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ISSUE 24 // www.intelligentcio.com
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Education Partner
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ERP Partner
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Energy Partner
MOBILE NETWORK
EXPANSION
Zain Iraq partners with Nokia
International to develop the
Holy Karbala network
DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION
Three experts tell us what the
barriers are to the digitalisation
of the Middle East
DATA CENTRE
LOWDOWN
Expert advice on the best
approach to solving your
data centre needs
SERVING CITIZENS SMARTLY
Dubai Police Force’s smart services strategy moves forward with
the adoption of a progressive ITSM platform. The assyst system
from Axios serves the public better by combining power and
simplicity with world class support.
COUNTRY FOCUS | INDUSTRY WATCH | LATEST INTELLIGENCE
EDITOR’S NOTE
W
ell it’s all over for another
year. I’m sure those of you
who joined us at GITEX take
a deep sense of satisfaction in all you
came across.
From the eye-catching exhibits like flying
taxis and high-tech police robots, to the
experts in security that were available
to talk through your cyber requirements,
there was so much of interest to
stumble across. We also hope you
enjoyed our extensive on-line coverage
delivered as events unfolded.
Intelligent CIO was there to meet and
interview many of those exhibiting and
you’ll be able to read some of those
interviews in this month’s edition and
on-line at www.intelligentcio.com/me.
We have all the usual features,
including getting to know Guruprasad
Padmanabhan of Redline and an
Editor’s Question where we ask industry
experts about how the barriers to digital
transformation in the Middle East can
be overcome.
In Comment, Harshul Joshi, Senior
Vice President of Cyber Advisory
Services at DarkMatter, tells us about
implementing smart security to match
smart city developments. You can read
how governments in charge of hubs of
innovation, such as Abu Dhabi and Dubai,
are assuming a proactive response to
protecting the public digital infrastructure.
This month’s edition looks at ERPs and
specifically how enterprises can benefit
from such systems. From talking to
industry experts at GITEX, I think it’s
safe to say that ERPs are becoming a
vital operational part of many different
enterprises across a multitude of
verticals in the Middle East. In Talking Business, we look at how
digital transformation has led to the
rise of the ‘Super CIO’. Luc Serviant,
Vice President, Middle East and Africa,
of Orange Business Service, tells us
CIOs are pivotal to the transformation
process but unfortunately they face
an increasingly complex task; while IT
teams may also need to be seen as
business-centric and no longer as ‘the
back office boys’.
Over the years these systems have
become increasingly sophisticated and
user-friendly, influenced by consumer
technology and capitalising on people’s
familiarity with social media. He tells us: “Change needs leadership
and transformational change demands
a new type of leader – this is why we
are starting to see the emergence of the
‘Super CIO’.”
www.intelligentcio.com
In Final Word, Karim Talhouk, Dynamics
365 Lead, Microsoft Gulf, tells us how
sales can surge in the digital age. He
writes that retailers need to form a
deep and meaningful profile of each
customer across every possible channel
of activity. He also says technology
platforms need to support sales
professionals in converting relationships
and leads into revenue.
In Intelligent Data Centres, we speak
to Adrian Rowley, technical director
of Gigamon, about the best ways of
dealing with the modern data centre.
He writes that: “The traditional security
focus of instrumenting networks for
prevention, and concentrating resources
on a perimeter that can no longer be
defined, is increasingly ineffective.”
As always, we look forward to hearing
from our readers so please feel free to
email me at [email protected].
Enjoy the read and see you next month!
INTELLIGENTCIO
27