FUTURE TECHNOLOG
System integrators realign for
digital transformation
(Left to right) Andrew Calthorpe, CEO at Condo Protego; Ayman Al
Bayaa, CEO of STME; Hani Nofal, Vice President, Intelligent Network
Solutions, Security and Mobility at GBM.
(Left to right) Manish Vyas, Group President CME, Chief Executive
Network Services, Tech Mahindra; Sherif Fahmy, Marketing Manager at
IST; Stephan Berner, CEO at Help AG.
A look at how leading system integrators are adjusting to challenges posed to legacy business
models by digital technologies. By Arun Shankar.
T
he increasing role of business in
driving the usage of technology
within the enterprise is
transforming the legacy business
models of system integrators. Business
decision makers are driving the demand
for new technology solutions that are
increasingly specified along the lines of
expected business outcomes and service
level agreements. They are increasingly
becoming removed from specifications of
technology products.
Key IBM and Cisco solutions partner,
Gulf Business Machines, which operates
across the Gulf, has been transforming
itself to meet these new realities in the
market place. According to Hani Nofal,
Vice President, Intelligent Network
Solutions, Security and Mobility at
GBM, the traditional approach of client
managers, solution architects and even
vendor partners, has been to talk to the
IT departments of end user organisations.
“However, the requirement nowadays
is coming from business and we are
committed to the business outcome rather
than the box that we are installing,” he
explains about the realignment required to
meet present-day realities.
In order to meet these expectations in
the market place, GBM started its internal
restructuring and transformation two
years ago, which is presently ongoing and
continuing. The transformation requires
realigning GBM’s teams to understand the
end users’ customers in various vertical
market segments. Another requirement
is for GBM’s team to move technology
into the core functions of end user
organisations from market segments that
have been the most digitally disrupted by
cloud, mobile and analytics. For GBM, this
includes market segments like banking
and finance, education, government, retail,
media and technology.
Nofal expects this journey will require
some time, and will require a lot of
training, understanding and dedication.
But it will finally generate teams that are
better aligned with end users in various
market segments. They will be able to
better relate to the business of the end
users, their end users, understand the
business language and be responsible
The need of the
hour is that you
need to change
so rapidly and
so fast that you
are able to take
advantage of the
opportunities
that will come
tomorrow and
the day after.
Manish Vyas, Group
President CME, Chief
Executive Network
Services at Tech
Mahindra.
23