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ISSUE 33 // www . intelligentcio . com
Ready for attack
Three experts tell us about the importance of staying in a state of cybersecurity readiness
Secure SD-WAN
Establishing a security strategy for SD-WAN networking
Building relationships
The need for CRM in the construction industry
Dispensing efficiency
A pharmacy chain has delivered fast , reliable services for its customers and reduced the risk of downtime by switching to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications .
IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS | LATEST INTELLIGENCE | REGIONAL IMPLEMENTATIONS
EDITOR ’ S NOTE
Welcome to the latest edition of Intelligent CIO . Our cover story this month looks at how El Ezaby Pharmacy updated its flagging legacy system by making the switch to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications .
With almost a hundred branches across Egypt and the Middle East , the SUSE solution helped the company deliver fast , reliable services for its customers because of a significant decrease in IT administrative workload . In addition , the company has been able to install updates much faster and reduce the risk of downtime . Haitham El-Ghamry , IT Director at El Ezaby Pharmacy , told us that the company ’ s previous systems were becoming outgrown as the enterprise continued to grow .
Its database struggled to cope with the size and complexity of its inventory and the amount of time required for updates proved to be a real hinderance . “ The system moves much faster now ,” El-Ghamry told us . “ The virtualisation of our IT infrastructure means we can perform the same tasks much more rapidly , and the SUSE solution scales up more easily than our previous system .
“ The SUSE operating system provides a stable platform for our core SAP Applications , and since we made the upgrade we ’ ve been able to install updates much faster . That has massively reduced our risk of downtime , as well as reducing our IT workload more generally .”
El Ezaby Pharmacy ’ s IT team had previously been forced to spend six hours every weekend updating its database and security software , but with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server it is now able to make those updates within just 16 minutes each week .
In this month ’ s Editor ’ s Question we ask three experts : How important is it for businesses that rely on data to stay in a state of cybersecurity readiness ?
We hear from Johnny Karam , Vice President Emerging Markets at Veritas ; Tarek Abbas , Systems Engineering Director , Emerging Markets , Palo Alto Networks ; and Sam Olyaei , Principal Research Analyst at Gartner .
Karam tells us that while there may be a prevailing attitude that an attack is inevitable , there is plenty enterprises can do to reduce the dangers , especially by educating employees to make them the first line of defence . To find out what the other experts say , turn to page 34 .
In this edition ’ s Final Word , we hear from Kalle Bjorn , Director , Systems Engineering , Fortinet , about building an adaptive and secure SD-WAN framework .
With many organisations turning to Software-Defined Wide Area Networking ( SD-WAN ) to support their Digital Transformation , many IT leaders are working out how they can tie all of their connected resources into a single cohesive network .
Bjorn says a critical challenge of such a model is establishing an effective security strategy that can span and adapt to this expanding and evolving network . Turn to page 102 to find out more .
In this month ’ s Industry Watch , we hear from Jake Callaway , Managing Director , MENA at 4C . He tells us that it ’ s time for the construction sector , which is not exactly known for its innovative use of IT , to adapt to the digital revolution and lay the foundations for future success .
Starting on page 88 , he tells us how an intuitive CRM system can organise data for construction companies and make it easily retrievable , thereby increasing the efficiency of customer service and the quality of supplier relationships .
We also have all the usual features and latest news from around the region .
Enjoy the read !
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