Business Transformation Asia Issue 18

Pure Storage

Agile, Data, Storage

Demand for Flash based storage, integrated with cloud and analytics, is boosting triple digit growth for the vendor.

RAMANUJAM KOMANDURI, Country Manager Pure Storage India

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Tushar Sahoo tushar@gecmediagroup.com

EDITOR

Ayushman Baruah ayushman@gecmediagroup.com

CO-FOUNDER & CEO

Ronak Samantaray ronak@gecmediagroup.com

GLOBAL HEAD, CONTENT AND STRATEGIC ALLIANCES

Anushree Dixit anushree@gecmediagroup.com

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR GEC MEDIA GROUP CO-FOUNDER, BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION ASIA Sundip Sibal Sundip@gecmediagroup.com

GROUP SALES HEAD Richa S richa@gecmediagroup.com

PROJECT LEAD

Jennefer Lorraine Mendoza jennefer@gecmdiagroup.com

SALES AND ADVERTISING

Ronak Samantaray ronak@gecmediagroup.com

DIGITAL TEAM

Vijay Bakshi - IT Manager

DESIGNED BY Creative Lead

Ajay Arya

Designer

Rahul Arya

Assistant Designer

Vikas Chandra

PRODUCTION, CIRCULATION, SUBSCRIPTIONS info@gecmediagroup.com

Global vendors in regional markets

Global technology vendors operate in all regions and almost all countries. But the dynamics, go to market, and success ratio varies in each. In this month’s lead feature, we track how Pure Storage has fared in the Indian market. A late entrant to enter the country, Pure Storage opened its office in Mumbai in 2015. The all-flash storage vendor made its entry into the Indian market with its flagship product FlashArray, promising end users, a modern, all-flash storage solution.

Today the vendor is embedded in market segments such as financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, digital native companies, and service providers to help them meet their data-intensive needs with allflash storage solutions.

Pure Storage has also established its research and development operations in the country, with a seed team from Portworx Engineering, the Kubernetes data services platform it acquired in September 2020. Pure Storage has focused on building a channel network in tier 1 cities as well as in tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

Pure Storage has invested into sales, technical, customer support teams to work with customers and solve their digital transformation challenges with its data management solutions. The vendor has also increased its messaging around sustainability, which has become a priority for Indian enterprises, and demonstrated that its solutions lower energy and physical space requirements while meeting customer expectations.

The India market strategy of driving growth through channel partners seems to have paid off well, with Pure Storage growing 590% in the country in Q3 2022, according to the IDC Enterprise Storage Tracker, despite an overall 3% decline in the local market.

Turn these pages for more on the vendor’s in-country activities.

Our second lead feature focusses around Netweb Technologies that has become a significant player in storage and computing hardware, with a portfolio of Made in India products that include high-performance servers, storage solutions, and High-Performance Computing, HPC Netweb Technologies closed fiscal year 2021-22 with a turnover of Rs 237 crore and is one of the 14 companies that have been approved by the Ministry of Electronics and IT under the Production Linked Incentive for IT hardware manufacturing in India.

Amongst its achievements, Netweb Technologies deployed the 9-node Cluster Supercomputer with Intel Xeon 2.4GHz at The Institute of Mathematical Sciences in 2003, the fastest at that time in the country. In 2013, the company deployed the upgraded PARAM supercomputer at the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing or C-DAC in Pune. It has also deployed ISRO’s fastest supercomputer Param Amber in 2019.

PRINTED BY Kaizen Offset 3, DSIDC Complex, Okhla, Phase - I New Delhi - 110020

Netweb was also the first company to introduce server products for the Intel Xeon processor in South Asia, India, and the Middle East and it has been actively involved with the first high-performance computing cluster in India based on a dual-core Intel Xeon processor with 1,333MHz FSB as well as the country’s first HPCC based on the Pathscale HTX Infinipath adapter.

Turn these pages to read more about Netweb and also our outstanding blogs and contributions from the industry.

Wishing you the best in your business achievements in the month ahead.

Ronak Samantaray Co-Founder & CEO, GEC Media Group.

HOW FORENSICS CAN HELP TO IDENTIFY YOUR CYBER ADVERSARY

Once an adversary has been spotted inside the organisation’s infrastructure, alert levels can be raised, shields-up declared, and intelligence can drive threat-hunting.

Adversary attribution enables security professionals to understand the who, how and why behind the cyberattacks targeting potentially their business. Knowing about espionage-motivated adversary provides guidance on where to place defensive shields-up measures and how you can best prepare. This could include decisions on where to implement new controls, new training needs or prepare with more targeted red and blue team exercises.

Once a known, sophisticated adversary has been spotted inside your organisation’s infrastructure, alert levels can be raised, shieldsup declared, and the available intel on the adversary can drive the threat-hunting process

to find and expel the adversary.

Without this knowledge, analysts waste time and resources, playing whack a mole in chasing every commodity attack or being blind to adversary activity that may be seen as normal activity without the context provided by threat intelligence.

FORENSICS GAPS

When an attack or critical event is detected, analysts run forensics, gathering all artefacts during the attack, including network traffic, sources, assets, files touched, commands run, so that incident response teams can eradicate all threat activity. Chances are low that forensic evidence will be complete because the amount of data, and volatility within the data, can be too overwhelming to analyse.

BY SPENCER PARKER Senior Director of Product Management, CrowdStrike.

DETECTION AND HUNTING

Detection is an art and involves many moving parts. While standard security analytic tools like SIEM can execute simple IF-THEN rules, including if traffic originates from location X create an alert and even perform baselining or trending analysis, threat actors have learned how to bypass these standard detection rules by living off the land and hiding under legitimate activities. By knowing individual actor behaviours and attack techniques, security engineering teams can set up more targeted detection or better execute threat-hunting practices.

VULNERABILITY REMEDIATION

Vulnerability lists are always too long, and standard risk scoring, like the Common Vulnerability Scoring System is usually too static. By shortlisting actors that apply to your environment and understanding which vulnerabilities are leveraged, risk teams can better prioritise where to focus and concentrate their efforts. Having the latest information on which actors use which exploits can save vulnerability remediation teams a lot of time and pre-emptively reduce threat risks.

SECURITY STRATEGY

Attribution enables security teams to understand their true risk posture by defining who could come after them and how and pre-emptively adjust their security strategy. For instance, targeted attacks may be driven by cyber espionage, which indicates the threat will most likely be persistent and comprise multiple sophisticated attacks that can be expected to attempt to gain access to your sensitive company data.

SILOS

Security organisations are often split into operational silos, with each silo focusing on specific

Attribution enables security teams to understand their true risk posture by defining who could come after them

detection or protective tools. This structure, with attention to tools in use and small-team objectives, is not always advantageous. Focusing instead at a higher level, knowing the adversaries that are trying to breach your defences, changes the dynamic, which benefits the individual security professional as well as the entire security organisation.

While attribution provides the information that helps security teams prepare, there is additional intrinsic value in taking an adversary-focused approach to security. Attribution enables the entire security organisation, proactive and reactive defenders alike, to orient their actions toward specific actors that target their business and begin to communicate across all teams with a common language, including the adversary’s name, attack steps and point of view.

This approach helps security teams step away from tool- or process-heavy tactics and build strategies to increase the effectiveness of their security efforts.

Without this knowledge, analysts waste time and resources, playing whack a mole in chasing every commodity attack

LEVERAGING RISK AND ADVISORY CYBER SECURITY SERVICES

This is the foundational layer for any ecosystem that enables an organisation’s cybersecurity to truly align with its business and IT objectives.

Digital platforms have become increasingly significant in our lives. In McKinsey’s latest tech trends outlook for 2022, this is referred to as the multiplying effect of combinatorial innovation as different technologies now converge in seismic and unforeseen ways. With Web 3.0 on the horizon, we will see advances in artificial intelligence

and machine learning at a breath-taking pace. With this convergence comes an increase in associated cyber risks. Data breaches in the Middle East have reached an all-time high this year of over $7 million per data breach on average, according to recent estimates. Meanwhile, attacks on government entities and private

businesses continue to grow in frequency and complexity and government leaders are now stressing cybersecurity as a sovereign priority.

The good news is that organisations are generally containing these incidents faster and more effectively than ever before. The formation of alliances such as the UAE Cyber Security Council and the National Cybersecurity

BY HADI ANWAR

Chief Cyber Defence Officer, CPX.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l According to an IBM study, human error is the main cause of 95% of cybersecurity breaches.

l Trusted advisory assessments and trainings aimed at the human factor have been shown to bring profound reductions in cybersecurity risks.

l Good news is that organisations are generally containing these incidents faster and more effectively than ever before.

l Most companies in the region are now confronting a sizeable amount of information security and data privacy regulations, locally and from abroad.

Authority in Saudi Arabia is certainly beneficial. But rather than only containing incidents, how can individual companies lower the likelihood of security incidents overall?

Unfortunately, the threat landscape is too complex for most businesses to navigate independently. The pandemic exposed significant shortcomings in many organisations’ cyber ecosystems. That said, no one has to confront these issues alone.

This is why the market for assessment-based trusted advisory and risk services, TARS is now growing at an unprecedented rate. The tenet behind these services is to enable any business in any industry to make more informed decisions. It is the foundational layer for any ecosystem that enables an organisation’s cybersecurity to truly align with its business and IT objectives.

More specifically, the attractiveness of TARS assessments stems from addressing three principal concerns.

MOST LIKELY THREATS

Understanding the difference between malware, cyberattacks, and human error is surely important. Yet threat sources, as well as the impact and likelihood of exploitation, can vary widely based on an organisation’s size, industry, and its future ambitions. Too often a risk strategy looks only at the here and now. The more prudent approach considers a sustainable strategy that is tailored to one’s current business yet is flexible enough to incorporate new risk profiles and evolve as the company moves across borders,

expands its workforce, and diversifies its services.

REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS

Most companies in the region are now confronting a sizeable amount of information security and data privacy regulations, locally and from abroad. The legislation behind these policies is constantly changing, too. The demands on your organisation are specific to the sector that your organisation operates within, whether government, financial, healthcare or energy market.

As such, today’s assessment services are not just about eventually meeting compliance standards. Understanding the landscape and staying ahead of new regulations can actually provide one’s business with a substantial competitive edge.

SECURITY RESOURCES

Even when organisations have top-notch, well-written security processes, many do not invest enough in improving the human layer of the cybersecurity chain. According to an IBM study, human error is the main cause of 95% of cybersecurity breaches. Trusted advisory assessments and trainings aimed at the human factor have been shown to bring profound reductions in cybersecurity risks.

They do this by identifying and prioritising where human error could have the greatest impact, then developing the knowledge required to proactively recognise threats—not just defend against them.

To conclude, organisations that invest in improving their cyber maturity through trusted advisory and risk services are able to not only secure their present, but are better able to explore the future with peace of mind.

HOW AIR TRAVEL CAN LEVERAGE DATA IN MOTION

It is a challenge for the travel sector to transition from traditional methods, where data is stored statically, to data in motion.

It is no secret that the worldwide travel sector had its wings severely clipped by the Covid-19 pandemic. Fortunately, the industry is showing impressive signs of recovery, with flight bookings rocketing and the World Travel and Tourism Council predicting a confident return for the sector.

But as the travel industry takes off once more, there are plenty of challenges ahead for the sector. In the past weeks, some global airports

and airlines have struggled to keep pace with the rise in bookings, plagued with major problems such as queues, cancellations, and delays.

Some airport operators and airlines have used the time during the sector’s downturn wisely, updating legacy backoffice systems and using data and smart technology to get ahead of the pack. Those still using legacy systems can find themselves unable to respond quickly to changing demand and rising customer numbers.

The travel industry holds

enormous amounts of data, which can be used to optimise the travel experience and support growth in the sector. But data is often siloed across different areas and systems in the business, rendering it almost useless when it comes to using insights from the data to rapidly make decisions.

Collecting the data is not the problem – harnessing it and bringing it to life requires integrated systems and technology. Only then can businesses use data to react nimbly and responsively in real time.

BY FRED CREHAN Regional Director, Confluent.

Like many other industries, it is a challenge for the travel sector to transition from traditional methods, where data is stored statically, to data in motion – where it is integrated, accurate and always up to date. It can then be used in real time to enable brands to respond quickly, flexibly, and smartly.

Major airport hubs such as Dubai, Los Angeles and Heathrow are not simply there to facilitate air travel. The airport is all part of the experience, hosting dining, hospitality and retail venues to service huge numbers of travellers. Operators and the brands within the space all need to glean insights from data to improve the customer experience and assist with growth.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l Called the Hub Monitor, this system enables Emirates to use data insights in real time to focus on the tasks needed to prepare an airplane for departure.

l The proactive alert system is speeding up turnaround times and boosting the customer experience.

l Integrated data and AI-driven analytics tools have enabled Etihad to enhance several areas of the business.

l Insightful forecasting and modelling has made it possible for Etihad to optimise ground staffing levels and better handle passengers.

The travel business is immediate. People book and buy things quickly. If data analytics do not work just as –or more – quickly, businesses will lose out. Right across the chain, from online sales to supply chains, and from retail to aircrafts, data needs to be unlocked and insights gained. And not only that, it needs to be done quickly. No business has the luxury of time when it comes to delivering data-driven upgrades. Without it, businesses will find themselves quickly falling behind.

No one who has travelled over the past few weeks could be unaware of the travel chaos besieging the industry, with some of the biggest headaches being delayed flights. Slow turnaround times contribute to all kinds of knock-on problems, from delayed flights to missed landing slots and unhappy customers.

Called the Hub Monitor, this clever system enables Emirates’ team in Dubai to use data insights in real time to focus on the tasks needed to prepare an airplane for departure. The proactive

alert system is speeding up turnaround times and boosting the customer experience.

Etihad Airways is also utilising data science tools to support operational improvements. Integrated data and AI-driven analytics tools have enabled Etihad to enhance several areas of the business. Insightful forecasting and modelling has made it possible for Etihad to optimise ground staffing levels and better handle passengers. They are also able to respond more efficiently and more quickly to customer emails. This digital transformation has improved the customer experience as well as bringing about business benefits such as better productivity and cost savings.

The travel industry has finally got its wings once more, though this is not without its challenges. All airlines and airport operators should follow the lead of airlines such as Emirates and Etihad to help speed the recovery of the sector, improve the customer experience and optimise business growth.

Etihad Airways is utilising data science tools to support operational improvements

IMPACT OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES ON RETAIL

The goal of a retailer is to provide best possible shopping experience by reducing friction throughout the customer journey so customers can move seamlessly.

In 2023, the consumer is resilient. Travel is booming. Supply chains are improving. Shipping costs are moderating. The pandemic is easing. E-commerce marketplaces are accelerating. New online and in-store experiences are once again in focus. And in a recent study conducted with EnsembleIQ in partnership with AWS, 87% of retail technology leaders shared that they expect to maintain or increase technology budget spend in 2023.

Here are five trends to consider:

RETAIL MEDIA NETWORKS

A retail media network is a form of advertising that allows retailers to monetise their firstparty data to better serve consumers with more relevant offers as they shop in digital and physical stores and through email, SMS, for example.

Retail media is an attractive business

opportunity for many retailers where they display brand ads in store or on apps and e-commerce sites, or shared via external channels such as social media platforms. This is an exciting space to watch and one in which there may be plenty of innovation in the coming months.

Coresight Research estimates that the global retail media industry will total $75.1 billion in 2022, up 80.1% from 2021, making it one of the fastestgrowing advertising channels. According to a survey conducted by McKinsey in June 2022, 82% of advertisers plan to increase their retail media spending in the next 12 months.

FRICTIONLESS

In the last 12-18 months, there has been a dramatic increase in new product and service offerings enabling a differentiated in-store physical shopping experience. We are in the early days of frictionless

BY JUSTIN HONAMAN Head of Worldwide Retail and Consumer Goods Go-To-Market, AWS.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l 82% of advertisers plan to increase their retail media spending in the next 12 months.

l As technology investments in infrastructure bandwidth and computer vision continue to accelerate expect frictionless capabilities to advance.

l New stores will be the focus where infrastructure can easily be installed prior to build-out.

l 92% of respondents in UAE indicated they would change their shopping behaviour if destinations had an experiential element.

l Supply chain remains #1 or #2 on executive priority.

l 87% of retail technology leaders expect to maintain or increase technology budget spend in 2023.

in-store retail experiences. As technology investments in infrastructure bandwidth and computer vision continue to accelerate along with cloud capabilities linked to store systems, expect frictionless capabilities to advance quickly. New stores will be the focus where infrastructure can easily be installed prior to build-out.

IMMERSIVE

In a recent study conducted with EnsembleIQ on immersive commerce, 77% of respondents indicated that they are familiar with immersive retail. In this study, immersive retail was defined as enhancement of consumer shopping experiences with technological features instore, example with augmented reality, interactive displays, virtual try-ons, 3D product previews.

The consumer survey by Epson revealed that experientialism is crucial to changing shoppers’ behaviour and could even see them seek out more instore shopping if it offered an immersive experience. 92% of respondents in UAE indicated they would change their shopping behaviour if more shopping destinations had an experiential element, rising to 94% of Generation Z and 93% of Millennials.

The study also revealed that such experiences in retail stores would attract increased spending.

Coresight Research estimated that the value of retail sales in the metaverse and virtual stores to reach nearly $1B in 2030, with a significant early-adopter ramp between 2024-2026. Expect retailers to investigate and test in 2023.

CUSTOMER DATA PLATFORM

A Customer Data Platform, CDP is a technology platform that creates a persistent, unified customer view, aka a single view

of customer activity — customer 360. Data is pulled from multiple sources, cleaned, and combined to create a single customer profile.

The customer 360 and CDP topics are front and centre in retail as retailers define strategies to manage customer data either with a centralised agency or bring back in-house to manage as part of a broader loyalty offering. CDPs are powering new loyalty strategies, solutions, and programmes given the opportunity to know the customer, serve them where they stand, learn from them, and keep them engaged across channels and outlets. Expect the CDP solution focus to continue into 2023.

SUPPLY CHAIN LEVEL-UP

Retailers in 2023 will have the opportunity to use cost advantages in the supply chain. Retailers will also focus on supply chain resilience in 2023. Resilience is the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties. Bottom line, supply chain remains #1 or #2 on executive priority.

To unlock the potential of digital commerce, retailers are seeking a fresh approach and this will require new technologies and a new digital architecture, largely leveraging modern cloud-based solutions and services.

The goal of every retailer is to provide the best possible shopping experience by reducing friction throughout the customer journey and merging traditionally distinct channels so customers can move seamlessly between them. This has long been the promise of omnichannel and it is key to building an agile and cost-effective digital commerce solution.

Adopting composable and headless apps, powered by microservices, helps retailers unify and personalise the shopper experience, reduce maintenance costs, and gain greater business agility and innovation at scale.

BIG DATA AND SPORTS ANALYTICS

Big data analytics has been used in a variety of sports, most notably by Americans involved in decision making in sports like baseball and basketball.

Over the years, sports data analytics has transformed decision-making and other strategies such as preparing defensive strategies, drafting players, and so on. Data analytics has revolutionised the sports era with its principles and data collection methods. Sports data analytics is a boon to the sports industry and has well established its roots in the foreground of the institution.

Each major sport has since had its own analytics evolution with teams hiring data

scientists and seeking ways to objectively analyse players and gain a statistical edge. The global sports analytics industry is expected to reach $3.4 billion by 2028, according to a 2021 report from Research and Markets.

Big data analytics has been used successfully in a variety of sports, most notably by the Americans involved in decision making in sports like baseball and basketball. The more global games of football and tennis were slow off the blocks but have caught up with the American sports. And when it

BY JADD ELLIOT DIB

comes to cricket, the advent of T20 leagues all over the world made it necessary to use data as best possible before making decisions.

The monetary stake being very high has made the use of data crunching an absolute must. Given that it has been embraced globally by franchises, the national teams too have followed suit. Teams of analysts look at every possible part of the play and convert them into quantifiable data. The data is then looked into in detail and the inferences often lead to clearcut strategies.

Additionally, in line with the FIFA President’s Vision 20202023 to harness technology to further improve football, players at the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar will be able to get insights into their on-field performance through the FIFA Player App. FIFA has developed the FIFA Player App, based on input from professional players, in collaboration with FIFPRO, the global representative of professional footballers.

The FIFA Player App was used for the first time at a FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The survey and interviews conducted show that players are very interested in their performance data and want to have easy access to this information. The FIFA Player App will provide the opportunity for each player to access their individual player-performance data shortly after each match.

The data collected will include enhanced football data metrics, physical performance metrics and enhanced football intelligence metrics. This data is then synchronised with match footage to enable players to watch all key moments of their own performance in detail, using different camera angles.

However, relying only on sports analytics does not make a difference unless the coaches and players imply

The survey and interviews conducted show that players are very interested in their performance data and want to have easy access to this information

backbreaking efforts and sheer hard work for improving their game mobility. It benefits them to seek and understand information throughout the course of a season of a game.

Everybody loves to watch sports with detailed and insightful commentary. Have we ever stopped to think, though, about how broadcasters and athletes make sports so compelling for us insatiable viewers?

l Data helps coaches make more insight-driven recruitment decisions

l Big data analytics helps broadcasters create a better viewing experience

l Big data is helping us create better sporting strategies

l It has become easier to boost fan engagement with fantasy sports

Big data has improved many industries over the last few years, and is no stranger to the sporting field. It has helped athletes enhance their performance, broadcasters their fan engagement, and coaches their gameplay tactics. Marketing data analytics plays a huge role in this process too.

Founder and CEO at Pangaea X.

Data is synchronised with match footage to enable players to watch all key moments of their own performance in detail

GHOSTLY RINGS OF NEPTUNE IN DEEP SPACE

The Near-Infrared Camera on board NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, took this image of Neptune on 12 July 2022. Visible in this image are Neptune’s rings in full focus after more than three decades. The most prominent features of Neptune’s atmosphere in this image are a series of bright patches in the planet’s southern hemisphere that represent high-altitude methane-ice clouds. More subtly, a thin line of brightness circling the planet’s equator could be a visual signature of global atmospheric circulation that powers Neptune’s winds and storms. Additionally, for the first time, Webb has teased out a continuous band of high-latitude clouds surrounding a previously-known vortex at Neptune’s southern pole.

Credit: NIRCam was built by a team at the University of Arizona and Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Centre.

IDEX 2023 NOW RANKED AS WORLD’S LARGEST DEFENCE EVENT

The exhibition at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre saw the participation of more than 1,353 companies from around the world and 132,507 visitors.

Under the patronage of His Highness

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, the 16th edition of the International Defence Exhibition, IDEX 2023 and the 7th edition of the Maritime Defence Exhibition, NAVDEX 2023, organised by ADNEC Group in cooperation with the Ministry of Defence, was concluded. The exhibitions, which ran from 20 to 24 February at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, ADNEC, saw the participation of more than 1,353 companies from around the world, and the visitor of around 132,507 visitors.

This year’s edition marked a historic achievement for the event, which is considered the most important defence exhibition in the world. The success of this year’s edition cemented the global position of IDEX & NAVDEX as the largest defence event in the world, marking another success story in the journey of the exhibition, which began nearly 30 years ago.

This year, the International Defence Conference attracted more than 1,800

participants, with a growth rate of more than 25% compared to the previous session. The Conference included four panel sessions, which covered the social and economic impacts and risks of widespread adoption of new technologies, talent development and human capital management, the impact of emerging technologies on modern defence operations, and the latest technology trends. The Conference saw the participation of more than 17 speakers, including leaders, ministers, and senior officials in the defence sector from across the world.

This year’s edition witnessed features and initiatives that were held for the first time, which contributed to strengthening the position of the world’s most prominent event in the defence industry. In addition, nine new countries participated in the exhibition for the first time, which include, Uzbekistan, Ireland, Nigeria, Montenegro, Kuwait, Lithuania, Bangladesh, and Monaco.

Hall 13, with a total area of more than 2,200 square metres, was added to host new exhibitors this year. An additional hall that includes a dedicated startup area was also launched, with an area of more than

1,500 square metres to host more than 83 startups from 25 countries around the world, providing them with the opportunity to showcase their most prominent technologies and products.

DEALS AND ORDERS

Tawazun Council signed 10 deals, worth AED 2.7 billion, with local and international companies on behalf of the Ministry of Defence. This makes the cumulative value of the deals Tawazun Council signed on behalf of the Ministry of Defence and Abu Dhabi Police so far AED 21.14 billion for 44 deals.

The announcement was made during a press conference held by Tawazun Council’s official Spokesmen Majed Ahmed Al Jaberi, Zayed Saeed Al Meraikhi and Saeed Al Mansoori, CEO of Capital Events, a subsidiary of ADNEC Group.

The total number of contracts

Tawazun Council signed on behalf of the Ministry of Defence were 10 contracts with a total value of AED 2.7 billion. They include 6 contracts with local companies, with a total value of AED 1.2 billion, and 4 contracts signed with international companies with a total value of AED 1.5 billion.

The biggest local contractworth AED 902 million, was awarded to Norinco, through International Golden Group, to procure AR3 multiple launcher rocket system and in-country services. Another contract, worth AED 91 million, was signed with Edge Group’s subsidiary Earth to supply gun’s thermal camera.

A contract worth AED 53 million was signed with Tamalex International to provide vehicle’s technical support, maintenance and spare part supply services.

Three more contracts were

signed with International Golden Group. A contract worth AED 65 million to procure thermocamera and thermoscope, a contract worth AED 21 million to provide technical support services for SAP system and a contract worth AED 24 million to provide vessels’ communication system with technical support services and logistic services.

The international contracts announced included an AED 1.26 billion contract with France’s MBDA to procure MICA missiles and a contract worth AED 36 million with Italy’s Leonardo to procure C4I systems’ spare parts.

Also signed was an AED 79 million contract with the US company Harris International to provide technical support and training services on C4I systems and a contract worth AED 165 million with US Kaman Precision Products to procure ammunition fuses.

EDGE

EDGE, one of the world’s fastest growing and leading advanced technology and defence groups, concluded its participation at IDEX 2023, launching 14 new products, including 11 breakthrough autonomous and unmanned products and solutions, the signing of new contracts and deals worth AED 18.6 billion, of which AED 4 billion was in international export deals.

As the Strategic Partner, EDGE boasted the largest presence at the five-day event, garnering the attention of several royal delegations and dignitaries from around the world, including His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, and other senior members of the UAE’s leadership, as well as other dignitaries, politicians, and prospective customers.

Major deals signed at the event included a landmark EUR 1 billion export deal with the Angolan Navy to build and export a fleet of best-in-class 71 metre corvettes, and major contracts worth over AED9 billion with the UAE Armed Forces for EDGE’s THUNDER and DESERT STING 25 Precision-Guided Munitions; SHADOW 25 and SHADOW 50, and HUNTER Loitering Munitions; and a contract valued at

IDEX SNAPSHOT

l The results consolidate the event’s position as the largest defence event in the world

l The visitor of this edition around 132,507 visitors

l Deals worth AED23.34b were signed during the event, more than 12% increase compared to the previous edition

l Increase in the number of exhibiting companies to reach 1,353 companies from 65 countries, and 41 country pavilions

l 216 national exhibitors, marking a 50% increase compared to the previous edition

l Participating official delegations exceeded 367 delegations from all around the world

l The International Defence Conference attracted more than 1,800 participants; a 25% increase compared to the previous edition

l Recorded 98% for visitor and exhibitor satisfaction and happiness

l The advanced infrastructure and excellent organisation have garnered international praise.

AED 4 billion to provide tactical communications and data-link solutions to the UAE Armed Forces.

EDGE also signed over 20 agreements and joint ventures with several major industry players including Raytheon Emirates, ICOMM, John Cockerill, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, HAL, L3Harris, and Fincantieri, among others.

Also included on the EDGE stand were new companies in which it has recently acquired major shareholdings, including autonomous solutions specialist High Lander, Milrem Robotics, Europe’s leader in the fields of robotics and autonomous systems, in which EDGE has a controlling share, and Abu Dhabi-based GRADEONE Group, which specialises in providing military hardware, equipment, pyrotechnics, ammunition, and supplies to various military, law enforcement and rescue services. Consequently, High Lander showcased their nextgeneration Universal UTM solution for UAVs, while Milrem Robotics presented the THeMIS and Multiscope unmanned ground vehicles, as well as the Type-X unmanned combat vehicle.

GEC MEDIA GROUP

CONCLUDES 9TH EDITION OF FUTURE IT SUMMIT 2023

GEC Media Group on Thursday concluded the 9th edition of Future IT Summit 2023 which was embellished by the attendance of over 200 IT decision-makers and some amazing panelists and keynote speakers.

The Future IT Summit is one of the most prestigious events in the technology industry, bringing together experts, thought leaders, and decision-makers from around the world to share their insights and experiences. This year’s edition was bigger and better than ever before, with a lineup of distinguished speakers, engaging panel discussions, and exciting networking opportunities. The Future IT Summit’s theme this year was Cloud and Automation Towards a Sustainable Business and Economy, and everyone gathered to discuss the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities in the field of cloud computing and automation.

In modern business, Cloud and Automation both digital and business stand as one of the strongest contenders in helping business to reach the ESG goals. As organizations adopt more and more of automation tools and cloud-based platforms, we are moving inches closer to further reducing the carbon footprint.

The 9th edition of the Future IT Summit was an eye-opener as to how the technology pioneers are realizing this vision and bringing on board some practical use cases to spearhead the charts and make further inroads for other solutions to fortify an organization’s infrastructure.

The award winners were felicitated with The Titans Badge of Honor, Catalyst Awards and TOP 10 Happy IT Companies to work for Awards. The badge of honor felicitates the honorable CIOs who have made it to the Titans magazine in the year 2022-2023. The Badge of honor being presented to these CIOs is a recognition for their contributions to The Titans.

The Catalyst Awards are presented to companies who have excelled in marketing. Industry’s most coveted title and favorite awards ceremony is all set to recognize and honor the trailblazers in the industry who have been uplifting the brand and reputation of their respective organizations in these difficult times with various cutting-edge initiatives, platforms and market-penetration and truly acting as ‘CATALYSTS’ in the everchanging market landscape. Also, Top 10 IT Companies which are happy places to work in are awarded and appreciated for their culture and ethos. The Top Ten Best IT Companies to Work for in 2023” is a one of its kind recognition in the region for the IT Fraternity that would celebrate the ‘Exuberance’ of the people working in an organization. This special recognition felicitates and recognizes both fast-growing & established companies in UAE that offer tremendous career advancement opportunities together with leading-edge employee perks and benefits and most importantly valuable employee engagement.

The ceremony was kickstarted with a welcome note by Ronak Samantaray, Co-Founder & CEO, GEC Media Group followed by an editor’s note by Sonal Chhibber, Editor-in-Chief, GEC Media Group.

Ronak Samantaray, Co-Founder & CEO, GEC Media Group.

Charbel Zreiby, Director, Data Center Channel, Dell Technologies.

Farid Najjar, Area Distribution Lead – EEMI, NetApp.

Ali El Kontary, CEO, Zero&One.

UAE CIOS MEET AT THE LOOP, MEYDAN TO PARTICIPATE IN WELLNESS CYCLING EVENT

After the successful Future IT Summit 2023 event, GEC Media Group organized the ‘Unite to Sustain’ Pedalling event at The Loop, Meydan. It was an exciting event, attended by 50+ CIOs and IT leaders from UAE who became cycling enthusiasts, not concentrating much on the skills required but cherishing the exhilarating experience that the event promised to deliver throughout the route.

The cycling event provided an opportunity to connect with colleagues and professionals in the community while inculcating healthy habits through physical activity. This event helped to build camaraderie among participants and inspired everyone to prioritize their health and well-being. Besides the physical benefits of cycling, this event provided a unique opportunity

to network and build relationships with other professionals in the area. The purpose was to connect with others who share a common goal of promoting wellness and fitness.

The WELLFIT at Loop Meydan was full of CIOs’ positive energies and spirits who attended the event as part of their social responsibility towards health and fitness leading to sustainable living. The event started at 7:00 am and UAE weather was a pleasant one to allow participants to take a 12 km long drive by pedaling. Energetic participants pedaled to be a part of the Wellness and Health sustainability initiative.

The vendor and channel partners for this event were:

l Eveium

l CAAS

l OPX Technology

l WELLFIT

Mohit Joshi to take over as MD and CEO of Tech Mahindra post Gurnani’s retirement

the largest corporations in the world driving digital transformation.

Joshi’s appointment puts to rest speculations in the industry that Tech Mahindra was evaluating for the top job internal candidates including Manish Vyas, president, Communications, Media & Entertainment, and CEO of Network Services; Lakshmanan Chidambaram, president of Tech Mahindra Americas; and Harshvendra Soin, global chief people officer and head of Marketing.

Pune-based IT services major Tech Mahindra has announced Mohit Joshi as the MD and CEO designate of Tech Mahindra, who will take over the top job when CP Gurnani retires on December 19, 2023. “He will join Tech Mahindra well before that date to allow for sufficient transition time,” the company said.

Joshi will join Tech Mahindra from Infosys, where he was the President of the company. He has over two decades of experience in the enterprise technology software and consulting space and has worked with

At Infosys, Joshi was Head of the Global Financial Services & Healthcare and the Software businesses, which included banking platform Finacle and the Artificial Intelligence or Automation portfolio. He also led Sales Operations and Transformation for Infosys and executive responsibility for all large deals across the company. He was also responsible for the company’s internal CIO function and the Infosys Knowledge Institute.

Joshi has been a Non-Executive Director at Aviva Plc since 2020 and is a member of its Risk & Governance and Nomination committees.

Prior to joining Infosys in 2000, Joshi worked with ABN AMRO and ANZ Grindlays in their Corporate and Investment bank. He has lived and worked in Asia, America, and Europe and currently lives with his wife and two daughters in London.

LTIMindtree sets up new delivery centre in Poland to expand presence in Europe

will support the company’s capabilities in the region and bring LTIMindtree’s services closer to its customers in the travel, transportation, and hospitality industries, the company said. The new centre will complement LTIMindtree’s existing delivery centre in Warsaw.

DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE CEO and MD, LTIMindtree

LTIMindtree, the newly-formed entity after the merger of Larsen and Toubro Infotech and Mindtree, has opened a new delivery center in Krakow, Poland, as part of its strategy to expand presence in Eastern Europe.

The 500-seater centre

While North America continues to be the largest market contributing 72% to LTIMindtree’s total revenues, it is also focussing on other markets like the UK, Continental Europe, Asia Pacific & Middle East, and South Africa. “We will also get access to some of the nearshore centres like Poland and Latin America,”

Debashis Chatterjee, CEO and MD, LTIMindtree said in an earlier interview.

“This advanced facility will enable us to understand the

needs of our customers better and bring our services closer to our global clients and those in Europe, and help deliver nextgeneration experiences to them,” said Nachiket Deshpande, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Board Member, LTIMindtree. “This move aligns with our strategy to expand our global reach and strengthen our presence in key markets. Our nearshore delivery model has proven to be successful, and this expansion will further bolster our geo capabilities, making us more agile and responsive to the needs of our clients.”

The Krakow facility is the latest addition to the growing operations of LTIMindtree across Europe, where it serves over 75 clients. The IT services provider has 23 offices and nine delivery centres in the region.

MOHIT JOSHI

HCLTech to explore quantum applications by leveraging Microsoft Azure

Noida-based IT services major HCLTech said it will explore quantum computing opportunities with enterprise organisations globally by leveraging the latest Microsoft Azure Quantum toolsets and support.

“HCLTech Q-Labs will inspire and educate its clients to explore and scale customer-ready deployments of quantum applications,” the company said.

HCLTech Q-Labs incubates early-stage research programs to progress capabilities towards industrialscale quantum computing. It will be engaging with close to 1,000 employees around the world to leverage Azure Quantum resources such as Microsoft Learn, Katas, and workshop content to innovate quantum technologies and inspire its customers, HCLTech said.

As technology is rapidly advancing, training and upskilling new and existing workforces is a critical pillar in the development of a robust global quantum economy and is a key strategic priority for HCLTech and Microsoft.

HCLTech Q-Labs is now a part of the Azure

Demand for women in whitecollar jobs surge

35%,

There has been a 35% increase in jobs for women candidates in the Indian white-collar economy in February 2023 compared to the same month last year, according to the latest data released by foundit (formerly Monster APAC and Middle East), a leading talent management platform.

Women’s workforce participation has primarily increased due to two factors. First, women who dropped

Quantum Network, a dynamic ecosystem of quantum innovators and pioneers. It is also the recipient of an Azure Quantum Credits grant, enabling HCLTech Q-Labs to continue leading quantum hardware development to explore new algorithms, investigate use cases and experiment with world-class hardware platforms.

The HCLTech initiative is centered on Proof of Concept or POC development with customers that will help them identify applications for quantum technologies through the various experience zones that HCLTech Q-Labs will create. Through the new HCLTech Quantum Computing Services Briefing offering on Azure Marketplace, HCLTech is furthering quantum journeys for industrial entities by advancing their use cases based on extensive market research.

The highest demand share of women in the workforce is currently held by the IT-enabled services or business process outsourcing sector at 36%, followed by computers or software industry at 35%, and banking, accounting, and financial services at 22%.

out of work during the pandemic to become fulltime caregivers have now re-joined the workforce, and second, focused efforts by India Inc. to increase female participation in the workforce. These include introducing benefits such as menstrual leaves and childcare, introducing programs to fight bias in the workplace, allowing flexibility at work, and diversityfocused hiring, among others.

In terms of geographic distribution, the highest percentage of jobs available for women can be found in metropolitan cities such as Delhi NCR at 21%, Mumbai at 15%, and Bengaluru at 10%, followed by cities like Chennai at 9%, and Pune at 7%.

It is also interesting to note that 6% of the total women workforce on the platform are those who have taken a career break and returned to work. Moreover, freelance roles accounted for 4% of the total jobs for women, indicating a rise in gig-based opportunities in the white-collar economy.

says foundit

iPhone maker Foxconn sees revenue decline, mulls investments in India

iPhone maker Hon Hai Technology Group, also known as Foxconn, reported a decline of 11.6% in its February revenue, compared to the same period in 2022 due to weaker demand for electronics. However, the revenue was more than $13 billion, the second highest figure on record for the month.

Based on the revenue performance in the first two months, Foxconn said its outlook for the first quarter remains unchanged and is roughly in line with market expectations.

According to estimates, Foxconn assembles around 70% of iPhones globally.

The government of Karnataka and Foxconn has signed a letter of intent to establish a manufacturing facility in Bengaluru to expand its operations.

Sections of the media had reported that Foxconn plans to invest millions of dollars on a new plant

in India to ramp up local production. However, the company clarified in a statement later that it did not enter into “any binding, definitive agreements” in India during its chairman and CEO Young Liu’s visit to India.

“Negotiations and internal review are ongoing. Financial investment sums discussed in the media are not information being released by Foxconn,” the company said in a statement.

Brankas selects Arab Financial Services to strengthen MENA open finance infrastructure

Brankas, a Singapore-based fintech, has been appointed by Arab Financial Services, the leading digital payment solutions provider and fintech enabler in the Middle East and Africa, to provide new and improved open finance infrastructure in the region.

Brankas is a leading open finance technology company with an established network across the Asia-Pacific region. Founded in 2016, Brankas technology enables embedded finance and banking-as-a-service for the region’s top financial institutions and is integrated with over 100 enterprise partners to enable broader financial inclusion.

This new partnership with AFS will see Brankas bring its established open finance practices to MENA to promote more inclusive financial services in countries including Bahrain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. The APIs that will be made available through AFS’ platform are critical in allowing tech platforms to offer essential financial services such as credit scoring, payroll disbursement, account-toaccount payments, and new bank account openings.

Samer Soliman, Chief Executive Officer of Arab Financial Services (AFS) said: “Today, AFS already works with over fifty regional banking institutions. This strategic move to integrate with the banks’

infrastructure is a natural step in our expansion and innovation. Our vision is to empower our clients to deliver relevant and customer-centric products that positively impact the lives of customers, and we are proud to partner with a well-established open finance vendor like Brankas to help us achieve our goal.”

In 2020, the Central Bank of Bahrain launched the Bahrain Open Banking Framework (Bahrain OBF) to ensure holistic implementation of Open Banking services by the industry. The framework includes detailed operational guidelines, security standards and guidelines, customer experience guidelines, technical open API specifications, and the overall governance framework needed to protect customer data.

For Brankas, this move represents its entry into new MENA markets as it sets its sights on establishing a global open finance network following successful partnerships in 2022 with Visa, CRIF, among others.

YOUNG LIU Chairman and CEO, Foxconn

Indian gig workers will generate $250 billion of work by

2030, says Zinnov report

Gig workers will play an instrumental role in enabling India’s $5 trillion economy, with the current 7.7 million-strong gig workforce leading the charge. With this talent pool set to more than triple to a massive 23.5 million by 2030, these workers will generate $250 billion of work, according to a joint study by Zinnov and Microsoft.

Management consulting firm Zinnov along with Microsoft released the findings of the study titled, ‘Unlocking the Power of the Gig Economy with Cloud PC’, which highlights how technology will be critical in enabling the gig economy.

The joint study also explores the industry challenges that the gig workforce faces, and reveals that in the post-pandemic business environment, Finance & Insurance, and IT sectors are respectively witnessing 31% and 20% increased engagement with gig workers.

Pre-pandemic, nearly half of all gig workers were concentrated in two sectors – Retail Trade and Transportation, which is rapidly giving way to nearly

35% of gig workers being employed in the IT sector. In fact, soon every third ‘employee’ of an IT organisation will be a gig worker. This is especially significant, given the current dichotomy of mass layoffs and skilled labour shortage that companies are grappling with. As organizations explore new, innovative business models to circumvent this dichotomy, they will increasingly engage with the rising gig economy.

Engaging with the gig economy is not only beneficial for enterprises, but gig workers as well, notes the study. Viewed through the economical, operational, and innovation lens, gig workers benefit through high-paying, multiple short-term jobs that enable flexibility. It also allows for rapid upskilling while in some cases, enables investment in passions and interests that pay them. For enterprises, engagement with the gig workforce ensures cost savings, flexibility of an ad-hoc, project-based working model that can be scaled or descaled quickly, enable quick onboarding, and access to highly skilled, niche talent.

Majority of Asia businesses likely to increase cloud investment in 2023, says Alibaba report

84% of existing users of cloud services are expecting to increase their investment in the cloud technology in 2023, while more than four in five are planning a full cloud migration in two years, according to a new survey report titled ‘The Next-Generation Cloud Strategy in Asia’, commissioned by Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence arm of Alibaba Group.

As more companies move their critical businesses online to efficiently handle their workloads in the post pandemic world, businesses in Asia that are already using cloud services plan to increase their investment across various cloud strategies over the coming year.

The increase will most likely come from Thailand (95%), Indonesia (94%), the Philippines (91%), Hong Kong S.A.R. (83%), and Singapore (83%), while a larger percentage of the surveyed businesses in Japan and South Korea indicate that they will maintain their current levels of investment.

Among the key industries, the gaming sector is expected to see the sharpest increase in cloud investment, followed by Media & Telecommunications, Internet & Technology, and Financial Services.

In terms of investment priorities, a larger share of

businesses in Asia will focus on data analytics and artificial intelligence (53%), cloud computing (52%), and automation (46%). The fact that more than half of the businesses plan to increase investment in cloud computing underscores the importance of cloud infrastructure in supporting business growth.

While more than 69% of the overall surveyed businesses have used cloud for at least three years, those in Hong Kong S.A.R., Japan, and Singapore are the earliest adopters with only 20% having less than three years of experience using cloud services. Industry-wise, Internet & Technology, Manufacturing, and Financial Services show the highest level of cloud maturity.

The Sandbox, Brinc enter JV to launch

virtual BharatBox, a cultural metaverse hub

The Sandbox, a leading decentralised gaming virtual world and subsidiary of Animoca Brands, announces a joint venture with Brinc, a global venture accelerator, to launch BharatBox, a new cultural hub featuring key partners from India’s entertainment, art, and sports sectors, including Bollywood. The new entrants have joined The Sandbox’s virtual real estate by acquiring LAND NFTs in the open metaverse, and have committed to building experiences in Bharatbox.

Bharatbox’s principal partner is Heftyverse, India’s entertainment NFT marketplace. Multiple highprofile brands and artists will come together to create an area in The Sandbox dedicated to celebrating Indian art, culture, entertainment, and sports, and engage with fans in new and immersive experiences. Brinc will create the experiences and also provide IPs and brands via its extensive partner network in India, as well as building the games alongside Web3 developers.

“The Sandbox is not only a hub for global digital culture – we also want to cultivate diverse and rich neighborhoods of regional culture such as Bharatbox,” said Sebastien Borget, COO and Co-Founder of The Sandbox. “From Bollywood

to Bhangra, from Mumbai to Kolkata, there is so much exciting content from music, film, and other entertainment mediums in India that we can bring to life as interactive experiences in the metaverse. We want to make Bharatbox a virtual gathering place for everyone who loves Indian culture.”

Manav Gupta, CEO and Founder at Brinc, said “BharatBox represents a unique opportunity to create an inclusive metaverse that celebrates the richness and diversity of Indian culture across entertainment, sports, philanthropy, culture, and entrepreneurship. By bringing together artists, creators, and innovators from across India, we are creating a virtual gathering place that provides a platform for everyone to express themselves and collaborate on new experiences. As we move forward, we are committed to promoting Web3 development in India and empowering women, marginalized communities, and creators from all backgrounds to participate fully and benefit from the growth of this decentralized ecosystem.”

GenScript announced expansion of Singapore facility to provide gene synthesis service

GenScript Biotech, provider of life-science research tools and services, announced expansion of its Singapore facility to provide a premium gene synthesis service. The move adds an additional 976 square meters to the facility, bringing the total production footprint in Singapore to 3,500 square meters, and making it the third-largest GenScript facility worldwide. The expansion will also increase the total headcount at the Singapore facility to 150.

In February 2022, GenScript Asia-Pacific announced the opening of new recombinant protein production facility; now, that same facility will offer an advanced gene-synthesis service. This marks a significant expansion of the company’s advanced gene-synthesis capability and enables GenScript to provide the premium service levels required for novel vaccine and therapeutics development in life sciences.

The Singapore facility houses state-of-the art automated workstations capable of synthesizing more than 400 genes per day. This automated

technique enables precise measurement, eliminates human errors, and ensures a consistently highquality product. The new facility aims to reduce project turnaround time for an increasingly global mix of customers while ensuring customer data are secured in Singapore. The capacity of the new facility is committed to support cell and gene therapy research and vaccine development programs.

Workers with advanced digital skills contribute $508 billion to

India’s GDP: AWS study

Digital skills are providing immense economic value to India’s employers and workers. Workers in India who use advanced digital skills – including cloud architecture or software development – contribute an estimated $507.9 billion to India’s annual gross domestic product, according to a new research report by AWS. This is attributed to the 92% higher salaries that these workers earn compared to those with a similar education who do not use digital skills at work.

The Asia Pacific Digital Skills Study: The Economic Benefits of a Tech-Savvy Workforce, commissioned by AWS and conducted by Gallup, examined how building a technology-enabled workforce has significant benefits for workers, organisations, and the economy. More than 2,000 working adults and 769 employers were surveyed in India across a variety of public and private sector organisations and industries.

The study classifies basic digital skills as the ability to use email, word processors, other office productivity software, and social media. Intermediate digital skills include drag-and-drop website design, troubleshooting applications, and data analysis. Advanced digital skills include cloud architecture or maintenance, software or application development, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

The study found that advanced digital workers in India are benefitting from more than just a boost in their income. 91% of workers who use advanced digital skills express higher job satisfaction, compared to 74% of workers with intermediate skills and 70% of workers with basic digital skills.

Philippine Airlines signs agreement with Ramco Systems to deploy Aviation Suite V5.9

The Philippines’ national flag carrier, Philippine Airlines has signed an agreement with the global aviation software provider Ramco Systems, to deploy Ramco’s Aviation Suite V5.9. The solution will replace standalone legacy systems thereby integrating, automating, and enhancing business performances across PAL and its affiliate PAL Express.

Aligned with PAL’s Accelerated Initiatives for Recoveries and Full Optimisation through Innovation and Leadership (AIRFOIL) program, Ramco’s on-cloud, next-gen platform will offer PAL end-to-end optimization of maintenance and

engineering business processes that will support regulatory compliance and enable sustainable digital transformation through paperless operations.

Philippine Airlines is engaged in fortifying its network as the recovery of air travel gains steam globally. PAL is the only airline offering nonstop flights linking the Philippines with the U.S. Mainland, Canada and Hawaii, along with the largest network of flights on multiple routes to Japan, Australia and countries in the Middle East. PAL will launch a pioneer direct flight between Manila and Perth, Australia in March 2023, while re-opening flights between the Philippines and Beijing, Shanghai and Macau in addition to other mainland Chinese destinations.

TeamfromPhilippineAirlines,Inc.(PAL)andRamcoSystemsduringthecontractsigningceremonyinPhilippines

Startup Drogo Drones opens training centre for drone pilots in Andhra Pradesh

A new era is coming in the field of drones in Andhra Pradesh. There is an increase in use of drones in agricultural, non-agricultural and industrial sectors. To cater this demand a start-up company has come forward to give training and produce expert drone operators.

Drogo Drones, a startup, has started a training centre for pilots operating drones at Tadepalli in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. Yashwant Bontu, Managing Director of Drogo Drones, said that representatives of the office of the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) visited the company’s office and conducted inspections and issued a noobjection letter.

The company claims this is the only private

organisation that has obtained the necessary permissions to train pilots to operate drones in the state. Drogo Drones provides week-long training for drone operators as per the syllabus designed by DGCA. Apart from teaching lessons in the classroom, training in operating drones in the field is also given here. Drogo Drones has been designed syllabus by experts with extensive experience in handling drones. The 50-acre campus of this company provides training to those who want to operate drones.

Drogo Drones will soon start a drone manufacturing unit in Tadepalli. The company has created a system for manufacturing spare parts of drones and it is ushering in a new era in this field.

China Airlines moves to single platform, IBS Software’s iCargo SaaS solution

IBS Software, a global leader of SaaS solutions to the travel and cargo industry, has signed an agreement with China Airlines, a leading carrier, to deploy IBS Software’s iCargo solution as its new cargo management system. The aim is to facilitate cargo digitization through iCargo’s single platform to maximize the synergies across different entities and transform its cargo business globally.

With the new IBS Software platform, China Airlines will transition from their existing cargo system to a new single platform which includes sales, import and export operations, air mail handling and revenue accounting capabilities. It provides optimally automated digital technology for maximum efficiency and opportunities for sales management.

“China Airlines cargo has been endeavoring to modernize our digital capabilities for years. However, we see the evolutional change in digital sales and

operations since Covid, and I believed SaaS is the right solution we are looking for,” said Eddy Liu, Senior Vice President of Cargo, China Airlines. “We expect to build up a strong partnership with IBS Software and to realize faster time-to-market for our products and services without compromising compliance of data integrity.”

“As a pioneer of APAC air cargo market and one of the heavyweight cargo players, China Airlines has extensive experience transporting special cargo and remains the carrier of choice for international transportation partners. We’re honoured to be selected by China Airlines to support its growth journey.” said Gautam Shekar, SVP and Region Head APAC and Middle East at IBS Software. “This agreement aligns with IBS Software’s long-term strategy to further expand our presence in the exciting APAC market and help local customers modernise and add value to their cargo proposition.”

Singapore based CloudMile launches Indonesia office to strengthen cloud SEA

CloudMile, a cloud and AI service provider in Asia, has established its latest footprint in Indonesia. Incorporated in major Southeast Asian cities with head offices in Singapore and Taiwan, the firm will now be able to boost support for local Indonesian clients as part of its strategy to help businesses implement and manage their cloud strategy to bring to bear their digital transformation ambitions.

“This expansion allows CloudMile to deepen engagement with more customers across Southeast Asia, with local engineering support teams who understand the local culture and more importantly, communicate in the local language,” says Jeremy Heng, Head of SEA at CloudMile. “CloudMile will focus its investments on building a local team and developing a consultative sales approach to onsite engineering, bringing digital transformation services including infrastructure modernisation, application modernisation, big data and artificial intelligence.”

To serve its customers, CloudMile leverages

deep partnerships with leading cloud technology providers including Google Cloud, Cloudflare, Twilio and FiveTran. Its cloud and data experts have over 150 certifications, with 70+ earned in the last three years, 30+ of which are in Google Cloud, including Machine Learning, Data Analytics, Cloud Migration and Infrastructure specialisations.

Sonata Software to acquire US-based Quant Systems to boost digital capabilities

engineering space.

The cost of the acquisition includes an upfront payment of $65 million and deferred achievementbased earn-out/pay-outs up to a maximum of $95 million payable over 2 years. The acquisition is expected to be closed within 30 days.

The acquisition is expected to expand Sonata’s domain expertise in banking and financial services, healthcare and life sciences, consumer/retail, and others.

Bengaluru-based Sonata Software’s wholly-owned subsidiary Sonata Software North America, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% stake in Texas-based IT solutions and software company Quant Systems, to bolster its capabilities in modernisation and digital

The acquisition, touted as the biggest in Sonata Software’s history, is in line with Sonata’s strategy to accelerate growth and build scale. “It will accelerate Sonata’s capabilities in enterprise data analytics, cloud modernisation, cyber security, Salesforce, data privacy, Adobe, and digital & mobile app solutions, including differentiated IPs for Salesforce (workbox.io) and Chatbot (Lisa) technologies,” the company said in a statement.

“We aim to be the fastestgrowing next-gen digital firm delivering modernisation and digital outcomes for enterprises through our platformation framework. To achieve this vision, we have outlined some key strategic drivers to build scale through service offering expansion in modernisation, invest in BFSI and healthcare & life sciences verticals, and build global centres. Quant Systems aligns to our strategic drivers and will enable us to win larger deals in our focus-verticals and adds two large clients to our top 5 clients list,” said Samir Dhir, MD and CEO, Sonata Software.

SAMIR DHIR

MD & CEO, Sonata Software

India set to be a major player in 5G, semiconductors: Deloitte report

Amidst strong global headwinds on the economic front, India is set to emerge as a major player in the 5G revolution, semiconductor and chip technology, live sports, and advertising-based video on demand (AVOD) with private deployment networks likely to take off in a big way during 2025-28, according to Deloitte’s 2023 TMT (Technology, Media, and Entertainment, Telecom) predictions.

Deloitte predicts the Indian semiconductor market to reach $55 billion by 2026 with more than 60% of the market being driven by three industries—smartphones and wearables, automotive components, and computing and

data storage. With growing demand, the industry is poised to play an important role in enhancing the global value chain, as it will expand to a market size of $85 billion and generate employability for 600,000 by 2030.

“The semiconductor chip shortage over the past two years has amplified the importance of this industry and exposed the underlying risks in the value chain, owing to geopolitical threats, fluctuating demand from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), natural disasters, and economic sanctions,” said P. N. Sudarshan, Partner and TMT Industry Leader, Deloitte India.

“These factors, however, also present a unique opportunity for India, positioning it as the next big manufacturing destination. Driven by key factors including an increase in semiconductor content, the advent of 5G and IoT, and data storage requirements, the sector will also attract investment, talent, and bi-lateral relations focusing on supply chain, resilience, and localization setting in India,” he added.

Wipro pivots towards strategic bet areas with four business lines

Bengaluru-based IT major Wipro is pivoting towards its strategic bet areas by overhauling the existing two global business lines (GBLs) into a new model with four strategic GBLs to better align with its clients and capitalise on emerging opportunities in high-growth segments of the market. The changes are effective April 1, 2023.

consulting. The new model reflects the company’s continued pivot toward strategic bet areas and its focus on leveraging the power of ‘One Wipro’ to deliver on clients’ entire spectrum of business and technology transformation goals, Wipro said.

DELAPORTE CEO and MD, Wipro

Under the new model, Wipro will now deliver capabilities to clients through four GBLs organised around cloud, enterprise technology and business transformation, engineering, and

The first GBL is called Wipro FullStride Cloud which brings together Wipro’s entire suite of cloud capabilities under a fully integrated, full stack offering. Cloud native applications, cloud architecture, apps modernisation, cloud strategy and migration, as well as cloud infrastructure, will all fall under this business line. Jo Debecker, who currently leads Wipro’s Cloud Infrastructure Services, will lead this business, and assume the title of Global Head of Wipro FullStride Cloud.

The second GBL is called Wipro Enterprise Futuring which will offer clients forward-looking solutions for large scale enterprise transformation. This business line will comprise intelligent insights and data, application platforms, digital operations, and cybersecurity. Nagendra Bandaru, currently the head of Wipro’s iCORE business, will become the Global Head of Wipro Enterprise Futuring.

THIERRY

CIO AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION UNRAVELLED

IDC recently completed Directions, its regional briefing on information technology, nation macro-economics and IT spending, digital transformation, future role of CIO. Excerpts

In February, IDC successfully staged its regional industry briefing, Directions 2023, for top executives of the information technology industry in Dubai, UAE. Arun Shankar, previously Group Editor with Business Transformation Asia, engaged in a deep dive conversation with Jyoti Lalchandani, Group Vice President and Regional Managing Director META, IDC, to highlight the key takeaways and action plans for regional CIOs.

CENTRES OF INFLUENCE

[BT ASIA] Digital transformation is driving innovation and creating additional centres of influence. How is this impacting the role of the CIO, technology investments and technology decision making?

[JYOTI] We think that the ecosystem of decision makers for IT investments was previously very concentrated. Now we are going to see that ecosystem expand. We are going to get different sets of stakeholders beyond just the IT organisation. It is going to be line of business, sales, marketing, customer experience, products. On one hand, you are going see expansion in the decisionmaking ecosystem beyond IT.

Within IT, we are going to see other stakeholders of CXT, AI, DevOps, and the infrastructure teams, application teams. All of them are going to become critical stakeholders for vendors and suppliers to engage with. It is going to become a lot more distributed in terms of stakeholders, and they are going be what I call key influencers in the technology lifecycle.

[BT ASIA] Will the overall budget and investment into information technology still be concentrated with the CIO and IT organisation?

[JYOTI] I see that changing. I think IT costs and delivery costs are going be embedded within business. We are going to see IT embedded within various business units within an organisation. The role of IT is going to be, how do I deliver end-to-end services regardless of the business unit.

Today the CIO is an important stakeholder, but you have digital transformation leaders, sustainability officers, senior compliance folks. Technology is so embedded across business units, across functions, that it is no longer an operational part of the business. It is now embedded across the enterprise.

AUTOMATION

[BT ASIA] How is the nature of automation transforming in organisations today?

[JYOTI] Automation is playing the role of enabling the organisation to scale at a much faster pace. Since we have a skills challenge on one side, there is a lot of task-based automation that has been the norm for quite some time. We are going to see a shift from task-based automation to more end-toend process automation.

With AI enabled and AI embedded within automation, that means machines are able to predict and even, in a ubiquitous manner, actually deliver the service, by predicting the service. We think automation is going to be a critical component in the longer term.

[BT ASIA] When we talk about automation across the enterprise are we still referring predominantly to robotic process automation?

[JYOTI] We have moved beyond that. We are talking about AI enabled automation, which is end-toend process automation. A lot of investments today are for specific task-based automation like account receivables, customer onboarding, KYC, and others. A BOT goes in and does a manual task removing all repetitive operations.

End-to-end process automation with AI enabled backend means that the system is able to predict and proactively take action. So, it is not just predicting but taking autonomous action.

[BT ASIA] As per IDC results, the top priority for the CIO remains, IT service management and not digital transformation. Is there a contradiction?

[JYOTI] What does IT service management mean? It means delivering IT as a service to the organisation. It means how do I provide end-toend IT delivery services? So that continues to be the number one priority and also it gives you a sense of the shift where as a service is becoming one of the mantras for the IT organisation.

In addition to that, the other priorities for the IT department were of course skills, digital capabilities in emerging technology areas, and outcome-based pricing.

DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY

[BT ASIA] What is the modern-day concept of sovereignty considering the development of a multi-polar world with multiple global spheres of influence and control?

[JYOTI] Digital sovereignty is going to be a very important shift, in the way organisations approach technology and their investments. We started

JYOTI LALCHANDANI, Group Vice President and Regional Managing Director META, IDC.

to see some signs of digital sovereignty as soon as the European conflict broke out. A lot of our initial focus on sovereignty was really data sovereignty, and then cloud, with questions like where is the data located and where is the datacentre located. And so on. And beyond that, there is supply chain sovereignty. The questions is about do we diversify our supply chain in order not be overly reliant on, one or two or three country partners.

This has led to assurance sovereignty. If you look at public services or banking services or retail services, it is access to critical infrastructure and critical services delivery. Countries are thinking about what does it mean in terms of, how do I get access to these

critical services and so on. We are now talking about endto-end sovereignty. It is no longer just a data discussion, but a digital sovereignty discussion. The focus is shifting from geopolitics to geoeconomics in that sense.

[BT ASIA] How will global geoeconomics impact technology decision making at the country and nation level?

[JYOTI] The fact remains there is going to be a lot of questions on the data side and on the supply chain side. How sovereign is the data? What is my level of influence on the data? How can I control the data? What access do I have on the data? These are going to become critically important. If you think about digital infrastructure and if you think about underlying national level security infrastructures, they are all technology enabled. Technology is going to become one of those areas of focus for public sector and governments around the world.

We see globalisation reducing

quite dramatically and there is a lot more nationalism, and there is a lot more protectionism. We can see that countries are looking for how do I get more in-country value for something. Countries want to diversify supply chains, and not be overly reliant on few partners, these are going to be important areas.

DEMAND AND SUPPLY IMBALANCE

[BT ASIA] Considering the recessionary pressures in the macro environment, how are CIOs going to balance their investments in legacy and digital IT environment?

[JYOTI] We think organisations are going to continue investing in digital because for some, it is a journey that began two years ago and organisations are already reaping the benefits of that. Organisations have realised that over time we are going to see a shift between the revenues that they generate from traditional business models and new digital business models. They are optimising some of the costs in the traditional areas to reinvest in and repurpose those investments around digital initiatives and digital programmes.

Digital transformation is going to continue to lead the spending agenda of organisations. How they reprioritise the investments is going to be interesting because they are going to focus a lot more on efficiencies in the backend. Automation and AI enabled automation is going be critically important.

They are going to put more pricing pressures on cost of cloud services. Two-thirds of CIOs that we spoke to believe that cloud economics is a big concern for them. CIOs say they have spent at least 30% more than what was previously budgeted on cloud. This means there are question marks about what is the cost of delivery from cloud.

CIOs will loop in some of the

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY DECISION MAKING AT THE TOP

[BT ASIA] IDC has begun the its Worldwide CEO Survey. What is the reason for moving away from technology decision makers to executive decision makers?

We do have a CEO survey. The reason why we refer to the CEO survey is because technology is becoming such an important enabler of the business and we are seeing it intertwined. The technology strategy, the business strategy is becoming intertwined.

The share of revenues of a company today, on the digital products and services is increasing much faster than the traditional sustainability. This is bringing technology into the discussion.

How can we become more carbon neutral? How can we reduce the footprint and so on? How can we deliver products and services at low prices, and make technology more efficient in the discussion?

Technology today has grabbed the attention of CEO suite. It is very important for us as to understand what is the C-suite and what does the CEO believe. How are they leveraging technology to become efficient in all of those things.

It gives us a sense of what are the strategic priorities of the business. And we want to see if there is a proper alignment between the business priorities and IT priorities. The CEO pulse gives us that direction, to be able to lean on.

vendors and suppliers for longer-term contracts. They will look at outcome-based pricing for certain types of activities, to tie in and build partnerships with suppliers. There will be new sets of KPIs that they will use to measure in terms of service management with the supplier company. They are going to extend this to much longer outcome-based relationships with service level agreements.

We are already seeing longer-term contracts in large scale transformation programmes being revisited, being renegotiated with a view of the new reality that we are in. CIOs also expect suppliers to become more efficient at the cost, at which they are delivering the service to the customer.

[BT ASIA] How are enterprises going to move from digital transformation projects towards becoming end to end digital businesses?

[BT

ASIA] Do IT vendors and solution partners need to begin selling to CEOs as well. Have we reached that stage?

It depends on the industry and it depends on the size. CEOs are important stakeholders in the discussion. I think it is very critical for vendors to have visibility of what the CEO’s agenda is.

Often times their exposure is limited to the IT organisation, which is a very one-dimensional view, of what the organisation wants to achieve, and what are the outcomes.

It is the business agenda, which really provides the right perspective to technology suppliers. That gives them a sense of what business outcomes the organisation wants to achieve.

[JYOTI] When we talk about digital revenues, we mean revenues that an organisation generates from digital products, digitally enabled services, using digital channels or using digital platforms. And it is going to be a seamless end-to-end frictionless engagement. You are essentially getting your end-to-end service through a digital channel and the cost of delivery of the service is going to be a lower compared to the traditional model.

We think over the next few years, the share of revenues that organisations will derive from digital products and services and platforms will outstrip the growth compared to the traditional business models. Factors like recession, geopolitics, will move, accelerate, transition towards the digital type of business. It is similar to the pandemic. You need to look at becoming lean and efficient and this is the way forward.

‘We are well on our way with our cloud transformation agenda’: Zak Murad

By Ayushman Baruah

Global analytics company CRISIL’s 5-year strategic plan is to build a strong technology foundation that is highly secure and agile. Its cloud transformation is mostly done and it is now digitising all aspects of the business while removing legacy technology debt and adopting disruptive technologies. Zak Murad, Chief Technology and Information Officer, CRISIL, talks about the technology roadmap of the company and focus areas, in an interview with Ayushman Baruah.

What is the biggest technology challenge you have at CRISIL and how do you plan to address it?

Transform at scale without creating business disruption is a challenge. And, doing this while supporting a demand for accelerated growth from businesses in a highly disruptive technology landscape, along with the hunt for talent makes it even more challenging. We do have a strategic plan in place to address these challenges, and we are well positioned to realise this plan. We are well on our way with our cloud transformation agenda. From an engineering perspective it is mostly done; and our engineering is not just lift-and-shift, but it is really about transforming the way we service our clients and streamline our internal processes with agility.

What is your strategic 5-year plan for CRISIL?

Our 5-year strategic plan for CRISIL is to build a strong technology foundation that is highly secure and agile. This means a move to the cloud – which is almost completed –with close to 100% infrastructure-as-code (IaC). This is backed by a development team that is highly agile vis-à-vis adoption of modern development practices focused on delivering business value at speed, digitising all aspects of

the business while removing our legacy technology debt and adoption of disruptive technologies. We are leveraging our matured internal capabilities to better help our clients through our Benchmarking, Risk Solutions, Ratings, Data Analytics, and Consulting capabilities through a client-first approach. We are also improving our employee digital experience by revamping and digitising our corporate systems to streamline the way we do things internally in order to truly move at a much faster pace. How do you perceive the Indian government’s revised Data Protection Bill?

Data protection is core to what we do and is critical to ensuring a trustful relationship with our clients and the Data Protection Bill is in line with what we believe in. S&P, as a parent company, has strong relationships with regulators globally. The Indian government’s revised Data Protection Bill is in line with regulations that we are already familiar with, and it is good to see the Indian government collaborate with other global regulatory authorities for building a comprehensive framework.

What are some of the tech trends you see in 2023?

The major technology trends this year are clear: cloud transformation will hasten; artificial intelligence, machine learning, and no-code and low-code platforms will proliferate; and cybersecurity will require enormous efforts. Issues around AI governance will be thrust centre stage. Cloud transformation will materially accelerate with global tech majors building out their presence and increasing offerings. Importantly, it is becoming easier for organisations to migrate to, and operate from the cloud. The hybrid cloud environment affords great flexibility to companies. Organisations continue to invest in tools and build mature operational processes that can cope with increasing complexity. Basic infrastructureas-a-service (IaaS) is also maturing at a rapid pace and the traditional infrastructure engineering roles

ZAK MURAD Chief Technology and Information Officer, CRISIL.

are continuing the shift towards cloud engineering and DevOps which is about combining software development and information technology operations. AI and ML are at the front and centre of this seismic shift, with their models going mainstream as demonstrated by the sudden popularity of ChatGPT.

How serious a boon or bane is ChatGPT?

With the sudden popularity of ChatGPT, and as these products become more accessible, organisations will begin to grapple with the ethics, governance, and ‘explainability’ (taking an ML model and explaining the behaviour in human terms) of AI. While good-quality data and data wrangling are inevitable components of building and managing models based on AI and ML, the bedrock of all approaches must be robust ethics. Else a slippery slope will be at hand. Having said that, I think that ChatGPT is

disruptive. Not because of the present hype, but because I think it is a useful tool. I think the disruption of such tools or platforms really comes to the fore when its functionality starts to get integrated into value delivery which then leads to innovative ways to accelerate this value delivery.

How has a CIO’s role evolved over the past few years?

CIO roles in the past were either more general businessoriented or very technical, inward-facing roles. With the massive technology disruption happening, and the survival of many enterprises dependent on their ability to digitally transform, a CIO has to fully understand the technology disruptions happening, have the people skills to successfully navigate the people through the digital transformation, and also deeply understand the business and work very closely with business leaders clients to maximize our end client value delivery.

Agile Data Storage

By Shubhendu Parth

In today’s digital age, data is the lifeblood of businesses. The growth of unstructured data, such as images, videos, and social media content, outpaces that of structured data, making high-performance data management and storage solutions essential to keep up with digital transformation. Fortunately, innovations in flash storage offer an opportunity to make the storage of unstructured file data faster and better. One such company leading the charge in flash storage solutions is Pure Storage. Established in 2009, the US-based data storage and management company has been at the forefront of all-flash data management and storage solutions space. According to Ramanujam Komanduri, Country Manager of Pure Storage India, the company’s portfolio of all-flash data management and storage solutions delivers a cloud experience that empowers organisations to get the most from their data while reducing the complexity and expense of managing the infrastructure behind it.

With its complete portfolio of all-flash data management and storage solutions, Pure Storage offers enterprises a high-performance solution that works with their unstructured file data.

“The commitment to provide true as-a-service gives customers the agility to meet changing data needs at a speed and scale, irrespective of whether they are deploying traditional workloads, modern applications, containers, or more,” he explains, adding that the all-flash solution is designed to maximise capacity, density, and performance while minimising space, power, and cooling. “This translates into savings on power, rack, and cooling, making it a cost-effective solution for enterprises.”

MARKET DYNAMICS

As businesses continue to produce massive amounts of data, the need for high-performance data management and storage solutions has never been felt more. Companies require reliable and scalable solutions that can handle both structured and unstructured data. According to IDC, the growth

Demand for Flash based storage, integrated with cloud and analytics, is boosting triple digit growth for the vendor in strategic verticals.

The advantage for Pure Storage stems from its software architecture decisions that are practically impossible to retrofit into pre-existing software

Ramanujam Komanduri, Country Manager, Pure Storage India.

INDIA SNAPSHOT

l The India market strategy of driving growth through channel partners seems to have paid off well.

l Pure Storage grew 591% in the country in Q3 2022, according to the IDC Enterprise Storage Tracker, despite an overall decline in the local market.

l Pure Storage focused on building a strong channel network in tier 1 cities as well as in tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

l The vendor has identified demand for all-flash technologies in India and provided the supply, which helped it gain traction with customers.

l Pure Storage made its entry into the Indian market with its flagship product FlashArray.

l The vendor has been working in sectors such as financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, digital native companies, service providers.

l Pure Storage has established its development operations in India with a seed team from Portworx Engineering.

of unstructured data outpaces that of structured data, making high-performance solutions essential to keep up with digital transformation. The report indicates that unstructured data is growing at a rate of 29.8% while structured data has a growth rate of 19.6%.

The allflash data management and storage solutions deliver a cloud experience enabling organisations to get the most from their data

The cost of storing unstructured data is a major concern, particularly since it is difficult to reduce and dedupe unstructured data. This necessitates both higher capacity to contain all the data and higher performance to manage the larger, less streamlined dataset.

He also adds that organisations are also looking at better management of data to improve business operations decisionmaking, including analysing customer comments, product reviews and chatbot conversations for product development and prioritisation.

Talking in terms of sector-wise demand and concerns, he points out that the financial, retail, and health sectors find managing and analysing unstructured data most valuable.

“A survey from 451 Research indicates that, of IT leaders

interested in applying machine learning algorithms to their unstructured data, one-third were primarily interested in applications related to business operations.” Besides, in the post-pandemic era of accelerated digital adoption, concerns around fraud and compliance have also become paramount This is where Pure Storage has a major role to play.

STORAGE WITH A DIFFERENCE

A key differentiator for Pure Storage is its core software architecture decisions, such as simplicity of design and ease of use, which enable it to deliver the best price-performance from raw Flash and perform non-disruptive upgrades for both hardware and software, giving Pure Storage a significant competitive advantage. As Komanduri points out, the competitive advantage for Pure Storage stems from its core software architecture decisions that are practically impossible to retrofit into preexisting software.

“Our advantages include the simplicity of design and ease of use, getting the best price-

performance from raw Flash, and the ability to perform nondisruptive upgrades for both hardware and software. While some competitors make claims of non-disruptive upgrades in their marketing, they consistently fail to deliver,” Komanduri says pointing out that Pure Storage’s commitment to customer satisfaction is another key factor that sets it apart.

The Net Promoter Score or NPS is among the highest in the industry, reflecting customer happiness with investments in Pure Storage technologies.

“With innovations in flash storage, there now lies an opportunity to make storage of unstructured file data faster and better. All-flash array solutions for file and object storage, such as Pure Storage’s FlashBlade, offer enterprises a high-performance solution that works with their unstructured file data,” Komanduri says.

Using flash for large, unstructured file data means higher performance without the latency that comes with scaleout solutions. In addition, the dense storage of flash means a much smaller footprint than disk or tape, which in turn translates into savings on power, rack, and cooling. While the cost of flash is still much higher than disk, flash is becoming more affordable.

Komanduri highlights that the company’s all-flash-based technology, combined with its Evergreen model, helps drive business and IT transformation with modern data solutions that are effortless, efficient, and evergreen. He also points out that Evergreen has been one of the game-changers for Pure Storage.

“With Evergreen, we provide our customers with a complete portfolio of cloud-like data management solutions that enable them to choose between full ownership or moving to a pay-per-use model. Whichever they choose, they get the

protection of non-disruptive technology upgrades over the lifetime of their contract which means they do not have to worry about having to refresh their hardware every three to five years,” he points out.

SECURITY THREATS

As data volumes grow and organisations implement storage products with built-in security features, addressing security concerns becomes increasingly important. Pure Storage addresses software vulnerabilities at its end and deploys software upgrades on all connected arrays through its cloud management platform, allowing customers to quickly access the upgrades. While customers have the option to apply patches or not, the speed at which Pure Storage can deploy security fixes is impressive.

On the hardware side, Pure Storage encrypts everything by default, making performance a non-issue. When flash drives are cycled out, customers can return them or keep them, but they may worry about the security of the data that was once stored on them. To address this concern, Pure Storage allows customers to wipe the drives before removing them, ensuring that no traces of data are left behind. This is a standard feature of the array.

In terms of ransomware attacks, Pure Storage arrays have builtin capabilities to combat them. Typically, hackers attempt to delete immutable snapshots, but if they can’t, they may try to bypass immutability. Pure Storage’s storage management software does not challenge the attacker. Instead, it allows them to delete the snapshot and think they have succeeded.

However, the deleted snapshots are moved to a secret recycled bin that attackers are not aware of, and can only be accessed using an OTP. This allows Pure Storage to recover data from the snapshots. The system is designed for rapid

All-flash array solutions for file and object storage, such as FlashBlade, offer enterprises a solution that works with their unstructured file data

PORTFOLIO IN INDIA

Systems

• FlashArray//C: It is an all-QLC flash array that delivers NVMe performance, hyperconsolidation, and simplified management.

• FlashArray//X: Helps accelerate business results with critical data across businesses, from entry-level to enterprise applications.

• FlashArray//XL: Enables enterprise-grade performance without the complexity with Pure’s NVMe storage array solution.

• FlashBlade: Scale-out storage platform that powers modern unstructured data needs, delivering cutting-edge capabilities without growing complexity.

• FlashStack: It combines computing, network, and storage to provide a modern infrastructure platform.

• AIRI//S: Simplifies AI deployment and scale quickly and easily, enabling your data teams to focus on delivering insights, instead of managing IT.

Subscriptions

• Evergreen//One: A flexible enterprise-grade storage subscription service that enables businesses to shift to a consumption-based storage model.

• Evergreen//Flex: A subscription that provides flexibility to respond to changes in demand and use, and helps increase storage agility.

• Evergreen//Forever: Delivers seamless, rapid upgrades and expansion, without disruption.

Software

• Pure1: Provides a single view to monitor, analyse, and optimize Pure Storage, Portworx, and VMware infrastructure from anywhere in the world.

• Purity Operating Environment: A secure, scalable, and easy-to-use solution unifies, protects, and intelligently manages the data.

• Pure Fusion: Transforms storage from a traditional point solution to a fully automated, scalable, self-service cloud model.

• Portworx: A unified Kubernetes-native solution for storage, data protection, data security, migrations, and capacity management.

• Pure Cloud Block Store: Provides seamless data mobility with simple, efficient replication from on-premises to cloud or from cloud to cloud.

recovery and restoration, making it a popular solution, particularly during the pandemic when ransomware attacks increased dramatically.

MEETING MARKET NEEDS

Businesses in India have been greatly impacted by the pandemic and subsequent lockdown, leading to an acceleration of efforts towards digitalisation and transformation. Pure Storage is well-positioned to assist Indian enterprises with their biggest challenges, particularly the rapid transformation towards a digital India.

“Customer experience is becoming key for businesses and this is exposing the inability of legacy storage to keep up with the business demands. The shift towards a multi-cloud world is also leading to a situation where the company’s data becomes probably their next most valuable resource after their employees globally, and in India as well,” he says.

Komanduri also highlights that Pure Storage is experiencing significant demand for its solutions across various industries in India, including the financial services industry, manufacturing, healthcare, digital native companies, and service providers. The company’s products and services address the data-intensive needs of today’s financial businesses while providing reliable allflash storage options for innovation.

The solutions are particularly valuable as Indian companies undergo a digital transformation that requires effective management, analysis, and protection of vast amounts of data.

Pure Storage’s solutions address some of the most pressing challenges faced by enterprises, leading to increased demand for its products. For example, managing new data formats and utilising data from legacy storage platforms is a significant obstacle faced by enterprise CTOs. Migration and technology refresh can be costly and time-consuming and require systems to be taken offline, trapping companies into legacy storage vendors’ support and maintenance costs. Moreover, enterprises are struggling to manage the relentless growth of data while reducing datacentre costs.

“Pure’s all-flash technologies have been proven to dramatically reduce footprint and energy requirements while providing equal or greater capacity and performance,” Komanduri says.

Growth of Pure Storage’s business in India is also driven by the increasing demand for data and high bandwidth capacity, especially due to the rapid adoption of the cloud, digital transformation by Indian companies, availability of skilled workforce, and classification of datacentres as infrastructure assets.

24-MONTH MILESTONES

• 17 January 2023: Announced new energy efficiency service level agreement for Evergreen//One offering industry-first energy efficiency guarantee in the enterprise storage as a service market.

• 26 October 2022: Announced a new fully managed service for Portworx Enterprise to bring a Kubernetes-ready data plane to every developer working on containerised applications.

• 21 September 2022: Announced advancements in its sustainability efforts, helping customers reduce their energy use and environmental footprint. The Pure1 Sustainability Assessment gives customers visibility on their environmental impact and suggests optimisation opportunities.

• 8 June 2022: Announced FlashBlade//S family of products with a modular architecture built on co-designed hardware and software that can leverage a nearly unlimited scalable metadata architecture.

• 8 June 2022: Unveiled AIRI//S, its AI-ready infrastructure jointly developed with NVIDIA to provide enterprises with a simple, ondemand infrastructure that accelerates AI initiatives at any scale.

• 8 June 2022: Introduced Evergreen//Flex, a new fleet-level Evergreen architecture, which extends the power of Pure’s Evergreen technology to the full Pure portfolio.

• 18 May 2022: Announced a series of updates to its Portworx portfolio, including the general availability of Portworx Data Services, Portworx Enterprise, and Portworx Backup-as-aService.

• 8 December 2021: Added FlashArray//XL as the newest member of the FlashArray family, designed for mission-critical, platinum-tier enterprise applications from massive databases to containerised and cloud-native apps.

GO TO MARKET

The market in India was not easy for Pure Storage, a relatively late entrant to penetrate. The company opened its office in Mumbai in 2015 to serve as its headquarters for the Indian subcontinent.

Pure Storage made its entry into the Indian market with its flagship product FlashArray and promising customers a modern, all-flash storage solution that can deliver consistent high performance, scalability, and flexibility to support their digital transformation initiatives. The company has been working with various Indian companies in sectors such as financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, digital native companies, and service

providers to help them meet their data-intensive needs with allflash storage solutions.

In January last, Pure Storage also established its R&D operations in India with a seed team from Portworx Engineering, the Kubernetes data services platform company it acquired in September 2020.

To gain market share in the highly competitive Indian market, Pure Storage focused on building a strong channel network in tier 1 cities as well as in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. The company identified the demand for all-flash technologies in India and provided the supply, which helped it gain traction with customers.

In addition, Pure Storage has

built strong sales, technical, and customer support teams to work with customers to solve their digital transformation challenges with its data management solutions. The company also focused on environmental sustainability, which has become a priority for Indian enterprises, and demonstrated that its solutions lower energy and space usage while still meeting customers’ needs.

Talking about its go-tomarket strategy in India, Komanduri stresses that Pure Storage has always been a 100% partner-focused company. “We have set the bar in the industry to deliver simplicity, flexibility, and value to our partners and customers so we can continue to grow together. At Pure, we constantly evaluate and enhance our Partner Programme to ensure we reward great performance and provide the right training and enablement so that our partners can deliver exceptional results.”

The company recently added the Pure Partner Programme to offer new enhancements for its Elite and Preferred partners across all route-tomarkets. “Our programme now includes Portworx and Optional Service Specialisations that partners can deliver on Pure Storage solutions, too. Our Pure PEAK programme provides the training, assessment, and certifications needed to sell these services across our portfolio of solutions,” he adds.

And, the India market strategy of driving growth through the channel partners seems to have paid off well, with Pure Storage growing 590.5% in the country in Q3 2022, according to the IDC Enterprise Storage Tracker, despite the overall 2.8% decline in the local market.

Parth is a contributor for Business Transformation Asia.

Shubhendu

NETWEB TECHNOLOGIES

BUILDING SYSTEMS IN INDIA WORLD CLASS HPC

By Shubhendu Parth

In 1999, when India was starting to script its software and coding success story riding high on the Y2K wave, Sanjay Lodha and Navin Lodha were stepping into the unchartered waters of hardware manufacturing. Twenty-three years later, in 2022, Netweb Technologies has become a significant player in

storage and computing hardware, with a portfolio of Made in India products that include highperformance servers, storage solutions, and HighPerformance Computing, HPC.

The company closed fiscal year 2021-22 with a turnover of Rs 237 crore and is one of the 14 companies that have been approved by the Ministry

With its grit to manufacture Make in India storage and computing products, Netweb Technologies is now a formidable hardware player in the HPC space

of Electronics and IT under the Production Linked Incentive or PLI Scheme for IT hardware manufacturing in India.

The company deployed the 9-node Cluster Supercomputer with Intel Xeon 2.4GHz at The Institute of Mathematical Sciences in 2003, the fastest at that time in the country. In 2013, the company deployed the upgraded PARAM supercomputer at the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing or C-DAC in Pune, comprising the 224 Intel based Tyrone servers with the then latest Xeon Sandy Bridge Processors and Xeon Phi coprocessors, and having over 30,000 processing cores and 14 TB of memory. It also deployed ISRO’s fastest supercomputer Param Amber in 2019.

Netweb was also the first company to introduce server products for the Intel Xeon processor in South Asia, India, and the Middle East and it has been actively involved with the first high-performance computing cluster or HPCC in India based on a dual-core Intel Xeon processor with 1333MHz FSB as well as the country’s first HPCC based on the Pathscale HTX Infinipath adapter.

“From its inception, Netweb has been at the forefront of cutting-edge research and innovation. Our Make-inIndia servers and workstations have been appreciated for their performance and avantgarde technology by some of the well-known names in the industry. Very soon, we are going to launch Make-in-India networking products,” says Sanjay Lodha, the Co-founder and CEO of the company.

Based on the market and customer feedback, the company also went ahead to architect and develop a unified 3-in-1 storage solution, Verta. The solution can connect to any network such as Network-

attached storage or NAS, Serialattached SCSI or SAS, and Virtual Tape Library, VTL.

“With our customised solution, customers need not think about future requirements. To manage large HPC clusters, we have a platform called TCM, that makes hardware easy and fluid for customised deployment. We also have a cloud version of it,” Sanjay adds.

MADE-IN-INDIA

The company offers a wide variety of products and solutions that encompass a diverse range of technologies. Its portfolio includes datacentre computing comprising servers, workstations, and virtualisation, as well as storage solutions such as unified file and block storage, parallel file systems, archival, and surveillance storage. In addition, Netweb offers HPC solutions, including HPC clusters, HPC on the cloud, GPUoptimised supercomputers, and more.

Its cloud solutions comprise private, public, and hybrid cloud, hyper-converged infrastructure, telecom 5G cloud, and private HCI cloud appliances. Netweb has offerings in the Big Data space, including Hadoop, analytics, data science, machine learning, and deep learning. The company also brings to the table specialised container platforms and Kubernetes as a service.

“Our HPC solutions are built with high-quality partner products and building blocks that comply with major industry standards. We offer scalable HPC solutions that deliver various systems and interconnects to suit customer and business requirements,” says Navin Lodha, Co-founder and Director of the company.

With over 500 building block systems ranging from onesocket to quad-socket and in several form factors, Netweb promises highly effective

With

500+

building block systems ranging from one-socket to quad-socket in several form factors, Netweb promises highly effective platforms for HPC clusters

platforms for HPC clusters where priorities rely on cost, density, space, and energy performance. However, since HPC clusters and applications have different hardware and middleware requirements, the team of Netweb engineers focused on designing and building solutions that can provide maximum performance and fit the customers’ budgets.

The company is also focusing on Mixed Workload Architecture and cloud-native HPC technology to promise ultimate flexibility to customers, merging many diverse workloads like Big Data, Artificial Intelligence or AI, and even Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, VDI. Their HPC management suite which supports BareMetal and the cloud is instrumental along with their Container platform to sew together the solution for their customers.

Elaborates Sanjay: “We have developed a mixed workload architecture that combines BareMetal Supercomputers, GPU-based AI and HPC systems, and a private cloud. Our solution incorporates top-notch products from our portfolio, such as Tyrone Cluster Manager or TCM,

Tyrone Cluster Platform or TCP, Container repository or Kubyts, and private cloud appliance Skylus, to create a highly flexible and composable infrastructure that organisations can quickly and reliably configure to meet their specific requirements. These types of solutions address current needs while also keeping organisations prepared for future requirements.”

LINUX

Netweb’s product range also includes HPC, Linux, and Rendering clusters. “We offer a variety of pre-configured HPC clusters that enhance performance by workload sharing. We also provide highquality Linux clusters that can be used for sharing workloads, affordable supercomputing, and rendering farms. Our rendering clusters are useful for applications with high turnaround time and processing

power, such as animation, simulation, virtual reality, and scientific visualisation,” informs Sanjay.

Its Linux cluster, on the other hand, helps in reducing downtime and workloads and provides IT services, usually for a group of linked servers that have Linux as an operating system. Overall, the company has so far implemented over 100 Linux clusters across industries.

To enable organisations better utilise the avalanche of data that is getting generated in the new digital era and adapt to the transformation, the company has designed AI Lab solutions. These solutions can help companies cull out actionable insights from their massive data.

Realising that a good AI Lab must be architected with good workstations, an AI GPU cluster, a special interconnect, and highperformance storage, the company decided to design state-of-the-art AI labs for customers and enable

The Network Technologies product and solution portfolio.

NAVIN LODHA Co-founder and Director, Netweb Technologies.

SANJAY LODHA Co-founder and CEO, Netweb Technologies.

HOME GROWN ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS

The company serves a wide range of industry verticals such as telecommunications, retail, manufacturing, oil and gas, e-commerce, education, research institutes, healthcare, IT and IT-enabled services, engineering, BFSI or Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, datacentres and the governments.

Netweb Technologies is also looking to expand its footprint in other new and emerging verticals. It also has a strong partnership with the likes of Intel, AMD, Nvidia, and Mellanox for product development based on their core technologies.

Tyrone Container Platform, Multi-Cloud, Bare Pure Upstream Kubernetes

Automates the time-consuming tasks involved in managing containers from deployment and management to scheduling and scaling

Kubyts, Container-Optimised Cloud

A curated catalogue of GPU and CPU-accelerated container applications and images for deep learning software, HPC applications, and HPC visualisation tools.

Skylus, HCI Cloud-in-a-box

All-in-one HCI solution to reduce the complexity of managing, administrating, and migrating your complex workloads into the cloud.

Tyrone Cloud, Cloud Suite on HCI

A fault-tolerant and redundant production cloud suite that offers the industry’s lowest turnaround time, implementable on-site with Tyrone’s service engineering experts.

them to perform AI-related work without hassle. Netweb also offers backup and disaster recovery services to help customers replicate and backup data, mission-critical applications, and infrastructure. “Our automated service provides application-level protection and orchestration to failover and downtime in the cloud or BareMetal,” informs Sanjay.

ENGINEERING

Netweb Technologies provides a range of engineered solutions that offer comprehensive management suites, container orchestration, curated catalogues of GPU and CPU-accelerated container applications and images, and private cloud solutions.

One of their management suites is Tyrone Cluster Manager or TCM, which simplifies cluster deployment and management on bare metal and private clouds. The suite allows for customised node scaling, easy-to-use GUI webbased interfaces, automatic discovery, and yearly support and maintenance.

Its benefits also include quick setup, deployment, provisioning and reprovisioning of clusters, more installation options, and augmented time to delivery while reducing overall costs. The TCM also promises to make the enterprise clusters more reliable, agile, and responsive.

Although containers bring their own set of

Tyrone Verta products being checked for quality at one of the Network Technologies testing facilities.

HPC SCORECARD

l Experience in global consultation and deployment

l Access to a huge range of building blocks in servers, networks, and accelerators

l State-of-art integration facility, including India’s biggest HPC testing facility

l In-house testing and HPCon-cloud facility

l Manufactures and deploys over 6,000 servers per year in India

l Over a hundred HPC installations in India

l Thousands of nodes committed to HPC projects in India

l Several hundred servers sold under the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals rate contract

l Implemented CDAC PARAM YUVA II

l The three supercomputers it has deployed are among the world’s Top 500 Supercomputers

l Strong partnership with leading technology companies

l Local HPC support in more than 15 locations across India

Based on the market and customer feedback, the company also went ahead to architect and develop a unified 3-in-1 storage solution, Verta

benefits, managing them can be a challenging task. To address the challenge of container orchestration Netweb designed and developed the Tyrone Container Platform or TCP, a multi-cloud, bare metal, upstream Kubernetes.

“It helps automates the time-consuming tasks involved in managing containers and microservices from deployment and management to scheduling and scaling Kubernetes, saving money and freeing application developers to spend more time doing what they do best,” highlights Navin.

He further points out that the platform offers maximum compatibility with public containers, full automation for initial deployments, nimble architecture, and regular security updates. It also brings in portability between clouds, scalability, reduced licensing cost, low latency, and high density.

CONTAINERS

Kubyts is a curated catalogue of GPU- and CPU-accelerated container applications and images for Deep Learning software, HPC applications, and HPC visualisation tools.

“It containerises applications along with all their dependencies, bundled into one package making it extremely agile in moving them across platforms. It includes over 100 containers and over 50 applications to meet modern enterprise challenges,” elaborates Navin.

Its benefits include speed, portability, bare metal performance, the capability to run multiple applications simultaneously, a containeroptimised cloud, simple deployment, a significant reduction in IT costs, and the availability of Tyrone AI experts. With the IT infrastructure undergoing a transformational

change, the desire for integrated IT solutions that can combine the best of hardware and software is more evident than before. However, building a private cloud is a complicated task and to deal with it, the company designed the private cloud solution, Skylus.

“With Skylus you can set up a private cloud within days and introduce it within an organisation to run modern workloads with maximum efficiency,” informs Sanjay, adding that Skylus provides hyper-converged capabilities by combining compute, storage, and network. This solution allows for customised scalability, multitenancy, migration and failover between nodes, and a single management dashboard. Its benefits include agility, speed, ease of use, and quick deployment, making it an efficient solution for modern workloads.

With India rolling out 5G across cities, enterprises are gearing up to adopt the new communication standard and benefit from it. Realising the potential of 5G-enabled business environment, the company has been aggressively working on private 5G deployment. “We expect private 5G to drive the next wave of connectivity, computing, and industry 4.0 technologies such as Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and the Internet of Things. To enable it we have also been deploying 5G cloud for telecom companies globally,” informs Navin.

“5G and typically private 5G is going to play a key role in transforming the next wave of the technology revolution and we are working to see how we can enable enterprise faster and in a better way. Our products and solutions keep the customer requirement in focus while it is being designed. Innovation is at the crux of our mindset, products, and solutions,” sums up Sanjay.

Shubhendu Parth is a contributor to Business Transformation Asia.

AUTOMATING AND DIGITISING MANUFACTURING

A look at the primary trends around digitisation and automation of manufacturing.

ASPENTECH

DELIVERING PRODUCTION OPTIMISATION SOLUTION

AspenTech helps reduce the gap between planning and operation, maximising profitability and reducing energy consumption.

Today’s industrial organisations have access to more information than ever before, but struggle to gather data from disparate sources to enable key business processes that help meet sustainability and operational excellence goals. This can prove challenging when embarking on a digitalisation journey to improve production performance, impacting the organisation’s ability to balance profits, production and carbon intensity while minimising excess energy usage and carbon dioxide emissions.

Organisations may also face challenges in

reducing margin loss due to misaligned business and operating processes, and keeping processes from drifting outside of optimal operating ranges. Another big concern is to reduce manual manufacturing execution processes and information silos that constrain performance.

Digitisation of manufacturing can improve the return on investments or ROI in areas such as production, maintenance, quality control, and supply chain. It can increase energy efficiency, reduce waste and downtime, lower inventory costs, and provide real-time data for informed decision-making.

AspenTech provides a production optimisation

BY LAURA ROKOHL VP, Product Marketing, AspenTech.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l Adopt a process engineering approach to maintain the accuracy of planning models and troubleshoot operations.

l Get sensors, instruments and analysers to collect real-time data from equipment and processes for insights into emissions, margin and yield.

l Use the digital twin of the asset to optimise capabilities and improve resource efficiency in process operations.

solution that closes the gap between planning and operations to maximise profitability and reduce energy consumption. The company focuses on key business processes that drive significant improvements in production.

l Process Engineering models maintain the accuracy of planning models and troubleshoot operations.

l Economic Planning and Scheduling optimises tradeoffs between production, profit and emissions, including feedstock selection, production planning, scheduling and blending.

l Advanced Control and Optimisation maximise throughput and yield while reducing product quality variability, energy consumption and emissions.

l Operations Performance Management for process monitoring and yield accounting.

l Maintenance and Reliability predict potential breakdowns to avoid unplanned shutdowns.

The company’s production optimisation solution relies on data from a variety of systems and hardware to enable key business processes that optimise production processes, increase efficiency, and ensure quality control.

Instrumentation is vital Sensors, instruments and analysers collect real-time data from manufacturing equipment and processes, providing insights for the optimisation of emissions, margin and yield. Its software integrates with automation systems, such as Distributed Control Systems to provide real-time data and control of manufacturing processes. In addition to data historians and manufacturing execution systems, which AspenTech provides, common

Organisations need to balance profits, production and carbon intensity while minimising excess emission

data sources also include Enterprise Resource Planning systems and laboratory information management systems.

AspenTech’s integrated production optimisation solution also reduces margin loss, energy usage and carbon emissions while it improves performance and production agility, and maintains optimal operating conditions. For a mid-sized refinery of 200 KBPD capacity, this equates to a value of more than $100 Million in margin improvement and 10% emissions reduction.

Emissions reduction is accelerated by digital solutions that provide visibility and insight and can help reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. Applications ranging from a digital twin of the asset to optimisation capabilities improve resource efficiency in process operations and identify the maximum potential reduction in emissions.

The benefits of digital solutions for emissions management include clear visibility of emissions across sites and enterprises, optimisation across emissions, margin and yield objectives, and improvement in emissions reporting speed, accuracy and context. It also helps find and reduce the largest emission sources to meet targets and predict and avoid exceeding carbon dioxide allowance and taxes.

TRANSFORM MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS IN THE CLOUD

AWS can help manufacturing companies evolve their business models by using valuable operational data and providing new insights.

For manufacturers looking for innovative solutions to generate new revenue streams, reinvent supply chains and optimise operations, AWS offers comprehensive cloud services and AWS Solutions, an extensive partner network, and the highest standards for privacy and data security to enable cutting-edge automation, Machine Learning or ML, the Internet of Things, robotics, and analytics.

AWS’ industrial experience helps manufacturing companies transform their business using their valuable operations data to provide new insights to optimise productivity,

quality, machine availability, and sustainability. All the services are built on AWS and available for customers to use in their cloud transformation.

To make it easier for customers to transform their manufacturing operations in the cloud, the company introduced AWS for Industrial in 2020. The initiative features new and existing services and solutions from AWS and the AWS Partner Network or APN, built specifically for developers, engineers, and operators at industrial sites. AWS solutions include reference architectures, AWS CloudFormation templates, deployment guides, and Quick Starts to help customers speed deploy their applications. Many of these services can operate both from a cloud and an

BY YASSER HASSAN Managing DirectorCommercial Sector, AWS.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l Leverage ML and AI to enhance real-time analytics capabilities and maximise production and predictive maintenance to increase uptime.

l Automate quality inspection with fast, fully scalable Computer Vision solutions to improve accuracy and reduce cost.

l Adopt Cloud services to drive innovation and agility needed to unlock transformational growth and disruption.

edge environment.

The difficult part of manufacturing is the number of variables at play. At the software and data level, there are more than 350 different protocols used in the industry. These are built into machines and feed into siloed software stacks. With AWS solutions, it is possible to connect to these different protocols and normalise the data at the point of creation, analyse it in a single instance and start building upon new insights.

Another complex issue in manufacturing is the average machine age, which is just over 20 years. This means there is an incredible amount of analogue machinery with no data sources to tap into. With these types of machines, AWS works with many of its partners to layer technology onto these machines to bring data and insights where they may not have had this capability before. Amazon Monitron is an example of how this is done. AWS developed a low-cost vibration and temperature sensor for rotating equipment.

Leading manufacturers work with AWS to reduce costs, speed time to market, optimise production, meet sustainability objectives, and create new revenue streams across five common solution areas. These align with their highest-priority use cases like engineering and design, smart manufacturing, supply chain, sustainability, and smart products and services. In smart manufacturing, for instance, to remain competitive, manufacturers need to maximise productivity, asset availability, product quality, and worker safety, ideally while lowering costs. To do this, they access disparate plant data from their Operational Technology systems using AWS services to gain new insights to improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness.

Manufacturers can leverage

AWS for Industrial initiative features new and existing services and solutions from AWS and the AWS Partner Network

ML and artificial intelligence to enhance real-time analytics capabilities to maximise production and enable predictive maintenance to increase uptime. More than ever, manufacturers focus on quality to maintain brand reputation, satisfy their customers, and manage costs. AWS can help manufacturers customise and automate quality inspection with fast, fully scalable Computer Vision solutions to improve accuracy and reduce cost.

Most manufacturers recognise the need for new technologies to meet these customer demands and get to market faster. Additionally, they need to innovate to remain competitive and build products faster, better, and cheaper. The pandemic and economic environment have added significant pressure to keep production and supply chains moving to meet demand. This rapid pace of change created a renewed spotlight on business agility and digital maturity. Cloud services can enable the innovation and agility needed to unlock transformational growth and disruption.

AWS has vast experience driving digital transformation with leading manufacturing companies and a deep history of developing industrial solutions.

AUTOMATING AND TRANSFORMING INDUSTRY OPERATIONS

Its vast industry experience is helping Emerson drive innovation and automation to make manufacturing safer, smarter, and more sustainable.

Digital transformation or the application of digital solutions is aimed at unlocking efficiencies in existing operational processes and achieving overall business objectives around efficiency and profitability. This is where Emerson’s sensing technologies are helping customers. It enables organisations to measure critical operational variables across their plant, while its integrated safety and control systems ensure that operational parameters and processes are optimally managed for the highest levels of safety, throughput, and efficiency.

Emerson’s software and automation technology portfolio is at the centre of innovation and disruption in all areas where automation is deployed from the process and hybrid industries to discrete industries. This is well rooted in the company’s purpose of driving innovation that makes the world healthier, safer, smarter, and more sustainable.

Over the past few decades, Emerson has grown to become one of the largest manufacturing automation companies by footprint in the Middle

East and Africa region. It has the widest range of automation technologies, from control and safety systems to measurement instrumentation, flow control valves and instrument valves.

The control and safety valves ensure that processes are within operating limits. The asset management portfolio has a slew of monitoring and diagnostic technologies that help measure the performance and reliability of critical and essential assets, identifying problems before they occur and helping operators take a more predictive and proactive maintenance approach.

Emerson’s ecosystem of business applications and hardware required to support manufacturing solutions is comprehensive and includes a range of products and services that work together to provide a complete solution. One key offering is the Plantweb Digital Ecosystem. It is a scalable and secure portfolio of transformational technologies, software, and services that drive real performance improvement in the areas of production, reliability, safety, and sustainability.

The ecosystem combines Emerson’s deep industry expertise and experience with the strength of the Automation Solutions Portfolio. It includes smart sensing technologies that leverage wireless

EMERSON AUTOMATION SOLUTIONS

BY WALID SAMARA Vice President, Northern Region -

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l Use integrated safety and control systems to ensure that operational parameters and processes are optimally managed.

l Implement solutions such as real-time monitoring and tracking, data integration, and automation to improve plant efficiency and responsiveness.

l Deploy sensors and automated data collection systems to track quality and compliance, and identify and reduce energy consumption.

communication networks and collect operational data that was previously not accessible to operators. Once collected operational data can be used in several ways.

From an asset reliability standpoint, Plantweb Insight and Asset Management Solutions help customers extract the highest levels of performance and reliability from critical assets. Emerson’s Plantweb Optics solution can even distribute critical asset diagnostic information across different plant operator personas to speed up operational and maintenance workflows.

From a contextualisation standpoint, operational data is organised and made suitable for data science applications like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. This helps in getting insights that help in improving operational performance.

Common challenges in implementing and deploying digital solutions in manufacturing include integration with existing systems, data management and security, change management, lack of skilled workforce, high cost, lack of standardisation, and cybersecurity. Careful planning is required to overcome these challenges, but digitisation can bring significant benefits to manufacturing operations.

Digitisation of manufacturing can bring a wide range of benefits to manufacturers. By implementing digital solutions such as real-time monitoring and tracking, data integration, and automation, manufacturers can improve efficiency and responsiveness. It also helps reduce costs and increase revenue. In terms of asset management, digitisation can enable real-time monitoring and tracking of equipment, leading to more efficient maintenance and increased equipment uptime.

Emerson’s sensing technologies are helping customers by enabling them to measure critical operational variables across the plant

In production and supply chains, digitisation can improve visibility, coordination, and control of activities, leading to increased efficiency, reduced costs, and improved responsiveness to changes in demand. Similarly, digital tools such as sensors and automated data collection systems can help organisations better manage and track quality and compliance while it can help manufacturers identify and reduce energy consumption.

Digitisation also enables realtime monitoring and analysis of equipment, which can be used to predict when maintenance will be needed and plan accordingly, thereby reducing downtime and maintenance costs.

With the industry facing the pressing issue of carbon emissions from manufacturing, the process of digitising manufacturing processes can help companies better manage their carbon footprint by providing real-time data and analytics on energy consumption and waste reduction. By implementing digital tools such as energy management systems and smart factory technologies, companies can optimise their operations and reduce their environmental impact. To sum it up, digitisation can be seen as a powerful acorn from which a forest of sustainable manufacturing practices can grow.

Emerson Automation Solutions.

TRANSFORMATION

EPICOR

POWERING INDUSTRY PRODUCTIVITY SOLUTIONS

Epicor is working with customers to create industry-specific software solutions and services that enable a world of better business.

Epicor offers a global cloud ERP solution for manufacturers with a deep industry focus to serve simple to complex manufacturing processes across multiple industries. Its capabilities include omnichannel sales management, production planning and scheduling, quality, distribution,

and finance with composable performance-driven solutions to optimise results.

The offering also includes a robust Manufacturing Execution Software or MES portfolio with capabilities such as the Internet of Things, energy monitoring, digital twin, process control, and guided digital work instructions. Epicor’s other key solutions for digital

BY CHRISTINE HANSEN Director of Product Marketing, Epicor.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l Adopt a process engineering approach to maintain the accuracy of planning models and troubleshoot operations.

l Get sensors, instruments and analysers to collect real-time data from equipment and processes for insights into emissions, margin and yield.

l Use the digital twin of the asset to optimise capabilities and improve resource efficiency in process operations.

transformation include Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, enterprise content management, CPG or Configure, Price, Quote, and eCommerce.

These solutions are generally available in the cloud and require no additional hardware or systems outside of the edge devices, the PCs, tablets, and handheld devices used in the plant. Some of the MES installations may, however, require servers and a Machine Interface Unit (MIU) to handle edge computing capabilities.

Many manufacturers get overwhelmed with the prospect of transforming digitally. By phasing in transformation with continuous improvement initiatives, manufacturers can achieve greater success. ERP today offers a complete toolset to help manufacturers automate processes inside and outside of its ambit. By value stream mapping the most important streams and tackling these first, the rapid ROI propels the business to new streams.

At Epicor, ERP is the foundation and offers a rich toolset with tools such as Automation Studio for building workflow between processes and integrating other systems. It delivers Application Studio for modifying the UX to support organisations’ unique configurations. It also trains the IT business analyst on how to use the tools to optimise and automate business processes.

The company also believes that digital transformation can help in all areas of the business by reducing operating costs, speeding up processes, reducing errors, improving quality and empowering employees. Here are some examples of how digitisation can help improve efficiency leading to a better return on investment.

l Implementing AP Automation in the finance office can help reduce paper,

automate previously manual processes, and reduce errors.

l Implementing Guided Digital Work Instructions can ensure that quality part is made every time. It also reduces the onboarding time and brings in efficiency.

l Automating data collection on the shop floor can help to improve operational efficiency, reduce errors, and empower workers with information. Digitisation of manufacturing can help better manage carbon emissions. Automation and the use of digital documents can help reduce the consumption of paper by the organisation. Automation of processes can help increase operational efficiency and provide metrics to help manufacturers better understand where they can improve. It also helps in monitoring the energy used in the plant. This can help customers understand and reduce their power usage. Besides, process control helps manufacturers understand when they have a good part versus a bad part reducing wasted time upstream and helping reduce material usage.

Epicor solutions are generally available in the cloud and require no additional hardware or systems outside of the edge devices

STREAMLINING THE BUSINESS OF MANUFACTURING

Liferay adds portal, content, and commerce capabilities enabling a manufacturer to provide secure B2C, B2B, and B2E experiences.

Liferay helps manufacturers to provide superior digital experiences through a variety of solutions and use cases. A customer self-service portal built on Liferay can help manufacturers reduce costto-serve and improve customer experience by streamlining business processes and empowering customers to manage their accounts, access knowledge, and solve problems independently.

In addition, Liferay’s Commerce solutions help companies by supporting complex B2B requirements and driving the adoption of new online sales channels that utilise powerful digital experience tools. The distributor and supplier portal solutions help partners maximise their sales with easy access to critical knowledge and documentation, branding guidance, and product information.

When it comes to tackling the challenges of

legacy IT, Liferay’s integration platform can connect all data sources and easily integrate them into backend systems like Enterprise Resource Planning, Product Information Management, and Customer Relationship Management, thereby providing a unified view of accurate, real-time data on one platform.

The goal of Liferay’s Digital Experience Platform is to make it easy for customers to do business with manufacturers. It does so by simplifying processes for the customers and internal teams. Consequently, the platform offers a robust environment for creating, managing, and optimising incredible digital experiences for customers, while providing low code tools, connectors, and client extensions that make it easy to develop highly customised solutions.

When it comes to business applications and hardware, manufacturers can lean back and rely on Liferay Experience Cloud, the flexible DXP-asa-Service, that allows them to create, launch, and

BY CHRISTOPH EBERT Industry Marketing Manager, Liferay.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l Plan and coordinate to ensure that new technologies do not disrupt existing operations while integrating with legacy systems.

l Take robust security measures to protect sensitive data and ensure compliance with regulations such as GDPR and CCPA.

l Evaluate the cost and benefit of digitisation and develop a realistic budget for implementation and deployment.

l Chalk out a plan to train the workforce so that employees have the knowledge and skills to operate digital systems.

optimise digital solutions with the agility and convenience of SaaS. This means that Liferay will not only manage and maintain the infrastructure and Liferay DXP application, but also apply updates, ensure that the application is up-to-date, and autoscale to meet demand.

A manufacturer may face several such challenges on its digital transformation journey. Careful planning and coordination are required to ensure that new technologies do not disrupt existing operations while integrating with legacy systems. Data security and privacy are the other critical concerns. Robust security measures are needed to protect sensitive data and ensure compliance with regulations such as GDPR and CCPA.

Manufacturers also need to evaluate the cost and benefit of digitisation and develop a realistic budget for implementation and deployment. The interoperability of devices is another issue that needs to be dealt with since digital systems need to communicate and share data seamlessly.

Organisations may also need to address factors like workforce training to ensure that employees have the knowledge and skills to operate digital systems. Resistance to change is another challenge that may slow down adoption and hinders progress. Similarly, any digital transformation initiative must also take into account the scalability issue to ensure that digital systems can scale with the business and adapt to changing needs.

The digitisation of manufacturing can provide gains and efficiencies, and return on investment for the following business areas.

Production efficiency: Digitisation optimises production processes by providing real-time monitoring,

and control of manufacturing operations. This leads to improved quality, reduced waste, and increased throughput.

Maintenance and repair: Digitisation helps to predict and prevent equipment failures, minimising unplanned downtime and maintenance costs.

Customer experience: Empowering customers through digital self-service not only reduces the cost to serve but also vastly improves the customer experience as it enables customers to find what they need or conduct transactions anytime, without needing to add additional staff.

Supply chain management: Digitisation improves supply chain visibility, allowing manufacturers to track materials and products throughout the supply chain, thereby optimising inventory levels, reducing lead times, and improving delivery times.

Quality control: Digitisation can help automate quality control processes, reducing the risk of human error and improving product quality. By using real-time data analytics, manufacturers can identify quality issues early and take corrective action before products are shipped to customers. In the face of massive supply chain disruption in recent years, digitisation of manufacturing can be an effective aid in the optimisation of supply chains. By utilising digital solutions like distributor and supplier portals to track materials and products across the supply chain, manufacturers can optimise logistics and delivery routes, cut lead times, and reduce transportation-related emissions. By offering real-time monitoring and efficient management of energy-intensive operations as well as employing sensors and data analytics, digitisation can assist in improving energy use in industrial processes. Additionally, it can help identify areas where waste can be reduced and assist manufacturers in sustainable sourcing by tracking the origin of materials.

ADOPTION ACCELERATES

IN I o T AND SMART CITIES

Top industry executives give their takes on use cases and trends in IoT and smart cities.

IoT IS A KEY ENABLER OF ESG

A global study claims that the use of IoT has the potential to reduce carbon emissions by over 60 gigatons by the year 2030, if all the industries choose to participate.

IoT is one of the fastest growing emerging technology domains. It enables hundreds of vertical and horizontal uses cases, starting from as basic as asset tracking to Smart City or Industry 4.0 solutions. However, IoT represents one of the most complex value chain systems given the multitude of technologies and technology players that are involved in delivering the solutions.

IoT is one of the highly fragmented markets and the value chain is tightly knitted with the involvement of several hardware, software, services,

and connectivity players. Each of these four technology areas are further broken down into finer sub-categories to understand the evolving technology landscape and to effectively track the opportunity. It greatly reflects the interdependencies and complex nature of partnerships between the IoT value chain players in bringing together compelling IoT solutions. Consequently, close collaboration among ecosystem partners is key to the development of the IoT value chain.

In case of largescale IoT implementation, it is necessary

BY KRISHNA CHINTA Senior Programme Manager, Telecom and IoT, IDC.

to bring in a master systems integrator with the required skills to orchestrate multiple vendors with the sole objective of successfully delivering the project.

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFORMATION

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l IoT is a key enabler and will help various sectors including industrial sectors and smart cities in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.

l IoT is one of the fastest growing emerging technology domains.

l IoT enables hundreds of vertical and horizontal uses cases, starting from as basic as asset tracking to Smart City or Industry 4.0 solutions.

l IoT represents one of the most complex value chain systems given the multitude of technologies and technology players that are involved in delivering the solutions.

l IoT is a highly fragmented market and is tightly knitted with involvement of hardware, software, services, connectivity players.

l This reflects interdependencies and complex nature of partnerships between IoT value chain players in bringing together IoT solutions.

l Close collaboration among ecosystem partners is key to development of the IoT value chain.

l In case of largescale IoT implementation, it is necessary to bring in a master systems integrator to orchestrate multiple vendors.

l Data privacy and security is a key challenge holding back several IoT projects.

Data privacy and security is a key challenge holding back several IoT projects. Technology providers that are serious about venturing into the IoT market should incorporate fool proof data privacy and security in their solutions. Some businesses are facing lack of technological, operational, or analytics skills to support the IoT implementations and facing intense talent management challenges.

On the other hand, capital intensive industries including manufacturing companies often find it difficult to integrate IT and OT technologies which is another key challenge for IoT implementation plans. IoT vendors including hardware, software, connectivity, and IT service providers should be cognizant of these challenges and aim for proactively addressing these concerns.

There are several industrial and smart city solutions that are enabled by IoT technologies these days. Regardless of the use case, IoT brings about distinctive advantages in terms of its ability detect, measure, and automate processes. IoT use cases are known to deliver process efficiencies, productivity enhancements, and bring about safety and security with the help of related technologies such as advanced connectivity, AI, cloud, and edge computing.

Given these capabilities, businesses in transportation, logistics and shipping, oil and gas, and smart city verticals have already started realising returns on their IoT investments. Businesses from different industries are increasingly considering IoT solutions as a means to lower their impact on the environment. Some of these companies with Environmental, Social, and Governance, ESG obligations have put carbon footprint reduction targets at the heart of their operations and

Technology providers serious about venturing into the IoT market should incorporate fool proof data privacy and security in their solutions

business processes.

A global study claims that the use of IoT has the potential to reduce carbon emissions by over 60 gigatons by the year 2030, if all the industries choose to participate. Therefore, IoT is a key enabler and will help various sectors including industrial sectors and smart cities in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and in increasing their energy efficiencies.

IDC has long years of experience in approaching the technology market research in a structured fashion. Given the complexity of the IoT value chain, IDC globally approached the market research with welldefined taxonomy, datasets, and subscription services. IDC’s IoT taxonomy has identified several named use cases across multiple industries.

Given the fragmented nature of the value chain comprising connectivity, hardware, and software vendors and IT services providers, IDC’s IoT taxonomy has further split the four technology categories into finer sub-technology categories. This approach enables IDC to refine its research in to diversified IoT ecosystem.

CHALLENGES IN INFRASTRUCTURE FOR SMART BUILDINGS

Efficiencies and emission savings are only achieved when all operational systems are integrated and operate together to make a truly smart building.

BY ARAFAT YOUSEF Managing Director, Nexans Data Network Solutions.

present their own challenges. Within the scope of enterprise smart buildings, Nexans view is that IoT brings multiple advantages to different stakeholders. Whilst improved efficiency of utilities, power and fuel for heating and lighting is frequently mentioned as a key benefit, Nexans believes that the biggest financial gains actually come from improved productivity.

IoT and smart technologies can be used to create not only a better, safer, and healthier working environment but also to optimise working processes. This has combined benefits for the working staff and the business, leading to improved productivity returns.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l There are four main challenges when planning infrastructure deployment in smart buildings.

l Nexans view is that IoT brings multiple advantages to different stakeholders.

Nexans claims there are four main challenges when planning infrastructure deployment in smart buildings.

First is the large increase in the number of devices that need to be connected.

Planning for large bandwidth variations will be another. The need to be able to support very low to very high bandwidth needs, without under or over specifying, needs careful consideration.

Nexans also cite new generations of wireless transmission. As Wi-Fi bandwidth increases, the range of each access point decreases, so more access points are required to cover the same area. This requires more and higher bandwidth backbone connection. A similar issue applies to 5G connections.

Finally, IoT devices need to be powered. This can be supported via Power over Ethernet, PoE, Single Pair Power over Ethernet, SPoE, separate mains supply, or batteries – each of which

At a building level, Nexans suggests that maximum efficiencies and emission savings are only achieved when all operational technology systems can be integrated and operate together to make a truly smart building. IoT is an essential component to achieve this.

Once the systems managing power, security, lighting, HVAC, access control, are all working together, then holistic savings can be optimised.

The same is true when expanded to smart cities. Use of IoT to monitor and connect disparate systems managing traffic flow, street lighting, emergency services, and CCTV is necessary to truly optimise services and operations for maximum efficiency.

Solutions from Nexans’ includes:

SMARTCONVERGE using Nexans GG45 is proposed as a flexible LAN enabling enterprise customers to use a single infrastructure for standard RJ45 based IT equipment, but can also quadruple the port capacity to support additional IoT devices using Single Pair Ethernet, SPE. LANsense is Nexans

l Nexans believes that the biggest financial gains actually come from improved productivity.

l Once the systems managing power, security, lighting, HVAC, access control, are working together, holistic savings can be optimised.

l Use of IoT to monitor and connect disparate systems managing traffic flow, street lighting, emergency services, is necessary to optimise services.

Automated Infrastructure Management, AIM platform. It ensures records are 100% accurate, allowing users to detect, log, map, share, and optimise networks, reducing downtime and costs.

INFRABIRD is an access control and monitoring platform to secure street cabinets and fibre connections.

LANactive switches support Fibre To The Office, FTTO, Digital Ceiling, DICE, and industrial applications.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE IS DATA INSIGHTS ACROSS VALUE CHAIN

The biggest roadblocks are complexity - aligning business goals with digital strategy, managing network, cloud interdependencies and multiple vendors.

Orange Business Services is a network native digital operator with five strategic propositions supported by consultants, data and cloud experts, and a cyberdefense team. The company combines modular, end-to-end IoT business services with underlying infrastructure covering every aspect of IoT - data generating objects, networks, data storage, data visualisation and analytics.

The solutions address five

major intersecting challenges: establishing digital workspaces, improving customer experience, facilitating Industry 4.0, collecting, processing data, and transforming and safeguarding network infrastructure.

In smart cities, the company provides complex systems integration for operating efficiency, and solutions including Urban Services, Safe City, Interactive Office, and Smart Eco Energy. No single company – no matter how large and capable

- can build and sustain an enterprise-scale model for continuous, perpetual transformation.

Orange Business Services has a large ecosystem of partners, including world leaders like AWS, Quppa, OneMind, Microsoft and Cisco, as well as innovative start-ups, which enables the company to deliver simplicity and better TCO, total cost of ownership through digital integration and orchestrations.

Partnerships are one of the

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l Improving sustainability of cities is an urgent priority.

l Digital tools organised into systems of systems and run by progressive ecosystems of partners, can help.

l Intelligent cities offer our best hope in meeting the challenge of climate change.

l According to EY research, digital twins could reduce a building’s carbon emissions by 50%.

l Digital twin technology means more accurate data on emissions and could also simulate impact on coastal cities and buildings.

l No single company, can build and sustain an enterprisescale model for continuous, perpetual transformation.

l Orange Business Services has an ecosystem of partners, including AWS, Quppa, OneMind, Microsoft and Cisco.

l This enables Orange Business Services to deliver simplicity and better TCO, total cost of ownership through digital integration and orchestrations.

l Partnerships are one of the cornerstones of Orange Business Services, working alongside the world’s best technology companies.

l In smart cities, the company provides complex systems integration for operating efficiency.

cornerstones of Orange Business Services, working alongside the world’s best technology companies, to deliver tailored solutions within a digital transformation programme for an enterprise or developing smart city.

The biggest challenge to successful enterprise digital adoption is centred around the right data insights across the entire technological value chain and the life cycle of products and services. The biggest roadblocks are complexity - aligning business goals with digital strategy, managing network, cloud interdependencies and multiple vendors.

In the intelligent city, digital technology is embedded across all city operationsdeployments should be based on core values, liveability, workability, sustainability aligned with the economic, social, and environmental needs of current, future generations. The deployment challenge is siloed data – an intelligent city needs a continuous flow of data within the ecosystem and a core platform to generate learning and value. In addition, the absence of standardised regulatory and data sharing platforms may hinder smart city projects.

Cities, municipalities, governments and businesses need help to define, drive and implement digital strategy in sectors, such as transport and logistics, retail, banking, energy, petrochemicals, plus public sector to drive e-government transition. The primary motivation for digital transformation is to better serve customers, citizens, create more personalised products and services, improve ESG.

Digitally transformed businesses deliver competitive gains from cost reduction and revenue growth that contribute to higher profits, through the

BY ADVAIT THAKUR

Data IoT AI Expert, Orange Business Services.

efficiencies of optimised and automated functions. In MEA, greenfield city developments are intelligent by design and deliver higher ROI through innovative services, and the intersection of data and AI drives economic acceleration.

Improving sustainability of cities is an urgent priority and digital tools and solutions, organised into systems of systems and run by progressive ecosystems of partners, can help.

Intelligent cities offer our best hope in meeting the challenge of climate change, with a vital role as incubators of human, digital innovation harnessing and building on their experience.

According to EY research, digital twins could reduce a building’s carbon emissions by 50%, improve operational, maintenance efficiency by 35%, space utilisation by 15%, and increase human productivity by 20%. Digital twin technology means more accurate data on emissions and could also simulate , predict weather patterns and impact on coastal cities and buildings.

DELIVERING REAL-TIME SERVICE INSIGHTS FOR ELEVATORS

A connected solution in the era of smart cities requires not only sensors and data to provide analysis, but also an ecosystem that is able to interoperate with external systems.

Otis will be launching this year in Gulf countries, the Otis ONE IoT-enabled solution, a new set of digital and connected services. Otis ONE solution combines the latest cloud, machine learning and IoT technologies to deliver real-time actionable maintenance insights for elevators.

Paired with remote intervention and apps for mechanics, Otis is turning data into actions to minimise disruption in users’ daily lives and to bring real time transparent information to customers through a dedicated platform, the Otis ONE Real Time Service platform.

Additionally, building managers can import the data collected by Otis ONE to their existing building management systems via APIs available to customers on the Otis Developer Portal. In addition to real-time information about their equipment, building managers also receive monthly reports about their elevator equipment health.

Otis ONE also powers the eView display, an in-car screen that can share information such as news and building

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l Otis ONE solution combines cloud, machine learning, IoT technologies to deliver realtime actionable insights for elevators.

l Otis is turning data into actions to minimise disruption in users’ daily lives and to bring real time information to customers.

updates with passengers. In the event of an emergency, it can turn into an innovative, two-way video connection between the elevator car and OTISLINE customer centre.

Otis ONE architecture consists of three tiers, edge, platform, and enterprise. The edge tier is made up of controllers, gateways and sensors that send data packages to the cloud.

Otis hosts a cloud native application platform, meaning all components are built in the cloud. So, it can dynamically scale up and scale down the technologies we use through cloud services like IoT Hub, event hub, and stream analytics services.

With the enterprise tier, Otis serves disparate web and mobile applications that use the information and insights from the edge and platform tiers to present integrated elevator service data in a 360-degree real-time view. This can be accessed by customers via a customer portal and app, by service technicians and remote technical experts, and OTISLINE customer service experts.

An impactful deployment

l Users can import the data collected by Otis ONE to their existing building management systems via APIs.

l In addition to real-time information about equipment, building managers also receive monthly reports about their elevator equipment health.

l Otis ONE also powers the eView display, an in-car screen that can share information with passengers.

l Otis ONE architecture consists of three tiers, edge, platform, and enterprise.

l Otis hosts a cloud native application platform, meaning all components are built in the cloud.

l Otis has more than 2.1 million units in its global service portfolio and Otis ONE leverages data from approximately one-third of those.

l Otis ONE solution can be retrofitted on existing elevators, bringing the same benefits to better manage carbon emissions.

BY MOHAMMED AL QAISI Managing Director, Otis Gulf.

of any connected solution in the era of smart cities requires not only sensors and a significant volume of data to provide accurate analysis, but a complete ecosystem that is able to interoperate with external systems.

With over 30 years of experience in remote monitoring, Otis has developed a set of service applications for technicians, equipped with smartphones. Otis uses APIs to connect elevator data to any building management system. Otis has more than 2.1 million units in its global service portfolio and Otis ONE leverages data from approximately one-third of those that are already connected to create predictive insights and scenarios.

Smart cities need smart mobility. Wherever they are installed, elevators and escalators generate millions of data points whose value can goes far beyond the physical hoistway. Today, as in many other sectors of the economy, transparent, responsive and immediate service is expected in all circumstances. This is the challenge to address with Otis ONE solution.

In addition to innovating smarter, Otis is focused on improving sustainability across its operations. The solutions offer faster and more targeted interventions, and remotely, thanks to pre-diagnosis, live alerts, and assistance tools available to technicians and experts. By avoiding interventions by technicians, CO2 emissions linked to their travel is reduced.

Otis ONE solution can be retrofitted on existing elevators, bringing the same benefits to better manage carbon emissions. It can be installed on any existing Otis or non-Otis units. Indeed, modernising an elevator that is more than 25 years old can reduce its energy consumption by up to 65%.

PARTNERING TO BUILD AN OPEN SOURCE SMART CITY PLATFORM

FIWARE, HOPU, Red Hat Open Innovation Labs have built a scalable, cloud-native, open-source smart city platform to improve liveability and sustainability.

The ability to implement an IoTenabled digital twin smart city platform grants any city the power to gather relevant big data from multiple sources and extract valuable insights, driving smart decisions for the benefit of all citizens. The biggest challenge is to effectively gather and process data at a very large

scale while building an easyto-deploy solution that is scalable and secure.

To solve this issue, FIWARE and HOPU worked with the Red Hat Open Innovation Labs team on a purpose-driven engagement to build a highly-scalable, cloud-native, open-source smart city platform designed to improve liveability and environmental sustainability.

The Smart Cities platform deploys efficiently using Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, with an architecture that suits a hybrid cloud approach. The combination of Red Hat OpenShift, FIWARE technology, and the HOPU air quality solution allow the Smart Cities platform to produce tangible benefits right from the beginning.

BY ADRIAN PICKERING Regional General Manager,

It is expandable through additional future applications covering other critical areas such as traffic, water sampling, and noise for any city in the world.

While technology was the core component of the project, the collaboration and workflows between the three companies also needed to move seamlessly to succeed. The Open Innovation Labs team introduced open practices like impact mapping, event storming, and pair programming to align the team towards shared goals, prioritise outcomes, and integrate and improve this smart city technical solution.

The collaboration between Red Hat, FIWARE, and HOPU resulted in accelerated innovation by way of open-source technology.

FIWARE Smart Cities solution is now an attainable, scalable solution that streamlines the developer experience. This will allow other cities, individual contributors, integrators, or other tech companies to make future contributions to the Smart Cities platform by adding other use cases over time, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning components, that will evolve this solution even further.

With Red Hat open-source technologies and partner ecosystem, it is possible to build a hybrid cloud to power the smart city. The hybrid cloud can span one or more public clouds, datacentres, and edge devices near roadways, city buildings and transportation hubs.

Cities currently assume the responsibility for most of the world’s energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, but they also bear the brunt of many of climate change’s effects. Cities must provide convenient, easy-to-use services for their citizens to meet their needs.

To achieve this cost-effectively and at the required scale, they’ll need to leverage technology

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l An IoT-enabled digital twin smart city platform grants any city the power to gather relevant big data from multiple sources and extract valuable insights.

l The biggest challenge is to effectively gather and process data at a very large scale while building an easy-todeploy solution.

l While technology was the core component of the project, collaboration and workflows between the three companies also needed to move seamlessly.

l Cities currently assume responsibility for most of the world’s energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

l The Smart Cities platform deploys efficiently with an architecture that suits a hybrid cloud approach.

to streamline operations and use data purposefully to deliver a better quality of life to residents. Smart city technologies make it easier for local governments to do that, enable cities to reach environmental and sustainability goals, improve service delivery and use funds more effectively.

Red Hat.

USING IoT TO MAKE URBAN MOBILITY A REALITY

KPMG reports 50% of car owners will no longer want to own a vehicle by 2025 and Research & Markets claims four out of ten car journeys will be via car share.

The concept of urban mobility is constantly evolving. As millennials and Gen Z become the dominant force in the consumer market, sharing models are firmly integrating into their everyday lives. Udrive, as a dedicated pay-per-minute car rental platform, operates next-generation hardware devices that interface with the vehicle CAN-Control and On-Board Diagnostics systems allowing for 2-way communication and control.

This live stream communication to its middleware allows the Udrive team to digitise the vehicle and customer experience.

Udrive works with regional cloud providers to communicate to its fleet, which includes IoT SIM cards from leading telecommunications companies, virtual machines and containers for our custom application services and mobile app experiences. Udrive operates its infrastructure on scalable computing systems so that it can handle peak demand during

1000

Udrive has nearly cars in its fleet in UAE and recently expanded into Saudi Arabia

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l The concept of urban mobility is constantly evolving.

l As millennials and Gen Z become the dominant force in the consumer market, sharing models are firmly integrating into their everyday lives.

l Udrive operates nextgeneration hardware devices that interface with the vehicle CAN-Control and On-Board Diagnostics systems.

l Live stream communication to middleware allows the Udrive team to digitise the vehicle and customer experience.

l Udrive works with regional cloud providers to communicate to its fleet, which includes IoT SIM cards, virtual machines and containers.

l Udrive operates its infrastructure on scalable computing systems so that it can handle peak demand during the week and holiday periods.

l The infrastructure also allows Udrive to scale across cities and countries.

l The challenge of deployment around IoT is physical installation of the IoT devices, which is the most timeconsuming process.

l The IoT installation team needs to interface with several different brands and their interpretation of CANControl.

the week and holiday periods. This infrastructure also allows Udrive to scale across cities and countries.

The challenge of deployment around IoT is that physical installation of the IoT devices is the most time-consuming process as the team needs to interface with several different brands and their interpretation of CAN-Control.

Other than this, the rest is relatively simple and with Udrive’s in-house experience, it can control and operate all interfaces and systems.

Anywhere that it is possible to digitise human activity and automate communication and decision-making that boosts customer experience efficiently can gain from IoT smart city solutions.

For example, unlocking the door of a rented car with the click of a mobile app. Traditionally, a member of the rental company goes to a house and gives them the key, which is eventually used to open the car and drive it. As human interaction is involved, it can hours for them to show up. With Udrive, users can find a car, book it and open it within 10 seconds.

The first piece of advice would be to invest in more asset sharing. Ideally, utilising a single asset amongst many users will lead to fewer of those assets needing to exist to serve the same audience.

This results in multiple benefits for the user, as they are more economical and sustainable. There are fewer vehicles manufactured, and the number of traffic jams reduces as there are fewer cars on the street, free parking, and less wastage both financially and in carbon footprint.

KPMG reports almost 50% of car owners today will no longer want to own a vehicle by 2025 and Research&Markets claim four out of every 10 car

BY NICHOLAS WATSON Co-founder and CEO, Udrive.

2 mn

There are 380,000 registered users and a total of trips since its launch in 2016.

journeys will be via car share. Udrive car-sharing is also in line with Dubai’s 2040 Urban Plan’s bid to build a 20-minute city by reducing the strain of moving across the city and improving connectivity for passengers across the Emirates while promoting a circular economy, a cornerstone of sustainability.

Udrive has nearly 1,000 cars in its fleet in the UAE and has recently expanded into Saudi Arabia as well. There are 380,000 registered users and a total of 2 million trips since its launch in 2016. Udrive serves on average over 100 customers per car per month. And if that is around 50 unique customers, there are potentially 50 fewer cars on the road or required to be on the road.

BLAME DOES NOT EXIST IN NATURE

Humans have given different aspects of nature labels and like to blame things they do not understand but nature does not have any of these attachments.

Have you ever felt like life is unfair? Has one thing happened after another which does not make sense, in that, you are a good person and do not deserve such bad luck or treatment? It is a common place for people to be. It is why there is a growing multi-billion dollar wellness industry to help people out of their slump.

Not to mention the growing reliance on psychotropic drugs, which means there is actually a multi trillion dollar industry out there to help us look on the bright side of life. And in some cases to help us sleep or get out of bed in the morning.

Interestingly, while in Switzerland recently, as part of the House of Balance Davos event, there was a speaker who was affectionally referred to as Dr Doom. He spent 20 minutes detailing all of the challenges the world is facing now and what is likely to happen in the future. It is fair to say, it was a grim outlook

It made me think, that for anyone that is not honestly happy with themselves and is needing any more evidence that life is unfair, they will have lots of news to choose from that will compound their victim state of mind.

As I was sitting there listening to the other

panellists offer solutions, I was wondering why no one talked about the impact blame contribution has on creating our daily or future challenges. I had to check myself as I forgot for a moment that this connection is not obvious. It is not common knowledge that when we blame, we immediately enter into a Victim Cycle. And this mindset generates feelings of hatred, anger and revenge to name a few. Which influences every thought and decision we make as individuals and as a species. Ultimately, when we have our blame blinkers on, we focus on anything that we perceive as bad, negative or wrong. It is a very stressful way to live and postpones our ability to optimally perform and seek long-term solutions. Being in this victim mindset always leads to feelings of hatred, anger, that lead to abuse and conflict. And this is what we are seeing in abundance all over the world.

BLACK AND WHITE THINKING

I help people recover from a blame addiction they do not know they have. At first, it might not seem a significant area to focus on. I thought the same. That was until I started to really appreciate how blame, and what it leads to, makes up the very foundation of our being.

I am often asked, but surely there are situations where we had no contribution, and we are the

In his book, The Blame Game: How to Recover from the World’s Oldest Addiction, Denis Liam Murphy, who coaches clients with fifteen years of entrepreneurial experience, presents the New Murphy’s Law and the secrets to recovering from the blame addiction we all suffer from.

innocent victim? This is not about unpacking the horrendous experiences that occur all over the world. This is about realising how blame and the Victim Cycle it creates impacts us on a daily basis.

I see this situation in relationships all the time. Because they are blaming each other for doing things wrong, based on their ideals, they unconsciously start to do the opposite - I think you are lazy so I will be super productive, even if it makes me stressed and ill. They are unknowingly helping each other self-reflect.

One needs help to get more motivated and the other needs to learn how to relax. This becomes a lot easier to see and action when they are not wearing their blame blinkers and glasses.

LEARNING FROM NATURE

Playing the victim card has become second nature. Ironically, nature is the only place where blame does not exist. It is the reason why it effortlessly flourishes, even after a traumatic event. Our relationships can benefit from the same awareness.

Understanding that anger, frustration and conflict are blame based emotions is helpful. Realising they are

learnt emotions and not a natural part of the human experience is also helpful. They then become indicators you are in the Victim Cycle.

When you are in this space, it can be a great time to explain to your partner you are aware you are blaming them, and yourself. And you need some time to self-reflect. Not on what you think went wrong, but what they mirrored back to you. One of the main reasons we get angry with our partners, and others, is because they do not match our ideal of how they should behave. Most of the time, our arguments are with the label not the actual person. Which is why if your husband does something you will be super annoyed, but if your best friend did or said exactly the same thing you would have a different reaction.

Being in the blame space keeps us attached to our ideals. But again, nature is here to help guide us. Humans have given different aspects of nature their ‘labels’ and like to blame things they do not understand. Nature does not have any of these attachments and concerns.

Everything is moving in a constant state of ebb and flow. It flourishes because its default is to adapt and find creative solutions. This is a great model for us to learn from.

I am often asked, but surely there are situations where we had no contribution, and we are the innocent victim

CEO LEADS C-SUITE, C-SUITE DRIVES BUSINESS

If we are to achieve diversity amongst developers and help ease the talent crisis, we need to completely break these down so that true inclusion can be achieved.

As a CEO, it is impossible to be involved in every single business decision, which is why you are supported by a strong C-suite, with each member responsible for ensuring that their area of the business runs smoothly.

So does that mean that you can be a CEO without having a relationship with IT and the network

The short answer is no. Not given the pace of digitisation, when technology now powers and enables so much of your business.

The long answer is that when it comes to the network, CEOs all have varying degrees of understanding and input. But the stronger the relationship between the CEO and the network, the bigger the impact on IT, the business functions it supports, and the business at large.

BY LARS KOELENDORF

EMEA Vice President, Solutions and Enablement, Aruba HPE.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l Does that mean that you can be a CEO without having a relationship with IT and the network?

l The stronger the relationship between CEO and the network, the bigger the impact on IT.

l You could also automate your systems which would streamline operations.

INVESTING IN THE NETWORK

Is there any department that would not benefit from the ability to work better, faster, easier, smarter, cheaper and more secure Or any strategic priority that wouldn’t be advanced

The pandemic has already demonstrated why digital transformation is now fundamental to business survival. Having the latest technologies means you could help client- and customerfacing departments to provide higher quality and more competitive products and services, and to keep up with evolving demands. It means empowering back-end functions to provide better support to the rest of the business.

And it means that employees – regardless of which department they belong to or where they choose to work –can have the best experience possible, without any technical roadblocks and complications to stop them from delivering their best work. Indeed, many employees actually experienced very good connectivity while working from home during the pandemic – and now demand that same easy and seamless experience coming back into the workplace.

You could also automate your systems, which would not only streamline operations, eliminate human error and overcome human limitations, but free up your employees to focus on projects that drive real value.

Speaking of real value, with the right technology, you could also finally be able to derive actionable insights from the deluge of data that your company has been accumulating.

Enterprise data has the potential to deliver significant cost savings, improve

operational efficiency and even unlock new business opportunities and revenue streams. But first, it needs to be stored, secured, sorted and analysed – all of which a great enterprise network can help with. This is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what the network can do. To unlock its full potential, CEOs need to work closely with their CIOs and other department heads to understand the exact impact that the network could have on every area of their business.

NETWORK IS KEY

Sustainability is not just a strategic priority. For most companies around the world, sustainability has become the priority, given that it is being driven both from the top down, by company boards and investors, and governments and from the bottom up, by employees and the general public.

You could even say that the network and sustainability have something in common: they both have an impact on all areas of the business.

Which, in fact, means that the network can have an impact on all areas of sustainability!

The network plays an integral role in allowing companies to become more sustainable, to measure and prove their sustainability, and to build more sustainable products and services. And for this reason alone, investing in the right network infrastructure should be the top of any modern CEO’s agenda.

NOT JUST ABOUT KEEPING UP

Given the rate of change and disruption, any CEO simply using the network to keep operations moving and up with the latest technology has already lost the game.

It used to be that if the network were down, your employees could do other manual work while waiting for a fix. Today, however, if there are issues with the network everything stops. In that sense it has become fundamental to

keeping businesses running.

But the network has so much more potential than this – to help the business continually stay ahead of and be differentiated from the competition.

This is predominantly because investing in an agile network creates the foundation for every area of the business to innovate, from IT teams themselves to the company’s R&D department.

With an agile network, the infrastructure is always ready to integrate, support, secure and fund any new technological developments that might help

the business to move the needle on its goals.

Today, things move quickly. It is up to the CEO to ensure that their business can move just as fast.

So, for CEOs, my advice is simple. Focus on how you can empower your CIO to be an advocate for the network in your business, and support all your C-suite members to work together towards building a network that helps them achieve both their individual departmental and collective organisational goals. After all, the business drives the network. But it is the C-suite that drives the business, and the CEO that leads the C-suite.

The network can have an impact on all areas of sustainability.

PREDICTIVE DEMAND FORECASTING FOR RETAILERS

Companies can leverage specially crafted and customer-tailored demand forecasting solutions to transform data into demand insights and help grow sales.

Businesses that want the flexibility to navigate the changes and challenges produced by rapidly growing digitalisation will have to make digital resiliency a top priority. This will both reinforce current market positions and provide companies with the competitive advantages needed to grow.

Drastic shifts in consumer behaviour driven by digitalisation have already profoundly impacted retail and consumer-packaged goods, CPG companies. This has made it critical to keep pace with shifting consumer preferences and more diverse demands and expectations,

which will only be achieved by those companies that embrace robust digital strategies.

Retailers and CPG businesses that deploy innovative technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, will have access to in-depth insights, data, and information regarding consumer behaviours and preferences. This can be derived from customer touchpoints, such as previous transactions and feedback surveys to help firms make better informed and more appropriate decisions. These will not only strengthen business operations, but for CPG companies, it will also guarantee that the product stock-keeping unit, SKU is optimised.

One such solution is automated demand

KEY TAKEAWAYS

l Drastic shifts in consumer behaviour driven by digitalisation have already profoundly impacted retail and consumerpackaged goods.

l The ability to predict demand for products has always been important.

l Given the impact of the global pandemic on supply chains, primary goods production, in-store and online commerce, it is now critical.

l A lot of businesses continue to use laborious manual methods to predict demand, which are time-consuming and prone to errors.

l Retail businesses require automated forecasts that can predict seasonality, spikes, trends, across the wide range of situations they encounter.

forecasting, which helps organisations to generate more business value by producing more progressive insights. Companies can leverage various specially crafted and customertailored demand forecasting solutions, which efficiently transform data into demand insights and help grow sales.

The ability to predict demand for products has always been important but given the substantial impact of the global pandemic on supply chains, primary goods production, and both in-store and online commerce, it is now critical. However, a lot of businesses continue to use laborious manual methods to achieve this, which are both timeconsuming and prone to errors.

Retail and CPG businesses require automated forecasts that can predict seasonality, spikes, trends, and anomalies across the wide range of situations they now encounter. This would further help them enhance supply chain operations and build a thorough understanding of customer preferences and requirements.

To achieve these, many CPG and retail companies are now leveraging AI and ML tools to help them develop models and interpret the data with groups of data scientists. The results minimise overall risks, help gain a clearer understanding of short and long-term business objectives and enable planning for scalable success.

There is certainly no shortage of data, given daily data points covering everything from sales and production to distribution and marketing. But what many businesses lack is a thorough understanding of how to automatically transform these data points into useful forecasts. Companies that attempt to do so manually, frequently employ spreadsheets that are challenging to sustain

or use complex financial tools that are not scalable.

Furthermore, many businesses overlook other crucial factors that can help to determine demand including store location, holidays, product attributes, promotions, discounts, store size, and specific client demographics when combining pricing, discount, and SKU data.

Businesses that lack experience in creating forecast models or those who are unsure of the number of time series that should be supported, face additional difficulties. All of this results in outcomes that either require too much time to produce or are devoid of the data to be useful. Forecast alignment is further complicated since CPG and retail organisations view the same data and processes from different perspectives that can often yield poor demand forecasts that do little to help the business.

AUTOMATED FORECASTS

The customer-tailored demand forecasting solution offered by a professional digital solutions provider enables retail organisations and CPG companies to overcome many of these challenges, test hypotheses, and swiftly produce automated forecasts, without the requirement for in-depth technical expertise or knowledge. The solution identifies the data insights that clients need the most, going well beyond simple forecasts, and uses endto-end retail and CPG data science and analytics experience to bring results.

Organisations from a variety of industries can access forecasts and fine-tune models on any cloud provider or on-premises. They can quickly upload historical data and let the demand forecasting system handle the rest, due to its specially designed, automated approach to forecasting. A company’s historical data series, also referred to as time-series data, is composed of information gathered from

BY LAITH AL-BAZIRGAN Sales Director, SoftServe.

previous sales by product, date, and place over a predetermined time frame.

Automated forecasts are produced by combining this time-series data with additional business-specific variables. The forecast assumptions are then verified by decisionmakers, turning those into better-informed strategies which can drive further business improvement.

Numerous setup options and use recommendations can further accelerate data intake, enhance the accuracy of forecasts, and provide outcomes in line with corporate objectives. These forecasting solutions frequently produce outcomes that are significantly better than those developed alone.

Companies have been able to successfully fine-tune their product mix by area, demography, and season

with the aid of this demand forecasting technology, and consequently significantly improve customer analytics and inventory management.

This solution can also be customised to reflect client demand and requirements. For instance, it can be modified for “what-if” scenario analysis to enable companies to forecast the effects of various changes and modifications to their business, supply chain, and financial models. This can then be more widely used for resource planning to help improve operational efficiency.

This means the forecasts ensure that clients have the required supplies, transportation, personnel, e-tail capacity, and distribution facilities on hand to satisfy demand, meet customer expectations, and grow the business.

This would help them enhance supply chain operations and build understanding of customer preferences and requirements

AS PEOPLE MOVE, NETWORKS MUST FOLLOW

Job satisfaction may improve if organisations support an optimal hybrid experience that sees the office as a mobile evolving space and the network as a key enabler.

As has already been widely reported, the pandemic caused a great shift in our working patterns and in the workplace – prompting organisations to reconsider the office space and the enterprise network in order to support employees’ evolving expectations and needs. And over two years later, that shift shows no signs of slowing.

In fact, as we look to 2023, redesigning the workplace and the network that supports it has become pivotal for organisations that want to achieve better business operations and results, as well as improve employee satisfaction.

Yet, how exactly have employee expectations and needs changed? And what should CIOs consider when creating the best hybrid workspace and experience for the future?

Leesman, a global provider of original research

on workplace quality and employee satisfaction, created a report that utilises their insights and large survey database of over 70,000 worker respondents and 125 corporate real estate respondents to answer these questions.

With 93% of corporate real estate leaders surveyed indicating that their organisations plan to adopt hybrid work as standard practice going forward and 94% revealing that they plan to make further physical changes in the workplace to support organisational and, or employees’ needs, the results offer compelling information for CIOs as they map out their goals for next year.

HUB OF CONNECTION

Despite many workplace specialists’ beliefs that the main purpose of the future office is to be a hub of collaboration, Leeman’s findings indicate

BY ALAN NI Senior Director Edge Marketing, Aruba.

that the office is becoming more important as a hub of connection, with connectionbased activities showing the highest increase in importance over any other work activity.

The office has become a centralised area to connect with colleagues and co-workers, not necessarily on specific tasks or problems in pre-arranged, and large group formal meetings, but to engage in informal social interaction and informal, unplanned meetings. The office is a space where employees increasingly want to go to develop relationships and get a deeper sense of community, and more informal spaces to socialise would better support that.

It’s important to note that workers are satisfied with the effectiveness of home-based collaboration and are more satisfied with hybrid-based collaboration than office only. This may be due to the effectiveness of technologies such as online meetings and messaging for collaboration.

DESK-BASED WORK

Both prior to and during the COVID disruption, individual focused, desk-based work remained the most important working activity according to Leesman’s survey results,

regardless of respondent role, age, and gender, with an 8090% importance rating.

So, for CIOs who want employees to spend more time working in the office, one of the most fundamental requirements is to support individually focused deskbased work – both in the office and wherever hybrid work gets done.

There is also a difference in attitude between office workers and hybrid workers on fixed computing equipment, with more office workers than hybrid workers selecting this IT feature as important, 37%. As for mobile computing, more hybrid workers than office workers find this IT feature important, 70%.

WORKPLACE MOBILITY

Mobility has also become one of the most desired factors for employees in today’s work environment – and many organisations are already looking to change the physical layouts, forms, and size of their offices to reflect this, as well as to foster open communication and a collaborative culture.

Judging by Leesman’s results, offices are likely to become smaller in the future. Therefore, organisations must improve workspace organisation and flexibility with flex-desking, assigned days, and tighter tools for room booking, supported by an increasing number of IoT devices and measurement systems.

At the same time, more organisations are investing in quieter and smaller rooms for working alone or in pairs, increased Wi-Fi network connectivity for the office, and mobile computing equipment.

FIXED VERSUS MOBILE

CIOs must also understand which aspects of technology have grown or decreased

in importance. According to Leesman’s data, employees are dissatisfied with fixed computing equipment in the office, considering it to be slow and out of date, and IT infrastructure also seems insufficient compared to home working settings.

In light of this, CIOs should consider whether fixed IT features are necessary for their business and whether they should be replaced with mobile equipment. This may also bring with it a need to review network speed and quality.

Leesman’s findings make it clear that the redesigned office of the future will benefit from a far more advanced wireless infrastructure to support the full range of devices, users, and platforms and to enable work-from-anywhere mobility. Rethinking IT infrastructure is key to achieving better business outcomes, from increasing employee productivity and engagement, to reducing capital and real estate operating costs, and more.

As people move, networks must follow. Job satisfaction and performances may improve if organisations better support an optimal hybrid experience that sees the office as a mobile and evolving working space and the network as a key enabler to be an employee satisfaction and performance multiplier.

Redesigning the workplace and the network that supports it has become pivotal for organisations

SOCIAL

INFINITI QX60 WITH TOUCH AND CHARGING

An element of the INFINITI QX60 broad appeal is integration of technologies that enable productivity and connectivity. For starters, all grades include INFINITI InTouch with a 12.3-inch display featuring wireless Apple CarPlay and USB-based Android Auto. The new standard wireless device charging mat is one way to keep devices charged, but the QX60 also features abundant USB ports. The inside of the QX60 is wholly functional for up to seven passengers. INFINITI Zero Gravity-inspired seats help deliver comfort, whether you journey is a long or short one, and the flexible seating allows you to create more passenger or cargo space according to your needs. Aside from its aesthetic, the QX60 has a powerful performance, represented by its V6 Engine, an all-new 9-speed auto transmission, a horsepower of 279HP, 350 NM torque, and Intelligent All-Wheel Drive, making it one of the finest and most versatile three-row SUV, ideal for your family.

Jack Kelly moves from Forex.com to Vantage as Head of Sales in Australia

Vantage, the multi-asset trading platform, has appointed Jack Kelly as the Head of Sales in Australia. Vantage is a leading trading platform for trading Contracts for Difference, providing a fast execution trading ecosystem through its online platform and award-winning mobile app.

In this role, Kelly will ensure the delivery of a high-quality experience for customers by empowering the team to provide the right solutions for clients’ evolving trading needs. He will also be responsible for growing Vantage’s sales team in Australia and supporting the integration of third-party tools and partners across marketing, sales, and operations channels.

Kelly joins Vantage Markets from Forex.com, where he was Sales Director for Americas based in New York. At Forex.com, Kelly was responsible for leading the company’s sales function across the US and Canada region.

IoT and LiDAR expert, Tianyue Yu joins Artilux as strategic advisor

Artilux, the world leader of GeSi photonic technology for CMOS based SWIR sensing and imaging, announced that Tianyue Yu, Quanergy Systems co-founder and former CTO, is joining as its strategic advisor. Yu’s 25+ years of experience and profound industry knowledge in the field of solid-state scanning LiDAR for automotive and IoT will aid in bolstering Artilux’s next growth phase in providing a scalable 3D sensing and imaging technology platform for various market segments.

Solid-state LiDAR is gaining recognition for its reliability, compactness, lightweight design, and cost-effectiveness. It is also considered the pivotal element to the mass-adoption of future LiDAR applications. With electronic beam steering and no moving parts, the use of OPA technology enables true solid-state LiDAR with advantages in terms of size, speed, accuracy, and dynamic scanning. While serving as the CTO and CDO of Quanergy, Yu’s vision and technical leadership has pushed the OPA Solid State LiDAR technology’s capability envelope and pioneered several industry-first performance benchmarks in last few years.

Rajesh Gopinathan to step down as TCS chief, K

appointed as CEO designate

Rajesh Gopinathan has decided to step down as the CEO and MD of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to pursue other interests, after a long career of over 22 years with the company and a successful stint at the helm during the last six years.

The Board of Directors has considered his request and accepted the same. Gopinathan will continue with the company till September 15, 2023 to provide transition and support to his successor.

The Board has nominated K. Krithivasan as the CEO Designate with effect from March 16, 2023. Krithivasan will go through a transition with Rajesh Gopinathan and will be appointed as the MD and CEO in the next financial year.

A lot of leadership changes are in the pipeline in Indian IT services companies. Recently, Cognizant Technology Solutions appointed Ravi Kumar S as the new CEO after Brian Humphries resigned on January 9 in a surprise move. Tech Mahindra also just announced that Mohit Joshi will be the new CEO and MD after C.P. Gurnani’s retirement on December 19, 2023.

Krithivasan

(Lefttoright)RajeshGopinathan,MDandCEO,TCSandK Krithivasan, CEO TCS.

Capital A appoints entrepreneur Aswani Chaitanya as VP of Investments

Capital A, a leading venture fund for early-stage startups, has appointed Aswani Chaitanya as its Vice President of Investments. As a successful entrepreneur turned VC, Chaitanya brings with him experience in building and scaling businesses. In his new role, he will spearhead investments and build the portfolio management team within Capital A.

Chaitanya has over 15 years of corporate experience working at companies such as Wipro, Deutsche Bank, and Goldman Sachs. His entrepreneurial debut was through Timios, a healthy snack brand for kids, which successfully raised funding from marquee investors. After scaling the venture, he eventually divested controlling stakes in the company to take up his new role at Capital A.

Founded by Ankit Kedia, the former promoter of Manjushree Technopack, the largest manufacturer of rigid plastic packaging in South Asia, Capital A is a seed to early-stage venture capital firm.

Recently, Capital A had unveiled ‘Evolve’, a dedicated fund for the electric mobility ecosystem startups. Capital A claims to have supported more than two dozen startups across gaming, electric mobility, SaaS, creator economy, and sustainable business sectors. The fund aims to continue supporting 8-10 startups each year going forward.

ChemPartner elevates Lilly Xu to President of Shanghai ChemPartner

ChemPartner announced appointment of Lilly Xu, PhD as President of Shanghai ChemPartner. She is a seasoned manager with a strong portfolio who joined ChemPartner in 2017 to lead the strategic drug discovery services as Senior Vice President and Head of DMPK and Exploratory Toxicology. Prior to joining ChemPartner, Xu held various positions in US biotech and pharmaceutical companies including Amgen and Sanofi US.

Additionally, she was the Head of the Center for Predictive ADMET at Sanofi US, and she holds a green belt in Lean 6 Sigma. Xu earned a PhD in molecular and cellular biology from Saint Louis University in St Louis, Missouri. During her time in academia, she pioneered the use of human and animal hepatocytes in drug metabolism and drug-drug interactions.

As a leading, global CRO and CDMO, ChemPartner provides integrated life science services for drug discovery and development with expertise in discovery chemistry, biology, pharmacology, DMPK, exploratory toxicology, biologics discovery and development, and biologics manufacturing.

Checkmarx, the global leader in application security solutions, announced that technology executive Sandeep Johri will succeed co-founder Emmanuel Benzaquen as CEO. Benzaquen will continue to serve on the company’s Board of Directors.

Johri has spent many years in Silicon Valley as an executive, founder, strategic advisor and investor. He most recently served as CEO of Tricentis, which he led for seven years from an early-stage startup to a global leader of continuous-testing software solutions. Previously, Johri held senior management roles at HP, where he created and implemented the strategy to grow the software division from $600 million in revenue to category leadership and $3.5 billion in revenue. Johri has been the founder of several VC-funded security startups such as Oblix (acquired by Oracle), Determina and Bluelane (both acquired by VMware).

Sandeep Johri moves from Tricentis to Checkmarx as CEO; Emmanuel Benzaquen to join Board