scam hitting thousands of mailboxes that claimed to be an airline offering immediate refunds to travellers. The link takes users to a refund page that then asks them to enter their credentials.. Travel restrictions and difficulties in obtaining refunds have been widely reported in the media. For those facing financial issues, the prospect of an immediate refund is very appealing, and they may be more likely to fall for the scam. With attacks like this doing the rounds, the cost of human error escalates, so organisations need to take steps to adequately prepare employees to spot these threats.

Factor 3: Impersonation attacks The threat of impersonation attacks is heightened during extended periods

of remote work. It’s now much harder to walk over to the financial director’s desk and confirm a payment to a supplier. Even before governments ordered lockdowns and forced every employee to work remotely, impersonation fraud was a major issue: three quarters of UAE companies reported an increase in impersonation in Mimecast’s 2019 report.

Companies need to implement appropriate policies to ensure payment processes and other tasks involving money are not compromised. Tools that extend beyond the company’s security perimeter, such as DMARC, can help companies identify when their brand is being abused by impersonators seeking to exploit customers, employees and partners.

However, only half of UAE organisations reported using DMARC in 2019.

(Mimecast has launched a website focused on helping organisations better secure and protect their employees while enabling a mobile workforce.)

May 2020 / SMARTSMB

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KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR ENABLING VDI

Assaad El Saadi, regional director – Middle East, Pure Storage discusses why Enabling Remote Working Isn’t the Only Reason You Should Consider a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

A

s organizations across the Middle East look to quickly enable and scale remote working environments, there has been an uptick in the adoption of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). This is not surprising given the benefits of VDI for remote working. For one, integrating new users, user devices, businesses, and even applications is made easier with VDI. Secondly, developers can respond faster, users can utilize a rich desktop environment, and organizations can truly enable the business by incorporating a completely virtual desktop ecosystem. Last but not least, VDI scales from the datacenter and into the cloud as well.

This means users can access intelligent systems monitoring their performance, utilization, and even licensing while still pushing out a rich VDI environment.

SMARTSMB / May 2020

However, the benefits of VDI extend far beyond just enabling a remote and mobile workforce. Here are eight more reasons why you should consider VDI.

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Application virtualization aside, delivering desktops via BYOD can be a great solution for end-users as well as IT. Whether they’re working from home, internally or even internationally, users can access a desktop with all of their settings intact. Increased demand for mobility and IT consumerization has led to a rise in BYOD. This is where VDI can help. The endpoint never retains the data, and both the desktops and applications are always secure and controlled at the datacenter level.

Providing access to third parties Some organizations have numerous contractors working within an organization. A great way to control contractor access is through a private cloud VDI platform. This gives users access via controlled active directory (AD) policies and credentials and allows them to connect to a virtual desktop. From there, administrators can quickly provision and de-provision desktop resources as needed for a given contractor.

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Testing and development There is no better way to test out an application, service or new product than on an efficiently provisioned VDI image.

Administrators can deploy and test out new platforms within “live” environments without having to provision hardware resources. Once the testing is complete, they can simply spin down the VDI instance and rollout the new update, application or desktop environment.

Application compatibility and delivery Recent updates within organizations have forced some applications to adopt 64-bit technologies. Some apps, however, won’t run on these platforms, forcing administrators to get creative. This is where VDI can help. For those select, finicky applications, VDI within a private cloud environment can be a lifesaver. Virtual desktops can run within 32-bit or 64-bit instances and allow administrators to continue to support many older apps.

Accelerating heavy desktop compute workloads New technologies are allowing for powerful resource sharing while still optimizing the user experience. Solutions with 100% NVMe all-flash storage systems accelerate virtual desktops and applications with sub-millisecond latency, allowing the enterprise IT to deliver true performance from the datacenter to any user on the network. Now organizations can place more heavy resource users on multi-tenant blades, network, compute, and storage architecture. This opens up new possibilities for those users that historically needed a very expensive endpoint.

Centralizing and securing the datacenter New delivery capabilities allow organizations to completely centralize management of the virtual desktops. This creates a new security paradigm where nothing is stored at the endpoint. More so, HTML5 allows for complete clientless delivery so that sessions are completely controlled within the datacenter. This means organizations can isolate VDI sessions, geo-fence users, and create a proactive VDI security ecosystem.

Assaad El Saadi

Regional Director – Middle East, Pure Storage

datacenter efficiency by controlling all resources connected into the virtual desktop delivery architecture.

Optimizing resource controls

Creating new levels of datacenter economics

VDI allows organizations to dynamically shape the entire user experience. Is the application lagging? Is the user requiring more resources due to the workload type? How quickly can you adjust to user and market demands? VDI allows entire workloads to be re-provisioned with resources that allow the user to be productive wherever and whenever they choose to work. By moving from a spinning disk architecture to flash storage, IT can enable greater end-user performance, higher resiliency, and powerful scalability at a lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

VDI and virtualization allow organizations to control their own cloud environment and how they provision resources.

The ability to dynamically provision and de-provision resources gives organizations unparalleled flexibility when it comes to virtual desktop delivery. Data reduction technologies such as deduplication and compression enable IT to deliver all-flash solutions with increased performance, at the same price or lower, than traditional spinning disk or hybrid storage. Organizations no longer need to worry about big endpoints and lost resources. IT teams can create true

In the past, technologies like VDI were seen as heavy, forklift projects that required long time frames, resources, dedicated infrastructure and big budgets. But that is a thing of the past, thanks to advancements within the network, compute and the storage layers. There can be great benefits to an organization if there is a direct fit for VDI — reduced desktop IT costs, improved security, increased control, and expanded connectivity. This allows organizations to support new business models and improve both IT operations and user satisfaction, critical success factors in today’s digital economy.

May 2020 / SMARTSMB

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TECH WATCH

D-LINK’S NEXT-GEN WI-FI 6 ROUTERS Ground-breaking Wi-Fi 6 routers from D-Link include two of its flagship products - DIR-X1560
EXO AX AX1500 and DIR-X1860 EXO AX AX1800.

Highlights (EXO AX AX1800 Wi-Fi 6 Router DIR-X1860): 1.

2.

The latest version of Wi-Fi, also known as AX Wi-Fi or 802.11ax Wi-FI, offers users the opportunity to achieve speedier and even more efficient performance from routers and other devices. Wi-Fi 6, introduced in the market in 2019, greatly expands and enriches the current 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard.

According to research firm IDC, WiFi 6 will offer extensive benefits to a vast number of users and use cases.

The most important advantages will be seen in areas with high densities of users or client devices connecting to and transferring data over wireless networks. The research firm states that businesses that face these chal-

3. lenges will be the first adopters of the technology while others will integrate it as part of regular cyclical refreshes of WLAN hardware upgrades.

In order to truly capitalize on the advantages of Wi-Fi 6, it is necessary for users to invest in new hardware as Wi-Fi standards not only rely on software upgrades.

Unlike the existing 11ac wireless standard that operates only in the 5 GHz range, Wi-Fi 6 fully utilizes both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. It also comes with 1024 QAM to boost throughput to devices by up to 25%, and 160 MHz contiguous channel width for even more bandwidth.

PHILIPS RESPIRONICS E30 VENTILATOR Philips announced its initiative to quickly scale production of its new Philips Respironics E30 ventilator as a readily available ventilation alternative during the COVID-19 crisis in situations where full-featured, critical care ventilators are not available. Philips has begun production immediately, ramping up outputs on an ongoing SMARTSMB / May 2020

4.

5.

6.

7.

Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) technology provides faster speeds, greater capacity and less network congestion Next-gen speeds up to AX1800 (1200 Mbps on the 5 GHz band and 574 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band) Dual-band Wi-Fi with up to 4 simultaneous streams makes 4K streaming, gaming or video chatting a breeze OFDMA and MU-MIMO technology communicate more data to more devices while simultaneously reducing lag BSS coloring technology reduces interference in 'noisy' Wi-Fi environments, making more efficient use of available Wi-Fi spectrum 4 Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports and 1 Gigabit Ethernet WAN port provide optional wired connectivity Intelligent Quality of Service (QoS) prioritizes network traffic to minimize the impact of busy bandwidth

TECH WATCH

HP ZBOOK

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to visual effects artists, animators, and colorists worldwide, enabling them to accurately represent their content on-screen from anywhere because of DreamColor’s built-in colorimeter for automatic self-calibration, 100% sRGB and Adobe RGB for accuracy, and over a billion colors7 for smoother shading and more consistent gradients.

Highlights

HP’s newest Z by HP mobile workstation is designed for creators who push the envelope of what’s possible. The HP ZBook Studio, HP ZBook Create, and the HP ENVY 15 are the latest additions to the HP Create Ecosystem, which launched at Adobe MAX in 2019. For those who create professionally – from design, modeling, coding, or application design – Z by HP solutions are perfect small form-factor powerhouse solutions for resource-intensive tasks.

HP’s ZBook Studio, ZBook Create, and ENVY 15 laptops with RTX GPUs are members of NVIDIA’s RTX Studio program, featuring acceleration for demanding ray-traced rendering

basis with expectations of producing 15,000 units per week in April, 2020.

Philips has received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the device for use only during the COVID public emergency. Status of EUA requests can be found on the FDA website.

The E30 ventilator is designed for mass production by a team deeply experienced in respiratory care.

Highlights • The ability to use the device both

and AI creative workloads, and Studio drivers for outstanding reliability.

The HP ZBook Studio, the world’s most powerful mobile workstation per cubic centimeter4, and HP ZBook Create, the world’s smallest 15” notebook for creation and gaming5, allows users to create on-the-go unlike ever before.

The latest additions to the Z by HP portfolio are purpose-built and re-engineered from the ground up to meet the demanding needs of the most creative applications and workflows and provide optimal experiences today and in the future. The ZBook Studio and ZBook Create bring the first DreamColor display with 17.5 hour, all-day battery life2

invasively and non-invasively; • Quick set-up and simple operations, allowing healthcare providers with a wide range of skill sets to treat and monitor patients in clinical and field-hospital settings; • The ability to accept high-flow oxygen; • Recommended circuit set-ups contain a bacterial/viral filter to minimize exposure for healthcare providers when used invasively or noninvasively with example accessories that may

• Creators can design, edit, render, and stream from anywhere no matter how complex the workflow, with choices of Quadro or GeForce graphics and next-gen Intel Core and Intel Xeon processors.

• Creative pros today want to multitask while projects are rendering in the background without slowing down other applications. The ZBook Studio is the most powerful mobile workstation per cubic centimeter7 for rendering.

• Z Power Slider gives the user complete control over the type of performance and acoustics for specific workflows. At the same time, the Z Predictive Fan Algorithm intelligently manages fan behavior based on the kind of work and applications used by creatives.

be used, such as a full-face, non-vented (without integrated leak) mask, or helmet; • On-screen respiratory monitoring to measure and display vital ventilation type parameters such as pressure, tidal volume, respiratory rate, leak, and oxygen saturation, enabling clinicians to evaluate therapy effectiveness; • Visual and audible alarms to provide pertinent therapy information to healthcare providers.

May 2020 / SMARTSMB

38

MARKET MONITOR

STUDY SHOWS CONSUMERS IN THE UAE MOVING TO CONTACTLESS PAYMENTS According to global consumer sentiment data, more than 70 percent of respondents in the Middle East are now using some form of contactless payment During March 2020, as many countries in the Middle East imposed necessary restrictions on social distancing, a significant majority of consumers turned to contactless payments for necessary purchases. 70 percent of respondents in the Middle East say they are now using contactless payments, citing safety and hygiene as key drivers. Consumer polling by Mastercard, studying changing consumer behaviors in 19 countries around the world, paints a picture of accelerated and sustained contactless adoption.

The act of running to the store for groceries, medicine and other necessities has changed dramatically. Shoppers around the world have had to adjust to social distancing measures and other new challenges when buying everyday supplies for their families and loved ones. This shift in consumer behavior is particularly clear at checkout, as people express a desire for contactless, and voice concerns over cleanliness and safety at the point of sale, according to the new Mastercard study. In fact, findings from respondents in the UAE show: Contactless Move to Top of Wallet – Perceptions of safety and convenience have spurred a preference for contactless and reminded consumers of the convenience of tapping on a global scale. In the UAE, 73 percent of respondents have swapped their top-of-wallet card for one that offers SMARTSMB / May 2020

contactless while 82 percent UAE respondents consider contactless to be their preferred method of payment.

Confidence in Contactless – The global disruption has led to increased concern from consumers on cash usage and positive perceptions towards contactless due to the peace of mind that it provides. 71 percent of consumers say they are now using some form of contactless payment. Amidst the pandemic, 84 percent agreed that contactless is a cleaner way to pay, while 85 percent think it is more convenient than cash. Furthermore, 78 percent of UAE respondents have said contactless payment methods have been easy to adopt. Contactless payments are up to 10 times faster than other in-person payment methods, enabling customers to get in and out of stores faster.

Contactless is Here to Stay – We are in a sustained period in which consumers are making purchases in a very focused way; it’s reinforcing contactless use in markets where adoption is more mature, and it’s stimulating use

in newer markets. This trend appears to be here to stay. Three in four UAE respondents (74 percent) confirmed that the pandemic has led them to use less cash, and 83 percent of UAE respondents said they will continue to use contactless post-pandemic.

“The UAE government is setting a great example in keeping residents safe and in addition to social distancing between people, this should also apply to publicly shared devices, like point of sale terminals and checkout counters,” said Girish Nanda, General Manager, UAE and Oman, Mastercard.

“Contactless is already quite prevalent in the UAE, though conditions resulting from this pandemic are advancing consumer adoption further. UAE shoppers are increasingly recognizing contactless as a safer, more hygienic, faster way to pay, especially since control over physical proximity is critical at that moment.”

Mastercard data reveals over 100 percent growth in contactless payments in the UAE in March 2020.

INDUSTRIAL

SWITCHING SOLUTIONS

YEARS

WARRANTY

What Makes Them Special?

Toughness D-Link Industrial Ethernet Switches are built to tolerate harsher conditions than most standard switches in terms of temperature, dust, lightning strike, vibration, corrosion, electromagnetic interference, and even impact.

Convenience They can be installed in areas that industrial facilities are likely to already have, such as electrical closets, and mounted onto common local architectural elements, such as wall railings.

Reliability Redundancy Ethernet networking enables a greater degree of redundancy than older proprietary Industrial standards allow.

Standard Ethernet switches employ Ethernet Ring Protection Switching (ERPS) architecture for redundant failover, which can re-route network transmission in the event of a failure in 50 milliseconds.

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