editorial
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We must measure up and overcome Published by Business Media International Registered office: Office 10, Sharjah Media City www.bmi-digital.com Editor in Chief Raman Narayan narayan@bmimea.com Mob: 971-55-7802403 Sales Director Ankit Shukla ankit@bmimea.com Tel: 971-4-2618885, Mob: 971-55-2572807 EDitor Diksha Vohra editor@smartsmb.net Mob: 971-50-6395616 Assistant EDitor CV Arya Devi arya @bmimea.com Tel: 971-55-8542917 Circulation manager Jinal Chheda jinal@bmimea.com Tel: 971-52-5875607 sales Mohammad Mubin mohammad@bmimea.com Tel: 971-58-5875607 design Sunil Kumar design@bmimea.com
Humankind has been the dominant species on earth over the past many thousands of years. It is only in the past few centuries, that we made marked progress towards modernity with successive inventions and innovations. Our progress moved up one more gear possibly somewhere at the beginning of the 20th century and with the dawn of the computer, another notch up. In the 21st century, we have been seeing transformations as never before, as we embraced the mobility and cloud era. Yet, as the Pandemic reveals, we are only second best to nature and therefore must make sure we align with the larger rules, which will ensure our sustenance as a species. We must also be aware that such instances could repeat in future and mankind must be better prepared to battle such critical challenges. Nature doesn’t recognize man made borders of nation states and therefore it calls for greater cooperation between all mankind for the larger good. This is likely a watershed phase in how all humankind comes to realize that their fate is intertwined. Fortunately, we are today armed with an array of technologies that are helping us navigate the myriad challenges, from working remotely (the focus of the cover story in the issue) and ensuring business continuity, to ensuring better healthcare, using tele-medicine, AI tools etc to screen infections and pursue the cure etc. Remote working is seeing greater acceleration in adoption rates and the world is most likely to embrace new modes of working for the longer term. While some of these collaboration applications have been around for some years now, they are now more enhanced as cloud based tools, easily downloaded or logged into via browsers. More people at work will likely embrace these tools and yet there must be a balance in ensuring the face to face physical meetings between customers, clients, partners and all stakeholders as required.
R. Narayan Editor in Chief, Smart SMB
Management Chairman S.N. Tiwari
CEO Saumyadeep Halder
Publisher Raman Narayan
Managing Director Ankit Shukla
sn.tiwari@bmimea.com
narayan@bmimea.com
saumyadeep@bmimea.com
ankit@bmimea.com
Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to validate the accuracy of all information included in the magazine, the publishers wouldn’t be liable for any errors therein Copyright@2019 Business Media International LLC. All rights reserved.
March 2020 / SmartSMB
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Content
CONTENTS Cover featur
Cables up to speed - 20 The transformation catalyst - 24
Case Study Solutions for better workflow - 26
Rise of the digital workspace hubs - 12
HR
News in detail UAE Ranks third in Agility’s Emerging Markets Logistics Index - 11
Business Outlook Surviving the tough stretch - 18
Navigating the HR impact of Covid19 - 28
AUTOMATION
Column How Expo 2020 will change your business - 30 Cloud Data Management as a strategy - 32
The upswing in Home automation - 22
Talkpoint Redefining networks - 16 SmartSMB / March 2020
Managing the Cultural Impact of Industry 4.0 in Manufacturing - 34
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News
Dubai Chamber highlights the competitive advantages of the UAE FDI Law Chamber organised introductory workshop on FDI developments in collaboration with Clyde & Co.
UAE’s first tech-based platform set to unify vehicle rentals in the region The tech start-up aims to elevate the traditional way of doing business with high level services, innovation and profound customer care
Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Dubai Chamber) organised a workshop titled ‘Key Aspects of Foreign Direct Investment’, to help the private sector to understand the key aspects of UAE FDI Law. Organised in collaboration with international law firm Clyde & Co, the workshop raised awareness about the FDI Law and focused on other important issues like regulations on foreign ownership in the UAE, corporate structuring for foreign investors, economic substance, and fines for non-compliance. Conducted by Clyde & Co, Partners Benjamin Smith and Adrian Low, and Associate Katy Thomson, the workshop was attended by representatives from various sectors including lawyers, legal professionals, business owners, executives, experts in contracts and compliance, investors and general managers. Director of the Dubai Chamber’s Legal Services Department, Jehad Kazim, said the UAE was characterised by its open market, full of investment opportunities. “The UAE offers fertile ground for companies to grow and expand their operations to neighbouring markets,” she said, describing the FDI SmartSMB / March 2020
Law as a game-changer in terms of providing a safe and stimulating environment for investors. “The law covers various elements of interest to investors. It allows them to fully own their projects in specific sectors and provides clear information and data to guide their investment choices and decisions,” Kazim explained, noting that the workshop organised by the Chamber aimed to improve the private sector’s awareness of the law, its applications and provisions. Benjamin Smith, Corporate Partner at Clyde & Co in Dubai said: “We were delighted to collaborate with Dubai Chamber to organise this important workshop that highlighted significant recent legislative developments regarding the FDI Law, and corporate structuring. These topics are of great interest to our clients and to companies operating in the UAE in general.” Dubai Chamber’s annual programme of activities includes organising training and awareness workshops that target the emirate’s business sector and cover the latest legal and regulatory developments that affect the corporate environment.
Beno Technologies, a youth-led technology company based in the UAE, announced the launch of its newest initiative, Beno, an innovative platform set to revolutionize the vehicle renting sector. As the transportation market undergoes one of the most radical changes shaped by new technologies and on-demand mobility services, many sectors are being disrupted. Beno recognizes this shift and the underlying emerging opportunities. By embracing the concept of a shared economy, Beno aims to empow-
News
er SMEs across the UAE by unifying their fleets under one streamlined tech-based platform. The community-based vehicle rental marketplace will not only increase traditional sales channels for its partners, but also create a more efficient, data enabled, and technology driven ecosystem with consumers at its heart. The visionary tech start-up aims to elevate the traditional way of doing business with high level services, innovation and profound customer care. “Keeping both our partners and customers happy is the reason we do what we do. With that, success follows, said Ahmad Eshtieh, Co-founder, Beno Technologies. “We are a community driven bunch looking to fill all gaps of our industry with state-of-the-art technology and constant innovation to enhance our customer’s experience”. Since its inception in 2018, Beno Technologies, a youth-led tech company has taken the market by storm attracting the attention of numerous venture capitalists and investors with their vision, innovation and energy. The company has successfully raised a seed round and is valued at AED 10 million Dirhams. According to a study by Euromonitor International, total online car rental sales in the UAE will reach AED 1.85 billion by 2022 and sales are expected to grow at a cumulative rate of 14.8% between 2020 and 2022, assuring the exponential growth in this particular market. Beno’s vision is to act as the bridge for local vehicle rental businesses amplifying their probabilities of being part of this statistic. “Our launch confirms Beno’s continued dedication to spearheading technological innovation within the technology and overarching business community” said Mohammed Awad, Co-founder, Beno Technologies. The new Beno app is available for download on Google Play and Apple Store.
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Extreme Networks doubles its investments in the Middle East Extreme’s extensive portfolio of edge, campus, and data center technology is deployed by organizations of all sizes, operating across all sectors Extreme Networks, a cloud-driven networking company, announced the expansion of its operations and investments in the Middle East. Following the recent appointment of Maan Al-Shakarchi as Regional Director for Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META), Extreme has expanded into new regional headquarters in Dubai and is set to grow its sales, channel, and marketing teams in the region. The company is also placing emphasis on strengthening relationships with its regional distributors and engaging new channel partners. As a channel-centric organization, Extreme is committed to providing both VAR and MSP end-users in the META region with cloud-based, end-to-end networking solutions that meet their needs—and those of their customers. At the core, Extreme’s partnerships are centered around a shared vision of leveraging its joint solutions to enable positive change for its customers and communities. John Morrison, Vice President, EMEA & APAC Sales, Extreme Networks says, “The META market is among the fastest-growing and most innovative regions in the world. As a global brand, Extreme Networks is excited to further expand its operations and footprint across META at a time where it is more important than ever for businesses to have agile, reliable, and secure network infrastructure in place to fuel their digital transformation efforts. Extreme Networks is the right choice for any
organization in this innovative region that is looking for a trusted partner that supports them on their journey." This strategy will enable Extreme to build on the momentum it has established across META. The company already has an impressive roster of clients in the region, which are part of over 50,000 customers globally who rely on Extreme Networks’ cloud-driven networking solutions. This includes leading names in banking, hospitality, retail, government, healthcare, and manufacturing. Maan Al-Shakarchi, Regional Director for Middle East, Turkey, and Africa, Extreme Networks says, "Extreme has an established brand reputation in the region and we regularly feature in analyst reports as a leader in the enterprise wired and wireless LAN markets, as well as an innovator in fabric networking, Wi-Fi access solutions, cloud-management, and IoT security. We have a strong value proposition for the many innovative enterprises that are looking to enhance customer outcomes and drive business growth by embracing advanced technologies such as Wi-Fi 6, AI, machine learning and IoT. We are therefore deepening our commitment and support for our regional customers and partners by doubling our investment in this market. This marks the beginning of a new chapter in Extreme's role in the META region and I am incredibly excited to play a crucial part in this.” March 2020 / SmartSMB
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News
Sage Eyes Growing Demand for Smart Accounting, HR Solutions in Middle East Appoints Redington Gulf as official distribution partner for the region ducing costs, and streamlining processes are among the main objectives for companies embarking on their digital transformation journey. Among the top technologies that are changing the business landscape are AI and machine learning, including robotic process automation, cloud computing, and blockchain. This trend has also impacted company budgets, with 43 per cent of ICT budgets allocated towards innovation projects last year, compared to 39 per cent in 2018.
Mansoor Sarwar
Director, Technical Services, Sage ME
In a bid to capitalise on the high uptake for automated and digitalised accounting and HR solutions in the Middle East, Sage (FTSE: SGE), a market leader in cloud business management solutions, is actively pursuing a digital-first growth strategy in the region. Digital transformation is emerging as one of the key trends dominating the region, according to joint research undertaken across the Middle East by Sage and International Data Corporation (IDC), the premier global provider of market intelligence. Some 76 per cent of the businesses surveyed have digital transformation projects underway, while 13 per cent are about to start, and 11 per cent are at the planning stage. Enhancing the customer experience, improving operational efficiency, reSmartSMB / March 2020
To meet the increasing demand for cloud-based cloud business management solutions from customers in the GCC, Sage has lately appointed Redington Gulf, a leading provider of information technology products and services, as its value-added distribution partner for small and medium business products and services. Under the terms of the partnership, Sage can now leverage Redington Gulf’s wide distribution network to expand its presence in the Middle East and reach new markets and customers while simplifying and improving its operational processes and efficiencies. Speaking on the development, Mansoor Sarwar, Director of Technical Services at Sage Middle East, said: “The Middle East is a strategic and highgrowth region for Sage, with many businesses recognising the need to move from legacy software to smarter cloud-based solutions. Collaborating with Redington Gulf, a best-of-breed distribution partner enables us to implement our growth strategy and better serve the needs of this dynamic market.”
Microsoft launches Global Social Entrepreneurship program The global initiative will aim to help social enterprise startups build and scale their ideas into businesses- empowering them to achieve more globally In its efforts to further accelerate social good, Microsoft has announced a new ‘Global Social Entrepreneurship Program’ to offer qualified startups access to technology, education, customer network and grants. The program, available across 140 countries, will provide free access to Microsoft technologies and a chance to be part of the community of like-minded global innovators who share ideas, foster connections and celebrate success. Social enterprises that become part of the Global Social Entrepreneurship
News
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Cloud usage drives cybersecurity spending in SANS 2020 survey Increased use of public cloud IaaS implementations as the biggest disrupter to security programs program will receive access to free Microsoft cloud technologies, including up to $120,000 in Azure credits, along with technical support and guidance. A dedicated program manager will help Global Social Entrepreneurship startups market and sell solutions and connect to large commercial organizations and nongovernmental organizations that are potential customers. Startups focused on sustainability, accessibility, and skills and employability will also be eligible for grants. The Global Social Entrepreneurship program builds on Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to support the start-up community. The launch of its UAE datacenters to serve the Middle East, as well dedicated initiatives such as the Microsoft reactor program, are some of the many efforts taken by the company to empower regional start-ups accelerate innovation by harnessing the cloud technologies.
The rapid migration to cloud-based technologies is the biggest disrupter worldwide of operations and a key driver when organisations plan their spending increases, according to the results of the latest SANS 2020 Cybersecurity Spending Survey. “The SANS survey showed that rapid movement of corporate services and business applications to cloudbased technology is the biggest factor causing breakage in existing security architectures as well as driving most new security spending,” says John Pescatore, SANS Director of Emerging Security Trends. “Cloud monitoring and cloud security access controls were the top two spending areas, followed by spending to increase security staff skills to deal with new technologies, such as the cloud, and to keep up with changes in regulations as well as new threats.” Slightly more than 50% of respondents ranked the increased use of public cloud infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) implementations as the biggest disrupter to security programs in the next 12 months. Based on that, 71% of respondents reported seeing a need to increase spending on cloud security monitoring, followed by cloud access security broker cloud-specific tools (53%), staff skills training (52%) and strong authentication (46%). Overall, 57% of respondents feel that out of people, process and technology, an increased investment in people would provide the biggest improvement to their overall security posture, followed distantly by process (19%) and technology (18%).
John Pescatore
SANS Director, Emerging Security Trends In a series of follow-up interviews with selected survey respondents, security managers recognise the need for “upskilling” to increase retention rates, which improves both effectiveness and efficiency. Increased skills around new technologies and new security techniques is also required to enable any use of security automation technologies, which were not highly cited for spending increases in 2020. Strong authentication, the fourth most highly cited area of planned new spending, points to the recognition that the majority of damage from breaches and ransomware attacks in the past year were enabled by the use of reusable passwords that were easily captured via phishing attacks. CEOs and boards of directors are backing security teams in overcoming obstacles to implementing multifactor authentication. March 2020 / SmartSMB
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News
Automation Anywhere announces Integrated Process Discovery Solution Automation Anywhere, a global leader in Robotic Process Automation (RPA), announced the world’s first integrated artificial intelligence (AI)-driven process discovery solution that discovers business processes and with oneclick creates bots to automate them. Automation Anywhere Discovery Bot uses AI and machine learning to automatically capture and analyze user actions to uncover common, repetitive process steps as employees navigate between business applications. It then prioritizes automation opportunities by potential return on investment (ROI) and develops RPA bots – accelerating the process automation journey for organizations. Research by Automation Anywhere shows that nearly 80 percent of man-
ual, repetitive front-and-back office business tasks that can be automated, remain undiscovered. The new, intelligent, automatic process discovery technology – built on top of the company’s cloud-native intelligent automation platform – leverages years of investment in RPA, AI and machine learning to increase the pace of process discovery and automation. As a zero-client solution, it can be easily deployed across the enterprise and allows business users, IT and developers to collaborate via the same web-based interface and reduce the time spent understanding business process workflows. “In 2020, RPA adoption continues to transcend other technologies as organizations aggressively pursue digital transformation initiatives. However,
GCC’s first Proptech Community launched in the UAE
Prince Kohli
CTO, AutomationAnywhere
at the same time, customers struggle to understand which processes they should even automate,” said Prince Kohli, Chief Technology Officer, Automation Anywhere. “With Discovery Bot, they gain a comprehensive understanding of all business processes, can prioritize their automation backlog, and with a single click, create and deploy new bots for repeatable processes, five times faster than with traditional approaches.”
to start the UAE-centric realty community stems from growth in Proptech community locally. We sensed a gap that could be filled in by bringing in all the stake holders together.” The ever growing real estate sector contributed 13.6 per cent to Dubai’s GDP in 2018, according to the Dubai Land Department or (DLD), compared to 6.9 per cent in 2017, while the construction sector’s contribution to the GDP reached 6.4 per cent in 2018 compared to 6.2 per cent in both 2017 and 2016.
GCC’s first Proptech Community was officially launched in the UAE. The new initiative brought together Proptech entrepreneurs, mentors and investors to shed light on different Proptech related topics from angel investing to property management and energy optimization. The event hosted three innovative tech companies, who shared their disruptive business models. The UAE’s first Proptech Community — SmartSMB / March 2020
a virtual platform to facilitate all the industry players — aims to keep its members updated by giving real time information, networking (online and offline) and helping the industry grow, by introducing latest innovation and new business strategies. Adel El Mawla, Managing Director at Proptech Community, said: “The UAE is known to be a pioneer of change and we are learning from it. The idea
The surge in sector figures also indicates growth in adoption of latest technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Big data by organisations. Fadi Nwilati, CEO at Kaizen Asset Management, said: “Adopting a culture of innovation today is an option for many to thrive but also a necessity for most to sustain.” Over the last 20 Years the UAE has been at the fore front of construction and real estate, often leading the world in the most innovative designs and landmarks globally attracting international capital.
News IN DEPTH
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Uae ranks third in agility’s emerging markets logistics index
Ranks in the top ten for business fundamentals, domestic & international logistics al trade volumes, uncertain growth prospects and the ongoing trade war between the US and China are driving this belief. The Index ranks 50 countries by factors that make them attractive to logistics providers, freight forwarders, shipping lines, air cargo carriers and distributors. The top 10 are: China, India, UAE, Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Mexico, Thailand and Turkey, China, India and Indonesia rank highest for domestic logistics; China, India and Mexico are top for international logistics; and UAE, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia have the best business fundamentals. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) ranks first in the region and third globally, after China and India respectively, according to the 2020 Agility Emerging Markets Logistics Index, compiled by Transport Intelligence (Ti), a leading analysis and research firm for the logistics industry. For the first time since the launch of the Index, the UAE features in the top 10 list of all three individual sub-Indices. The jump in the rankings is the result of the country’s continued open financial sector, transparent regulatory system and corruption protection frameworks and its progress towards a comprehensive national SME development strategy. Gulf countries outperform most other emerging market regions in the 11th annual Agility Emerging Markets Logistics Index, a broad gauge of competitiveness based on logistics strength and business fundamentals. Business-friendly conditions and core strengths position several Gulf countries near the top of the Index, behind giants China (1) and India (2), and alongside Southeast Asian nations. In the Gulf, United Arab Emirates (No.
3), Saudi Arabia (6), Qatar (7), Oman (14), Bahrain (15) and Kuwait (19) rank highly. Among ASEAN countries, Indonesia (4), Malaysia (5), Thailand (9) and Vietnam (11) are strong. “The Gulf nations continue to diversify, making steady progress in streamlining regulation and realizing increased digital capabilities,” says Elias Monem, CEO of Middle East & Africa for Agility GIL. “The entire region is growing and the outlook continues to be healthy as we enter the new decade.”
China and India, atop the 2020 rankings based on their size and strength as international and domestic logistics markets, lag behind smaller rivals in business fundamentals, a category that ranks countries based on regulatory environment, credit and debt dynamics, contract enforcement, anti-corruption safeguards, price stability and market access.
Agility’s annual survey of 780 supply chain professionals reveals overall pessimism about the world economy with 64% saying a global recession is likely, and only 12% of executives saying a recession is unlikely. Downward pressure on globMarch 2020 / SmartSMB
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COVER FEATURE
RISE OF THE DIGITAL WORKSPACE HUBS More relevant than ever before, virtual workspace software offer great options for effective continuity of work and collaboration —By R. Narayan
SmartSMB / March 2020
COVER FEATURE
13
I
t does seem now that Technology has been quietly preparing us for scenarios which have been unfolding over the past month or so. Today, we are empowered with technologies that enable us to connect and collaborate on the work front remotely with a rich array of choices in terms of solutions. The continuing onslaught of Covid-19 has spared almost no country in terms of infections, slowing down the wheels of global economy. While we wait for the pandemic to slow down and subside, Business has slowed down but needs to continue. And how do we do that when getting to your physical workplace become a challenge? Technology offers you alternatives that are as good as being at your workplace, in connecting and collaborating with your colleagues and others, thus keeping pace with work deadlines. There was never a more apt time for realizing the worth of tools that enable video based meetings and work related collaboration. This is the juncture at which traditional work as we know it is truly seeing a massive transformation as more numbers of global workforce are compelled to find Technology alternatives for staying connected and carry on. Enabling the transformation are a good number of Technology vendors who have been steadily building up and enhancing those suites of collaboration software, accessed easily with the hardware/browser of choice. Look around and you will spot a great variety of collaboration tools that are being offered for free as well in several instances. A virtual workspace is a digital avatar of the physical office and comes with many collaborations as well as communication tools, depending on the vendor of your choice. These are mostly cloud based apps and there web enabled versions as well for most. They act us hubs for teams to connect via internal communications software or video conferencing software and they provide a framework for Businesses to continue work, overcoming disruptions as we have seen in the light of the
Mohamed Arif
Business Group Director, Modern Workplace & Security, Microsoft UAE
Covid-19 outbreak globally. These workspaces typically also allow users to create virtual office spaces separated into “rooms" with specific objectives. They offer channels like instant messaging, video conferencing, etc as well as collaborative tools like screen sharing and document sharing. There is likely to be a steep adoption of these tools and this is already happening in verticals like Education for instance. Several educational institutions have been hurriedly on-boarding their staff and students on to collaboration platforms for continuing video based live instructional classes as regular classes are disrupted dues to concerns over Covid-19. Microsoft offers Microsoft Teams, which is a chat-based digital workspace for Office 365 that has been built and designed to make collaboration and group work easier and more efficient. Microsoft Teams allows you to instant chat, schedule calls and meetings within your own teams and across your organisation. According to Mohamed Arif, Business Group Director, Modern Workplace and Security, Microsoft UAE, “The value that Businesses get from Teams goes beyond video conferencing. It is a modern chat based collaboration workspace. It enables integration of
apps and of course enables video calling and conferencing. At Microsoft, we have always maintained that work is not a place you go to necessarily but rather what you do and which is truer today than ever before. Teams enables you to travel with your work, serving as a hub for your workspace.” He adds, “Beyond the fact that it enables you to get together with your colleagues, allows work with features like transcription for instance- as you speak, automatically transcribing and translating, so little is lost in terms of listening and understanding by all colleagues. It includes some AI features like transcribing/translation and settings like blurring of the background, helpful when operating out of home environments. So the objective with Microsoft teams is to provide a hub for your workspace.” Zoho offers a suite of solutions for remote working. Zoho Showtime and Zoho Meeting together provide all-inone solution for video conferencing, live webinars and delivering presentations. It supports recording the session and playback. Hyther Nizam, President MEA, Zoho Corp, says, “ In general, the UAE market like others prefers in-person meetings and video conferencing would be used only when a person outside UAE is involved in the conversation. But given March 2020 / SmartSMB
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COVER FEATURE
This solution is recognized for its ease of implementation and the significant impact it can have on organizational resilience and continuity. Since January, Avaya has seen a 200 percent increase in video collaboration traffic on the Avaya Spaces platform.” As it is cloud-based, Avaya Spaces has been designed for utmost convenience, allowing users to seamlessly transition between devices – be it their laptop, smartphone or tablet. For this reason, Spaces can be accessed via the browser - all you need is your password and you can sign in from anywhere and any device. Avaya Spaces also offers also built in Google, Slack, Microsoft Office 365, Outlook, and Teams integrations.
Hyther Nizam
President MEA, Zoho Corp.
the situation now, we see a huge spike in our video conferencing solutions in the region. With Zoho Remotely launch this is going to increase in the coming weeks exponentially. You can moderate the conversation and share screens, which is much-needed when collaborating with your co-workers. We have also provided productivity and collaboration tools such as project management tools (Zoho Projects and Sprints), office suite and more. Together, packaged under Zoho Remotely, are all the tools a company needs to enable remote working.” Zoho has also gone ahead and made the tools free for use by Businesses for now, looking to help out in this hour of need. He adds, “From March first week, over 8000 employees of Zoho, spread around more than 10 offices across the world have been working from home, and we have been using our own collaboration and productivity tools, which we have recently launched as Remotely. It's free for all businesses till July 1, by when, we hope this pandemic would have passed.” Avaya's offering for collaboration is Avaya Spaces, a cloud meeting and team collaboration app. Savio Tovar Dias, Senior Director SmartSMB / March 2020
Sales Engineering, Avaya International says, “Avaya Spaces is a cost-effective cloud meeting and team collaboration app that effortlessly integrates voice, video, tasks, sharing and more into one app that can be accessed from any endpoint device. The solution offers all the meeting and team collaboration features that remote workers need. This includes voice and video conferencing for up to 200 participants, meeting spaces, and file sharing.” As such, Avaya Spaces enables collaboration, with team members in any location working as though they’re in the same room effortlessly in chat, via online meetings or using meeting room video. Avaya Spaces has been witnessing a significant adoption growth rate since beginning of the year, according to Savio. He adds, "Avaya believes in technology for the good of humanity and we are providing our Avaya Spaces collaboration software for free to education institutions and eligible non-profit organizations worldwide. We know there is an especially immediate need in the education sector as school and university administrators consider the safety of their students while ensuring continuity of their classes, engagement with their students and delivering on their educational objectives.
Against the current backdrop, most collaboration suites would be seeing a faster than normal adoption. Microsoft Teams, a leading choice, has been witnessing a huge traction for Microsoft Teams and has also enabled trial versions to enable more businesses and individuals to work remotely. Mohamed says, “Previously as well, we have been seeing strong adoption with customers like Emirates Airlines, adopting Microsoft teams as workspace of their choice. We have seen over the past a strong adoption across the board- possibly one of our fastest rates of adoption across product lines. Recently, we have a seen a sharp spike and had published recently about a 500% increase in adoption in China. We are seeing a real sharp increase because of the current challenges and are focused on helping partners and customers in terms of adapting. We recently announced a free trail version for anybody without a Microsoft license. We are constantly innovating, adding new capabilities.” One of the strong advantages is its integration with Office 365 and it is able to leverage the large installed base of Office 365 users. Mohamed elaborates, “The defining value proposition is that you can bring in all applications you work with generally into Teams as tabs. It integrates
COVER FEATURE
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with the entire Microsoft office 365 portfolio so you can edit Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point within Teams adding them. You can have One Note and even integrate with third party applications. It its a platform that you can continue to add what you need for your workflow. This is a space where you can get all applications within Teams and get work done, without the need for shuffling between different applications.” One of the challenges is on data residency requirements. Microsoft as a cloud services provider and with an UAE based datacenter is quite well placed to meet those requirements from companies looking to use these solutions. “We are a global cloud provider and we have a lot of services companies across the spectrum use. There have been requests from government side customers and financial sector customers especially about how they would like to leverage the cloud but in compliance with regulatory requirements of the need for data to reside locally. We announced the local datacenter last year and made investments. There has been a great momentum generated further to that for cloud adoption.” Microsoft is also providing a lot of support to larger customers in terms of deployment and guidance around remote work. Mohamed says, “The Ministry of Education has a plan around rolling out Microsoft Teams as a tool for enabling distance education for students. The federal government has announced the plan to use Microsoft Teams to enable employees to work remotely. We are encouraged by the fact that these segments from education to government are looking to us for the support in this hour of need. Public health of customers, partners is our top priory now. We are here to support them to enable and support remote working. That said, what differentiates us is the ability for organizations to meet data residency requirements and the fact that we are the office productiv-
Savio Tovar Dias
Senior Director, Sales Engineering, Avaya International
ity solutions vendor of choice for many means that they are able to leverage the deep integration of Teams with Microsoft office 365, setting us apart.” The questions is if this spike in current demand also to likely fashion a longer term change in workforce engagement even after normalcy returns? There is every reason to believe so in light of the convenience remote working offers although it will never supplant the physical face to face meeting. Hyther adds, “Once the businesses start embracing secure, collaboration-friendly cloud-based service, and realise the benefits, they will be more open to embracing the remote work culture. The employees will save time and money on commute, and be more productive with high-speed internet available everywhere, there is no reason why work from home can't be continued after the normalcy has returned. The biggest benefit is that companies can hire talented employees from anywhere in the world. Geography will no longer be a limitation.” The familiarity challenge was perhaps one of the challenges until so far. But now, more people are compelled to work with these tools and once they are more aware of the advantages on offer, it is likely that this could be a sustainable shift.
Mohamed adds, “At this point, how we are focused on helping customers, partners, students & teachers adopt and overcome challenges. This phase will likely accelerate a larger number of people to familiarize with the concept of remote working and how Technology enables that effectively.” According to Savio, the shift was always in motion as more number of people and businesses were adopting remote working option steadily. He adds, “Gartner forecasts that by 2023, fewer than one-third of digital workers will choose the office as their preferred place to work. So yes, even prior to the Coronavirus outbreak, there has been a significant interest from UAE businesses in enabling employees to work from anywhere, and on any device. While the crisis has no doubt accelerated the adoption of remote workforce enablement tools, there has already been a broader trend which we fully expect to continue in coming years." While we hope that normalcy would return at the earliest and together humankind would have overcome the pandemic, Technology has risen to the fore, helping us connect us and collaborate better than ever before, at the work front and otherwise. March 2020 / SmartSMB
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talkpoint
Redefining networks
Following the appointment of Maan Al-Shakarchi as Regional Director for Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META) back in October 2019, Extreme Networks has embarked on an expansion journey of its operations and investments in the Middle East. Maan Al-Shakarch discusses some details of the focus on this region. — By Arya Devi Please elaborate on your focus in the Middle East?
What are the opportunities you see in the region?
Extreme has expanded into new regional headquarters in Dubai and is gradually growing its sales, channel, and marketing teams in the region. The company is also working on several partnerships and alliances which will be announced in due course through 2020. In addition to it, Extreme is also placing emphasis on strengthening its relationships with regional distributors and engaging new channel partners. As a channel-centric organisation, Extreme is committed to providing both VAR and MSP end-users in the META region with cloud-based, end-to-end networking solutions that meet their needs—and those of their customers.
As mentioned above, we have embarked on a new chapter in Extreme’s role in the META region, our growth targets are double digits for all countries within the region. We have moved to larger offices in the Dubai Internet City, and we are expanding the team with key talent in the sales, SE, channel, and marketing teams. We have offices in Riyadh, Jeddah, Istanbul, Ankara, and Johannesburg. We are proud to provide next generation network solutions to some of the most prominent customers in the region, serving key verticals including government, retail, healthcare, education, and hospitality.
SmartSMB / March 2020
Extreme Networks is aware that customers in the META region are among the most forward- thinking in the world. The past 12 months has also seen a rapid growth of cloud implementation in the ME region, with the public cloud services market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) projected to grow to $1.9bn (AED7.97bn) by 2020, double what it was in 2016 (source: Statista Research) – We believe there is a great opportunity now for Extreme to strengthen relationships with its regional distributors and engaging new channel partners by clearly outlining Extreme’s unique value proposition for regional businesses. Over 50,000 customers globally trust our end-to-end, cloud-driven net-
talkpoint
working solutions and rely on our top-rated services and support to accelerate digital transformation – we are now excited to further expand our operations and footprint across META at a time of such huge business transformation. Elaborate on Extreme Retail Select, the new cloud enabled retail solution. In January 2020 we announced availability of Extreme Retail Select curated cloud technology packages designed to remove the cost and complexity associated with selecting, buying, building, deploying, and managing network services at retail locations. With Extreme Retail, businesses have a cloud-driven flexible and scalable solution that meets their specific operational and customer-facing needs. The Retail Cloud Front-End offers customizable dashboards with dual-persona KPIs for business & technical staff. The Retail Cloud Back-End is deployed from dedicated non-AWS regional data centers, with longer data retention and open APIs for everything. Retail Analytics & Insights offers Pervasive client and network visibility and analytics for all shoppers, devices, applications and IoT. Comparative analytics for how stores are performing relative to other locations. On the security front, it offer secure customer and business data while protecting brand reputation. Segmentation and granular control to secure store operations from guest traffic You can remotely deploy and support all your retail stores from anywhere with the ease of cloud management. You can also accommodate the fluctuations in retail demand with an elastic cloud-driven network that easily and seamlessly scales with your business
How does Extreme Networks support digital transformation? Digital Transformation is more than just a technology evolution. It’s the
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convergence of people, processes, and technology to completely change the experience of doing business. We know the network is not what is used to be. It has evolved, and so have our expectations. For IT organisations tasked with bridging the gap between legacy technology and processes to next-generation solutions and approach, Extreme Networks provides a range of professional and managed services, as well as training and support, to help maximise the effectiveness of enterprises’ network and achieve maximum ROI. Briefly mention some key highlights of your networking portfolio? Extreme Networks is the industry's first cloud-driven, end-to-end enterprise networking company. Our bestof-breed technology solutions, from the wireless and IoT edge to the data center, are flexible, agile, and secure to accelerate the digital transformation of our customers and provide them with the fastest path to the autonomous enterprise. We are named a Leader in 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Wired and Wireless LAN Access Infrastructure for second consecutive year. Critical third-generation cloud management and edge capabilities have been added to Extreme Networks’ portfolio of solutions. Our ExtremeCloud IQ is the industry’s first end-toend cloud management application that leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence to provide enterprises with insights, as well as complete visibility, control, and automation of their entire network. Extreme continues to invest in its autonomous network vision with the addition of new capabilities for the Extreme Fabric Automation software, available as part of the Extreme Data Center Fabric. As the industry’s only cloud-driven, end-to-end enterprise networking vendor, our aim is to provide agile, reliable, and secure cloud-driven
Maan Al-Shakarchi Regional Director, META
enterprise network solutions that give our business customers complete network visibility, control, and insights to help meet their business objectives. Extreme’s cloud – whether public, private, or locally hosted - makes network management easier. It enables small, medium or large organisations to manage, automate, and gain intelligence from network technologies and devices, from the edge to the enterprise data center, leveraging intelligence from machine learning and assurance from AI. Our wireless, switching, and routing portfolio provides a broad range of endto-end connectivity solutions, utilising industry-leading technologies to deliver speed, scale, reliability, and security for all of your users, devices, and applications, no matter where they are located. And our software solutions streamline and automate the management of our wired and wireless technologies, protect the edge to the data center, fuel business and IT system integrations, and unlock new insights and analytics. March 2020 / SmartSMB
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Business outlook
Surviving the tough stretch
Covid19 has been declared a pandemic. With many countries closing borders, restricting entry of passengers and goods from infected countries, how will mid-size businesses cope and overcome the challenges. We find out how some Businesses are taking up alternatives.
— By Diksha Vohra
Covid-19 or Coronavirus as it is more commonly known seems to have engulfed the entire world as a threat of a scale never seen in recent decades. Originating in China, it has eventually fanned out across most countries from Italy to Korea and many others being amongst the severely affected. Health comes first and therefore every other aspect of daily lives has been dis-rupted to ensure the damage is contained. Social distancing has been advocated as this is a communicable disease, spread from person to person contact. In this context business survival seems to be quite a steep mountain to climb. While Business in the worst and locked down zones of some of the countries globally is almost at a standstill, even in SmartSMB / March 2020
in countries that have seen only moderate numbers of infected residents, Business has slowed down. The global supply chain is disrupted and workforce of companies are increasingly working remotely. With borders being closed and flights reduced to several countries, from airlines to logistics to trade, all businesses seem to have felt the impact overtly. But is the situation that intense in the UAE? “Due to the delay in operation of factories in China, the delivery of goods for projects have been delayed,” says Ajay Awtaney, Managing Director, Nakashi General Trading LLC. “It has become difficult to cater to every new enquiry as
not all projects can accept increased lead times.” Especially for B2B clients, the effect would be felt throughout the supply chain because if one’s trade stops, the other’s stops too. Thomas Gregory, Executive Director & Partner, Fusion Specialised Shipping & Logistics LLC, says that usually during the first quarter, the market is anyway low in comparison to last few years. “Much to our surprise, we didn’t see a major slump compared to 2019 or even 2018. This stems from the fact that business is always at its low in the first quarter considering the New Year followed by the Chinese New Year and associated holidays. The virus spread happened during this low period and the
Business outlook
impact was not that visible.” He agrees that there was a slight dip of 6-8% in his industry but that always factor when it comes to projecting business plans. In-fact, now that China has resumed work within the close of the first quarter, Thomas feels the effect wouldn’t be long lasting. Like Ajay, he anticipates delays too but in his industry at least, he doesn’t foresee any closure of operations anytime soon.
Alternatives While, the long term impacts still seem positive, in the short run, businesses are trying to innovate and use new ways of dealing with the existing situation to survive through the turmoil. “Our suppliers are renowned companies in China and have excellent work ethics and policies in place they have returned to work with 60 to 70% workforce,” says Ajay. “Thus, we are acquiring help from factories to deliver products and complete supply chain at earliest.” Thomas, on the other hand, believes that diversification will help him sail through this. “We have a spread of various services like exports, imports, cross trades, special equipments, bulk liquid movements, project cargo movements etc. We have also targeted segments that are in demand like specialty supplies. Though we have seen a minor dip in imports from Far East, our exports to various African countries and In-dian subcontinent
have helped us bridge this gap.” But while diversification is a good option, it needs to be pre-planned. For those who’re in immediate requirement of goods, they’re sharing a very different story. “My containers had stopped coming from China since early November 2019. And I am now procuring the same goods from UK and USA for a cheaper price,” says Sandeep Bhatia, Managing Direc-tor, Quality Printing Press. “I am into printing and I have a requirement for printing on sanitizers but I don’t have paper. What option am I left with except not procure them from the western coun-tries?”
Tackling the fear As Sandeep mentioned, he hasn’t traded with China since November, which was much before the global outbreak of the pandemic. And at the same time, USA and UK imports became much cheap-er. Connecting these dots, he feels that the scare is more man-made than an actual one. “My prayers for those who’re genuinely affected but I don’t see why we need to be so scared of the virus,” says Sandeep. “To me, it looks like a trade war between China and the western countries. China has flooded the market with its products so in order to restore the trade power, there is a possibility that the scare has been built out of proportion.”
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Thomas has allowed for working from home options for some of their employees. “Wherever feasible, we have opened up the option of work from home. We have equipped our field mates and driv-ers with sufficient supplies of santizers and perform basic health checks. We monitor every employees body temperature daily and any cause for concern will be attended to immediately. Similarly, our drivers and field mates are checked daily. We have also considered using contract drivers to en-sure that the load on each driver is reduced for some time till the situation comes to normal and that their exposure to too many people is reduced. Our office is equipped sufficient supplies for personal hygiene.” Ajay also suggests that this is a good time to sit back and think about what expenses can be reduced and optimising spending patterns. “Hunt for ways to reduce expenses drastically and save every bit possible. The economy has taken a strong hit and will require a good amount of time to rebound. In current market scenario, there is not much one can do to increase sales in their business. Moreover, let’s be responsible by practicing hygiene and restricting ourselves from social gatherings as directed by the government to battle the situation. The more careful we are, sooner shall we out of this situation.”
Statistically too, influenza or what we call common flu, kills more people than Coronavirus in a year. In-fact, in comparison to SARS, an epidemic in 2003, where the fatality rate was just 10%, Corona-virus’s is 2.3%.
Ajay Awtaney
Managing Director, Nakashi General Trading
“In-fact companies which know how to make money, will make money during this period,” he adds. “China being the largest producer of paper in the world today is receiving paper from India. And India is exporting paper to China when the demand for paper in India is sufficient for all its paper mills to work well. So somewhere something is fishy, what is it that time will only tell.” While feeling that much of hype is not genuine, he recommends following basic hygiene rituals for safety.
Thomas Gregory
Executive Director & Partner, Fusion
March 2020 / SmartSMB
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talkpoint
Cables up to speed Sakkeer Hussain, Director of Sales and Marketing, D-Link Middle East and Africa discusses the need for structured cabling in the midst of digital transformation.
How does IoT and smart technologies impact the cabling market?
Please elaborate on the outlook of network cabling. What are the growth drivers? Increasing focus on the optimization of IT infrastructure and growing demand for higher bandwidth applications are the primary factors driving the market growth. Besides, the emergence of internet of things (IoT) for automation, integrated building management system and the need for simplified cable management are propelling the demand for structured cabling across the world.
What are the challenges to the market?
Copper is the primary raw material that constitute a structured cabling system. Volatile raw materials price is one of the challenges and several other factors such as inflation, availability, and production influence the prices of these raw materials.
How does adoption of 5G impact demand for cabling?
5G application is mainly for Enhanced mobile broadband, IoT and High-reliability, low-latency networks. We don’t think this is going to have a direct impact on our market segments like enterprise networks, datacenter, commercial and residential markets for the fixed network connectivity. On the other hand we are looking at it as an opportunity rather than challenge by developing a specialized high speed multicore fiber optic cables to 5G base station.
Discuss how wired networks still hold their own in the face of new wireless technologies that are available?
Since dial-up access, the manner in which office workers access data and SmartSMB / March 2020
Sakkeer Hussain
Director, Sales & Marketing, D-Link MEA
applications has drastically changed with inception of new technologies and faster Internet connections. Although wireless connectivity and mobility represent a new trend for accessing information, there are still many that are skeptical about the security and functionality of wireless networks. The advantages of using the wired network are reliability and stability, visibility, speed, security and cost. Wired networks are reliable is because the signal is not influenced by other connections. Wired networks are not visible by additional wired networks. This means there is no interference with the connection. Wired networks are generally much faster than wireless networks. Data speeds have continually improved with the inception of Gigabit routers and other new technologies.
Increasing end-to-end connectivity across network components and technological advancements in IT equipment are expected to drive structured cabling market growth. Cloud connectivity, IoT technology, and automation are some of the major technological trends, which are experiencing high adoption in several sectors. With a rise in the adoption of these advanced technologies in industrial segments, cabling infrastructure of the IT devices is becoming more complex. Centralized solutions are being developed for the effective management of these IT assets. The demand for these solutions is growing at a rapid pace with the rising adoption of software technologies that are providing an efficient platform to operators for managing the network & connectivity of devices. Massive data generation & storage requirements in these industrial sectors will drive the need for effective cable management technologies and provide an impetus to overall industry growth. Briefly discuss your cabling solutions range and focus in this market D-Link carry a complete end to end cabling solution ranging from copper cables, accessories, Fiber cables, accessories along with the network enclosures to complete. We are introducing a new range of Altranet solutions with fast termination series of products and associated accessories to support high power 4PPoE applications for future smart technologies. We also would enter the datacenter market with our Cat8 cabling solutions.
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Home automation
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I
magine walking into a door that automatically opens through a face-lock identification system. You walk in and get Alexa to play your favorite music or turn on the TV and put on your favorite channel. Further, you can also give commands to open your curtains or windows to let the fresh air come in. The above is no longer a fictionalized account but a reality for many. Home automation has made a lot many things possible which previously seemed like a fantasy. Interior designers no longer only need to focus on basic colors, patterns, materials and layouts but also on how can they make it technology friendly for people to automate their homes the way they like. “Over the years people have begun to automate many more systems” says Gopal Chandanani, Director, Cable Master Electronics LLC. “Before it was mainly lights and AC. Curtains were not very popular but have now become, along with security systems, main door intercom, audio, video, smart sockets, smoke detectors and so on.” In-fact, in 2018, Amazon acquired Ring, a manufacturer of video doorbells in a deal valued at more than $1 billion. As Amazon already had Alexa, its virtual assistant, the brand\s control in the smart home sector increased after this acquisition signalling that the brand was now looking at entering new markets because of the growing popularity. But in UAE, are we witnessing a steep, sudden growth too? “Home automation has been in the market for over a decade and in the UAE, it has been growing slowly and steadily,” says Luqman Hussain, Technical Manager, Expertech UAE. Gopal sec-onds Luqman saying: “It’s not that home automation did not exist before. It did, just that in Du-bai people have become more aware now and we are witnessing a rise.” While Gopal notes that due to globalisation and thanks to the internet, a lot of customers know exactly what they want, Luqman’s main concern is that often people mistake home automation for remote automation. “The majority of homeowners believe that if they’re living in a house where they have the ability
SmartSMB / March 2020
The upswing in Home Automation By Diksha Vohra
Home automation in increasingly becoming popular in the UAE. But are the advantages of an internet operated home outweighing the disadvantages? SmartSMB discusses with experts.
to control their home gadgets remotely via multiple dedicated An-droid and iOS apps, means they are living in a smart home. That’s not true. What is being described here is a remote home, not a smart home.” To operate a smart home, you need to be physically there to give commands. However, remote home, an extension of smart homes, is where you can manage the activities of your house without physically being present in or around the house. The challenge is, accordingly to Luqman, communicating this basic difference to clients. Another important challenge being faced by the home automation experts is that of price sensitivity. According to Gopal, depending on the extent of your home automation, you can be charged anything between AED 50,000 to 500,000 for one project, which is a hefty amount. If, however, customers are made more aware of the different home automation options, because not everyone may necessarily want everything to be automated, the costs associated with each and
Gopal Chandanani
Director, Cable Master Electronics
Home automation
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makes you more productive. Moreover, an automated home looks stylish too.” Despite these, there are a couple of disadvantages of home automation. The first and foremost is the pricing, which even experts agree with. The second in line, as Gopal notes is: “…it re-quires additional contractors like civil and electrical contractors for the major cabling of services like lights and AC. Moreover, because the appliances are used majorly by the house helps who aren’t as tech savvy, they can mess up the entire system if not educated and monitored properly.”
— By Diksha Vohra
how much technical inputs and expertise are required, they’d be more appreciative of the price. Luqman says: “With the emergence of wireless technologies and DIYs, IoT device auto-mation is now in presence and can be easily deployed at most of the residence giving the sense of Home Automation.” But a fully automated home can provide a huge sigh of relief to many people, especially for whom safety and security of their families is a priority. “By using camera locks, you can ensure safety of your family especially when your kids are home and you’re out,” says Luqman. “More-over, you can reduce your expense because automation will ensure your electrical appliances are not turned on when not in use, thereby ensuring an Improved lifestyle.”
Luqman Hussain
Technical Manager, Expertech
As per Gopal, in addition to energy saving, the advantages include: “The ability to complete monitor your systems from anywhere in the world. Everything is onetouch so it saves so much time of yours,
Luqman also says that the implementation needs to be done by an expert. “For example, adopting the correct wireless protocol, Implementing a se-cured network, these are things you cannot absolutely compromise on.” Especially for the price conscious consumers, ensuring they are using the right experts is quite important. Looking at the future and scope of improvement, Gopal wishes to see more development in the wireless sector. Presently, most of the things use wires and physical set up. However, wireless solutions can not only be more cost effective in the long run but also more reliable and safe. “There are many wireless solutions but they all need to improve on their wireless connectivity and longevity. Many clients are opting for wireless solutions as they save on costs of major cabling, breakage of walls etc that comes with conventional automation.” In conclusion, however, remote automation seems the key to growth and the next big thing to look forward to. Luqman foresees an entirely different world though in the coming years. “Future Smart Homes will be intelligent to automatically adapt the home environment according to the homeowners’ comfort, Safeguarding the properties against intrusions while reducing energy consumption to help to reduce the carbon footprint. In fact, with the growth of the usage of voice assistance like Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, Cortana and IoT devices, you will not require mobile phones to operate your Smart Home. All automation will be based on AI and Machine learning.” March 2020 / SmartSMB
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Talkpoint
THE TRANSFORMATION CATALYST A leading SI in the region, CADD Emirates is playing the role of a catalyst in enabling successful digital transformation for its customers. Read on for more details from the spokesperson, Biju Abraham, Director - Networking & Security Solutions As a systems integrator in the region, what makes CADD Emirates stand out? Briefly discuss the top solutions you bring to the market. CADD Emirates is a 100% locally owned company having four offices in UAE. Having completed 25 years, CADD Emirates has played an integral part in the IT Transformation of UAE. We have always been a trusted IT advisor for our customers and have always put them first before anything. We go with our motto – “Meeting & exceeding customer expectations by providing the most innovative & comprehensive solutions and achieve their overwhelming satisfaction”. We serve more than 3000 customers every year and our customer list is growing every year. We have been a pioneer in security solutions, network & wireless infrastructure, hospitality solutions, cloud & infrastructure solutions as well as CADD & engineering solutions. What kind of demand do you see for your products and solutions in the market? What are your key verticals to focus? Every business today is undergoing a huge transformation digitally and continuous innovation is the key element towards success. Our products and solutions are aligned to meet these changing trends and help our customers to succeed in their digital transformation journey. We offer solutions & services in the following focus areas including but not limited to cloud, security, infrastructure and mobility. With the EXPO 2020 scheduled to begin later this year and the fact that the UAE is a tourist hub, the hospitality sector will see growth. We have increased our focus in this sector as we have a huge portfolio of solutions & services that could be a fit across their entire ecosystem. How are you positioning yourself amidst competition? Our unique proposition, a combination of our products, solutions & unmatched services, is the best in the Industry. SmartSMB / March 2020
Biju Abraham
Director Networking & Security Solutions
That is our biggest strength & sustains our credibility with our customers. What are the opportunities for SIs in the era of digital transformation? SIs have a crucial role to play in enabling digital transformation, from setting up secure networks to enabling data capture and deploying adaptive and intelligent systems. Something that is common in the implementation of digital transformation is the need for data. Most brownfield manufacturing plants and machines were not designed with data capturing and sharing in mind. In addition, many sites include a colorful patchwork of legacy systems — most of them proprietary in nature — further adding complexity. This is, nevertheless, the environment SIs work in daily.
Talkpoint
The most fundamental step in digital transformation is to network the factory floor, and this is a typical area of delivery for SIs. Networking will also require appropriate cybersecurity protection, a growing area of expertise for SIs. While connectivity likely is the first step for most, later steps deal with making this data “visible,” i.e., putting it in context. An example could be providing a machine operator with key indicators for their machine and the overall production to make better decisions. One example is when to schedule a maintenance break to deal with an issue indicated by a predictive asset monitoring software. Many additional steps can follow deploying adaptive and intelligent systems once the organization has taken care of the basics. Some of these more advanced tools provide SIs with opportunities to further specialize. Manufacturers appreciate deep industry vertical expertise in their SIs. SIs can play an emerging role as an advisor in the early stages of digital transformation plan development and can supplement cross-functional teams with cost estimates and technology options. They also can help manufacturers determine the readiness of their human resources through Smart Industry Readiness Index audits. Digital transformation thus creates exciting opportunities for SIs with the need for renewal of their value propositions, offers and business models. In some ways, some of these changes will help SIs address some of their own company challenges. What are the major CIO challenges face in making the right Technology investments? How do you see digital transformation as a key driver in investment decision making? Driving and embedding digital transformation in the company business strategy is a key responsibility for the CIO today. As part of these expectations, the CIO needs to take on a more strategic role in their company and be responsible for driving necessary digital transformation across the business. This also includes the balancing act of ensuring the systems are performing well while investing in new infrastructure and fostering innovation to help the business compete in a constantly changing business landscape. There is the need to being responsive to internal clients as these clients rely on IT systems functioning. Being available to them around the clock, in order to ensure their jobs get done without disruption because of IT downtime, is the reality of business life in the 21st century. Industry disrupters have changed the business landscape for good across many different industries. In many instances, dis-
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rupters have caused companies to collapse. For the CIO the challenge will depend on their company’s industry: are the threats there already, or are they likely to come soon? Being placed to respond to new systems and technology required to compete with new business models within the industry is crucial. In doing this the CIO needs to be constantly eyeing the future so they can launch new projects and initiatives quickly in order to protect their company’s market share. What sort of investments are you envisioning to make in the coming years, in order to reach out to key verticals across various markets? Among our best practices, we are constantly liaising with Industry experts for different verticals. We focus on continuous training & updating the employees about the latest trends. We have gone ahead with digital transformation within our organization and we are always adding new products that are aligned to our business portfolio Tell us about your partnership with HPE-Aruba CADD Emirates has been a proud HPE-Aruba Platinum Partner in UAE for the last seven years, offering their complete portfolio of solutions to our customers in UAE. CE has the greatest number of certified and trained engineers for HPE Aruba in this region. 70% of the revenue for Networking & Security department comes from Aruba Solutions. CADD Emirates has seen year on year growth in terms of Aruba Sales and in the past severalyears, we have been at the top position as a HPE Aruba Products & Solution Seller. We provide solutions to companies like Emirates NBD, Mashreq Bank & Dubai Islamic Bank, DP World & many other major entities. Along with that we have a contract with Etisalat for providing 3G, 4G off-loading solutions. We provide Aruba wi-fi network to malls & other public areas. We can proudly say that we are the best NAC solution provider of HPE Aruba. CADD Emirates is a 100% focused company, we believe in ‘Customer first Customer last’ & that’s the same strategy HPE Aruba also follows. Until and unless you have the right kind of relationship with the customer, you won’t grow and at the same time we have to keep the right kind of relationship with the vendor as well. One of the major education institutions of UAE, Gems Education Group is our customer and we have provided services to almost 43 schools for their complete IT infrastructure. We strongly believe that until and unless your support team is strong, we won’t be able to retain the customer. This is something that CADD Emirates has been doing successfully over the years as we strongly feel that our team is our strength. March 2020 / SmartSMB
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HR
Navigating the HR impact of Covid19 — By Diksha Vohra
Claire Donnelly, a Business Growth and HR Strategist helping medium size companies to scale up using proven systems, discusses the tough challenges ahead from a HR perspective SmartSMB / March 2020
The impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on companies has hit hard and fast. Business owners are having to look at innovative methods to manage their business and their workforce whilst considering the constant moving and updating situation and the financial impacts on their Profit & Loss. Although it is unclear how long the measures and involving situation will impact businesses, companies are wise to take immediate action to re-
duce company financial loss, which unfortunately will affect employees. With restrictions on travel in place and rumours of more travel restrictions ahead, this uncertainly could be an opportunity to change business practices whilst at the same time save costs to a company. Overseas business meetings can take place virtually, there are many solutions to holding virtual discussions, reducing the need to travel. Business travel should be limited to essential travel only, taking into con-
HR
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sideration the Coronavirus status in the country they need to visit and take as many precautions as advised, booking as close to the travel date as possible to avoid cancelation charges. The changes in travel restriction may have left employees potentially stranded outside the UAE or unable to travel on pre-planned holidays. Employees looking to travel on holiday should ideally put their plans on hold for the time being and assess the situation just prior to needing to travel taking advice from the flight carrier prior and local Government notifications to making the decision to book their flight. Employees may feel that they are left with no option, but to travel as they have elderly or sick family members that they need to see. The company should support last minute holiday requests to allow their employees to travel whilst flights are allowed, but access the pandemics impact in the country they wish to travel in prior to approving the holiday request. For those that cannot travel, companies should also look at allowing employees the use of company phone to make international calls to their family members, a short call will often put minds at rest and keep the employee focused on their role’s responsibilities and accountability. In some cases, an employee may want to leave the UAE urgently to return to their families in their home countries, forgoing their contractual notice period. My advice would be to consider these requests seriously and work with the employee to agree to a mutually suitable leaving date. This allows for a shorter than required handover of duties, but does negate the possibility of the employee absconding as they feel they have no option, but to return to family members. Should an employee fall unwell and there be any concern as to their having the Coronavirus, companies should plan for self-isolation and allow the employee to work from home. For home working to work successfully, clear KPIs and company expectations should be put in
Claire Donnelly
Business Growth and HR Strategist
place that the employee should achieve whilst not in the office. Companies should start thinking now about setting employees targets and tasks that can be completed at home that ensures that business continues to flow. Having these measures in place also allows for more a more flexible approach to working, helping employees who need some flexibility to help cover for childcare given school and nursery closures. In these situations, it is also an opportunity to look at employees costs and how to make them lean and efficient. Ideas to temporarily reduce costs could include asking employees to work part time on a prorated salary, clear down their outstanding holiday entitlement or take unpaid leave. However, unfortunately tough decisions may need to be taken and headcount reductions are required. Although redundancies are not covered specifically in UAE Labour Law, redundancies are a reality that the UAE is having to face and has been since 2008. Business owners may need to resort to reducing their headcount in
order to reduce staff costs. If this is the case, although the role has not been made redundant, the number of positions will have been. If this is the route the company decides to take, they should prepare a business case to show why the decision has been taken. They should then prepare a criteria for redundancy selection – often last in first out is the main method of reducing, you could also add overpaid compared to market, however, this is likely to have those that have worked for you longer on the redundancy list, which may be seen as unfair selection. Also, if you do get to them, use appraisal rating as another criteria. When communicating the decision to employees, the company should be open and honest to the team, explain to everyone what you are doing and why. Be open with those that you are making redundant, tell them why they were selected. Make sure you put your arms around those that are staying, survivor guilt can close a business down if not addressed immediately redundancies are announced. March 2020 / SmartSMB
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CASE STUDY
Solutions for better workflow Faisal Jassim Trading Company has successfully implemented several initiatives including a BI portal for effective decision making Faisal Jassim Trading Company, Known as FJ Group, , established in 1988, specializes in engineering, manufacturing and trading of products and systems, in the electrical and mechanical fields related to construction industry. With over 1000 qualified employees, the company has earned its reputation in the market. With base in UAE, the company has expanded its reach into Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar , Oman and India. Arun Kumar Mohta is the Group IT Head at Faisal Jassim group and has been recognized as the ‘Best Employee’ in 2020. He shares insights about the digital transformation of the company that ranges from a BI portal to implementation of document management software.
In-house solution portal The major focus of digital transformation initiatives at the company has been on its in-house Business Intelligence portal, which captures data that enables decision making insights for the Management. “We have an in-house business intelligence named FJ Portal. We have designed it with our own web developers. The data from ERP is fetched into this portal for the convenience of management to analyze. The data is added every night. It is similar to live data as it is only a few hours old but not exactly as live data makes the portal slow down with multiple users,” says Mohta. With this new portal, the workflow in the company was digitized and the productivity of the employees increased. This was especially so in the cases of sales team who had to rigorSmartSMB / March 2020
Arun Kumar Mohta
Group IT Head, Faisal Jassim Group ously follow up about their product delivery and Receivables and also Target vs Actual Billing and Booking. “Since we have implemented the workflow, it has been helpful in the backend process. The flow of invoices goes from Enquiry to quotation- Quotation to invoice- Invoice to delivery and delivery to payment. With this, the salesperson can initiate the workflow,” he added. He further said that the workflow also defines the time that should be taken for every node. If the time exceeds, it will be alerted. The portal is also optimized for mobile use for the convenience of the salespersons. Sales team also came into benefit with the
implementation of digital signature as part of its digital transformation. “The digital signature which is password protected ensures easier process for the sales team. The sales team can submit the signed documents to the contractors as private or public links with time validity unlike previously when the documents were attached to the email,” says Mohta.
ERP and Data Analysis While most companies have some ERP deployed, the differentiator can be the optimum use of data for the convenient analysis by the management. The FJ Group has an ERP implemented
CASE STUDY
and operational for the past 10 years. However, while there was input of data, it wasn’t being converted into a meaningful form or output to be of any assistance to the management in making Business decisions. An optimum method for data analysis was absent and the implementation of DMS (document management software) from Vicisoft addressed this challenge, ensuring and eliminating data dependency. The company has been using the software ‘Vicisoft’ for the past 1.25 years, is content with it as it is optimized and customized according to the needs of the firm. “We are a B2B building solutions provider. It is therefore important to understand the business just as much as technology when working in a company like this. This ensures us to give valuable solutions to the management, as per our President Raphael Khlat, IT should be Business enabler and to make the information easily available in meaningful way.” Knowing the importance of sales and accounts in any company, Mohta focused not just on the convenience of the sales team but also on entire departments.
Introduced Model Sales Order Budget Approval enables the Division Managers to approve sales order after analyzing the costs and margins, through their mobile. Only after the approval will the ready in ERP for delivery,”
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the company is still not ready to let go of its traditional roots in technology.
Going Eco-friendly
This portal also aids other departments like the Human Resource Department. Through this portal, the employees can add their own leave request into it. It can further be approved by the DM from the portal and will be inserted into ERP automatically. Employees could also have a look into more details from this portal like the leave balance. HR can also access all the required details from portal especially the dates of expiry of passports, visas etc of the employees.
But with its digital transformation, Faisal Jassim is trying to eco-friendly and trying to reduce its carbon footprint. By trying to go fully digital, the company’s first step is trying to go paperless. “Since the company does B2B business, every Submittal would be of 500 to 600 pages. Until now the company used to take bind up the Submittals and that too of multiple copies to send out to the contractors. After implementing DMS we have tried to minimize it. It is not yet at 100% as some contractors prefer the hard copies. Still the number of papers used has been reduced drastically,” said Mohta.
“The portal is entirely in-house as the management do not wish their data to be going out of the company. This is the main reason the company is not yet into cloud storage. The entire data is in the in house datacenter. We also have our in-house DR site in Abu Dhabi,” added Mohta. With datacenters helping you achieve high availability through active clustering and automatic hot failover within data center,
With time saving, better access and stronger security, going paperless saves cost in the long run. “With these latest technological implementations, we have gone green and there is a reduction in the number of papers used by the company. There is also a reduction in the carbon footprints. These technologies has helped in saving the environment and also the company in terms of long term cost cutting,” concluded Mohta.
Focus on entirety The FJ Portal is a unique portal designed specifically for the needs of the company. This has ensured that the entire team ( Sales / marketing / Corporate / HR ) could work together digitally. For the convenience of the sales team, the portal gives access to the account’s documents. “It (FJ Portal) ensured that the sales team themselves could see their progress in sales. Previously the sales team had to approach the accounts department to collect data like that of receivable agents / PDC Status / Cheque Bounce status / LC . With this portal, they could analyse all the data including customer wise receivable agents, PDCs, LoCs etc. The newly March 2020 / SmartSMB
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How Expo 2020 will change you business Sunil Paul, Co-founder and COO of Finesse, a leading System Integrator, discusses how Expo 2020, scheduled to start in a few months from now, has been driving digitalization While much has been written about the economic and social impacts of such events, the same cannot be said about their technological impact. Due to their sheer scale and the funding involved, mega-events have often served as a launchpad for innovative technologies that have subsequently gone mainstream. A handful of examples include the telephone in Philadelphia (1876), X-Ray machines in Buffalo (1901), commercial broadcast television in New York (1939), IMAX in Osaka (1970), and touchscreens in Knoxville (1982).
Sunil Paul
Co-founder & COO, Finesse
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xpo 2020 Dubai is only five months away. From October 2020 to March 2021, the world’s biggest trade fair is expected to attract more than 25 million new visitors to Dubai and boost business across many industries in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Mega events such as Expo and the Olympics have always conferred the host nation or city with benefits that range from economic to iconic. The Eiffel Tower in Paris (1889), the Ferris wheel in Chicago (1893), and Seattle's Space Needle (1962) were bestowed by respective World Expos. In Dubai’s case, nearly 80 percent of the built structures, like Al Wasl Plaza, would be retained and repurposed as legacy for District 2020 master plan. Where economic benefits are concerned, in Dubai’s case, an Ernst & Young (EY) study from April 2019 found that the lead-up to Expo 2020 could deliver AED37.7 billion ($10.3 billion) to UAE's economy.
SmartSMB / March 2020
In Dubai, for example, Siemens is working with Expo 2020 to implement smart building technologies across 137 Expo structures, while Etisalat is helping to ensure that the entire site is 5G-enabled to support Expo 2020’s goal to be one of the most connected places on Earth, both physically and virtually. Cisco is helping Expo design and implement the ‘Office of the Future, which will act as a venue for running the latest digital solutions and offer a glimpse of the future of workspaces. SAP solutions in areas such as analytics and customer profiling are being implemented by Expo to help tailor visitor experience based on their personal preferences. Overall, the Expo would serve as a proving ground for Dubai’s smart city ambitions. On the other hand, there is even more paucity of literature on how these mega-scale events spur technological transformation within enterprises, public or private, in the host country. The demands of mega events would require enterprises desirous of business to be agile and innovative in
order to deliver on time and budget. Thus, Dubai launched an e-procurement portal to consolidate Expo 2020 procurement activity and enhance its ability to implement critical infrastructure projects more quickly and effectively. Digitalisation can help enterprises hit the ground running to tap into these opportunities, and to connect and collaborate. In Dubai, in the build-up to Expo 2020, the biggest beneficiaries were the infrastructure and construction sectors. During the six-month event, it will be the tourism, hospitality, retail and transportation sectors that stand to benefit from the expected influx of visitors. Digitalisation in the construction and infrastructure sectors has been primarily driven by the adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) approach supported by tools like 3D design and augmented reality for project delivery. Meanwhile, hotels are investing in digitalisation to improve the customer experience at various touchpoints. These range from automated checkin to smart room access and control with smartphones to even facial recognition technology to enhance security. Retailers are adopting data and technology to gain a better understanding of consumers and quickly respond to their preferences to meet the heightened demand that will come with visitor footfall during the Expo. It is obvious that businesses that have seen clear benefits from the Expo have been investing in technologies that enable digitalisation, whether it is networks, the cloud, virtualisation, software applications, security, or mobility. On the other hand, enterprises that are mulling or taking their initial steps towards digitalisation would be able to see first-hand how the strategy has delivered for the Expo and its supply chain, ranging from large enterprises to SMEs.
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Cloud Data Management as a strategy Daniel Fried, General Manager and Senior Vice President, EMEA, Veeam elaborates how cloud data management helps de-risk and deliver a higher level of Business Intelligence Over the last decade, technologies like the cloud, mobile and wireless communications have transformed the role IT plays within a business. From the CEO down, business leaders are viewing technology as an enabler rather than a commodity. As the enterprise technology conversation moves away from the data centre and into the boardroom, businesses are more and more reliant on their digital infrastructure. While this is ultimately a good thing, it means that one of the top priorities of any boardroom agenda is to derisk.
Pivoting to Cloud Data Management The trend of businesses turning to hybrid SmartSMB / March 2020
and multi-cloud strategies is accelerating. According to Gartner, hybrid cloud became the standard IT strategy for enterprises in 2019. Furthermore, 81% of respondents to a survey conducted by its analysts said they are already working with two or more providers.
Cloud Data Management (CDM) refers to the management of data across an organization’s entire cloud and data management provision. It’s about ensuring that data is always available – regardless of whether an organisation is using private, public, hybrid or multicloud infrastructure.
The cloud, as a data management platform, has grown in importance and is growing in complexity. Business leaders, however, are looking for simplicity. As the value of data increases, organisations must finely balance the data availability needs of the business against the demands of data protection regulations like GDPR. Doing so requires a digital infrastructure that is both flexible and reliable – as well as easy to manage.
According to a survey of IT decision makers conducted by Veeam, three-quarters of organisations aim to have adopted CDM by the first few months of 2020. This is partly due to a recognition that CDM is a key component of delivering a higher level of business intelligence. This is also a fundamental part of an organisation’s derisk strategy. On the other hand, any change which requires people to take on new skills, adapt culturally and
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many businesses are sat on a potential goldmine of data, of which the value is 99.9% untapped. However, the idea that businesses who own and control data have all the power is a misconception. Owning the data means nothing if you don’t know how to use it. You need to be able to read, analyse and gain insight from data for it to make your business faster and more effective. To do this, data has to be available to the right people at the right times. While the rising value of data puts the onus on businesses to ensure they use it to gain better insights and drive operational efficiencies, it also makes protecting data even more vital. International media is awash with stories of companies experiencing irreparable reputational and financial damage. Whether due to lost or stolen data, a ransomware attack or a systems outage resulting in unplanned downtime, businesses cannot afford to take any chances. While becoming more data-driven as an organisation is a priority for business leaders, this is another area in which they must derisk. When
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it comes to certain types of data, especially personal data or customer records, businesses are merely custodians rather than owners.
Operating transparently
Data privacy is a basic human right, which different governments, societies and cultures within Europe, the Middle East and Africa have different views towards. Businesses must be flexible in ensuring they meet the needs of customers and that data is protected at all times. Transparency is also key. Customers with a growing awareness of their data expect businesses to be clear about how their data is being used. Regulations like GDPR are also beginning to make organisations pay for mishandling data with severe financial penalties. Failing to protect data or be transparent about its use will inevitably erode trust. So, as businesses look to take advantage of the data at their disposal, but protect it and treat it with care, they are looking to CDM to drive an additional layer of intelligence across the organisation.
view their role differently, brings risk of its own. Changing the way technology infrastructure is managed may take some technical personnel out of their comfort zone. Therefore, CDM must be viewed as a strategy rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Organisations must choose the right partner to help them deliver on this vision in a way which brings maximum value at minimal risk.
Protecting businesses’ most prized asset
The value of data has been compared to everything from oil to gold. Whichever of these descriptions you prefer, it cannot be disputed that when harnessed properly data can deliver value to an organisation that only a few years ago would have been unimaginable. Furthermore,
Daniel Fried
General Manager & Senior Vice President, EMEA, Veeam March 2020 / SmartSMB
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Managing the Cultural Impact of Industry 4.0 in Manufacturing
Amel Gardner, regional vice president – Middle East, Africa & India, Epicor Software elaborate on the key steps to manage the transition to industry 4.0 SmartSMB / March 2020
The success of digital transformation isn’t just about investing in the right technology. As with any large-scale project—from a change in working location to a company merger—the impact on the people involved needs to be a key consideration when putting a strategy and implementation plan in place. However, in a bid to keep up with the latest technology trends, manufacturers could be shooting themselves in the foot by not addressing change management and cultural aspects from the outset. In fact, recent research has found that only a quarter (26 percent) of busi-
nesses consider change management strategies to be an important part of the move towards Industry 4.0 and the connected enterprise. This suggests that a large proportion of manufacturers are not putting steps in place to manage the impact of such a change on corporate culture, which could affect the ultimate success of any digital transformation project.
Six steps to success
Despite pressure on Middle East businesses and individuals to remain at the cutting edge, no one wants to be an early adopter and get it wrong.
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A recent report from Deloitte into Industry 4.0 readiness found that even in today’s technology-driven world, senior executives are not as prepared as they think they are to reap rewards from digital transformation: “Faced with an ever-increasing array of new technologies, leaders acknowledged they have too many options from which to choose and, in some cases, they lack the strategic vision to help guide their efforts. Organizational influences also challenge leaders as they seek to navigate Industry 4.0. Many leaders reported their companies don’t follow clearly defined decision-making processes, and organizational silos limit their ability to develop and share knowledge to determine effective strategies.” To make Industry 4.0 a success, no matter how big or small the change, manufacturers need to put key measures in place to manage the transition. This includes undertaking the necessary groundwork to ensure that whatever technology businesses invest in, they can get the best out of it.
Step one—Be realistic
Despite digital transformation being very much an industry buzzword, local manufacturers don’t need to take everything on at once. Assess what needs to be automated and why. If something is working and the process efficient, it might not need changing just yet. The key to getting it right is to prioritise adoption rather than change for changes sake. A phased approach will be beneficial for everyone in the long term.
Step two—Get stakeholders on board
Following an assessment of priorities, manufacturers need to map and plan out what needs to happen next—from procurement to implementation and beyond. This ensures that all stakeholders from every department affected are clear about what is happening, why and when. Only then can everyone involved be prepared and plan for the roll-out.
Step three—Keep talking
Communication at every stage is essential—particularly before implementation. Users need to feel they are part of the process and can raise any concerns or questions before a new way of working is thrust upon them. Taking time to address any potential issues at the start of a project will ensure users are bought into the process, understand what is expected of them and avoid any pitfalls further down the line.
Step four—Factor in ongoing training and support
For efficiencies and productivity to be realised, users need to have a good understanding of how the technology impacts their working practices. This can only be done through comprehensive training and ongoing support. While this could be an overwhelming prospect, breaking it down into bitesized, digestible sessions will be invaluable rather than overloading people with too much information from the outset.
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all be in vain if you miss out step six. The hard work doesn’t stop when you reach go-live—in fact, that is only just the start of the digital transformation process. For a project to be a true success, any technology investment needs to be reviewed and assessed regularly. Is it being used to its full potential? Are there any gaps in training? What more could the business get from it? What is the data showing? Can it be analysed to improve future business growth? Only by following these six steps will the Middle East manufacturing industry bring the whole business along for the digital transformation ride and ensure that Industry 4.0 is a success. Having a clear change management and implementation strategy will enable businesses to realise the full value of technology, whilst guaranteeing strong ROI and user acceptance.
It is also worth considering that everyone learns in different ways, so whilst an online demo or training manual might be right for one person, someone else might prefer more visual tools like a video or a step-by-step animated guide, for example.
Step five—Take your time
The choice of new technologies can be overwhelming and daunting for even a seasoned professional. Never lose sight of why you are investing in technology and keep your business objectives in mind—what your competitor is doing might not be the right approach for you. Jumping on the bandwagon or adopting new technology too quickly could be detrimental in the long-term, if the process is not well thought through or fit for purpose.
Step six—Undertake regular reviews While following steps one to five will ensure the business has the best chance of successfully adopting new technology, it will
Amel Gardner
Regional Vice President, MEA & India, Epicor
March 2020 / SmartSMB
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Tech watch
ibml FUSiON 7700 scanner
its predecessor and allows customers to do mission-critical jobs in tight timelines and handle greater volume, driving better productivity and lowering costs. • New patent-pending ibml iQpro image processing technology optimizes image capture for better accuracy of data extraction from images. • Feeding enhancements and wider document track minimize exceptions and maximize the variety of document sizes that can be handled.
Kodak Alaris is partnering with Imaging Business Machines, LLC (ibml) to deliver the next generation of ultra-high-volume scanners to the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) market. With the recent launch of ibml FUSiON Scanners, and as ibml’s lead distribution partner in the region, Kodak Alaris is uniquely positioned to serve a market demanding smart solutions that deliver business process automation at higher speeds than ever before. The new ibml FUSiON Series distributed by Kodak Alaris in EMEA as part of the Kodak Alaris offering ignites the fusion of disparate capture processes into one streamlined solution, us-
ing in-line intelligence at blazing fast throughput speeds up to 730 A4 pages per minute and 938 checks per minute. As the world’s fastest, intelligent, scalable document capture platform, ibml FUSiON accelerates customers’ mission-critical applications by extracting information from documents to digital processes, thus enabling digital transformation.
Highlights: • Real-time, in-line intelligence that helps understand documents, extracting data early in the process to minimize errors downstream. • The fastest throughput in its class; ibml FUSiON is 67 percent faster than
HP Color LaserJet series HP unveiled the latest iteration of HP Color LaserJet Pro M100 and M200 series. The updated M100 and M200 series are designed to give users the convenience, security and performance they have been looking for in the work environment. With the constantly evolving mobile lifestyles of everyday professionals, the freedom to work anywhere is increasingly important. Now with the latest HP Color LaserJet Pro M100 and SmartSMB / March 2020
• Patent-pending envelope detection reduces stops and increases productivity while allowing for reducing the need for separator sheets. • Motorized output sort pockets neatly stack sorted documents, reducing post-scan costs. • Document content-based dynamic printing creates smart audit trails for scanned documents, securing the chain of custody of documents. • User-centric design makes it easy to use, and user-friendly error alerts quickly identify problems, minimizing fatigue and improving productivity. • Smart industrial design maximizes system uptime with separated airflow systems that keep paper dust out of system electronics.
Tech watch
Konica Minolta A3 MFPs Konica Minolta, a leader in world-class printing technology, has expanded its new bizhub i-Series range with the launch of three new colour A3 multifunctional printers (MFPs). The new bizhub C450i, bizhub C550i and bizhub C650i are part of the next-generation multifunctional device portfolio designed to empower digital workflows. Like all models in the bizhub i-Series product line, the additions present a new paradigm for how multifunctional devices meet the needs of businesses by serving as a secure, smart technology hub to augment office connectivity. The three new A3 colour MFPs boast of fresh, contemporary exterior design and great usability features that enhance user experience. The new cardtype quick copy screen and various applications with integrated guidance allow for an even better ease of access and convenience of use. In addition, newly developed widget technology allows embedding and operating functionality directly from the MFP’s home screen, shortening the time spent in front of the MFP and ensuring familiar use across all bizhub i-Series devices. Similarly, high performance operation
M200 series and Smart Tasks in the HP Smart App, users can quickly and easily print, scan and copy documents right from their phones. Designed to completely control the printer from your mobile device, HP Smart App lets you save time with Smart Tasks and organise documents 50% faster2. With Smart Tasks on HP Smart App on your smartphone, you can auickly scan and access all your content on business software such as QuickBooks, Dropbox and Google Drive, enjoy a hands-free printing experience with HP Voice-activated printing, get notifications when printing, scan-
and quick response is assured by the same powerful quad-core central processing unit and standard 8 GB of memory and 256 GB plus optional 1 TB solid state drive (SSD).
Highlights: • The new bizhub C450i, C550i and C650i offer a choice of 45ppm, 55ppm or 65ppm print speeds, respectively. • The three new MFPs not only offer fast, reliable solutions for document handling but also serve as an intelligent device that effectively becomes the heart of the customer’s digital office.
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place, which is pre-installed on every device • These MFPs have also been designed to work with sophisticated workflow tools such as Konica Minolta’s Dispatcher Suite, layered by security options through bizhub SECURE services. This allows for businesses to have effective print management and advanced document workflow, while enhancing document security. • As an added highlight, the three new MFPs feature a dual-scan document feeder that can accommodate up to 300 sheets, with a faster 280 ipm scan speed.
• They can also be tailored to meet the requirements of each business with the wide breadth of applications that are available from Konica Minolta’s Market-
ning or copying documents and order your ink supplies wherever you are. The new M100 and M200 series, which include HP Auto-on/Auto-off technology, use, on average, approximately 35% less energy than standard model printers which don’t meet the ENERGY STAR®3.0 specifications.
Highlights: • The updated HP Color LaserJet Pro M100 and M200 series integrate essential security features such as basic encryption and password protec-
tion to help protect and secure your device, personal data and business documents when you print. • The M200 series also includes solutions that strengthen the defence against security vulnerabilities. Key features include automatic firmware updates to help detect and stop attacks, and dual band Wi-Fi® for faster, more reliable connections on wireless models5. • The HP Color LaserJet Pro M100 and M200 series come with Original HP Toner cartridges with JetIntelligence which help provide peak printing performance and professional-quality colour, page after page. March 2020 / SmartSMB
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Market Monitor
70% of Supply Chain Leaders Plan to Invest in the Circular Economy Only a Minority Link Their Digital and Circular Economy Strategies Seventy percent of supply chain leaders are planning to invest in the circular economy in the next 18 months, according to a recent survey by Gartner, Inc. However, only 12% of those have linked their digital and circular economy strategies so far. Gartner defines the circular economy as an economic model that separates the ability to achieve economic growth from the consumption of natural resources. Those business models encourage continuous reuse of materials to minimize waste and the demand for additional natural resource consumption. The circular economy starts with good design, with end of life and raw material reuse in mind. “The circular economy creates an ecosystem of materials,” said Sarah Watt, senior director analyst with the Gartner Supply Chain practice. “What was previously viewed as waste now has value. However, those ecosystems are complex and include many interdependencies and feedback loops. Digital technology has the potential to provide visibility and enable improved decision making when it comes to raw materials and services. Already, 35% of companies believe that digital technology will be a key enabler for their circular economy strategies, but very few are leveraging the technology for this purpose yet." Gartner’s Future of Supply Chain Survey gathered data from 1,374 respondents responsible for supply chain and related function across a broad range of industries including high-tech, healthcare, retail and logistics.
Digital Technology in the Supply Chain There is not a single technology that will enable organizations to move toSmartSMB / March 2020
ward the circular economy. Rather, several combinations can lead to this outcome. The survey results show that organizations focus on four key technologies to advance their circular economy activities: advanced analytics, 3D printing, the Internet of Things (IoT) and machine learning (ML) “It’s interesting to see that only few organizations are currently using blockchain. However, 38% of respondents are planning to explore the use of blockchain for the circular economy in the next five years,” Ms. Watt continued. “For example, the technology canbe used to give materials a single digital identity and to enable trade and pay-per-use. Although we are yet to see scaled use cases of blockchain for the circular economy.”
Applying Technology to Enable a Circular Economy The top four areas of the supply chain where digital technology is being applied are: delivery (46%), customer engagement (45%), manufacturing and
remanufacturing (43%) and planning (43%). Only 27% of respondents are currently using digital technologies to improve reverse logistics, but 39% plan to do so within the next two years. “The difference in emphasis between delivery and reverse logistics is intriguing,” Ms. Watt said. “On the one hand, we observe organizations using technology such as analytics and alternative vehicles to optimize their routes and reduce emissions. You can argue that those actions should be considered a sustainable practice rather than one that enables the outcomes of the circular economy.” “On the other hand, reclaiming materials at the end of life requires reverse logistics for pickup and return to either the organization or a third party. Our results show that, in the next two years, reverse logistics will garner the most attention. This indicates that companies are looking at how to take back products for reuse, refurbishment or recycling – an important step on the way to the circular economy.”
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