Innovation & Tech August 2016 - Issue 27 by SPI Publishing

Elastic Growth: New Paradigm Enabled by the Cloud . Organizations get Public Cloud Security Wrong . Open Source to Replicate Success in Mobile

The Future is Now! www.innovationandtech.ae

Mobile Innovation Wearable Tech 3D Printing Artificial Intelligence Internet Of Things Cloud Technology Smart City Big Data & Analytics Digital Ecosystem

12 OpenSource now offers optimal Cloud services 40 Organizations get Public

Cloud Security Wrong

48 elastic growth: A new

paradigm enabled by the cloud

www.innovationandtech.ae

September 21, Atlantis the Palm, Dubai

BE THERE

Issue: 27 August -September 2016

Oracle Cloud Applications HCM

Human Capital Recruiting Talent

CRM

Sales Service Marketing

ERP

Financials Procurement Projects Supply Chain

More Enterprise SaaS Applications Than Any Other Cloud Services Provider

Welcome to Innovation & Tech The leading voice in enterprise innovation

Publisher’s Note Dear Readers, Digital transformation is driving a sea change today in that every company is now becoming a software company. Enterprise applications are at the core of this shift, and we only see the trend toward digitization accelerating. Leveraging what IT can deliver today but also being able to easily adapt to the needs of tomorrow is part of the continuous innovation model that today’s successful companies are striving towards. Businesses need an IT capability that supports continual market shifts and a strategy where change and proactive refinement of this business model is possible. This brings us to the Cloud and the role it can play in achieving this. It’s now well-established that Cloud technologies help companies standardise processes, cut costs, and reduce complexity with the question now being asked by most organisations is not “if” we go to Cloud but “when” to make the transition. There is no single, one-size fits all approach to Cloud adoption. Some companies want a complete transformation across most functional areas whilst others are better served by incremental modernisation. The incremental approach might work best for a specific functional area or longstanding process identified as a weakness needing to be rationalised or improved as a critical component of a broader process. The transformational approach is more fundamental with a broader scope when the business has a greater need and although more complex to undertake will typically drive a broader and more fundamental business case for change. In this issue, thought leaders in the technology world have opined on how best to approach your journey to the Cloud. In additoin, we have a strong feature about the growth of Open Source and its benefits to businesses. Happy reading. Best Regards, Shantanu A.P Publisher, SPI Group.

Get more from innovation & tech

Click the like button

@ITechReviewME

Innovation & Tech Review

Visit our website to get the latest NEWS

Send us an email today with your thoughts

www.innovationandtech.ae

sandeep@spiholding.net

Supporting Business association partners

Contents

28 TRANSFORM your business INTO A DIGITAL war machine

Innovation and IoT can transform oil-based economies

OpenSource now offers 12 optimal Cloud services Adaptive Trust - A New Defense for Secure Enterprise Mobility in UAE

The New Wave: Boosting Productivity for the Mobile Workforce

Digital Economy Needs Strategic, Proactive Policies

Booz Allen Hamilton Report

www.innovationandtech.ae

how to Avoid 4 Common â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Document Captureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Mistakes

contents

SPI Group

www.spigroup.ae www.robustrak.com www.theintelligentsme.com www.innovationandtech.ae www.innovationsummit.ae www.dubai-gbs.com www.smeworld.ae

Publisher & CEO Shantanu A.P. Group Editor Sandeep Sharma Assistant Editor Jinal Chheda

Web Developer Raj Shekar Reddy Creative Designer Ratheesh Viswanath Distribution: Jerry P. Sam

elastic growth: A new paradigm enabled by the cloud 40 Organizations get Public Cloud Crypto-ransomware Security Wrong attacks rise five-fold to hit 718,000 users in one year

Writers Anthony Sayers David Hobson Emma Isichei Jean Luc Scherer Michael Nelterberg Ahmed Ibrahim Dr. Steve Griffiths Gordon Haff Pui Chi Li Advertising/subscription Enquiries:

% +971 4 2659704, 2650312

response@ spiholding.net

Disclaimer The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited material lost or damaged in the post. All text and layout is the copyright of Imagine Publishing Ltd. and SPI Publishing, GMS Advertising UAE. Nothing in this magazine may be reproduced in whole or part without the written permission of the publisher. All copyrights are recognised and used specifically for the purpose of criticism and review. Although the magazine has endeavoured to ensure all information is correct at time of print, prices and availability may change. This magazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein

48 44

Most Popular Cloud-Based Apps for Enterprises

Workplace Productivity at Lower Costs

ÂŠ SPI Publishing 2013

www.innovationandtech.ae

THINK TANK Chirodip Basu Roy, Head of Marketing Operations at Noor Bank Chirodip Basu Roy is a thought leader in strategic marketing, brand management, segmentation, targeting and positioning. He is a result oriented brand strategist & communications architect with 13 years of success across the marketing mix. With specialization in project management, resource utilization, revenue growth, and cost reduction, he has delivered successfully and consistently in complex, highly demanding & challenging work environments. He has been a regular speaker at various conferences, including Gulf Media Advertising Congress, Sales Optimization and Marketing Excellence, MICE Middle East Forum, The Product development Show and Beyond CRM 2.0.

Jean-Luc Scherer,“Engagement Director Cloud & IoT,

Ericsson

Telecommunications veteran with more that 18 years experience in the Mobile Industry, Jean-Luc Scherer’s expertise crosses multiple domains going from Mobile Application Development, to Social Media, BigData, M2M & Internet of Things. Passionate about the Networked Society, Jean-Luc is a regular Blogger, Social Media content curator and is also a regular speaker at IoT & Smart City industry events. As an entrepreneur, innovation coach & startup mentor, Jean-Luc can help startups from the initial concept development phase all the way to successful market introduction.

Dr. Steve Griffiths, Vice President for Research, Interim Associate Provost at Masdar Institute of Science & Technology Dr. Griffiths holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. At Masdar Institute, Dr. Griffiths has overall responsibility for research, including large-scale, collaborative research programs and centers, research development, sponsored programs, technology transfer, and research laboratories. He serves as advisor to the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science and is a Zayed Future Energy Prize Selection Committee member. He served as a member of the Middle East Solar Industry Association (MESIA) Board of Directors from 2012 to 2015 and advised the government of Alberta, Canada on provincial innovation system structuring during 2014. Dr. Griffiths is Associate Editor and member of the Editorial Board of the international journal Energy Strategy Reviews and author of various works in the energy policy and energy strategy fields.

Anthony Sayers, Strategist at Dell

Internet of Things Business Developer and

A leading technologist with over 25-years industry experience, Anthony Sayers is Strategist and Business Developer for the Internet of Things, Dell OEM Solutions EMEA, responsible for designing Dell’s business and technology strategy for the commercial OEM market. Dell is a founding member of the Open Fog Consortium and also actively participates in the Intel® Internet of Things Solutions Alliance and the Open Interconnect Consortium (OIC). In his day to day work, Anthony meets with customers, partners and industry experts to research customer needs and drive the relevant market solutions. Anthony regularly represents Dell at industry forums as well as speaking and writing about the future of emerging technologies.

www.innovationandtech.ae

THINK TANK Akshay Lamba, CIO, Deloitte Akshay is an industry leader in the technology arena and has been associated with innovative projects such as large IT outsourcing deal across multiple industries, extending enterprise data to mobile platforms and information security paradigms in a web 3.0 world. He is an alumni of Harvard Business School, Boston and a revered speaker, invited to a number of international platforms, widely acknowledged as a next-gen technology expert. His forte has been in the build-up of innovative business models, with a focus on creating sustainable competitive business advantage. He is well known for leveraging strategic partnerships for both — in-house services delivery and joint go-to-market constructs.

Haider Salloum, Director, Small & Medium Business (SMB) Segment at Microsoft Gulf

Haider’s professional experiences are best described by his work over the last couple of years at Microsoft Gulf. As the Director for the Small and Medium Business (SMB) segment, Haider is tasked with helping SMEs realize their full potential, through the adoption of innovative technology and cloud transformation. Working with SMEs across 5 countries, which were once emerging markets has provided Haider with significant scope and opportunity to learn, share and explore emerging trends in innovation within the SMB community. Whilst working with national governments, entrepreneurs and corporates, Haider seeks to continuously contribute to efforts to help SMEs thrive in their competitive landscapes.

Nadine Bitar, CEO, Placemaking.me Nadine Bitar is CEO of Placemaking.me focusing on innovation in design for sustaibility and Place sourcing–a social enterprise to design for livability in the MENA region. Nadine worked in the public sector as an advisor in Abu Dhabi Municipality and the private sector as director in multinational and semi-government organizations. She has lead and participated in the design development of more than 30 large scale flagship projects including Leisure and entertainment clusters, Commercial complex, mixed use developments, Golf and residential Communities, Hospitality projects and branded destinations in the Middle East and North Africa .Nadine has been a jury member in Index awards, a keynote speaker of major regional and global design forums and summits and a researcher on sustainable design and Innovation in Arab Cities. She is active in Dubai community as the chairwoman of the advisory board –Interior design at the American University in Dubai , an executive council member of Ellevate international and is an international associate in the American Institute of Architects. She has completed an innovation and management program at Insead business school and obtained her masters in Architecture /Urban Design from American University of Beirut

Kazi Monirul Kabir, CIO, Spider Digital Innovations Kazi Monirul is a powerful, passionate, entrepreneurial, innovative and objectivedriven leader with global perspective and strong empathy for emerging market realities. He posses extensive Marketing, Communication, Innovation, Strategic Design and Business Development experience across Internet, Telecoms and Consumer Goods Industries. Monirul comes with a successful Track record of excelling across Global Enterprise, Multinational, Social Enterprise and Start-up environments. He is a great believer transformative power of Strategic Innovation in driving the growth and development of emerging countries and has chosen the digital realm as his current playground.

www.innovationandtech.ae

latest iinovation

Samsung Launches SUHD TVs with Quantum dot display

Samsung, the number one TV manufacturer worldwide for the past 10 years, has launched its latest line-up of SUHD TVs at a media event held at the Burj Al Arab in Dubai. Samsung’s 2016 range of SUHD TVs offer unparalleled picture quality, featuring Quantum dot display, the world’s first bezel-less curved design and the smartest user interface to deliver a state-of-the-art hub for home entertainment content. Quantum dots are nano-sized crystals made of semiconductor

materials. With over 150 patents on the technology, Samsung is currently the only company that produces cadmium-free quantum dot displays. Giving off pure colors, the technology ensures that primary colors can be more clearly distinguished in comparison to conventional TVs. Each quantum dot shows precise colors while the light from conventional displays mixes with adjacent colors. Compared to phosphors in conventional TVs, not only are they able to produce more colors, but their photo-active property allows for better light efficiency. By leveraging this advantage, Samsung engineers were able to increase the maximum brightness of the latest range to 1,000 nits and higher, opposed to the standard of 400 nits found in conventional TVs. Regardless of the lighting environment, the SUHD TVs deliver the optimum viewing experience, with the 1,000 nit high dynamic range (HDR) offering an extraordinary level of contrast between light and dark images. The Ultra Black technology also significantly reduces light reflection, further enhancing picture quality with minimal glare. Inspired by nature, Ultra Black absorbs natural light the same way that a moth’s eye enables it to see better at night. Built on the Tizen operating system (OS), the SUHD TVs make it easier for consumers to discover and access all their favorite content and services, from broadcast TV and movies to games and program information, all in one place.

Xerox Innovation Turns Online Video Lectures Into Next-Gen College “Text Books” and E-Learning Tutors content that is tailored to a particular student’s learning patterns.

Machine learning and imaging technology address key barriers in e-learning; Impartus to bring technology to market Dubai, UAE, 07 June 2016 – Ever try to learn something technical or complex using a video lecture? College students will tell you it’s frustrating. There’s no table of contents to pinpoint where the key information exists in a particular video, and it’s almost impossible to quickly find topics in the massive pile of video material now stored on websites like YouTube. New data analytics technology from Xerox addresses both of these issues and makes it possible to find

www.innovationandtech.ae

Using computer vision and multimedia analytics techniques the technology removes key barriers in e-learning such as quickly finding and accessing information contained in massive collections of instructional videos and the need to personalize the educational experience. The technology, invented by researchers at Xerox Research Centre India (XRCI) has been licensed to Impartus, a video learning solutions provider which plans to incorporate it into its existing e-learning offerings. “YouTube alone contains more than 20,000 hours of classroom video lectures, but unlike textbooks, these resources do not come with navigational tools like a table of contents,” said Manish Gupta, Xerox vice president and Xerox Research Centre India director. “By automatically combining written, spoken and supplemental content, these methods turn video into next generation textbooks. We’re also applying machine learning to tailor the learning experience to the student.”

latest iinovation Personalized E-Learning

learning to anyone with access to the Internet.”

E-learning makes video coursework from top universities available to anyone anywhere in the world. Often students come from widely varying educational backgrounds. The Xerox technology allows the same content to be tailored to each students’ needs and can even step in as a sort of personal e-tutor, recognizing when a student is struggling to understand a concept and suggesting additional resources.

Impartus will license and integrate Xerox technology into its interactive video e-learning solution worldwide allowing Impartus users to benefit from the power of advanced machine learning and multimedia analytics. “Xerox has assembled a team of the best research talent in India, and they are developing technology that is not currently found in other parts of the world,” said Amit Mahensaria, Impartus Cofounder. “Partnering with Xerox enhances our award-winning video learning platform and furthers our own mission of providing better learning, particularly in developing countries like India, Kenya, and Malaysia.”

If a student, after reaching the tenth minute in a video, repeatedly goes back to the fifth minute to view the material again, the solution will infer that the student might need help understanding the concepts presented between the fifth and tenth minute, and offer up suggestions for additional content.

Video Indexing The technology also uses multimedia imaging algorithms to improve video search navigation by making it really easy for students to get right to the exact spot within a video lesson they want to view. The technology creates an easy-to-use subject index and also a word cloud that hyperlink to the exact spot in the video where that concept is being discussed. “There are enormous opportunities for educational institutions to improve the learning outcomes for their students via a more effective use of videos,” Gupta said. “This partnership with Impartus reflects our belief in open innovation, and demonstrates how innovation can help expand access to education and personalized

Impartus expects the new e-learning tool to be available in India, Malaysia and Kenya by mid-summer of 2016 with a global roll out to follow. XRCI researchers will work closely with the Impartus team on technology integration.

Impartus Impartus provides innovative video learning solutions that drive better outcomes for the education sector. With more than 75 leading universities and educational institutions using Impartus to provide better learning, we have achieved market leadership in India and an expanding presence across emerging markets including Malaysia and Kenya. Impartus’ main offices are located in Bangalore, India and San Francisco, California. The company is funded by Kaizen Private Equity, India’s premiere education-focused private equity fund. Learn more at www.impartus.com.

Winners of 2016 GEMS Citizens of Tomorrow Innovation Competition

mirates NBD, a leading banking Group in the region, announced the winners of the 2016 GEMS Citizens of Tomorrow Innovation Competition, an initiative undertaken as part of Emirates NBD Group’s External Innovation program, in partnership with Emirates Islamic.

Three winning teams received gift vouchers worth AED 5,000, AED 3,000 and AED 2,000 for first, second and third prizes respectively after the competition finals that took place at the GEMS Modern Academy, Dubai. The awards ceremony was the culmination of a month-long innovation program for over 200 school students aged between 13 and 17 across

32 GEMS schools in the UAE who worked in teams to develop innovative concepts centred around three challenge themes: ‘Future Banking’, ‘Innovation in Cards’ and ‘Community’, creating business models and basic prototypes for their concepts. The winning team, Amwallet, proposed a personal financial management app based on artificial intelligence. The second placed team, Cred+ proposed an app for youth that would collect points based on their active involvement with the bank. The Epsilon team was placed third and presented an interesting concept of app-only digital debit card. Commenting on the innovation competition, Husam Al Sayed, Group Chief Human Resource Officer, Emirates NBD said, “As a company that places innovation and technology at the heart of its customer offering, we were delighted to tap into the potential of these young minds and offer them a creative environment to innovate. As Dubai moves forward in the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai to become a smart city, Emirates NBD looks forward to fostering a greater innovation culture not just within our bank, but also in our community.”

www.innovationandtech.ae

smart cities

“UAE ranks 8th globally and 1st regionally in UN’s 2016 e-Smart Services Index”

UAE’s pioneering website in the E-smart Service Index report 2016

Shows the progress made by the UAE between 2010 and 2016

Shows UAE ranks 1st among GCC for 2016

Shows the ranking of the top countries in the smart e-services index 2016

www.innovationandtech.ae

Cover story

OpenSource now offers optimal Cloud services OpenStack is being used for cloud and modernization initiatives across industries. Just as we’ve seen in other areas, what we’ve learned with OpenStack is that the underlying OS matters for performance, stability and manageability - a key reason why we’ve co-engineered and integrated Red Hat Enterprise Linux with OpenStack to make Red Hat OpenStack Platform. 1. What is your perspective and outlook on - “Proprietary” will no longer exist as a viable innovation model? Please elaborate. Many factors are driving the expanded use of open source, including the opportunity to reduce software costs and increase flexibility, security and reliability, and growing support for the principles of the open source philosophy. However, it may be the potential of an open model in driving innovation that is really enabling open source to gain ground on its proprietary counterparts. At Red Hat, we believe that the best innovations will be those that have been co-created, driven by users and participation. In fact, as the strength and depth of the open source community continues to broaden, we continue to see these collective efforts identify solutions to some really complex problems. 2. What are the top verticals in which Open Source adoption is growing fastest? Much of the financial services sector’s IT backbone relies on open source today

www.innovationandtech.ae

and more than 50% of the world’s financial trades are processed on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and 100% of commercial banks in the Fortune 500 rely on Red Hat support. Looking at our own customer base, two recent examples of organizations in this industry embracing open source include the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in the UK, and Spain and Mexico’s largest bank, BBVA. RBS is powering its new Open Experience center with Red Hat technologies, including the Red Hat Mobile Application Platform and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, Red Hat’s web-scale container application platform. Not only a physical space, Open Experience represents a new way of thinking to help Royal Bank of Scotland develop innovative products and services within a framework that promotes closer, more collaborative work between colleagues, businesses, and customers. Our strategic collaboration with BBVA is helping the bank capitalise on the opportunities offered by cloud computing technologies so it can become a more flexible and scalable digital bank. The

work is designed to focus on business and technical alignment to support BBVA to accelerate innovation, manage the growth of financial transactions on digital devices and deliver digital banking services to its global customers. The travel industry is another vertical where we’re seeing great traction. Earlier this year, we announced that Gulf Air worked with Red Hat to create a private cloud IT environment. As part of this project, Gulf Air has deployed Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform (JBoss EAP), and Red Hat Storage as the platform for its innovative big data solution, Arabic Sentiment Analysis. We’re also delighted to be working with global travel provider Amadeus. Amadeus was looking for a new computing platform that was highly available, flexible, and tolerant to infrastructure fluctuations. Through implementing Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, the business now has a cloud solution that lets its customers, travel agencies, corporations, airlines, airports, hotels, and railways respond quickly and reliably to consumer demand.

Cover story most security-sensitive, mission-critical environments you can think of, from powering major stock exchanges to and healthcare to the military. An advantage of open source is that rather than relying on one company or development team to create a secure solution, open technology helps industries like the public and private sector work together to create ideal, more secure environments. Regarding containers, what it comes down to is working with trusted providers that supply container content, understand container security and can deal with the problems. Securing containers and making them enterprise ready is a huge focus at Red Hat. One example is the recent launch of our container scanning interface which enables security partners to plug into our Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform. The idea is to enable users of containers to more easily recognise what is running inside their containers and whether the latest security updates have been applied. 4. How is Red Hat Linux operating system (OS) offering performing as compared to competitors? Looking at Red Hat’s success alone demonstrates the rise of open innovation vs. proprietary. As of our last earnings results, we had experienced 56 consecutive quarters of revenue growth (close to 14 years of continuous growth), and we are the first and only $2 billion open source company.

These customers aren’t alone in their quest to create flexible, modern platforms that can help meet the needs of their businesses in today’s fast-paced, digital economy. Through digital, entire industries have been disrupted, and new innovations have been emerged faster than at any point in history. To not only keep pace but to put themselves in a position to win, companies want technology platforms that will support them in this transformation, and also meet their future needs without locking them into a certain approach or breaking the proverbial bank. Open source offers all of these things and is a driving force behind digital transformation.

3. How do you allay the security concerns of prospects and companies that are opting for Open Source? Please explain Container Security in brief. Security always seems to be top of mind when it comes to new innovations and the problems that they may cause. However, open technology and security are tightly connected and leading enterprises and governments deploy open source-based solutions with the confidence that security concerns can be addressed in the same way as with proprietary technology. In fact, open source is at the heart of some of the

5. Are businesses prioritising their legacy system upgrades? What are the issues they are facing with upgrades? In addition to aging servers, software, and storage, some organizations may have dozens of combinations of software infrastructure stacks, multiplying the complexity and cost of maintaining the environment. It’s the complexity that occupies so much of IT staff’s time, effort, and budget. For instance, labor costs climb as the number of configurations increases. The result is a need for different teams to operate, integrate, and maintain disparate infrastructures and configurations. Standardizing on a single, modern

www.innovationandtech.ae

Cover story

Platform) and unified management tools (Red Hat CloudForms), all available individually or via a single, easy-to-deploy solution with Red Hat Cloud Suite.

infrastructure lets you do far more by reducing labor, maintenance, and other operating costs while freeing up staff to deliver new applications and services. 6. What do you foresee to be the uptake of enterprise apps? How are you positioned to take advantage of this market and what are your notable successes in this regard? Ten years ago Red Hat entered the application development market and has steadily built out the world's most comprehensive open source application development and middleware portfolio and established a formal developer program aimed at helping the people on the front lines of digital transformation do their jobs better and faster. 7. How has been the reception of Red Hat Cloud Suite and Red Hat OpenStack Platform offerings in? Can you mention a key client implementation? What have been your learnings? Launched in April 2016, Red Hat Cloud Suite has created a lot of excitement among our customers as it combines multiple Red Hat products that are optimized to work together as a hybrid cloud with unified and easy-to-use management. Red Hat now offers a complete, integrated and unrivalled hybrid cloud stack with a container application platform (Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform), massively scalable infrastructure (Red Hat OpenStack

www.innovationandtech.ae

With OpenStack, during the few days of OpenStack Summit in Austin I believe we announced more new OpenStack customer deployments (7) than anyone else had that entire year prior. Among these Verizon announced it had completed the largest known deployment of OpenStack, for network function virtualization (NFV), on Red Hat OpenStack Platform. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Cambridge University had selected Red Hat OpenStack Platform as the backbone of their cloud initiatives. We also shared the news that European companies Fastweb, Paddy Power Betfair and Produban are all in production with Red Hat OpenStack Platform. Those are just a few examples, but they are representative of how OpenStack is being used for cloud and modernization initiatives across industries. Just as we’ve seen in other areas, what we’ve learned with OpenStack is that the underlying OS matters for performance, stability and manageability - a key reason why we’ve co-engineered and integrated Red Hat Enterprise Linux with OpenStack to make Red Hat OpenStack Platform. A vast certified and supported ecosystem is also key along with a training program that can help build skills that can keep up with demands for skilled OpenStack prof essionals. 8. How does the Red Hat Mobile Application Platform facilitate greater mobile adoption and maturity, as well as reduce both costs and time to market? At the end of last year, we commissioned a survey to help us understand mobile maturity today. The results showed us that 90 percent of respondents anticipate

increasing investment in mobile application development for the year ahead. This increased investment comes as enterprises look to transform the way they do business by reinventing business processes, automating existing processes, and mobilizing legacy web applications. To match the rate at which mobile is evolving in the enterprise, and better meet challenges such as security, scalability, and back-end integration, many organizations are utilizing multitenant mobile platforms with open standards, and forming collaborative and strategic mobile centers of excellence (MCoEs). Red Hat continues to help customers address these challenges with the Mobile Application Development Platform, and we were delighted to be recently named as a visionary in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant. The platform delivers vital mobile capabilities and secure, manageable integration with enterprise systems –helping organizations to easily manage costs and reduce time to market. 9. Why is persistent storage a must for enterprise microservices through containerized applications? How do you see the market for Storage for OpenStack - open, software- defined storage? How is it key to building private clouds? Persistent storage of some kind is necessary for containerized applications, and storage as the market knows it is set to be transformed as container adoption increases. Containers by their nature are ephemeral – so when they go away, the data within them also goes away. As a result, legacy apps expect POSIX file storage that persists while cloudnative apps and microservices expect persistent storage around object storage. To meet this need, Red Hat Gluster Storage enables persistent storage to be made available in the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform without being closely bound to disks, servers, networks, or devices. Administrators can describe and make available storage services independently from developers who can discover and request persistent storage as needed in OpenShift in a controlled and quota enforced manner. This enables administrators to focus on infrastructure needs and developers on creating better applications without worrying about storage housekeeping.

Cover story

Case Study – UAE Exchange As UAE Exchange expanded its reach across 30 countries, it needed to consolidate its IT environment on a scalable, secure, robust and highperformance platform. Using Red Hat® Satellite, with help from Red Hat Consulting, the organization performed a seamless migration to Red Hat Enterprise Linux®. The platform and management system have enabled the company's IT team to effortlessly support the everincreasing server load from new branches and the rapidly multiplying customer base.

FAST FACTS: Industry: Financial services Size (employees and/or offices): Over 600 branches in 30 countries Customer since: 2007

Benefits:

in under one week. Throughout the migration, UAE’s customer facing webservices remained up and running without impact on the company's 24/7 global operations. The new Red Hat Enterprise Linux server environment means that the IT team at UAE Exchange is no longer inhibited by the inflexibility of its old distributed systems. Because UAE’s mission-critical services and applications are web-based, new branches can now simply 'plug and play' to the IT infrastructure to get their services up and running. The solution's scalability and reliability are proven: even with 80,000 to 90,000 users connecting at any given time, the services have not seen any drop in performance. Using Red Hat Satellite with Red Hat Enterprise Linux enables UAE Exchange's in-house team to easily exercise full control over its new environment. This simplifies provisioning and configuration, while also automating routine tasks such as patch management.

Software: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Hardware: Sun Solaris M4000 16-core server with 128 GB of RAM in a clustered environment, IBM System x3850 X5 64-core server with 256GB memory, IBM BladeCenter HX5 40-core server with 128GB Memory

Standardizing on Open Source As an organization that has utilized open source solutions since the beginning, Daman has experienced first hand the technology benefits. This strong inclination towards open source has even prompted the health insurance provider to invest heavily in developing the necessary skills to carry out complex implementations and maintenance of such systems within the organization itself. Therefore, when finalizing its decision to migrate its enterprise content management platform, the company was confident that Red Hat was the vendor of choice.

• High performance and availability for up to to 90,000 simultaneous users • Simplified web-based IT service implementation • A highly secure, consolidated system that made achieving the ISO 27001 certification possible • Full in-house control over the new Red Hat Enterprise Linux environment with Red Hat Satellite With more than 600 branches across 30 countries, UAE Exchange has a large, and growing customer base. However, rapid expansion caused performance and availability concerns about the company's distributed IT systems, previously comprised of servers running various versions of UNIX . To better support its fast growing portfolio of web-based applications for new services such as payment for credit cards, utility bills, subscriptions, airline tickets and others, the company needed to consolidate its environment on a single platform. Supported by Red Hat Consulting, UAE Exchange deployed Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Satellite. Red Hat Satellite made configuration and provisioning easy and enabled the IT team to rapidly roll out Red Hat Enterprise Linux onto the servers

enterprise content management platform to Red Hat Enterprise Linux in order to increase efficiency, improve control of information, and reduce the overall cost of information management. The previously deployed enterprise content management platform used by Daman was running on a proprietary operating system which added significantly to the cost of operation. With Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosting all Daman’s other applications, integration of the proprietary operating system with the overall architecture proved to be difficult to manage.

For its strategic migration, Daman implemented 13 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5 on 13 servers with, six utilizing STET for the production environment. The remaining seven servers running Red Hat Enterprise Linux were used with Oracle Application Server for clustered groups.

Benefits: CASE STUDY - DAMAN United Arab Emirate’s first specialized National Health Insurance company and long term open source technology advocate, Daman Health, migrated its

Reduced IT cost, standardization of systems on open source technology in line with the organizations long term IT roadmap, ease of maintenance due to reduced complexity, high security and robustness, excellent systems stability for round the clock operations.

www.innovationandtech.ae

cloud

Right Route to the Cloud David Hobson, Business Development Director at Oracle says any businessâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ability to affect change in their organisation varies based on many factors. The strength of leadership, its culture and organisational structure and related legacy IT assets can either facilitate or inhibit the change agenda. With significant market shifts happening across all industries the ability to not only manage change but also where and when to instigate it is vital to success or in some casesâ&#x20AC;Ś.survival. As organisations become ever more reliant on IT, this area becomes increasingly crucial to the new dynamic.

www.innovationandtech.ae

cloud

ny business’ ability to affect change in their organisation varies based on many factors. The strength of leadership, its culture and organisational structure and related legacy IT assets can either facilitate or inhibit the change agenda. With significant market shifts happening across all industries the ability to not only manage change but also where and when to instigate it is vital to success or in some cases….survival. As organisations become ever more reliant on IT this area becomes increasingly crucial to the new dynamic. This view that IT systems built to change are more valuable than those built to last may seem counter intuitive at first, but it is an essential ingredient to facilitate business change. Longevity is an important quality in most arenas, but when it comes to their IT systems companies are battling to deliver improved operational efficiency whilst competing against disruptive threats. Leveraging what IT can deliver today but also being able to easily adapt to the known (and often unknown) needs of tomorrow is part of the continuous innovation model that today’s successful companies are striving towards. Most companies want to know how quickly new systems can be deployed, how they can rapidly improve productivity and how they can be used to automate non-differentiating business processes. The intended focus therefore is to concentrate available resources on the “secret sauce” or the differentiating capabilities and processes that distinguish the business from competitors.

This is the story for companies of all sizes, across all sectors and geographies as they evaluate the benefits they get

from IT, and particularly ERP systems. In the words of James Richards, CIO of GE Finance: “The whole point for me was how do I get 50% faster and 50% cheaper on ERP deployments? You’ve got to change your business process, you’ve got to adapt best practices. It’s financials…how different can it be?” There is disruption in virtually every market GE serves (Healthcare, Capital, Lighting, Appliances and many others) and the company is working to reduce the inherent complexity of its IT estate and unleash a culture of innovation. This complexity is certainly not unique to GE and manifests itself in many companies in areas such as high costs, skills shortages, and process inefficiency – and leads to a lack of innovation in all cases. Businesses need an IT capability that supports continual market shifts and a strategy where change and pro-active refinement of this business model is possible. This brings us to the Cloud and the role it can play in achieving this. It’s now well-established that Cloud technologies help companies standardise processes, cut costs, and reduce complexity with the question now being asked by most organisations is not “if” we go to Cloud but “when” to make the transition.

There is no single, one-size fits all approach to Cloud adoption. Some companies want a complete transformation across most functional areas whilst others are better served by incremental modernisation. The incremental approach might work best for a specific functional area or longstanding process identified as a weakness needing to be rationalised or improved as a critical component of a broader process. The transformational

approach is more fundamental with a broader scope when the business has a greater need and although more complex to undertake will typically drive a broader and more fundamental business case for change. Traditional IT systems have been subject to so much customisation, integration and general “stitching” together of non-standard components over the years that even when a holy grail of single instance ERP was first envisaged things rarely turned out this way. Most companies had multiple “bolt-on” applications propped up by spreadsheets. The business landscape has since changed a great deal and new requirements, acquisitions, divestures, and re-organisations have continued to complicate the landscape and these systems are no longer deemed fit for purpose. Businesses have therefore been paying higher overhead costs to maintain technologies that have delivered diminishing returns. Many companies approach the Cloud thinking, “We want to modernise everything”, but this approach isn’t always practical. It’s vital they first address questions like: “Where do we start? What are the foundational layers? In what sequence should we tackle things? Are there any dependencies?” The responses will be different for every organisation, but once they do answer these questions companies will be ready to define their ideal path to the cloud.

David Hobson Business Development Director at Oracle

www.innovationandtech.ae

E-security

Crypto-ransomware attacks rise five-fold to hit 718,000 users in one year The number of users attacked with encryption ransomware is soaring, with 718,536 users hit between April 2015 and March 2016: an increase of 5.5 times compared to the same period in 2014-2015. The irreversible consequences of this kind of malware infection, along with the high value data that is being encrypted by ransomware tempts victims to pay for decryption, which in turn draws more cybercriminals into the business.

t’s no secret that crypto-ransomware, which encrypts data on users’ systems has become a huge problem for cybersecurity over the last few years. It has become so widespread that it could easily be called an epidemic. In order to accurately understand its scale,

www.innovationandtech.ae

Kaspersky Lab has researched how the ransomware threat has evolved over a period of 24 months. The company’s analysis includes attack statistics for classic screen-blocker ransomware as well as crypto-ransomware. The report covers the full two-year period, which

for comparison reasons has been divided into two parts of 12 months each: from April 2014 to March 2015 and from April 2015 to March 2016. These particular timescales were chosen, because they witnessed several significant changes in the ransomware threat landscape.

E-security

Here are the key points revealed by the research. The total number of users encountering any type of ransomware between April 2015 and March 2016 increased by 17.7% compared to the period April 2014 to March 2015 (from 1,967,784 to 2,315,931 users around the world). The number of users attacked with crypto-ransomware rose 5.5 times (from 131,111 in 2014-2015 to 718,536 in 2015-2016). The share of users encountering ransomware at least once as a proportion of the total number of users encountering malware rose from 3.63% in 2014-2015 to 4.34% in 20152016; The share of users encountering crypto-ransomware as a proportion of those encountering ransomware rose dramatically – up 25 percentage points, from 6.6% in 2014-2015 to 31.6% in 2015-2016. At the same time the number of users attacked with blockers (ransomware that locks screens) decreased by 13.03%, from 1,836,673 in

2014-2015 to 1,597,395 in 2015-2016.

organization against this threat.

“The biggest problem with cryptoransomware today is that sometimes the only way to get the encrypted data back is to pay the criminals, and victims tend to pay. That brings a lot of money into the underground ecosystem that has grown up around this malware, and as a result we are seeing new cryptors appear almost daily. Companies and regular users can protect themselves by implementing regular backups, using a proven security solution and keeping themselves informed about current cybersecurity risks. The ransomware business model seems to be profitable and safe for criminals, and the security industry and users can change that just by implementing these basic measures,” - said Fedor Sinitsyn, Senior Malware Analyst at Kaspersky Lab.

Tips to consumers:

As crypto-ransomware is one of the most dangerous types of malware ever created, and the consequences of it can be very severe, Kaspersky Lab gives advice on to protect yourself or your

• Back-up is a must. The sooner backup becomes yet another rule in your day-to-day PC activity, the sooner you will become invulnerable to any kind of ransomware. • Use a reliable security solution. And when using it do not turn off the advanced security features which it most certainly has. Usually these are features that enable the detection of new ransomware based on its behavior. • Keep the software on your PC upto-date. Most widely-used applications (Flash, Java, Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office) and operating systems (like Windows) have an automatic updates feature. Keep it turned on, and don’t ignore requests from these applications for the installation of updates. • Keep an eye on files you download

Emirates Chartered Accountants Group, is ISO 9001 – 2008, a certified International firm of Chartered Accountants headquartered at Dubai, U. A. E. We are a member of IEC- Net, an International network of Auditors, Accountants and Tax professionals with its head quarters in Paris. Emirates Chartered Accountants Group is known for its excellence in client service, quality, professional integrity, accountability, innovation and best practices.

Services

Audit & Assurance Business & Financial Advisory Accounting & Financial Reporting Cost Analysis & Cost Control Consultancy in Corporate Finance Market Research & Business Plan Valuation & Business Restructuring Accounting Software Solutions Company Incorporation Services Group Entitles: Emirates Chartered Accountants IEC Emirates Chartered Accountants Co. United Audiing Emirates Accounts Services UK

Suite No.503, 804, Wasl Business Central, P.O. Box: 122957, Dubai, UAE, Tel: +971 4 2500290, Fax: +971 4 2500291 accounts@emiratesca.com, www.emiratesca.com

E-security

from the Internet and receive via email. Especially from untrusted sources. In other words, if what is supposed to be an mp3 file has an .exe extension, it is definitely not a musical track but malware. The best way to be sure that everything is fine with the downloaded content is to make sure it has the right extension and has successfully passed the checks run by the protection solution on your PC. • If, for some reason your files are encrypted with ransomware and you are asked to a pay a ransom, don’t pay. Every bitcoin transferred to the hands of criminals builds their confidence in the profitability of this kind of cybercrime, which in its turn leads to the creation of new ransomware. At the same time, a lot of security companies, including Kaspersky Lab fight ransomware on daily basis. Sometimes it is possible to create a decryption tool for certain kinds of ransomware, and sometimes as a result of cooperation with law enforcement agencies, it becomes possible to get the encryption keys for certain families of ransomware, which can eventually lead to decryption of your files. Last but

not least: the creation, spreading and demanding of a ransom for decryption are all actions that are defined as criminal in most countries around the globe. Report an attack to the police in order to start an investigation.

Tips to businesses • Back-up is a must. Upon the infection of your corporate PCs, the ransomware is likely to start encrypting files that are required for the daily work of your company. If it is technically impossible to back-up all the files you have in the corporate network, choose the most critical (accounting documents, clients’ data, legal documents etc.), isolate them and back-up regularly. • Use a reliable, corporate-grade security solution and don’t switch off its advanced features, as these enable it to catch unknown threats. • Undertake regular patch management. • Educate your personnel: very often the ransomware infection happens due to a lack of knowledge about common

cyberthreats and the methods criminals use to infect their victims. • Avoid paying a ransom and report the attack to police. To learn more about the evolution of ransomware threat, read the report on Securelist.com.

About Kaspersky Lab Kaspersky Lab is one of the world’s fastestgrowing cybersecurity companies and the largest that is privately-owned. The company is ranked among the world’s top four vendors of security solutions for endpoint users (IDC, 2014). Since 1997 Kaspersky Lab has been an innovator in cybersecurity and provides effective digital security solutions and threat intelligence for large enterprises, SMBs and consumers. Kaspersky Lab is an international company, operating in almost 200 countries and territories across the globe, providing protection for over 400 million users worldwide. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.

E-CONOMY

Digital Economy Needs Strategic, Proactive Policies Booz Allen Hamilton Report

• MENA countries have the opportunity to double or triple adoption of digital payments, says Booz Allen Hamilton report • Currently, just 9% of retail payments by volume in the UAE are made digitally, compared with 42% in the UK and 75% in Sweden • Banks need to evolve in line with changing consumer needs to stay relevant

www.innovationandtech.ae

E-CONOMY

modern payment infrastructure has the potential to create new and sustainable revenue streams for commercial banks in the region, said global consulting and technology firm Booz Allen Hamilton, in a new report released today. The report, titled ‘Doubling Digital Payments in MENA’, recommends that in the face of a slowing global economy, regional central banks adopt a more strategic approach to regulatory policymaking in order to realize the full potential of the digital economy in the Middle East and North Africa region. “For banks in MENA, it’s either keep up with the digital focus of consumer payment habits, or risk becoming irrelevant,” said Lutfi Zakhour, Senior Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton MENA and co-author of the report. “Decreasing reliance on cash and addressing the growing challenges related to retail payments should be top priorities for central and commercial banks if they are to unlock the benefits derived from the creation of an inclusive digital economy.” Just 9 percent of current retail payments by volume in the UAE are made digitally, compared with 42 percent in the UK and 75 percent in Sweden. MENA countries can double or even triple the rate of adoption of digital payments by creating new payment infrastructure and introducing regulations to promote digital commerce and drive innovation and protect against cyber fraud. “The digital economy has the potential to unlock economic growth, stimulate the e-commerce industry and generate new, sustainable revenue streams for commercial banks right across the Middle East and North Africa,” Zakhour said. “At a time of economic slowdown and tightened liquidity, financial services institutions can stimulate robust and organic growth by adopting a more proactive approach to the new global payment reality,” said Charles Habak, Principal at Booz Allen Hamilton MENA and co-author of the report. “The focus must remain on champion solutions – tailored payment models that are viable and can be scaled up in the region.” The report identifies key

www.innovationandtech.ae

recommendations for central and commercial banks in the region, such as introducing digital payment regulations, enhancing retail operations, collaborating on design and infrastructure, establishing an inclusive governance system, promoting pragmatic financial inclusion, balancing cooperation and competition, developing new products to meet consumer demand, building healthy consortia to increase market strength and partnering with FinTech start-ups.

For MENA Central Banks • Introduce digital payment regulations: In order to drive innovation and competition, regulators need to issue new digital payment directives, including licensing and authorization, capital and safeguarding, governance, limits and compliance. This will accelerate growth and offer greater consumer protection while efficiently balancing an effective market uptake and overall payment stability. • Enhance or carve out retail payments operations: MENA central banks should consider speeding up innovation and enhancing quality of service in their retail payment operations through performance-enhancement programs or carve-outs of their payment operations via wholly owned entities or publicprivate partnerships. • Collaboratively design and roll out infrastructure: Collaboration with other banks and stakeholders is key to building a new retail payments infrastructure.

The design should initially be owned and incubated by business functions, focusing largely on providing safe, secure and convenient services to end users. • Establish ecosystem-engaging governance: MENA central banks need to set up a governance structure that includes industry stakeholders such as banks, entrepreneurs and SMEs, technology players and other key corporations to ensure continuous evolution in the ecosystem. • Promote pragmatic financial inclusion: Initiatives such as wage protection systems have created considerable opportunities to extend financial services beyond basic payroll and accounting. Looking past commercial obligations and working to achieve lower costs is the first step towards financial inclusion. MENA central banks should work closely with commercial banks and other financial institutions to reassess segments with true potential and volume for digital transactions as a starting point, and help identify suitable and cost-efficient offerings that can effectively cater to their needs.

For MENA Commercial Banks • Engage with central banks to roll out a modern central infrastructure: Commercial banks need to work proactively with central banks, or through consortia, to co-design and roll out a modern central infrastructure and digital payments platform. They should also seek to collaborate with

E-CONOMY

technology players, telecommunication providers, payment aggregators and national identity authorities to capitalize on growing technology disruptions and increase revenue streams with more compelling market offerings. • Establish the right balance between bank cooperation and competition: Commercial banks in the region need to commit to governance structures that strike the difficult balance between collaboration and competition with their peers. Healthy competition is a key driver of innovation. • Develop new products and services to match consumer demands: To compete with regional and international technology players, commercial banks need to design and roll out innovative products and services to match evolving consumer needs. Governance, cooperation, speed, modernization and strength of organizational links are central components of launching these new products and services. • Build healthy consortia to increase competitiveness and market strength:

Commercial banks should look to the capabilities of non-bank stakeholders for niche areas of new bank products and services. Similarly, technology players can extend infrastructure; telecommunication providers can help strengthen communication security, promotion, and distribution; payment aggregators can provide SMEs with integrated e-commerce and e-payment platforms; and national identity authorities can bolster customer authentication services to enhance the overall value proposition of banks. • Partner with and incubate FinTech startups: To stay ahead of the curve, banks need to build more agility into how IT innovations are adopted. By partnering with or contributing to the incubation of FinTech startups, banks can offer more competitive products and services while incurring less upfront costs. If executed properly, these partnerships can marry the resilience and compliance of bankbased models with the innovation and entrepreneurship of startups, creating compelling offerings that will create new channels of revenue.

About Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton has been at the forefront of strategy and technology for more than 100 years. Today, the firm provides management and technology consulting and engineering services to leading Fortune 500 corporations, governments, and not-for-profits across the globe. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Booz Allen builds on six decades of experience partnering with public and private sector clients to solve their most difficult challenges through a combination of business strategy, digital innovation, data analytics, cybersecurity and resilience, operations, supply chain, organization and culture, engineering and life-cycle project management expertise. With regional MENA offices in Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Cairo, Doha, Dubai and Riyadh, and international headquarters in McLean, Virginia, the firm employs more than 22,500 people globally, and had revenue of $5.27 billion for the 12 months ended March 31, 2015. To learn more, visit mena.boozallen.com. (NYSE: BAH)

NEED WAREHOUSING & FULFILMENT? We're redeﬁning storage. It's not just about space, it's about working more efficiently, from wherever you are. Our world-class warehousing and order fulﬁlment solutions ensure you can operate your inventory and supply chain remotely. That's thinking which is quite literally, out of The Box.

Call 800-THEBOX or visit www.theboxme.com to ﬁnd out more.

IoT

Innovation and IoT can transform oil-based economies

the market is ripe for pragmatic real-world implementations of IOT and connected smart solutions that drive tangible outcomes and deliver benefits for residents. We are tired of the hype and what-if scenarios and are ready to move proof of concepts into commercial implementations, says Anthony sayers.

My impressions of Dubai

environment like?

One year ago, I moved to Dubai to live and work. So what have been my impressions so far? What is the business

I personally love living in Dubai, experiencing a new culture that is very much driven by local tradition and yet

www.innovationandtech.ae

very diverse in terms of the different nationalities who live here. From a business perspective, I am very impressed by the UAEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s desire to create collaboration between the private sector and public

IOT

sector. This is not just rhetoric – there is a genuine willingness to partner and to use innovative technology as the means to drive real change. Encouragingly, despite or perhaps because of having vast oil reserves, the focus in the UAE seems to be very much on developing a circular economy where economic growth is separated from resource consumption.

Office of the Future For example, Dubai is now home to the “Office of the Future”, the first 3D-printed office in the world, which will provide valuable insights on the real application of 3D printing technology.

saving money, and avoiding the whole re-invention of the wheel. All part of what a circular economy is all about.

Partnership is critical The Internet of Things (IoT) takes this sustainable collaboration one step further by combining the global reach of the Internet with the ability to transform data into intelligent insights. Using the Internet, gateways and sensors, IT can now connect to the operational world of machine-to-machine, allowing us to integrate and connect data that previously resided in separate silos. This brave new world sounds wonderful and is very much achievable but it takes

ESGI at a large shopping mall in Dubai is a classic case in point. Separate building management systems are now integrated and communicating with one another via the Dell Edge Gateway 5000 series , which aggregates, secures, analyses and relays data from a range of sensors and equipment. So for example, in the event of an emergency, lighting, water sprinklers, cameras, air conditioning, elevators and exit doors would all work in tandem to raise alerts with emergency services and facilitate fast evacuation of the building. Apart from streamlining operations and reducing management overhead, the solution also delivers energy savings. Win-win all-round!

Innovation is contagious Innovation like this is a disruptive force for good, challenging us all to create smarter, sustainable, more innovative ways of providing services, managing assets and developing new products. Experience shows that collaboration and innovation are the real game-changers. A human-centric design – incorporating a human view to all steps of the problemsolving process – is a fundamental building block to creating a sustainable society and economy. I am glad to see that this principle seems to be alive, well and kicking in the UAE. It’s amazing to think that a 3D-printer, equipped with an automated robotic arm, and measuring 20 feet high, 120 feet long and 40 feet wide was used to print a 2690 square foot building with the labour cost reduced by more than 50% compared to conventional buildings of similar size. Imagine what this promises for the future!

Open standards support the circular economy So what has a circular economy got to do with Dell? A circular economy goes beyond recycling as it is based on the concept of designing out waste and duplication. In the same way, Dell is committed to driving technology based on open standard architecture, allowing systems from different manufacturers to talk to one another. Apart from fostering collaboration and inter-operability, this is a sustainable approach, driving increased productivity,

partnership. The reality is that no single company or organization can provide that capability. Therefore, in my view, the silo mentality adopted by some is frankly naive.

Farwell to the hype When I attended the recent Middle East Innovation Advisory Council, my key take-away was that it is abundantly clear that the market is ripe for pragmatic real-world implementations of IOT or connected smart solutions that drive tangible outcomes and deliver benefits for citizens, residents and visitors. We are all tired of the hype and what-if scenarios and we are now ready to move the proof of concepts into commercial implementations.

Welcome to commercial implementation

Anthony Sayers, Strategist and Business Developer for the Internet of Things, Dell OEM Solutions EMEA

Dell OEM’s recent collaboration with

www.innovationandtech.ae

business efficiency

how to Avoid 4 Common â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Document Captureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Mistakes

www.innovationandtech.ae

business efficiency

igital transformation isn’t just a means to a competitive edge or an efficient business —it’s crucial to success. Advanced document capture and information management solutions can help businesses in UAE automate and streamline workflows, empowering employees to get more done faster and right first time. However, the big-picture promises of accelerated processes and stronger customer service can sometimes overshadow the complexities, including technical requirements and the challenge of gaining employee buy-in. By keeping in mind existing workflows and endusers’ needs, businesses can avoid the roadblocks to new technology adoption and see the full return on investment in upgraded equipment.

Mistake No. 1: Slow, Costly Integration While new technology signals positive change for C-suite decision-makers and end users, it can also mean headaches for IT if integration isn’t seamless and cost-effective. Connecting scanners to and installing capture software on every computer takes a significant amount of time, driving up implementation costs and delaying full integration. Enter: Wireless technology. Scanners that function wirelessly within existing infrastructure and applications make integration simple and quick. In addition, thin-client web and mobile capture software is deployed and managed centrally via the web. This not only allows for a fast launch but also minimizes costs associated with upgrades (hardware & software) and ensures they take place at the same time, maximizing the software’s capabilities.

Mistake No. 2: Technology Isn’t User-friendly Across industries, employees face pressure to complete processes efficiently and accurately. While they can benefit from new technology aimed at helping them work faster, employees presented with a new solution often turn to legacy tools they’re comfortable using. If scanning technology has even a slight learning curve, the perceived cost of taking the time to become familiar with the device or software can override the downside of continuing to use time consuming, manual

processes. Conversely, the more intuitive solutions are, the more quickly they’ll become part of employees’ day-to-day routines. Scanners that feature user-friendly touchscreens and can be configured to offer one-touch scanning allows employees to automatically start or continue a business process directly from the device. If the technology is easy to use and integrate into existing workflows, it can be adopted—and start producing results— immediately.

Mistake No. 3: Ignoring BYOD New technology also needs to be compatible with the devices employees use every day. The growth of cloud adoption and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies has contributed to the consumerization of IT and shows no sign of slowing down. According to Tech Pro Research[1], 60 percent of organizations already permit employees to use their personal devices for work, and 14 percent plan to begin doing so in the next 12 months. Allowing employees to work with devices they are familiar with not only makes them productive, but also helps reduce businesses’ IT infrastructure costs. Some of the latest scanners offer wireless connectivity to mobile devices. Rather than having to power up a PC and connect to their organization’s server every time they need to scan documents, employees can easily sync with the scanner from their smartphone or tablet. Using a mobile app, they can then access the scanned documents on their phones and cue up the associated business process at the touch of a button. This not only allows employees to be more efficient but ensures processes start sooner and are carried out faster—a win for the business and its customers.

believe it’s happening too slowly at their organization, suggesting a gap between how decision-makers and employees view these changes. Derik Timmerman, co-founder and CEO of insights services provider Spreadsheet Sherpa, says there are three M’s to prioritize when leading technological change: the message, the messenger and the method. Before crafting a message, he recommends businesses consult with their employees and identify their frustrations with current technology. “It’s not just any message that might make sense. It’s understanding how to craft that message in a way that is directed like a laser right at the pain points of the people that need to adopt [the technology],” he says. Equally as important as developing messaging that resonates with employees is selecting a messenger who’s respected and trusted. Someone who works alongside staff on the front lines is often a stronger choice for this advocate role than a manager because he or she can serve as a relatable example to the rest of the staff, Timmerman says. Finally, the method by which the transformation is communicated and executed is crucial to its success. Timmerman suggests maintaining the focus on the common pain points discussed and how the technology alleviates or eliminates them. Advanced information management solutions are central to lean, competitive operations. By taking measures to ensure smooth implementation and adoption of scanners and capture software, businesses in UAE can begin seeing results sooner and ultimately achieve greater ROI.

Mistake No. 4: Ineffective Change Management An investment in hardware and software may streamline workflows, fuel productivity and meet mobile needs, but if it’s not introduced strategically, businesses risk employees not adopting it fully. A study by MIT Sloan Management Review and Capgemini Consulting[2] reveals that while the vast majority of employees feel digital transformation is imperative, most

Emma Isichei, Worldwide Category Director, Capture Solutions at Kodak Alaris

www.innovationandtech.ae

The digital edge

TRANSFORM your business INTO A DIGITAL war machine

YOUR business needs to HAVE a strong position on how to innovate in the digital world and also on how attract and retain talent. a digital workplace CAN lead to AN agile and lean approach to innovation AND The digital customer experience should be developed early on, SAYS JEAN LuC SCHERER. 28

www.innovationandtech.ae

The digital edge

igital technologies have impacted or rather have shaken up the majority of the industries today. Digital businesses have shown potential to save costs, redefine value chains and they even allow us to work and collaborate in new ways. One of the main benefits of a true digital business is that it leverages technologies that will allow it to produce value at almost no cost and equally distribute that value at not cost either. These are good pre-requisites for rapid growth. But what is a digital business and what are the main technologies that enable such business?

It is all about Broadband, IoT, Cloud and Mobile Apps Well let’s start with the technology! What I will describe here is not an official definition but rather a simple view on the main drivers of the digitalization process. For a start I would say the internet, broadband and mobility have made it possible to be connected all the time, but also to connect everything and everywhere. By connecting assets, products and services, we are now creating a new type of internet, where real world objects can be accessed and manipulated in a digital manner; this is referred to as the internet of things. This gives possibilities to communicate in new ways, but also allows things to communicate with each other. This provides us with opportunities to redefine business processes and also to create new value. The cost of managing, analyzing and acting on all the data provided by these things has now also become manageable thanks to cloud technologies. Cloud technology provides memory, compute and storage capabilities at a fraction of the cost of traditional IT systems and gives us scale. Last but not least mobiles devices have become much more than just communication devices, they have become remote controls that allow you in a virtual way to control the physical world. So in which ways should I leverage these technologies and how are businesses impacted? This is where it often becomes blurry, where Consulting companies and IT Players talk about complex digital transformation or where others limit their views to operational efficiencies and digital marketing only. I will try to give here a simpler definition,

which I hope can be used equally for SME’s as well as for larger corporates in order to quickly define a digital strategy. The suggested approach is built around 4 pillars: the digital workplace, the digital customer experience, digital marketing and finally innovation and value creation in a digital world.

The digital workplace The digital workplace is all about efficiency. I would like to look at this from two or three perspectives. One is that tomorrow’s workforce and company boundaries in general will become much more dynamic and permeable, compared to today. Millenials are more likely to join a company for a key project rather than for a permanent employment. This means that workplaces will need to cater with these new requirements and expectations. You don’t want to invest in heavy IT systems but rather use software-as-a-service model or even consider open-source and license free software for parts of your business. Secondly you want to make sure you get the best talent to work for you and in a digital world you are no more limited by geography and distance. Employees can work remotely, as long as you provide them with the right tools for collaboration. For SME’s and start-up’s I am thinking about collaboration tools like twillio or evernote just to name a few, but even applications like whatsapps and skype are becoming critical business communication tools. Managing talent in the digital world means also that you can also enable new ways of assessing and learning, peer reviews through social collaboration platforms can become more powerful than traditional performance management tools.

The digital customer experience: Consumers and customers in general are getting more and more accustomed to get anything at the control of the findertips. Why? Because whatever the needs, whatever the pain points the consumer journey often starts with a google search or ordering something through a mobile app. Providing a digital customer experience means to support the

customer throughout the various phases of their journey: from search to evaluating options, purchasing, usage and support. What this means is that you need to think twice on how to engage the customer and also how quickly understand their context. Using location, time of day, recent searches, application reporting can all be elements that help you understand the customers context to serve them better. Mobile applications, online portals and marketplaces are all digital means to sell good and services, but it is the context and the way you guide the user toward a relevant choice that will make this experience pleasant. Take Careem for instance, this is a mobile application that will allow you book a taxi ride. In most cases when I look for a taxi, I want it now and I don’t care about the taxi type, right? So the default option in the application is to ride NOW! So by one click, the YALLA button, I order my taxi, no complicated process. At the same time the application indicates before booking how long it will take for closest taxi to be here. I am more likely to book when it is that simple. Similarly customer feedback and support can be simplified. Nowadays call Centers are not necessarily efficient ways to get feedback on your product or provide support, social media is getting more and more used to provide support, but also to understand customers through customer sentiment analysis.

Digital Marketing As mentioned earlier customers and

www.innovationandtech.ae

The digital edge

clients are nowadays doing most of their initial purchasing decisions online. So how to do you make sure people know about your products and services, and how do you make sure they develop a preference for you. I guess there are two ways to look at this. One is what are the mechanisms you put in place for people to find you, and secondly how do you engage in ways so that you create a buzz around your offering. For the first part, social media is proving many digital channels to engage with potential customers. Instagam can for instance provide good ways to describe your portfolio. Facebook pages can be used in similar ways to market your company and offerings. Blogs can be used to attract various types of readers and even youtube or vimeo video content could be created to talk about your brand and solutions. Different channels can be used, and you need to target the right ones based on your target group, you also need to tag information in the right way, so that your content appears on top of user searches. This is called search engine optimization or SEO. The difficulty for smaller businesses comes from managing multiple channels in a coordinated way, and also how to regularly create new content to attract new users. For the consistency part you can use platforms like buffer or social bro, which would allow you to post content is an automated but controlled way. I also found scoop.it! very valuable for content curation, which allows you to mix personal and third party content in a blog like output. How continuously create engagement is difficult though, so it might require innovative approaches in what content you decide to create, and you might want to leverage end-users or followers to become advocates for your brand.

Innovation and value creation in a digital world Now we are coming to the most critical pillar. In the digital world everybody is at a risk of becoming disrupted very quickly so you need to find ways to continuously innovate to stay at the top, but it also means that anybody could become the next Uber or AirBnB. So letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s start with these companies and letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s see how they have managed to take over the world. On one side and in both cases you have an asset, which is a taxi or a flat, which is turned into a

digital asset, that somebody owns. On the other side you have demand, a consumer, which by being online, becomes a digital consumer. Connecting the digital consumer with the digital asset, suddenly creates a marketplace where the broker can take a commission whithout ever owning any of the assets. This value chain and business model innovation is also strengthened by additional value that is created in the search process. Whether it is location of the Airbnb property, pictures of the flats, peer ratings of the accommodation, price levels, amenities, these are all elements that help in the search process. Similarly the booking process and feedback allows for a very solid customer experience from the initial search to rating your visit. Once you use these type of services they become very sticky. So when trying to innovate you need to leverage the possibilities to digitalize what is not already digitalized, find problems and paint points that can be addressed in new ways. The innovation can be done in multiple ways: in the creation phase you can assess and leverage both internal and external ideas based on a continuous insighting, about technologies, trends and behaviours. Concepts can then be developed where new user experiences and delivery models are explored. Thanks to technologies like cloud, IoT and Mobile Application development, these concepts can quickly be explored, validated and scaled without taking too much risk on the existing business. Another interesting angle to consider in this innovation process is that of creating value to the end-user, the actual monetization can sometimes be taken as a second step. Take social networks for instance. The size of the community and the reach a community can provide has an intrinsic value, as with twitter for instance. When taking that approach hybrid business models, like the freemium model can be explored. Take Smule for instance. This is an online karaoke application, that is very popular. It leverages on the fact that a lot of people like to sing, but also that all music is today available in digital format. The user experience and social sharing are nicely implemented since you have good sound quality, nice recording and can share with the community. Now this is where the business model is smart. You provide a few free songs to get users hooked... then you have to pay. But actually, no, the other option is to still continue singing but

only the second part of somebody that has paid. By doing that you create connections among users, add virality and ultimately will create an urge for the user to get their own subscription and drive their own popularity. So where does this leave a startup, an SME or a large corporate? How do you become a digital business than can bloom, scale and prosper?

The path toward becoming a true digital business Now it might not be that easy to find the right starting point, but most important is that the company leadership set an agenda when it comes to some or all of the pillars I mentioned in this article. Most important is probably to have a strong vision to start with on how to continuously innovate and how to manage talent in an optimal way. This is why I believe a company needs to start having a strong position on how to innovate in the digital world and also on how attract and retain talent by providing a digital workplace that leads to agile and lean approach to innovation. The digital customer experience is something that should be developed early on as concepts are defined, but will most likely follow if there is a strong vision. Digital marketing is also something that is also more likely to follow if the other elements are in place, but it will become increasingly important as you define the true identity of your brand and position your company should take in the market. One thing is sure though, becoming a digital business is not an afterthought, but should be a key preoccupation of any business that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to get disrupted.

Jean Luc Scherer Engagement Director, Cloud & IoT, Ericsson

Business Software that Inspires Epicor Software Corporation is a global leader delivering inspired business software solutions to the manufacturing, distribution, retail, and services industries. Epicor business software solutions help customers effectively and efficiently automate and streamline their essential and industry-specific business functions, inspiring them to focus on their core, revenue-generating activities, deliver value to their own customers, and grow.

Inspired Businesses turn to Epicor Software. To learn more: +971.4.3913730 marketing.mena@epicor.com www.epicor.com/mena

Business Inspiredâ&#x201E;˘

20,000 customers

| 40 years of experience

150 countries

30 languages

4,000 employees

Copyright ÂŠ 2012 Epicor Software Corporation or a subsidiary or affiliate thereof. Epicor and the Epicor logo are registered trademarks and Business Inspired is a trademark of Epicor Software Corporation

Cloud computing

Adaptive Trust - A New Defense for Secure Enterprise Mobility in UAE 32

www.innovationandtech.ae

Cloud computing

Summary: BYOD, cloud and the Internet of Things are changing enterprise defense plans to guard against points of attack inside the network perimeter. These new ways of connecting to secure resources have changed the way traditional threat radars work – protecting threats from the outside.

n HR director, a salesperson visiting with your engineering team, and a network administrator walk into office at 9am. Each is carrying a coffee in one hand, a smart phone in their pocket and a laptop over the shoulder. Within minutes of entering the building, they all log in to the Wi-Fi network and blend into the mobile workforce. These tech-savvy, and Wi-Fi loving users expect to connect and work from anywhere on any device – and they want connectivity without extraneous layers of security that slow them down. It’s this workforce and expectations across enterprises in UAE that are turning security inside out. What’s happening faster than anyone imagined is the dilution of the fixed perimeter that surrounds the enterprise. Before workforces went mobile, IT invested tons of time and resources into building a crack-free perimeter that prevented outside threats from coming into the enterprise. They locked down the network with gateway firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, anti-spam, URL filtering and other security solutions to close off possible entry points. But in our more mobile-centric world, the biggest threats now come from inside the network. Infected laptops and smart phones walk right through the front door and connect directly to the network without IT’s knowledge. When you count the attacks initiated from those unsecured user devices, the loss of sensitive data on mobile devices and risky end user behavior, they add up to more than 90 percent of enterprise security breaches. Lost devices alone pose a serious insider threat. In 2014 thieves stole 2.1 million smartphones in the United States and another 3.1 smartphones were lost. The missing devices are often all someone needs to gain access to

a company’s valuable data and critical business systems. Remember the mobile workers from earlier? The HR director’s laptop could have access to the direct deposit information for the entire company, and the network administrator most likely has the credentials to access 70 percent of the systems in the company. Stats are only beginning to trickle in that highlight the potential threat of the Internet of Things. Clearly, billions of devices will connect to the Internet in the coming years, but how will they impact the enterprise? According to The Internet of Things 2015 report, the largest adopter of IoT ecosystems will be businesses, not consumers. According to Gartner, businesses are projected to have from 11.2 to 20 billion IoT devices installed by 2020. As smart meters, IV pumps, manufacturing robots, farming equipment, and even conference rooms connect, the network must get smarter and be able to classify and understand the behavior of IoT devices automatically in order to keep the enterprise safe.

When Context Controls Connectivity Between the mobile devices already on the network and the IoT devices that are coming, the inside of the network has become a soft underbelly. It demands a different type of security approach—one that starts on the inside and extends beyond the perimeter, and can adapt to the dynamic nature of users—and mobile-oriented threats— those that can originate from anywhere. The hallmarks of this security approach are: shared contextual information and adaptive controls based on mobility needs. By recognizing that no two users are alike, an adaptive trust approach allows IT to define more personal policies that are mapped to individuals or groups that share similar roles and business objectives.

Going back to our initial trio, the visiting salesperson gets guest access allowing them to reach only the Internet—this after meeting sponsor acknowledgement and device compliance. While guest access is a familiar scenario, context-based policies get more interesting when applied to the two employees. Enforcement can now be based on user role, device ownership, MDM/EMM status, and even location. The network administrator has full privileges from his laptop while he is in any company-owned building. At home, his privileges drop somewhat and they are different for his laptop and his smartphone. The HR director has full access to all systems when onsite, and when working from home on her laptop. When traveling she is limited to emails and approvals from her mobile device. For vacation, review, or budget approvals, the HR director also has the necessary multi-factor authentication credentials to move the approval into the workflow cycle. This added layer of security ensures that automated processes are only initiated by approved personnel. If

www.innovationandtech.ae

Cloud computing the mobile device is stolen, a thief has no access to the company’s systems or private employee data. User role, device type, ownership, status and location are some of the relevant contextual information that allows IT to create policies that allow or deny access on a case-by-case basis without leaving the enterprise completely exposed to new threats.

A Secure Network is a Healthy Network Enterprises that have moved to an adaptive trust approach are responding confidently to the demands of BYOD, cloud, and IoT. Consulate Health Care is among the security thought leaders that have moved to an adaptive trust approach that protects against insider threats. The health care center had hundreds of company-issued mobile devices and thousands of guest devices that connected to the network daily, but security wasn’t air tight Consulate wanted to assign policies

to the connecting devices based on user role and device that would serve both visitors and employees and protect patient information and other private healthcare data. The new defense approach provides the center with much better security around its intensely dynamic mobile environment. Prior to establishing a valid connection, corporate-owned and personal devices must meet compliance policies. Devices failing to meet requirements are automatically quarantined and the users are asked to resolve the issues. Once recognized as compliant, patients, residents and family members can complete the self-enrollment process for Internet access that won’t affect the security of the internal network. However, when the center’s health care employees connect to the network, they are granted access to internal resources. Based on user role and device ownership IT can easily define which resources they should have access to – thus reducing the chance of compromising patient information. Consulate is now much

more confident that its data and systems are safe from any insider threats. When enterprises in UAE take an adaptive trust approach, IT can make smarter decisions about how users and devices connect and how their access privileges are enforced. This is required for today’s mobile workforce – which will continue to push the boundaries of network security for years to come. In this fast-paced, upwardly mobile world, the best defense is being able to adapt.

Michael Netterberg, Solution Architect, Networking at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company

UAE Free Zone Company Formation Offshore Company Incorporation Offshore Banking Company Administration Directorship Services

mobile business

The New Wave: Boosting Productivity for the Mobile Workforce 802.11ac Wave 2 provides the Wi-Fi capacity and density needed to support the mobile workforce and multimedia-heavy app

obile devices – and the demands by mobile users – are reshaping the way work gets done and where. Enterprises have responded by expanding their wireless networks and, in many cases, adopting gigabit Wave 1 implementations of 802.11ac to boost Wi-Fi performance and improve customer experience. With this growing dependence on the wireless network, even a few minutes of downtime can result in considerable loss of productivity and money. Organizations need a fast and reliable Wi-Fi infrastructure. Wave 2 implementations of 802.11ac can provide key capacity and density capabilities needed to ensure reliable connectivity for the growing influx of Wi-

Fi-enabled devices on enterprise networks. By planning for this rising tide of data consumption and selecting the right Wave 2 products, enterprises can ensure their network doesn’t get overwhelmed.

Trends in Wi-Fi Traffic A number of trends are driving the need for multi-gigabit Wave 2 implementations, including:

Increasing numbers of wireless devices: The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) phenomenon is here to stay as users have come to expect all aspects of their lives to be mobile friendly. In addition to smartphones, laptops and tablets, WiFi-enabled Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as smart TVs, security cameras and digital signage are also connecting to the

enterprise network. More devices translate to a need for more bandwidth and denser Wi-Fi deployments.

The rise of video: Video conferencing has become a staple of business operations. Whether enterprises are using room-based conferencing systems or applications such as Skype for Business, video conferencing traffic is creating the need for increased bandwidth. Video has become the leading type of digital content both at work and in users’ personal lives. Video sharing sites such as YouTube and Vimeo as well as video streaming services such as Periscope are being used for a range of business purposes, from employee training to product demonstrations. In addition to the rising consumption of video,

www.innovationandtech.ae

mobile business the bandwidth required for video has increased with each new generation of smartphone. Enterprises need to beef up their Wi-Fi networks to handle this traffic.

New mobile applications: Mobile devices are driving development of new types of applications, including cloudbased services that allow anytime, anywhere access to business apps and data; guest access; mobile engagement; location services; and Wi-Fi voice calls, to name a few. In addition, users are running more and more mobile apps on each device, further stressing Wi-Fi capacity. Vertical market applications: Mobility is driving demand for Wi-Fi across a range of industries and organization types. Consider education. Many new classrooms are designed to be completely wireless, enabling teachers and students to download instructional materials in real time, conduct virtual classrooms using Apple TV and Chromecast over Wi-Fi connections, and stream content. A growing number of universities and colleges are offering online classes and

lectures – and this anytime, anywhere access to course content gives students greater control over their schedules. Hospitals and medical offices are embracing Wi-Fi to improve care and outcomes, as well as providing a better level of service for their patients. For example, doctors can enter patient notes, access digital images and perform many other tasks on their mobile devices. Wi-Fienabled applications and medical devices, such as mobile X-ray machines, are becoming commonplace and allow doctors and technicians to readily access patient files. Hospital patients have also come to expect Wi-Fi access everywhere from the waiting room to their hospital bed. Many patients bring a smartphone or tablet for their stay; some want to continue working while recovering, while others surf the Web or access social media networks. And patient visitors are also relying on Wi-Fi to connect as guests to the hospital network on their own devices. All this creates added traffic that could cause bandwidth

constraints to the hospital or medical office’s network.

Key Features of Wave 2 Wave 1 of 802.11ac implementations provide big advances over 802.11n, including a 3x performance increase; a doubling of the RF channel width from 40 to 80 MHz, allowing twice the throughput; and support for up to three spatial streams. Wave 2 further boosts performance and better supports high-density environments, such as lecture halls and conference centers. Wave 2 features: • A fourth spatial stream, which can boost performance over Wave 1 by 33 percent • Multi-user multiple input/multiple output (MU-MIMO), which enables an access point (AP) to transmit to multiple .11ac clients at the same time • Increased channel width to 160MHz, which will be usable when governments open up channels to reduce interference

Global Innovation Summit 2016 The Future is Now!

September 21, Atlantis the Palm, Dubai

Deepen your business ties with over 2,000 entrepreneurs & CXOs

5 Star luxury

Powerful agenda

Growth opportunities

Not your usual expo but 5 star immersive experience

Event will feature globally acclaimed speakers

Strengthen your business ties with over 2000 highly soughtafter CXOs

Interactive sessions with CXOs Showcase your brand where business happens

Book NOW Call 042659704

mobile business

Wave 2 makes it easy for enterprises to address both capacity and density requirements, improving the reliability of Wi-Fi connections. For example, a single AP can serve the same number of clients with greater per-client throughput and, in dense deployments, a single AP can serve more clients with the same throughput. With MU-MIMO, an AP can talk to multiple devices at the same time in the download direction, significantly improving overall use of network bandwidth. Multi-user MIMO is a huge advantage for live video streaming on Wi-Fi since video is continuous and demands higher bandwidth and low latency.

Migrating to Wave 2 Organizations that haven’t yet migrated to 802.11ac should consider making the transition soon, as they will find it increasingly difficult to fulfill the needs of a mobile workforce. The right Wi-Fi solution can ease this transition as well as enhance existing Wave 1 deployments.

When evaluating Wave 2 solutions, you should look for these capabilities: • The ability to automatically identify MU-MIMO-capable Wave 2 mobile devices and steer such devices to the closest Wave 2-capable AP. This capability improves individual device performance and overall network performance by boosting capacity and efficiency. It’s key to supporting device density and ensuring that even the slowest clients get the bandwidth they need, including legacy 802.11n and Wave 1 clients. • The ability to identify applications, including video, voice and encrypted business-critical applications, and apply policies to them. This capability is particularly important given the rise in video traffic since not all video is business-critical. IT needs the ability to prioritize, block, and enforce bandwidth limits on this traffic. • Active RF management, including air time fairness to ensure all clients have fair Wi-Fi access; the ability to minimize co-channel interference; spectrum optimization through dynamic channel selection; and channel load balancing to ensure even distribution of clients across available

channels. • A portfolio of APs with various uplink options that can better fit the deployment and capacity needs. Today’s mobile workforce expects fast, reliable network performance for their data-hungry and video-heavy apps, regardless of where they are on the enterprise campus. With the right Wave 2 solution, organizations can deliver just that.

Ahmed Ibrahim, System Engineer Manager KSA at HPE-Aruba

SMart city

Seizing Opportunities for Distributed Clean Energy in the UAE

oday we are observing rapid innovation within the energy sector. This innovation is being stimulated by several key trends that are reshaping the way we think about energy systems:

www.innovationandtech.ae

â&#x20AC;˘ Diversification of energy sources - prior to start of the 20th century, biomass, coal and lignite were the energy sources available. Now in the 21st century, energy supply is divided among biomass, coal and lignite, oil

(conventional and unconventional), gas (conventional and unconventional), waste-to-energy, hydro, solar, wind, geothermal and nuclear. â&#x20AC;˘ Committed concern for the climate

SMart city change and sustainability - 174 countries and the European Union have now signed the Paris Agreement within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), signaling a commitment to address greenhouse gas emissions via policies and incentives for sustainability. This is a catalyst for the implementation of supply and demand energy technologies and processes that have the highest possible efficiencies. • Distribution of energy production the model of centralized energy supply serving distributed demand is shifting toward a model whereby both supply and demand are distributed. This rise of simultaneous producers and consumers of energy is disrupting classical business models in the energy sector. • Progress in research, development and innovation within the information, material and biological sciences rapid advances have been made in fundamental sciences that are redefining how energy systems can and will function. Particularly important are cheaper and better energy storage technologies that can support wider deployment of intermittent sources of energy, such as solar and wind. Big data analytics and the internet of things are driving disruption in energy efficiency by enabling smarter, shared economies that are more resource efficient. Within the Gulf Region, the UAE is the country that perhaps has the greatest opportunity to seize these trends and engage the private sector in realizing the resulting innovation opportunities. As a clear example, the recently announced Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 aims to provide 7% of Dubai’s energy from clean energy sources by 2020, 25% by 2030 and ultimately 75% by 205. This drive toward clean energy is complimented by Dubai’s intent to become the world’s smartest city by 2017. The convergence of clean energy and intelligent system demand will make Dubai an important global location for deploying a number of energy system innovation. Particularly interesting is the opportunity for distributed clean energy generation. In Dubai and throughout the UAE, electricity and water price reforms are underway that are supportive of

distributed generation and Dubai Clean Energy Strategy has a target for all rooftops in the city to produce solar energy by 2030. As most are aware, distributed clean energy generation encompasses a range of energy generation technologies beyond solar energy, including wind energy, fuel cells and novel energy harvesting technologies. Nuclear energy may also become relevant to distributed generation if small modular reactors (SMRs) gain traction. However, opportunities for distributed energy innovation go far beyond energy generation technologies. Integration technologies for improving how distributed generation interacts with building and the electrical grid present a host of innovation opportunities, including energy storage as well as building and grid integration hardware and software. While much has been said about electrochemical energy storage, particularly lithium ion batteries, relatively less attention has been given to the importance of power inverters, battery charge controllers, microgrid controllers and transformer technologies that are critical to distributed generation. Likewise, software is a prime area for innovation regarding distributed energy resource management as well as cybersecurity for protecting distributed generation assets. Distributed generation applications that leverage software and hardware innovations are also gaining traction. Particularly relevant are customer service applications, such as electric vehicle charging and load shifting. The opportunity for distributed generation innovation is clearly demonstrated by analysis of the ten most recently named Bloomberg New Energy Finance New Energy Pioneers. Six of the ten winners are directly focused on innovation opportunities in distributed clean energy. These companies are SolarKiosk (Germany, off-grid solar), Mobisol (Germany, off-grid solar), FirstFuel (USA, data analytics for buildings), Emergya Wind Technologies (Netherlands, distributed wind), AutoGrid Systems (USA, energy supply and demand optimization) and 24M (USA, battery energy storage). Unfortunately, none of these innovative companies is based in the UAE. However, this may change in the future given

the excellent platform that particularly Dubai is offering for deployment of novel distributed energy technologies. At the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, our research strategy is targeted toward the key areas of innovation required for distributed generation to succeed in the UAE. We have positioned solar energy, electrical power transmission and distribution, energy storage and energy efficient cities and buildings as our core energy domains. Our energy research and development is complimented by platform capabilities in information science and materials science, each essential for developing next generation energy technologies and systems. Although Masdar Institute is a university, our strategy will ultimately be measured not just by the highly quality graduates we produce and the knowledge we generate through research publications. Rather, as a university focused on maximizing economic value for the UAE, our success is additionally measured by our innovations derived from research that ultimately lead to technology licenses to existing companies as well as the formation of new startup companies that capitalize on the excellent opportunity the UAE is offering for distributed clean energy innovation.

Dr. Steve Griffiths Vice President for Research, Interim Associate Provost, Masdar Institute of Science & Technology

www.innovationandtech.ae

cloud security

Organizations get Public Cloud Security Wrong 40

www.innovationandtech.ae

f, just a few years ago, you were to ask CIOs in UAE about their advice for securing a public cloud, the odds aren’t bad that their response would have been “Just don’t use one.” Today, you’re far more likely to get a nuanced response, the result of increased practical experience with both security and broader governance issues in public clouds. However, as Oscar Wilde wrote, “Experience is the name that we give to our mistakes.” What follows are some of the security and governance-related mistakes that architects, IT managers, and

cloud security consultants in the country have made that have led to them gaining much valuable experience.

Failure to take a businessbased approach to risk A lot of the pushback against the use of public clouds (and, for that matter, other trends such as employee-owned smartphones and laptops) has focused on the risks. Or the what could go wrong. Risks certainly need to evaluated and perhaps mitigated. For example, an organization might allow employees to use public cloud resources and personal devices but only if they use two-factor authentication. However, risks also need to be considered in a business context. Perhaps using some third-party service does introduce a new level or type of risk such as the provider going out of business or discontinuing a service. But if the business benefit associated with getting access to, say, better customer analytics is significant, perhaps the incremental risk is worthwhile. Or not. In any case, the risk has to be viewed in a broader context than a narrow IT-focused one.

Adopting a hardline stance that led to “Shadow IT” A widespread focus on risk, rather than cost/benefit, led directly in many cases to what came to be known as “Shadow IT.” Faced with IT organizations that decided the safest and most secure approach was to simply prohibit (or perhaps “take time to further study”) public clouds and other new aspects of computing, lines of business and individual users just took out their credit cards. They procured services on their own. This was (and is) not a problem in some cases; with technology so pervasive within modern businesses, it’s neither practical nor beneficial for IT to be involved in every technology decision. However, at the same time, IT can play a valuable role in establishing best practices for security and evaluating third-party solutions. Those benefits go away when decisions are effectively being hidden from the IT organization.

Unrealistic expectations for on-premise information

security Much of the resistance to public clouds seems to have come from its comparison to what was largely a strawman--namely the on-premise IT infrastructure that never had a misconfigured firewall, was never accessed by a rogue employee, and that was always promptly updated and patched with the latest security updates. Certainly, some IT organizations run a tight ship. Others not so much (especially in smaller organizations lacking specialized security expertise). However, one doesn’t need to read too many headlines before coming across examples of on-premise data breaches. Especially with the increase in laws requiring that customer data breaches be disclosed, it’s clear that data breaches are common--no matter where the computing is hosted. None of this is to say that one shouldn’t do due diligence with respect to the processes, certifications, and track record of public cloud providers. However, that due diligence needs to take into account that perfection isn’t a reality just about anywhere.

Failing to apply existing best practices Once organizations adopt public clouds for at least some of their workloads, some then go on to make what is effectively the opposite mistake. Having decided that public clouds are acceptable, they delegate aspects of security to the provider that they, in fact, maintain control over and therefore responsibility for. (When discussing public cloud providers, there’s the idea of a “shared responsibility model” whereby, depending upon the type of cloud service, the provider is responsible for certain aspects of security while the user retains responsibility for others.) For example, in the case of Infrastructure-as-a-Service, the user provides and maintains the operating system images running in the cloud. This means that the user needs to apply the same best practices around obtaining the software from trusted sources, keeping it updated and patched, monitoring it for vulnerabilities, and operating it in a secure manner that they’d use in their own datacentre.

Lack of a comprehensive management strategy Historically, IT built infrastructure and wrote applications to run on that infrastructure. With public clouds and other third-party services, IT has been forced to transform into a broader business enablement role. This hasn’t always been an easy transition. It means taking a far more multi-faceted approach to delivering and managing a broad set of services in partnership with the lines of business. From a security and governance perspective, this has often led to a lack of consistent policy over sharing data with third-party services and over where data can be stored. It’s led to a fragmentation of identity services and access controls. It’s led to the inconsistent application of best practices such as described above. IT organizations are addressing some of these issues with specific technologies such as cloud management platforms, single sign-on, and identity management. However, dealing with this changing environment is also driving organizational changes such as the creation of crossfunctional teams that include both IT and business owners. And that’s perhaps the most important message. Adapting to hybrid and public clouds will often require some specific practices, processes, and technologies. But it also requires an understanding of how IT and the relationship of IT to the rest of the business is changing.

Gordon Haff Cloud Strategist at Red Hat

www.innovationandtech.ae

business efficiency

Workplace Productivity at Lower Costs G

iven the drop in oil prices over the past several months; many organizations in the Middle East are looking for innovative ways to cut down on costs, increase their revenue and operate their businesses more efficiently. Today’s rising overhead expenses drive organizations, especially SMEs, to find practical ways to reduce

www.innovationandtech.ae

costs. Profit-conscious executives face the challenge of either reducing headcount or reducing overhead expenses. Much of the time, either of these strategies can have a negative impact on productivity and morale. Every so often a strategy appears that can provide significant expense control and enhance productivity. One of these areas

is office printing. Documents drive business processes. That’s why an average of 1-3% of a company’s annual revenues are consumed by document production. To make matters worse, this expense is growing in many organizations without proper tracking or management of

business efficiency their office printing costs. A managed print service (MPS) can track use and expense. With visibility of how your resources are used, you can take control, reduce costs and more effectively manage your printing devices. Multifunction Printers (MFPs) is one of the crucial elements that support company’s workflow automation and commonly equipped with sophisticated MPS tools and applications. Sophisticated printing environment will add significant value to any business operations, and here are few main benefits.

Enabling SMEs address budget constraint issues MFPs equipped with sophisticated print management platforms provide several benefits to small and mediumsized businesses and enterprises in terms of efficiency, costs and increasing their revenue. MFPs adapt to the way businesses work – on-the-go, virtually and through the cloud – allowing companies to meet today’s business trends, challenges and opportunities. Moreover, add-on services and applications have no limits today and ensure that more and more processes are automated and streamlined at lower costs. The first-of-its-kind solution offered by Xerox lets users scan a document through their MFP, snap a photo from their phone or upload it to a web portal. The service can then securely and quickly translate business-critical information to more than 35 languages, ultimately giving businesses a competitive edge and the opportunity to capture new revenue streams. Xerox MFPs are now fitted with Arabic user interface which adds significant value for regionally based users.

Streamlining work processes MFPs allow critical business processes to be simplified so all employees can have reliable access to information at any given time from any location improving overall productivity. Furthermore, vendors use specialized apps to create tailor made MFP user interface that meets

the business process needs of each individual company. A singular printer configuration can be mirrored across all printers, streamlining the setup and provisioning of printers across departments. Likewise, IT admins or Managed Service Providers (MSPs) can tap into advanced per-user management, setting limits on printing capabilities, from color to black-andwhite privileges, or even total sheets allowed per user. Controlling printing activities will allow companies control unnecessary expenses.

Increasing mobility IoT and BYoD are transforming the way people work and are paving the way for remote and flexible working structures. Devices such as tablets, smartphones are becoming increasingly popular for employees to gain business information and work from. MFPs need to have the capability to enable SMEs to print seamlessly from any device. Time is money in today’s fast pace environment, and mobility drives this trend. Mobile printing will grow dramatically over the next two years due to the increase in access to digital content for personal and business use. To give employees the tools they need to print from mobile devices, many MFPs are designed with ready-to-use apps right on the user interface. With a mobile printing app, employees and visitors can securely print from any mobile or network connected device to an MFP by way of a single email address without IT support. Moreover technology today allows easy cloud access, helping workers to shuffle documents between Dropbox, Google Drive, SharePoint Online, Evernote and Salesforce.com Combined with the traditional benefits of SharePoint, users - and subsequently MSPs - are offered a unified access point for document sharing and management.

Improved Security Given the rise of IoT, cyber security attacks on organizations are increasing daily which in turn costs organizations

substantial amounts of money as well as loss of intellectual data. MFPs need to digitize documents while safeguarding sensitive company information against any cyber threats by providing secure printing from mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. Most of the MFP technologies continue to offer real-time protection from internal and external threats. Now with secure print and scan encryption, and print job deletion at power up, companies can ensure documents remain confidential, protecting themselves from data breaches. In the conclusion it is important to say that technology is changing the way every industry functions, including SMEs. SMEs are constantly looking for ways to cut down costs and simplify work processes will need to invest in IT. It is essential for SMEs to consider this in order to remain competitive, enable growth and be successful despite the expensive initial set up costs; as it will be profitable in the long run. SMEs need to embrace technology to revel in all the benefits MFPs offer such as improved efficiency, increased mobility, flexibility and greater security aligning with company’s objectives and goals.

Pui Chi Li as the head of marketing for Middle East and Africa (MEA). Chi, the first woman to hold this position, will oversee Xerox marketing and communications activities, technology product and offering management, strategic pricing, sales enablement and lead generation initiatives across the MEA region.

www.innovationandtech.ae

GAMING

BLIZZARD & FACEBOOK EMPOWER STREAMERS B

lizzard Entertainment and Facebook are working together to provide gamers around the world with new ways to connect and share their gaming experiences, while bringing more high-demand entertainment content to Facebook’s global platform. The companies announced that a major step in their ongoing collaboration will begin later this month with the integration of Facebook Login in Blizzard’s PC games. This will enable players to sign up for and log in to games such as World of Warcraft®, Heroes of the Storm®, Hearthstone®, Diablo® III, StarCraft® II, and Blizzard’s most recent blockbuster release, Overwatch®, using their Facebook accounts. Adding Facebook Login will pave the way for new social functionality in Blizzard games while highlighting

www.innovationandtech.ae

Facebook’s capabilities as a platform for sharing, viewing, and discussing AAA game content. As an example, Blizzard is in the process of incorporating Facebook’s Live API in order to create its own “Go Live” streaming functionality for its games. When this functionality is implemented, players will for the first time be able to livestream their Blizzard-gaming sessions directly to their Facebook timelines, and friends will be able to subscribe and be notified when new streams are available. “Blizzard games are best when played with friends, so it’s important to us to provide our players with features and services that make it easy and fun to share their experiences with each other,” said Gio Hunt, executive vice president of corporate operations at Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re working closely with Facebook on this integration for

Overwatch, as well as our other games, and we look forward to sharing further details on our plans as development progresses.” As part of the collaboration between the two companies, Blizzard recently hosted multiple livestreams via Facebook. The first series of streams centered on Heroes of the Dorm™, Blizzard’s collegiate tournament featuring its popular teambrawler Heroes of the Storm. Last week, Blizzard hosted a livestreamed launch event for Overwatch on Facebook. “Blizzard has a passionate community of players, and an incredible track record for launching innovative and high-quality gaming experiences,” said Leo Olebe, global games partnerships director at Facebook. “Our collaboration on Overwatch demonstrates Facebook’s commitment to partnering with AAA

GAMING

game companies, while further empowering Blizzard gamers to connect and share the content they're most passionate about with the friends they play with around the world.” In preparation for the Overwatch launch, Facebook worked with Blizzard on a comprehensive mix of Facebook and Instagram marketing solutions— including Carousel ads, Canvas, and Instagram Marquee. Using the platforms’ powerful targeting capabilities, Facebook helped Blizzard present the game to a broad set of gaming and entertainment audiences within Facebook’s and Instagram's global audiences of 1.65 billion and 400 million people respectively. On Facebook, more than 650 million people play games connected to Facebook every month across web, mobile, and console. Overwatch is a dynamic team-based shooter in which players choose from a cast of 21 diverse heroes—each with their

own unique arsenal of extraordinary weapons and incredible abilities—and battle to complete objectives in various locations across a near-future earth. The game is available now for PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One, and Windows® PC in English, Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, German, European Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, Russian, Korean (PC only),

Japanese (PC and PS4™ system only), and traditional and simplified Chinese (PC only). The game has been rated T for Teen by the ESRB. For more information about Overwatch, visit the official website. For screenshots, videos, and other media, visit Blizzard’s press site at blizzard. gamespress.com/overwatch.

e-music

Anghami finds harmony through customer engagement

nghami, Arabic for ‘my tunes’, is the first streaming music platform for the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region. Launched in 2012 and headquartered in Beirut, the freemium service uses music to bring artists and fans together. Anghami attracts an average of 900,000 listeners each day and about 5.5 million music lovers every month. With Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon and Jordan as its key markets, Anghami has a clear focus on the MENA region. It is available on: iOS, Android and Windows.

www.innovationandtech.ae

Aiming to engage Encouraging people to install the app is a good starting point, but to engage them was a primary concern for Anghami. The service demanded a solution that could help tailor the customer experience and grow its long-term value. Facebook Login enabled the company to ask people for their locations, likes and friends, helping personalize the customers' experience as soon as they logged in. Powered with insights such as artists liked

by users on Facebook, Anghami was able to show highly relevant content in the app. Showing popular songs of the listeners' favourite artists, friends activities and song catalogues based on origin and not just location were a few ways that the app used to keep its customers engaged. With mandatory sign-up, 62% of Anghami's customers chose Facebook Login, thanks to the simplicity and effectiveness of the solution. These Facebook-connected users showed a 28% higher lifetime value than their peers, registering 25% more

e-music visits and30% more song plays than those who connect via other solutions. Moreover, by enabling its highly engaged customers to share on Facebook the team was able to increase virality and grow organically. “On an average, we get over 650K monthly referrals from Facebook, of which almost 16% convert to installs. And the best part is, it's all free.” - Elie Habib, Cofounder at Anghami

Ads that add value Automated ads further supplemented this personalized customer experience. By leveraging the power ofFacebook App Events, Anghami used customized ad placements to target specific user groups - for example those in the Middle East who may enjoy hip-hop music. By targeting the group with dynamic product ads of the top and new hip-hop songs as a product catalogue feed, the company was able to increase its monthly active users by 37% in one quarter. Dynamic Product Ads extract product

information from the app's product feed and dynamically turn them into ads. Using their top songs, artists, playlist and new or exclusive releases as product feed, Anghami leveraged dynamic product ads in the Carousel Mobile App Ads format to target listeners. By presenting tailored content based on their users' likes, the ads played a key role in acquiring new users and re-engaging existing ones seamlessly: a single click would take them straight to the app. Facebook Mobile App Install Ads not only proved to be significantly cheaper - 47% lower CPI compared to the next most expensive ad channel, but also attracted higher quality customers with 30% higher day 14 retention rate on Android compared to those recruited through other channels.

Bringing back churned users Reaching out to churned users and bringing them back into the app was an equally important priority for the company. By building Custom Audiencesfrom segments in Facebook Analytics for Apps, team Anghami created multiple audiences targeting people that hadn't launched the app in the last 30, 60 and

90 days, segmented by music genres. Reengaging these listeners by introducing them to the new features and new songs based on their Facebook interests or likes that had been added in their absence, Anghami was able to bring back10% of its customers who were advertised back to the app and this directly contributed to the growth in its MAUs. Additionally, drilling down in demographic insights for every event helped the team optimize their marketing campaigns by showing content that is local and relevant to each country. "By tapping into the the demographics and targeting segments on Facebook Analytics for Apps we were able to acquire users at 41% lower costs than they had been with engagement ads." - Elie Habib, Co-founder of Anghami Aiming to continue engagement and adding long term value for its listeners, Anghami is now looking to reach the wider base of Arabic music lovers outside of the MENA region with Facebook as its partner of choice.

cloud computing

elastic growth: A new paradigm enabled by the cloud

www.innovationandtech.ae

cloud computing infrastructure and application stack overnight to cloud and expect to achieve operational efficiencies. It is important to look at cloud beyond the attributes of faster, better, and cheaper, by collaborating with business stakeholders to re-engineer business units into discrete and manageable services. Why are some organization unable to realize the broader value of cloud? Just like any transition, the move towards cloud capabilities requires a sound strategy and a solid foundation of economic considerations prior to starting the journey. For a transformation to be effective, it requires an effective strategy with the overarching goal of minimizing disruption while delivering maximum return. Cloud is no different. The disruptive nature of cloud demands tighter collaboration with business stakeholders and various functional units across the business — including finance, marketing, sales, sourcing, risk, compliance, and HR. Collaboration with these various functional units is a key to realizing the benefits of cloud.

It is important to look at cloud beyond the attributes of faster, better, and cheaper, by collaborating with business stakeholders to re-engineer business units into discrete and manageable services, says akshay lamba, cio, deloitte What has been the biggest impact of the cloud on large enterprises in the region? Elastic growth is a reality of the new world – in the ME region or anywhere else. Economically this means that the demand of a particular good or service is directly affected by its price. Due to the nature of demand in the region it

becomes critical for businesses to be able to scale up as business volumes rise and scale down operating costs as demand diminishes. Cloud services offer this capability to the business. Leading CIOs are looking at cloud adoption as a journey. They realize that they cannot just re-purpose their

It is not uncommon to see cloud as an IT or technology-only effort. Cloud may offer increased IT capacity, but this is not the only motivating factor. Could service providers promise simplified management, high availability, variable environment options, and reduced deployment time. These offerings are compelling, but are often not sufficient in addressing business needs – remember the concept of “Necessary but not sufficient conditions” are true for a cloud environment too. To address these needs, a more holistic approach to cloud should be adopted. While cloud provides a business opportunity, it comes with a cost. It is often helpful if decision makers evaluate cloud using the same dollars-andcents approach a CFO would use. This understanding is critical and encourages the behavior that drives business results. In your opinion, what does it take for

www.innovationandtech.ae

cloud computing

an organization to undertake a cloud journey? Readiness for cloud demands more finesse than simply throwing money at cloud projects. Organizations lacking readiness will likely find it increasingly difficult to adopt cloud and will see delays in realizing returns. Adoption of cloud is a process of evolution; consequently, it is not about winning the race to cloud, but about being prepared for the journey. Developing a roadmap and take an insideout approach to identifying specific internal activities and initiatives that successfully positions them to develop and deploy cloud-ready attributes is key to the evolution. This approach can help prepare an organization and equip them to more effortlessly adopt a servicesbased cloud delivery model. What are the most relevant cloud models for the region – IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, etc? Cloud comes in many different service types and delivery models, but they all have different characteristics in the way they function. Understanding which cloud model is right for your organization requires careful consideration of a number of factors including your business needs, organization size and maturity, governance, policies, compliance requirements, skill set, application portfolio, and the suitability to integrate and operate alongside existing IT environments. Having said that, most organizations start with IaaS during their cloud journey due to the low business integration and process re-engineering required. SaaS on the other hand offers advantages in time-to-market in green field situations. What are the potholes on the road to cloud that one must be aware off? Gone are the days when IT systems were built as point solutions for business needs. Given the complexity and rate of change of business processes in today’s market, integration between IT systems is one of the biggest focus areas for a CIO. The same hold true of cloud solutions. Any cloud based application would typically be addressing one or multiple parts of your business cycle – seldom would it be spanning the breath

www.innovationandtech.ae

of all your business activities. This is especially true if the organization’s focus is to leverage best of breed or best-fit applications for their business goals. Couple the above with enterprise architecture principles that address master data management, single point of truth, integrated reporting, etc. and it becomes essential that most if not all of your IT applications stack is well integrated. When transitioning into a cloud solution, it becomes critical that the service well integrated into your application landscape. While most enterprise grade cloud service offerings have APIs integrating them with other cloud solutions and large COTS (Commercial off-the-shelf) solutions, one must keep in mind your specific integration requirements – e.g. ease of integrating the cloud solution with a legacy or home grown solution is often overlooked. Security, privacy and confidentiality concerns have marred cloud uptake for a while. How do you recommend these are tackled while taking a cloud decision? Powerful platforms, such as cloud, can potentially impact every facet of the organization, leading to new opportunities. But these emerging technologies and platforms can also introduce significant disruptive forces into the business. The convergence of these macro forces is reacting a new basis for competition, changing the environment in which we both live and work, and becoming the core of the “Digital Enterprise.” Therefore, it is critical to understand the risks as constantly changing digital technologies become the norm. We must view cloud deployments through a holistic risk management lens that include, but go beyond, issues of security, privacy and confidentiality. The risk framework needs to extend further to address issues of governance, identity and access management, data management, cloud service exit strategy, etc. On the other side of the coin, while these risks need to be managed well, there are a number of tools and

methodologies now available that allow mitigation of the risks while ensuring that the benefits of a cloud platform are accrued to your business. For example – physical location of data in regulated industries require that the data resides within a specific geographical boundary. This used to be considered a death blow to any cloud initiative. With the emergency of geo-tagging of data this can now be ensured.

Will we see security and privacy concerns leading enterprises towards more private clouds? Security and privacy concerns can be addressed and mitigated with appropriate controls in private or public cloud environments. The debate between creating a private cloud vs leveraging a pubic cloud really depends on the size and type of workload to be executed. I believe most organizations would eventually lead towards a hybrid cloud environment, utilizing private resources for most of their regular business needs and leveraging on public infrastructure for “burst” requirements or for leveraging a niche technology not deployed within the private infrastructure space. Where will the next phase of cloud growth come from? Emerging technologies is an extremely fast moving environment – there is nothing new about this. Couple this with the fact that there exists a symbiotic relationship between different emerging technologies. For example, IoT (Internet of Things) is currently growing at a scorching pace in enterprise, SME and consumer segments. As IoT ramps up, it naturally leads to a greater need for storage at the elemental level and analytics to derive information from the data collected. These could drive cloud adoption across most sectors going forward. We also need to be aware of complementary technologies starting to develop around this space – e.g fog computing would further increase the potential use cases for cloud platforms leading to heightened usage and demand.

EMERging tech

Augmented and Virtual Reality to be Widespread in GCC by 2025 Augmented and Virtual Reality Technology to be ‘Widespread’ Across GCC by 2025

AR and VR Will Radically Change Private and Public Processes in the GCC, Says Research firm Frost & Sullivan

From VR Studios to AREnabled Surgeries, GITEX Technology Week Experts to Highlight Groundbreaking Use Cases

www.innovationandtech.ae

EMERging tech

ccording to new research conducted by Frost & Sullivan in collaboration with GITEX Technology Week 2016, the next 10 years of augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technology development are set to redefine the future of both business and consumer processes and interactions in the region. GCC organisations are leveraging the new technology to enhance end-user experiences, the report states. From AR-enabled surgery to VR-powered education, experts from across industries will take the stage at GITEX Technology Week this year to share their innovative use cases of AR/VR technologies and provide a glimpse into the future of this game-changing technology.

and VR exhibitors.

Augmented Reality - contextual information on mobile devices, projections, or wearables - and Virtual Reality which provides a fully-immersive digital environment, will be adopted across industries by 2025, the new report from Frost & Sullivan predicts. [1] In response to the interest in AR and VR technology in the region, GITEX Technology Week 2016 will showcase the largest area in show history for AR and VR technologies with 560 square metres of the show committed to AR

Dr Grossmann was the first person to stream a live surgical procedure with Google Glass. At GITEX, he will explain how UK-based healthcare company Medical Realities, led by colleague Dr Shafi Ahmed, live-streamed the first VR surgery from The Royal London Hospital, with 54,000 viewers virtually in the operating theatre. “From all around the world, they gained an exclusive point-of-view demonstration and interacted in realtime with the surgical event. Imagine

www.innovationandtech.ae

Research reports corroborate predictions that the AR and VR market is booming, with IDC reporting that AR and VR hardware revenue is topping USD 2 billion globally for the first time this year. The firm further predicts that device shipments are set to grow 11-fold to 110 million by 2020.[2] “AR and VR will be a giant step in transforming and democratising education and businesses, especially in medicine, where immersive technology can facilitate education and access-at-adistance for medical care,” said Dr Rafael Grossmann, who will be headlining GITEX’s Healthcare Monday – an industry vertical conference dedicated to healthcare technology.

how this level of interaction can deliver next-generation education for students worldwide, especially in developing countries,” added Dr Grossmann. In the GCC, organisations no longer need to imagine the impact of AR and VR – they are already deploying the technology in fascinating new ways. Programmes across industries in the GCC are eager to adopt AR and VR technologies to streamline processes and support the lives of employees, students and the general population. The new report from Frost & Sullivan highlights a number of unique AR and VR initiatives and projects in the region. Public agencies have been quick on the uptake of AR and VR technology in the GCC, Frost & Sullivan says, highlighting a number of cutting-edge initiatives in the region. Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme, the agency that provides Emirati housing, has launched the My Virtual Home App, which uses AR to allow users to virtually tour readymade 3D housing models. The Dubai Road and Transport Authority (RTA) has launched Wojhati, a trip planning mobile app with GPS to help users plan, track, and share their mass transit routes. The RTA is also partnering with the Dubai Future Foundation for 25

EMERging tech

per cent of Dubai’s road trips by driverless vehicles by 2030. Education in the region is also being augmented with new technology, the report outlines. Providing students with VR experience, Abu Dhabi’s Masdar Institute has partnered with the Georgian startup InGlove to develop an interactive VR glove for construction, medical, military, and psychology simulations. Mohamed Ali Hammami, Head of VR at Qatar University, will attend GITEX Technology Week 2016 for the GITEX’s Education Wednesday conference to present his work on the Middle East’s first VR studio, allowing for innovative courses and research tools, such as prototyping building and product models. Also at GITEX this year, Qatar’s web design company Codea will share best practices in developing the AR shopping app Real Aug Shoppie, which provides personalised information and coupons when products are scanned.

Marks & Spencer’s Middle East stores have launched Virtual Closet, using AR for customers to try on outfits and accessories. "The potential for AR and VR can be reached now that the attention of SMEs and other stakeholders is focused on the different application areas. This is the reason why EuroVR gathers industrials, SMEs, and research institutes to stimulate research and practical uses for business competitiveness,” said Marco Sacco, President of the European Association for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (EuroVR), a supporting partner at this year’s GITEX Technology Week. Further supporting AR-powered mobile app innovation, Corinne Avelines, Global Head of Digital and eCommerce at paints and chemicals company AkzoNobel, will present a keynote on the company’s Visualizer app, which uses AR for people to see the effect of painting rooms in

different colours. Held under the theme of “Reimagining Realities,” GITEX Technology Week 2016 aims to develop stronger business ties with the immersive technology ecosystem to drive AR, VR, and AI innovation. Attendees are set to include the ecosystem of hardware and software manufacturers, startups, app developers, and experts. “GITEX Technology Week 2016’s focus on AR and VR demonstrates the Middle East’s strong potential for transformation. Driving the market, GITEX will be the region’s most prominent platform for taking AR and VR out of the lab and into the mainstream. Attendees can experience innovations, hear industry insights from experts, and network with key players,” said Trixie LohMirmand, Senior Vice-President, Exhibitions and Events Management, Dubai World Trade Centre.

www.innovationandtech.ae

Network security SECURITY

New Report Finds Insider Corporate Data Theft and Malware Infections Among Biggest Threat to Digital Business in 2016 Lack of funding for security talent and training identified as a critical security gap making it harder to keep attackers at bay

nsider data theft and malware attacks top the list of the most significant concerns for enterprise security executives, a new report from Accenture and HfS Research reveals. Of those surveyed, a majority (69 percent) of respondents experienced an attempted or successful theft or corruption of data by insiders during the prior 12 months, with media and technology organizations reporting the highest rate (77 percent). This insider risk will continue to be an issue, with security professionals’

www.innovationandtech.ae

concerns over insider theft of corporate information alone rising by nearly twothirds over the coming 12 to 18 months. Additionally, the research shows that a budget shortage for hiring cybersecurity talent and well-trained employees is hindering the ability of organizations to properly defend themselves against these attacks. The survey, “The State of Cybersecurity and Digital Trust 2016’”, was conducted by

HfS Research on behalf of Accenture. More than 200 C-level security executives and other IT professionals were polled across a range of geographies and vertical industry sectors. The survey examined the current and future state of cybersecurity within the enterprise and the recommended steps to enable digital trust throughout the extended ecosystem. The findings indicate that there are significant gaps between talent supply and demand, a disconnect between security teams and management

SECURITY expectations, and considerable disparity between budget needs and actual budget realities. “Our research paints a sobering picture. Security leaders believe threats are not going away, in fact they expect them to increase and hinder their ability to safeguard critical data and establish digital trust,” said Kelly Bissell, senior managing director, Accenture Security. “At the same time, while organizations want to invest in advanced cyber technologies, they simply don’t have enough budget to recruit or train skilled people to use that technology effectively. To better manage this security problem, businesses will need to work in tandem with the extended enterprise ecosystem – business units, partners, providers and end users – to create an environment of digital trust.” Despite having advanced technology solutions, nearly half of all respondents (48 percent) indicate they are either strongly or critically concerned about insider data theft and malware infections (42 percent) in the next 12 to 18 months. When asked about current funding and staffing levels some 42 percent of

respondents said they need more budget for hiring cybersecurity professionals and for training. More than half (54 percent) of respondents also indicated that their current employees are underprepared to prevent security breaches and the numbers are only slightly better when it comes to detecting (47 percent) and responding (45 percent) to incidents.

ecosystem partners for cyber integrity and preparedness, with BPO partners being the least vetted and credit partners being the most vetted. • Budget: Seventy percent cite a lack of, or inadequate, funding for either cybersecurity technology or security talent, including training. • Management: While 54 percent of respondents agree or strongly agree that cybersecurity is an enabler of digital trust for consumers, 36 percent believe that their executive management considers cybersecurity an unnecessary cost.

The report identified five significant gaps disrupting the ability of enterprises to effectively prevent or mitigate wellorganized and targeted cyber attacks, including: • Talent: Thirty-one percent list either lack of training or staffing budget as their single biggest inhibitor to combating attacks. • Technology: Firewalls and encryption top the list of the most important technologies to combat cyber threats, but the largest increase in deployments anticipated in the next 12 to 18 months are in the areas of cognitive computing and AI (31 percent) and data anonymization (25). • Parity: An enterprise is only as secure as its least secure partner, yet only 35-57 percent of all enterprises said they assess

“While the gaps we identified can be overcome, they do collectively underscore the need for an inherently different approach, one that includes more robust risk management measures and the development of digital trust,” said Fred McClimans, research vice president, Digital Trust and Cybersecurity, HfS Research. “There is an important opportunity to address these gaps by rethinking how digital trust and security can be holistically woven into the enterprise fabric through the integration of automation and AI solutions as well as through business partnerships and processes.”

Threat concerns in the coming 12 to 18 months (Strong & Critical Concern only)

Data Theft Personal Information by Insiders

48%

Data Theft Personal Information by Outsiders

48%

Data Loss / Destruction

47%

Botnets / Zombies / Other Software Threats

44%

Data Theft Corporate Information by Outsiders Software (Trojan, Malware, Virus, Spyware, Keystroke logging etc.)

44% 42%

Data theft Corporate Information by Insiders

42%

Phishing / Spear-Phishing

42%

Ransom-ware )or similar at the corporate level)

40% 0% 20% 40% 60%

80%

100%

Source: The State of Cyber Security 2016: HFS Research and Accenture Sample: Enterprise Security Proffessionals = 208

www.innovationandtech.ae

productivity apps

Most Popular Cloud-Based Apps for Enterprises 56

www.innovationandtech.ae

productivity apps TRIPIT

ASANA

View all your travel plans in one place. Forward travel confirmation emails to plans@tripit.com and TripIt will create a streamlined master itinerary for each of your trips that you can access anytime, anywhere, on any device—for free.

Asana is the easiest way for teams to track their work and get results. From tasks and projects to conversations and notifications, Asana enables teams to move work from start to finish. It’s simple to get started, but powerful enough to run your entire business. And it’s free.

Key Features: • Instantly creates a schedule with all your travel details in one place • Imports travel plans directly from your email • Gives you access to your travel plans on any device • Adds your travel plans to your calendar for you • Keeps family, friends and colleagues in the loop • Stores essential travel documents and contacts

Key features: QUICKLY UPDATE & ADD YOUR WORK ON THE GO - Create tasks, to-dos, reminders, and requests from anywhere in the app (or from your home screen, with the widget) - Create projects to organize your tasks - Add due dates, assignees, followers, details, and files to your tasks - Comment on tasks from anywhere

ZOMATO Zomato is the best way to search for and discover great places to eat at or order in from. It's a beautifully designed, easy-touse social restaurant finder app that lets you explore all the dining options in your city. Browse through restaurant menus, pictures, and user reviews to decide where you want to eat, and use the map feature to guide you there. If you are in India, UAE, or the Philippines, you can also order food online for delivery, with thousands of great restaurants to choose from. Build a trusted network of friends and discover great new restaurants through them. Show off your own food journey with reviews, and stunning filtered pictures at restaurants.

MICROSOFT ONDRIVE Do more wherever you go with Microsoft OneDrive. Get to and share your documents, photos, and other files from your Android device, computer (PC or Mac), and any other devices you use. Use the Office mobile apps to stay productive and work together, no matter where you are. The OneDrive app for Android lets you easily work with your personal and work files when you’re on the go. • Quickly open and save OneDrive files in Office apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. • Easily find photos thanks to automatic tagging. • Get notifications when a shared document is edited. • Share albums of your favorite photos and videos. • Access your most important files offline.

www.innovationandtech.ae

productivity apps DROPBOX

Dropbox is the place for your photos, docs, videos, and other files. Files you keep in Dropbox are safely backed up and you can get to them from all your devices. It’s easy to send large files to anyone, even if they don’t have a Dropbox account. Features: • Edit Microsoft Office files from your phone or tablet • Back up photos and videos automatically if you choose • Send large files without using email attachments We'd love to hear from you! Join the Dropbox community: www.dropboxforum.com

WAR LIGHT WarLight is a customizable Risk-like strategy game where you compete with your friends to conquer the

LINKEDIN The LinkedIn app makes it easier to connect to the people and things that matter in your professional world. Build and nurture your professional network, stay up to date with the latest business and industry news, and find your next dream job. It all starts with your LinkedIn profile. It’s more than just your professional resume — it shows the world who you are and what you’ve accomplished in your career.● Upgrade your account to LinkedIn Premium from right within the app

world. - Asynchronous games: WarLight games can be played at your own pace. Your friends don't need to be all be online at the same time. Take your turns when it's convenient and WarLight will wait for you. • No microtransactions: WarLight won't let you buy your way to a victory like other free-to-play games. You win or lose WarLight games based on your strategy alone, not your wallet. • Faster games: All players can take their turn at the same time, which allows WarLight games to move along significantly faster than other Risk-like games. • Customizable: WarLight has a very flexible engine. When creating games, you have hundreds of settings you can tweak to create anything from a minor variant to a whole new experience.

CUBBY Cubby frees you from limitations. Get to your important .docs, .pics, .movs or .anythings on any device, anytime. Just make a folder a cubby to stay up-to-date across all your devices, or share cubbies with friends and colleagues to collaborate easily. App features • Access your stuff on the go • Share cubbies from your Android • Save cubbies or individual files for offline access • Share a public link to your cubbies • Set permissions/access for friends/colleagues

www.innovationandtech.ae

productivity apps OTIXO One app for all your clouds - Access all your online files with a single login ** Otixo’s award-winning cloud service is now available for Android. ** This app requires a valid Otixo subscription.. • Supports most popular clouds (Google Drive, Dropbox, Facebook, OneDrive, FTP, etc.). • Copy/Move files from cloud to cloud without using your expensive data plan quotas. (Files don't move to your device when transferring between services. Everything stays in the cloud!) • Search across all your clouds in one step. • Access all your photos, documents, videos and music from a single place. • Work offline. Navigate, search and save files to access when you're not connected to the internet. • Open files in your favorite apps like (Quick Office, Photos, GMail, etc.) • Upload your photos to any cloud service.

ZERO PC THE BEST WAY TO MANAGE YOUR CONTENT IN THE CLOUD Cloud Navigator gives you a unified, easy and secure way to access all of your cloud content regardless which services you use. Our growing list of supported cloud services includes Amazon Cloud Drive, Box, Copy.com, Dropbox, Evernote, Facebook, Flickr, Google Drive, Instagram, Photobucket, Picasa, OneDrive, SugarSync, Yandex and 4shared. With Cloud Navigator’s instant search, it’s easy to find, manage, access and share all of your content on-the-go with a single ZeroPC login, right from your Android phones. Browsing and finding your content from many different cloud services has never been easier. The app automatically adjusts to your phone or your tablet device (Android version 3.2 and above).

VERIZON CLOUD Download and install the Verizon Cloud app on your Android Smartphone to get 5 GB of free* storage as a Verizon Wireless subscriber.

BOX Winner of PC Magazine's Editors' Choice Award: "There are plenty of excellent file-syncing storage services, but, on Android, the Box app takes the cake." Securely store, manage and share all your files, photos and documents with 10GB of free cloud storage from Box. With Box, you can easily: * Get all your files at your fingertips * Access your content online, from your desktop, and on your Android phone or tablet * Share important photos, videos and other documents * Review your latest project and leave feedback on the go * Stay in sync with your colleagues, friends and family

Verizon Cloud lets you back up your contacts, photos, videos, music, documents, text and media messages and call logs to secure cloud storage, so you won’t lose your important content if you lose your phone. It even makes sure nothing gets left behind when you move to a new phone. Install Verizon Cloud today and get 5GB of storage. Affordable monthly plans are available for additional storage needs.

www.innovationandtech.ae

INFOGRAPHIC

THE STATE OF THE CLOUD AND SOFTWARE-DEFINED DATA CENTER (SDDC) 2016 125C-Level Executive (CEO, CFO, CIO, CTO, CISO/CSO); 125 VP-Level Business/Tech Executives (VP, SVP, EVP)

Plus, 10% IT Directors, 20% IT Managers, 20% Systems/Network Admins & Engineers 100 Large Enterprises (1000+employees); 400 SMBs/Mid-Sized Enterprises (250+employess)

Study conducted by Hytrust Inc.

01 0110 0001 01101

ISSUES & TRENDS:

CLOUD & SOFTWARE-DEFINED COMPUTING

Positive trend indicators:

70%

Increased sdoption

60%

50%

Faster deployment

Greater tangible benefits and ROI

Usage will increase for....

55%

Storage virtulization

50%

Network virtualization

50%

Public Cloud

40%

Hyper-converged infrastructure

40%

Workloads traversing hybrid Clouds

www.innovationandtech.ae

INFOGRAPHIC

1 Concern of business and IT professionals: Security.

67% 55% 70% In fact,

Say security will slow down migration believe there'll be more data breaches and other security problems expect more or the same amount of internal compliance & auditing issues.

the biggest security gap holding organizations back is the perception of inadequate security, or the fear that it's not as strong as physical data center security (52%), while on the other hand. 44% say the problem is split between a lack of solutions, immaturity of oďŹ&#x20AC;erings, and interoperability issues.

However....

70% say security will be less of an obstacle

90%

say eďŹ&#x20AC;ective automation-reducing the need for manual processes while ensuring top-tier security-is key to large scale deployment of SDDC strategies and technologies.

95%

Say consistent policies can be enforced that align to meet your compliance, security and business needs

www.innovationandtech.ae

INFOGRAPHIC

Grasping the DIfference Between Public, Private & Hybrid

Cloud for Enterprise

Cloud computing options use virtualization to create flexible computing services that can be quickly deployed, scaled and linked together. All these cloud options are efficient, flexible and scalable!

Public Cloud

Private Cloud

Hybrid Cloud

Shared Open Pay-per-use

Dedicated Secure Fixed Cost

Pick from the best of both worlds

In fact,

biggest gap holding organizations back An easily deployedthe virtual server security A secure virtual data center on A mix of dedicated infrastructure the perceptionyour of inadequate security, or the fearand public cloud infrastructure. on a shared hostingis infrastructure. own dedicated infrastructure.

that it's not as strong as physical data center security Servers and storage can be added Cherry-pick the best infrastructure onand the otheraccording hand. 44% the problem scaled to yoursay needs. for your different services. is split between a lack of solutions, immaturity of `pay-per-use forofferings, unlimited and interoperability planned resourceissues. capacity with fixed Keep data secure and control costs

Quickly or automatically scale your while sercers according(52%), to workload. computing resource, storage and bandwidth.

However....

costs and unmetered bandwidth.

and resources with dedicated infrastructure.

Financial control and quick IT response to business needs.

Choose public or private cloud for each service according to its performance proﬁle!

70% say security will be less of an obstacle

Choose a cloud with quality servic, engineering and infrastructure! Choose carefully to avoid "noisy neighbour" eﬀect from sharing!

Having IT control means you also need IT expertise say eﬀectiveand automation-reducing the need for resources! Requiring IT architecture manual processes while ensuring top-tier& expertise! planning, support

90%

security-is key to large scale deployment of SDDC strategies and technologies.

What to buy? Say consistent policies can be enforced thatservice Fast, redundant network Custom solutions and align to meet your compliance, security and service reliability and support Service reliability and support Hardwarebusiness choice andneeds quality Hardware choice and Quality Virtualization software choice Public coud quality

95%

Guaranteed performance "Qos" Easy deployment & scaling SSD storage for faster servers Quality cloud enginwwring

Public Cloud 62

www.innovationandtech.ae

Private Cloud

Hybrid Cloud

INFOGRAPHIC

Pricing

Variable

Fixed

Pay-per-use bandwidth and scaling mean price varies with traﬃc

Unmetered bandwidth and ﬁxed hardware means price doesn't vary with traﬃc

Fixed+Variable Certain services or traﬃc spikes are pay-per-use while core service are ﬁxed

Proportion of cost 100%

COMPUTING (RAM/CPU)

VIRTUALIZATION

STORAGE

PUBLIC COMPONENT

DEDICATED SERVER HOSTING

TRAFFIC 0%

Traﬃc Price

Time (hours)

PRIVATE COMPONENT 0%

Traﬃc Price

Price/traﬃc

Traﬃc Price

100%

Time (hours)

Users and Uses

Variable or low workloads Web hosting Development Testing Pay-per-use applications

Consistently high workloads Websites Conﬁdential data Streaming High traﬃc applications Business (Internal)

Diverse or optimizable workloads Complex applications Mixed internal and external services Spikey workloads Insurance against traﬃc bursts

www.innovationandtech.ae

INFOGRAPHIC

Cloud Benefits According to Cloud Users: 55%

49%

32%

Increased eﬃciency

Improved employee mobility

Increased ability to innovate

31%

25%

24%

Freed current IT staﬀ for other projects

Reduced IT Operating costs

Enabled us to oﬀer new products/ services

*Organizations that are implementing or maintaining cloud computing, n=479; respondents asked to select all that apply

Migration to the Cloud

Making a plan

17%

13%

14%

13%

Piloting

15% 16%

10%

Migrated

12%

10%

14%

12%

15%

10%

12%

11%

11% 11%

12%

15%

25%

24%

20%

22%

20%

22%

19%

Conferencing and Collaboration

Oﬃce/ productivity suites

Storage

Messaging

Computer power

Business process applications

Hosting internally developed software externally

Governance application

14%

*Results based on a survey of 720 respondents

18%

Migrating

www.innovationandtech.ae

11%

10%

INFOGRAPHIC

Cloud Adoption Around the World COUNTRIES MAKING BIG STRIDES TO IMPROVE THEIR CLOUD READINESS

Canada

Germany

#4 #7 United Kingdom

#1 Japan

France

#3 United States

#10 Italy

Korea

#5 Singapore Australia

Source: BSA Global cloud Computing Scorecard

The public cloud services market is forecast to

grow 18.5%

in 2013 to total $131 billion worldwide*

Infrastructure-as-aService(Iaas) will achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of

41.3% by 2016*

Why Isn't Everyone Moving to The Cloud? Reasons for not adopting cloud

$ 60.1% Price

45%

Security

43.8% 42.1% 34.4% 24.5% 27.6% 24.5%

Technology unknown

Not well Incompatible Too complex undersood with our applications

Latency

Other

www.innovationandtech.ae

To send in your entries, visit

www.innovationsummit.ae

DISRUPTIVE INNOVATOR AWARDS 2016

Disruptive Innovator Awards 2016

Acknowledging innovators who want to change the world! k outside the box.

rs who thin A shout out to innovato

Can your idea, process, software or app pp make

NOW

ace?

the world a better pl

Award Categories Best Innovation in Sustainability

Best Innovation in Healthcare

Best Innovation in Education

Best Innovation for Public Good

Best Innovation for Business Growth

Best Innovation in Retail

Who can participate? Any individual or company, based in the UAE, with a commercially viable innovation, is eligible for participation �

How we judge: The awards will be judged by a jury for the strength of concept, user interface, user experience & business model Each category will have two winners The Innovator Awards will be conferred at the Global Innovation Summit on 21st September 2016. �

�

Terms and conditions apply Each participant is eligible to submit a maximum of two entries. Entries should be submitted only through www.innovationsummit.ae Closing date for entries is 28th August, 2016. The decision of the jury will be final.

Disruptive Innovator Awards is part of Global Innovation Summit 2016 September 21, 2016 - Atlantis the Palm, Dubai

Global Innovation Summit 2016 The Future is Now!

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Miss The Biggest Innovation Conference

September 21, Atlantis the Palm, Dubai

Social Innovations

Smart Cities

Internet of Things (IOT)

Digital Ecosystems

Disruptive Technologies

Why Attend? Over 2000 high profile registered attendees. Attendees consists of CXOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, Entrepreneurs, Government dignitaries, Tech aficianados. Powerful event agenda. Productive & luxurious environment. Possibility of one on one meetings with key decision makers. Strategic alliance partner

Official magazine

The Future is Now!

Business association partners

Organised by

www.spigroup.ae

Supported by

To register, visit www.innovationsummit.ae or for enquiries call us on 0504278287 or email us at response@spiholding.net

Supporting partners