IDC Middle East CIO Summit 2023

Agenda

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8:00	Registration & Networking
8:30	Opening Act: Art of Music
8:35	IDC Welcome Address
	Jyoti Lalchandani Group Vice President & Regional Managing Director (META), IDC
8:45	IDC Opening Keynote: Strategies for the CIO and Enterprise Innovation
	Join IDC's president, Crawford Del Prete, as he outlines what CIOs need to do now — and in the future — to create an environment for long-term sustainable innovation. This fast-paced keynote will highlight research on building a culture of trust, examine the move toward industry ecosystem innovation, and highlight the impact of decentralization. It will also explain why line-of-business investment is a springboard and not an end state. Crawford Del Prete President, IDC Worldwide
9:15	Harnessing Data and AI for Growth
	The world today is a more complex place: we are all asked to be more efficient and generally do more with less. This session presents key learnings on the evolution of AI and highlights its impact and use cases across different industries. The session further looks at how technology experts can harness the latest innovations to help their organizations thrive. Naim Yazbeck General Manager, Microsoft UAE
9:35	Dealing with Economic Uncertainty in the Digital Age
	Adrian Pickering Regional General Manager MENA, Red Hat
9:55	The Digital Journey: Digital Agility, Transformation, and Digital Re-Invention
	Samer Kandalaft Executive Vice President, QuanTech (Part of MDS System Integration)
10:10	Special Address
	Amna Al Saleh Head of Technology Development, Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT)
10:30	Tea/Coffee & Networking Break
11:00 12:10	Summit Partner Tracks (Parallel Sessions)
	Summit Track A: Strategies for Developing a Digitally Resilient Organization 11:00 - 11:05 Opening Act: Arabian Rhapsody 11:05 - 11:07 Overview Ransomware and malware are tier 1 concerns of business and IT management alike, making cyber-resiliency an imperative for every organization. This session will examine the key elements of cyber-resiliency, outline best practices for assured recovery, and discuss the critical role that AI and other technologies can play in staying ahead of the cybercriminals and avoiding the consequences of cyberattacks. Jason Roos Chief Information Officer, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KSA) 11:07 - 11:10 Start of Session Raffle: Samsung Watch Courtesy of HCL Tech 11:10 - 11:25 Unified Observability for Digitally Agile & Resilient Organization Charbel Khneisser Vice President, Solutions Engineering, EMEA, Riverbed Technology 11:25 - 11:30 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Raffle Prizes 11:30 - 11:45 Achieving Speed and Control We all know that speed is critical in the digital world – organizations need to respond quickly to avoid disruption or even initiate their own disruption. They need to quickly get new innovations to market, rapidly realize value from their technology investments, and make fast decisions on what emerging technologies to adopt. Organizations must also establish controls, set up governance processes, comply with regulations, implement risk reduction mechanisms, avoid security threats, and answer to their owners and the public. But how can speed and control be achieved at the same time? In many organizations whose digital transformations are stuck or are proceeding more slowly than expected, the root cause of the problem is often a tension between the need to move fast and the need to maintain control. This session will demonstrate that these goals do not really conflict and explore how to use speed to gain even better control. Mark Schwartz Enterprise Strategist and Evangelist, AWS 11:45 - 11:50 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Raffle Prizes 11:50 - 12:05 Enhancing the Transformation Cloud Experiences Alessio Bagnaresi Director, AI & Advanced Analytics Practice, Google Cloud 12:05 - 12:10 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Raffle Prizes Summit Track B: Envisioning the Future Intelligent Enterprise 11:00 - 11:05 Opening Act: Arabian Rhapsody 11:05 - 11:07 Overview One of the primary goals of digital transformation is to create an intelligent enterprise that focuses more on creating business insights than collecting massive amounts of information. The benefits of an intelligent enterprise (IE) are clear: more visibility into the data, faster response to changes in the market and customer demands, and a sharper focus on higher-value objectives. Establishing an IE, however, not only requires a more intelligent and intuitive architectural framework, but also a structural change in the way processes are conducted and how people engage with one another both inside and outside the organization. Mai B AlOwaish Chief Data & Innovation Officer, Gulf Bank (Kuwait) 11:07 - 11:10 Start of Session Raffle: Samsung Watch Courtesy of HCL Tech 11:10 - 11:25 The Data-Driven Enterprise: Going from Vision to Value While 99% of the world's leading companies are investing in data, only 24% have been successful in creating a data-driven organization. This session will outline the key challenges hindering companies from becoming data-driven organizations and chart a path toward such a transformation. Ali El Kontar CEO, Zero&One 11:25 - 11:30 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Raffle Prizes 11:30 - 11:45 How Can Intelligent Automation Be the Driving Force in the Current Digital Economy? Today’s leaders have one of the best allies to help them solve all kinds of challenges, from making their businesses profitable to assisting customers in overcoming their challenges and keeping the employees happy at work. Intelligent automation is the partner that can support them on their digital transformation journey. But what does this technology have to offer? Intelligent automation (IA) is a combination of robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) that empowers rapid end-to-end business process automations. This means working smarter, faster, and more efficiently while increasing workforce productivity and satisfaction for your clients. Ashraf El Zarka Vice President, Regional Managing Director MEA & Pakistan, UiPath 11:45 - 11:50 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Raffle Prizes 11:50 - 12:05 Don't Just Be Cloud First, Be Cloud Smart Ravi Tank Senior Vice President, Cloud4C 12:05 - 12:10 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Raffle Prizes
12:10	Tea/Coffee & Networking Break
12:30 12:40	Transformation Zones (Parallel Sessions)
	Zone A: Industry 4.0 12:30 - 12:40 Evolving Beyond Industry 4.0: Leveraging AI, Digital Transformation, and Emerging Technologies Via Industry 4.0 Leading organizations have benefited from sustainable revenue growth, productivity improvements, process optimization, and new value-added services. A strategic approach to Industry 4.0, underpinned by practical initiatives, provides businesses with a road map to the smart factory and the connected, collaborative enterprise. Industry 4.0 is a digital reality that may alter the rules of production, operations, and workforces — even society. This session will look at how Industry 4.0 has allowed organizations to connect their customers, supply chain networks, employees, and plant and equipment to drive predictable revenues. The session will further examine what is coming next in this evolving domain. Pranish Kushare Senior Principal Business Solutions Consultant, Infor Zone B: Sustainability 12:30 - 12:40 Securely Support the Hybrid Workforce with Simple and Powerful Cloud PC Solutions Given the recent announcement of the Windows Cloud PC within the Microsoft UAE datacenter, this presentation will provide an overview on how to securely stream the Windows experience — including personalized apps, content, and settings — from the cloud to any device. It will detail how to combine the power and security of the cloud with the versatility and simplicity of the PC. From contractors and interns to software developers and industrial designers, participants will learn how to stream Windows, pick up from where they left off on any device, and experience new opportunities for work and collaboration. Mina Nagy Regional Go-To-Market Director, Microsoft
12:40 14:15	Platinum Partner Tracks (Parallel Sessions)
	Platinum Partner Session-Track A: Shaping CISO Strategies for the Digital-First Organization 12:40 - 12:45 Opening Act: Four Elements of Nature 12:45 - 12:47 Overview In today's age of asymmetric cyberwarfare, cybersecurity criminals have the advantage of being able to initiate their threats based on carefully laid out plans, while organizations must play defense. This happens every day across every industry, with CISOs coming under mounting pressure to detect and mitigate these attacks. This session will explore the ways in which CISOs can work with the wider CXO leadership team and board of directors to combat cyberthreats and keep their organizations safe. Deepa Ahuja Senior Conference Director, IDC 12:47 - 12:50 Start of Session Raffle-Apple AirPods - Courtesy of Symphony Summit 12:50 - 13:05 Enabling Cyber Resilience and Keep pace with rapid digitalization New convergences will shape the digital world in 2023 and beyond, and the order of magnitude of the upcoming transformation will be unprecedented. In this context, enterprises needing to elevate their game are looking for guidance from all kinds of service providers, from connectivity providers to strategic advisors. What are the observed trends and successful strategies that top executives are talking about in this new order? This presentation gathers the strategic considerations and teachings from recent interactions with top cyber executives across the EMEA theater. Alain Sanchez EMEA CISO, Fortinet 13:05 - 13:10 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win MontBlanc Gifts 13:10 - 13:25 Mitigating Cyber Risks in the Middle East: Addressing the Impact of Geopolitical Tensions and Regulatory Requirements The Middle East faces unprecedented cyberthreats, with geopolitical tensions and global economic instability exacerbating the risks. While governments are accelerating the legislative process to modernize relevant laws and regulations, organizations need help modernizing their information security programs. Organizations must take a proactive approach to cybersecurity to protect their critical infrastructure, sensitive information, and brand reputation. This presentation will explore the top cybersecurity challenges facing organizations globally, zoom into specific challenges in the Middle East, and provide a comprehensive strategy for mitigating these risks that will allow organizations to mature their information security programs and, with that, become cyber-resilient. Milad Aslaner Head of Technology Advisory Group, SentinelOne 13:25 - 13:30 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Airpods-Courtesy of Sentinel One 13:30 - 13:45 Protect, Connect, and Deploy Extraordinary Digital Experiences in Any Cloud Organizations are leveraging the cloud in all its forms to drive agility, innovation, and better user experiences. However, distributing and interconnecting both traditional and modern applications can create additional layers of security complexity. This session will discuss the challenge of balancing developer speed with the need to secure new digital experiences at scale. Gordon Orr Senior Director, Software Sales EMEA, F5 13:45 - 13:50 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win MontBlanc Gifts 13:50 - 14:05 Multifactor Authentication Is Not Enough As threat actors become more sophisticated, the ability of multifactor authentication to provide adequate protection is becoming increasingly diminished. Join us as we examine how threat actors are completely circumventing what was once considered a security blanket for most security infrastructure. Nour Fateen Director, Sales Engineering, Recorded Future 14:05 - 14:10 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win MontBlanc Gifts 14:10 - 14:15 End of Session Raffle - Lionel Messi Signed Football Jersey Platinum Partner Session-Track B: Data and Platform-Led Strategies for Realizing Digital Outcomes 12:40 - 12:45 Opening Act: Four Elements of Nature 12:45 - 12:47 Overview Organizations continue to produce or collect a staggering amount of data, much of which will never actually be used to drive business processes or decision making. The reason is simple: most data is not organized and labeled as it is created. It simply joins an ever-increasing pile. This is especially true with unstructured data. But the more data an organization amasses, the more at risk all that data becomes. From ensuring regulatory compliance to effectively managing data waste, organizations need to stay on top of the tools and strategies that allow them to optimally utilize the staggering amount of data at their disposal and deliver digitally driven growth. Ronita Bhattacharjee Vice President Conferences (META), IDC 12:47 - 12:50 Start of Session Raffle-Apple Airpods-Courtesy of Symphony Summit 12:50 - 13:05 Accelerate Your ESG Compliance and Reporting with the Data Cloud With the COP28 event just around the corner, ESG is a top priority for all companies across the UAE and the wider Middle East. This session will reveal how the Snowflake Data Cloud can help ESG compliance and reporting become easy and streamlined. Mohamed Zouari General Manager, Snowflake 13:05 - 13:10 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Montblanc Gifts 13:10 - 13:25 Enterprise Data as a Service: The Paradigm Shift Toward Distributed Logical Architectures Decentralized data organizations — in which several divisions are partly or entirely in charge of releasing their own data for analytics — have received a lot of attention in recent years. This presentation will discuss critical design principles and best practices for implementing different decentralized architectures, including the logical data fabric and data mesh powered by virtualization. Dr. Alexey Sidorov Chief Data Evangelist MEA, Denodo 13:25 - 13:30 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win MontBlanc Gifts 13:30 - 13:45 Streamline and Govern Cloud Services Consumption in the Era of Hybrid Multicloud Today, “more cloud” is clearly the best answer to many IT questions. However, staff can be overwhelmed the complexity of modern enterprise-scale IT. With all the complexity, there is also a need to streamline and strengthen the consumption and governance aspects of a hybrid IT ecosystem and ensure the cloud – one of the largest outlays of IT expenditure – is being used in the most optimal and cost-effective way. Georges Farah Manager of Sales Engineering MEA, Micro Focus 13:45 - 13:50 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win MontBlanc Gifts 13:50 - 14:05 The Connected Enterprise More and more companies are striving to transform information and interactions to ensure that customers, partners, and employees can instantly connect to what they want. On the road to reaching this digital transformation goal, business and technology leaders will face many challenges. Integrating cloud solutions with existing infrastructures is one formidable challenge facing most organizations, especially when key business applications are complex or spread across disparate systems. This session will specifically address this challenge, sharing examples of companies that have overcome this obstacle and flourished as a result. Mike Kiersey Director, Sales Engineering EMEA, Boomi 14:05 - 14:10 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win MontBlanc Gifts 14:10 - 14:15 End of Session Raffle - Lionel Messi Signed Football Jersey Platinum Partner Session-Track C: Digital Trust, Identity, and Security Strategies for the Digital-First Organization 12:40 - 12:45 Opening Act: Four Elements of Nature 12:45 - 12:47 Overview Although digital transformation reduces costs and increases efficiency for organizations, the increasing number of data and IT systems also means they are facing a more complex distributed IT environment, and end users are in urgent need of new security systems and methods to protect their network security. All of this calls for the deployment of zero trust models that have software-defined perimeters, micro segmentation, and identity and access management (IAM) at their core. At present, countries all over the world are actively exploring and developing zero trust models, and this session will show how the underlying technologies can help drive authentication, enable unified identity management and secure access, and open up new ideas for network security construction and development. Yash Pal Dogra Associate Conference Director, IDC 12:47 - 12:50 Start of Session Raffle-Apple Airpods-Courtesy of Symphony Summit 12:50 - 13:05 Leveraging eSignatures for Enterprise-Wide Digital Transformation As the world moves more Digital by the day, identity-backed signatures and compliant workflow applications can truly help large organizations achieve their Digital vision while enabling strong Customer Experience, internal efficiency, and ESG goals. The presentation will touch upon the fundamentals of eSignatures & the compliance framework within the Middle East. Most importantly, it will provide insight to the attendees on how eSignature implementations can be conceptualized to achieve Enterprise-wide Digital Transformation in large organizations to provide the most optimal Return on Investment. Arvind Srinivasan SVP – Global Markets & Strategy, eMudhra 13:05 - 13:10 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Apple Watch-Courtesy of eMudhra 13:10 - 13:25 Creating a Digital Brain for Your Organization Organizations are becoming more and more digital, even if finance or manufacturing is their core business. However, IT does not fully align to business strategies, and numerous business opportunities are lost due to this disconnect. How can you create a digital brain for your organization that makes it easier to use data to predict business outcomes? Is it by just implementing AI, or does it take more? This session will explore why and how organizations can build a digital brain to deliver benefits to customers. It will highlight the steps to building a digital brain and showcase how IT can be used as an enabler for the future. Jessica Constantinidis Field Innovation Officer EMEA – Strategy Office, ServiceNow 13:25 - 13:30 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win MontBlanc Gifts 13:30 - 13:45 Disrupting the Economics of Cybercrime with Modern Defense According to IDC, 71% of CIOs in the UAE are looking to scale up and enhance customer experiences on mobile and online platforms and eliminate as much friction as possible. As digital attacks on supply chains and customer accounts become more prevalent and sophisticated, their impact on both businesses and customers increases. In 2022, the cost of cybercrime doubled to $6 trillion globally. In this context, now is the time to discover the power of "modern defense." This session explores how your business can use modern defense to eliminate customer friction and drastically disrupt the economics of cybercrime in your favor. Mark Phillips VP Solution Architecture, EMEA & APAC, Human Security 13:45 - 13:50 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Nintendo Switch OLED Console - Courtesy of Human Security 13:50 - 14:05 Looking Backward to Predict the Future Threat Landscape: Cyberattacks Already Kicking Off in 2023 Attackers have not taken any break, with 2023 already being a strong year for threats. As noted during the World Economic Forum in Davos, there is a real "cyberstorm" affecting the automotive industry, industrial networks, open-source software, and the world of education. Nobody is being left behind. Since the beginning of January, the number of attacks has remained elevated. Ransomware groups such as Vice Society — which mainly targets educational institutions — are now "ultra-specialized." However, they still rely on legacy vulnerabilities to compromise their targets. Ahmad Jaber Principle Security Consultant (MENA), Tenable 14:05 - 14:10 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Wireless Marshall Headphones- Courtesy of Tenable 14:10 - 14:15 End of Session Raffle - Lionel Messi Signed Football Jersey
14:15	Lunch & Networking
14:40 14:50	Transformation Zones (Parallel Sessions)
	Zone A: Industry 4.0 14:40 - 14:50 Evolving Beyond Industry 4.0: Leveraging AI, Digital Transformation, and Emerging Technologies Via Industry 4.0 Leading organizations have benefited from sustainable revenue growth, productivity improvements, process optimization, and new value-added services. A strategic approach to Industry 4.0, underpinned by practical initiatives, provides businesses with a road map to the smart factory and the connected, collaborative enterprise. Industry 4.0 is a digital reality that may alter the rules of production, operations, and workforces — even society. This session will look at how Industry 4.0 has allowed organizations to connect their customers, supply chain networks, employees, and plant and equipment to drive predictable revenues. The session will further examine what is coming next in this evolving domain. Pranish Kushare Senior Principal Business Solutions Consultant, Infor Zone B: Sustainability 14:40 - 14:50 Sustainability: A Journey Worth Taking With COP28 on the UAE horizon, sustainability will most likely be top of mind for business leaders and their companies. This session will explore the factors that are driving the global sustainability agenda and explain how choosing the right partner for your organization can help accelerate it beyond mere sustainability pledges. Aysar Yousef Azure Data & AI Lead, Financial Services & Aviation, Microsoft
14:50 15:35	For The CIO - By The CIO Tracks (Parallel Sessions)
	Track A: Talent Development & The Demand For New Skills: How Do You Structure Your Team Optimally 14:50 - 15:35 Talent Development & The Demand For New Skills: How Do You Structure Your Team Optimally As the world of work continues to evolve and organizations shift to hybrid work models, new challenges and opportunities present themselves. How can technology leaders leverage these shifts to enhance online and virtual experiences and strengthen competitiveness by developing people, talent, and skills? This panel session will examine how the technology talent market has changed and compelled organizations to leverage innovative work models. It will highlight the latest trends in hiring and managing talent amid the move toward hybrid work policies. In addition, panelists will discuss how organizations can change themselves and their team structures to leverage the current situation and enhance productivity. The session will conclude by highlighting how organizations can address the shortage of skilled technology professionals, given that the shift to distributed workforces has enabled them to retain global talent. Taha Tkito CIO, Americana Foods (UAE) Thuraya Al-Harthi Acting Director for the Government Digital Services Unified Portal, Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technology (MTCIT) (Oman) Lieutenant Colonel Hamad Khalifa Al Nuaimi Head of Telecommunications Division, Abu Dhabi Police (UAE) Jason Roos Chief Information Officer, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KSA) Dr. Ammar H. Alhusaini Acting Director General, Central Agency for Information Technology (Kuwait) Mai B AlOwaish Chief Data & Innovation Officer, Gulf Bank (Kuwait) Marc Dowd Vice President Research, CIO Advisory, IDC UK Track B: Sustainable Strategies & Technologies: Operationalization, Impact Measurability, Business Value Creation 14:50 - 15:35 Sustainable Strategies & Technologies: Operationalization, Impact Measurability, Business Value Creation Sustainability is now a key priority for governments and enterprises across industries as they strive to meet the national and industry-specific ESG goals and regulations. CIOs will not only need to offer “sustainable / green” technology solutions for their customer organizations but would also require advise and handholding through the journey. This discussion would address roadmaps and solutions that support the data collection and reporting, governance and compliance and benchmarking needs towards sustainable strategies and technologies. Aus Akram Alzubaidi Director of IT & Media Management, MBC Group Muhammad Aslam Chief Technology Officer, Moro Hub (UAE) Dr. Salim Al-Shuaili Director, Artificial intelligence and Advanced Technology Unit, Ministry of Transport, Communication and Information Technology (MTCIT) (Oman) Mohamed Adel Abu Hassan Assistant Undersecretary of Resources & Information, Bahrain Ministry of Municipalities Affairs & Agriculture (Bahrain) Amit Varma Group Chief Platform Officer, Emirates NBD Dr. Hoda Alkhzaimi Director, Center of Cybersecurity, New York University Abu Dhabi Fuad Al Ansari Former Vice President IT & Shared Services, ADNOC Group Track C: Vendor Selection and Management: Best Practices and What to Look Out For 14:50 - 15:05 Four IT Improvements You Can Implement Today Objectively measuring the performance of your IT department is something that will create great insights. It will enable focused decision making, supported by your peer experiences. This session will show some examples and the exciting results that have been achieved. It will present a framework for portfolio management that improves predictability and show how smart, flexible contracting can enable an increase in quality and flexibility in a dynamic market. It will also outline an agile software development framework that increases quality and output and showcase vendor life-cycle performance measurements that ensure constant compliance with contracts while reducing waste. Sergej Berendsen CEO, Metri 15:05 - 15:35 Vendor Selection and Management: Best Practices and What to Look Out For For the IT sourcing and procurement professional, demanding workloads and deadlines leave little time for an in-depth review of technology markets and vendors, sourcing best practices, and specific IT investment opportunities and partnerships. This session addresses key sourcing challenges related to digital transformation and the evolving role of vendor management within the enterprise, combined with actionable intelligence on best practice for driving better deals and reducing costs without risking vendor relationships. Sergej Berendsen CEO, Metri Ahmad M. Almulla Former EVP, Corporate Services, Emirates Global Aluminium (UAE) Ayman Alharbi Senior Director of Infrastructure & Operation, Red Sea Global (KSA) Faisal Ali Group CIO, Gargash Group (UAE) Saud Al Dhawyani CTO, Emirates NBD (UAE)
15:35	Close of Day 1

Speakers

Jyoti Lalchandani

Group Vice President & Regional Managing Director (META), IDC

Crawford Del Prete

President, IDC Worldwide

Naim Yazbeck

General Manager, Microsoft UAE

Adrian Pickering

Regional General Manager MENA, Red Hat

Samer Kandalaft

Executive Vice President, QuanTech (Part of MDS System Integration)

Amna Al Saleh

Head of Technology Development, Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT)

Jason Roos

Chief Information Officer, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KSA)

Mai B AlOwaish

Chief Data & Innovation Officer, Gulf Bank (Kuwait)

Charbel Khneisser

Vice President, Solutions Engineering, EMEA, Riverbed Technology

Ali El Kontar

CEO, Zero&One

Partners

Supported by

Host Partner

Strategic & Sustainability Partner

Smart ICT Partner

Digital Solutions Partner

Trailblazer Partner

Sustainability Partner

Innovation Partner

Digital Transformation Partner

Summit Partner

Platinum Partner

Technology Focus Group Partner

Sustainability Transformation Zone Partner

Industry 4.0 Transformation Zone Partner

Exhibit Partner

Associate Partner

Media Partner

Health Partner

Awards

The IDC Middle East CIO Summit 2023 will also play host to the IDC Excellence Awards. The awards will recognize the efforts of the country's leading technology executives, based on their ability to drive innovation, strengthen resiliency, and shape rapid change. Securing a place on our list of finalists will be viewed as a genuine mark of enterprise excellence, so submit your nominations today!

CIO (Chief Information Officer) of the Year

Description

To be eligible for the IDC Excellence Awards 2023, nominees must fulfil the following criteria:

They must have held the position of CIO within a company their current organization based in the Middle East for at least 12 months since January 2022.

They must have led, within the last 12 months, the implementation of initiatives that must be thoroughly described in the nomination form.

Open to IT leaders who have:

1. Spearheaded the leadership of digital transformation in alignment with senior executives and lines of business.

2. Successfully delivered major digital transformation initiatives that led to significant business outcomes.

Nomination Criteria

At IDC, we pride ourselves on enforcing the very highest levels of transparency and impartiality. As such, each nomination will be reviewed and validated using a multi-tiered process.

The evaluation of nominations and selection of finalists will be independently undertaken by a multidisciplinary team comprising of IDC Advisory Council members and senior regional IDC analysts. All nominations will be treated with the strictest confidentiality.

The top 10 finalists in each category will be unveiled during award ceremony hosted at Atlantis, The Palm on February 23, 2023.

The top two finalists in each category will be required to present their achievements/nominations to the IDC Advisory Council members on February 22, 2023 at Atlantis, The Palm. Each finalist will be allocated a total of 15 minutes – 7-8 minutes to showcase their achievement and 7-8 minutes for Q&As.
All nominations must contain fact-based information and should not include marketing messages or branding information.

All questions from the nomination form need to be answered. IDC encourages short, sharp answers that provide clear insights into the results achieved by the selected initiative/project/nominee.

An individual can nominate themselves in multiple categories.

The nomination form must be submitted by February 06, 2023.

In the event of any dispute regarding the rules, conduct, results, and all other matters relating to the IDC Excellence Awards 2023, the decision of the judges shall be final, and no further correspondence or discussion shall be entered into.

CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) of the Year

Description

To be eligible for the IDC Excellence Awards 2023, nominees must fulfil the following criteria:

They must have held the position of CISO within a company their current organization based in the Middle East for at least 12 months since January 2022.

They must have led, within the last 12 months, the implementation of initiatives that must be thoroughly described in the nomination form.

Open to IT leaders who have:

1. Significantly improved the security posture, resilience, and regulatory compliance of their organization.

2. Successfully delivered major initiatives that helped transform and position security as an enabler for digital transformation.

Nomination Criteria

Women in Technology & Business

Description

To be eligible for the IDC Excellence Awards 2023, nominees must fulfil the following criteria:

They must have held the position of Women Leader within a company their current organization based in the Middle East for at least 12 months since January 2022.

They must have led, within the last 12 months, the implementation of initiatives that must be thoroughly described in the nomination form.

Open to female business and IT leaders who have:

1. Positively impacted the business outcomes, work cultures, and levels of innovation required for greater financial performance.

2. Successfully reduced the impact of a lack of gender diversity in IT organizations and underscored the need to expand mentoring programs that develop female leaders.

Nomination Criteria

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Knowledge Hub

Transformation Zone
Metaverse

The emerging metaverse paradigm will have a significant impact on the digital economy. The metaverse is a highly immersive future environment that blends the physical and digital to drive a shared sense of presence, interaction, and continuity across multiple spheres of work and life. This year's summit will examine the impact of the metaverse on digital economies and explore potential use cases for organizations to embrace.

Transformation Zone
Sustainability

Organizations around the world are increasingly implementing sustainability into their business life cycles, and they see environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors impacting their enterprise value. Technology is a key enabler of successful sustainable business transformation and corporate sustainability approaches that align a positive impact on people and the environment with the generation of financial profits. ESG integration has become a CEO-level topic for organizations worldwide, underlining the strategic importance that sustainability has attained over the last few years.

Transformation Zone
Industry 4.0

Factories, warehouses, and logistics firms also find themselves in the midst of transformation. The impact of the pandemic on supply and distribution, with effects that often rippled across the globe, forced the realization that lean and efficient supply chains can also be brittle and vulnerable to disruption. To address this, globalization strategies are being augmented with a new emphasis on self-reliance, partner ecosystems, cost management, and the minimization of disruption risk.

Analyst Spotlight
A New Approach to Security in the Post-Pandemic World

Frank Dickson,
Group Vice President, Security & Trust, IDC

As we enter 2023, we can finally, for the most part, put reactionary moves due to COVID-19 behind us as the disease moves from a pandemic to an endemic part of daily life. We have accepted that digital transformation moved at a feverish pace, transitioning our enterprises to digital first years before we anticipated. The possibilities of remote work gave way to the reality that hybrid work is here to stay. These are truths that we have accepted.

The economic headwinds we are experiencing have re-energized a trend that was muted by the pandemic. The C-suite appreciates the value and importance of security both now and into the future. C-level executives are actively planning continued investments in security to ensure the viability of their enterprises. However, C-level executives are growing tired of the continually growing financial appetite of security and are looking to reduce spending when and where possible. They are demanding accountability for the spend; in essence, they are looking for secure outcomes that are measurable and meaningful.

The result of this security confluence is a migration of approaches. The breach detection mindset of the past is giving way to a view that positions security as a way of improving an organization's cyber-risk posture, a posture that is tightly coupled with the goals of the organization and decreasing business risk. In its 2023 Future of Trust FutureScape, IDC predicted that by 2025, 45% of CEOs, fatigued by security spending without predictable ROI, will demand security metrics and results measurement to assess and validate investments made in their security program.

The IDC Middle East CIO Summit 2023 will look to address security in this new reality. We will help guide you in working with the CEO and boards of directors as we transition to delivering secure outcomes and a trusted organization to our executive constituencies.

Partner Spotlight
Modern Data Protection in the Age of Digital Transformation

Mohamad Rizk,
Regional Director (Middle East & CIS), Veeam Software

Over the past few years, we have witnessed an acceleration of digital transformation initiatives across regional enterprises in the Middle East. This has brought with it a multitude of challenges and complexities relating to multicloud/hybrid-cloud architectures and Kubernetes adoption.

Partner Spotlight
The CISO: A Species in Permanent Mutation

Alain Sanchez,
CISO, Fortinet

Looking back a decade ago, those that today go by the title of CISO were humble creatures shyly asking the big boys and girls in the boardroom permission to update the antivirus. Today, the same fellows get their own seat in that same boardroom, a decent share of the bonus pie, and a cup of tea on a good day. And strange things happen as well: the CEO asks cybersecurity questions; the newly called CISO gets a budget and a team; sometimes even, the voice of the CISO prevails over execs long established in the upper floor.

Analyst Spotlight
Thriving in the Digital-First Economy

Ranjit Rajan,
Vice President, Research (META), IDC

The pandemic-driven pivot to digital-first strategies by organizations across the Middle East continues well after the pandemic has subsided. Indeed, many leading organizations are now making the transition from enabling digital transformation to actually running a digital business.

In line with this shift, they are increasingly focused on deriving a larger share of revenues from digital products, services, channels, and platforms, with 50% of the CIOs surveyed by IDC across the Middle East saying this is now a major priority for their organizations.

The same survey revealed that 70% of Middle East CIOs will be prioritizing the digitalization of operations (process automation, reengineering, and productivity improvements) over the next 12-18 months, while more than half will also be focused on delivering insights at scale across their organizations by building capabilities in data and enterprise intelligence.

The region will continue to face several headwinds throughout 2023, including volatile demand, high inflation, interest rate hikes, supply chain uncertainties, and currency fluctuations. In order to navigate these storms of disruption, organizations will need to invest in strengthening their digital resiliency so they are better positioned to not only survive but thrive in new market environments as conditions continue to change.

Giga/Mega projects that envision futuristic, highly digitalized cities and communities — such as NEOM in Saudi Arabia — will provide a blueprint for accelerated digitalization across the region in 2023 and beyond. Such projects will set the pace as they develop greenfield digital infrastructure and platforms, leveraging advanced technologies like AI/ML, IoT, edge, and 5G to create innovative tech-enabled use cases and customer experiences.

The rise of the digital economy and the emergence of digital-native firms in segments such as fintech, ecommerce, D2C (direct to consumer), aggrotech, and edtech, among others, have accelerated the disruption of supply chains in several industries, driving the development of new business models, digitally augmented customer experiences, and automated operations.

At the same time, governments across the Middle East have launched numerous strategies and policies to support the growth of the digital economy, with a focus on developing the infrastructure, innovation platforms, skills, and regulations required to support the expansion of digital businesses.

One such example is the UAE government's 'Digital Economy Strategy'. Launched in 2022, this initiative aims to double the contribution of the digital economy to the UAE's GDP from 9.7% to 19.4% over the next 10 years, and it is already bearing fruit.

Indeed, the number of digital companies operating in the country is expanding significantly, with the fintech, ecommerce, and D2C segments leading the charge. These companies are disrupting business models and value chains, driving incumbent players to develop new innovation models, engage in ecosystem partnerships, and launch or acquire digital spin-offs.

In order to thrive in this new world, a digital-first mindset is essential, coupled with a vision to build a data-driven organization that is ingrained with a culture of innovation. Leveraging cloud as a foundational platform, developing a data and intelligence plane powered by AI and advanced analytics, and enabling ubiquitous, consumption-based digital infrastructure will all become critical technology priorities.

Partner Spotlight
Activating the Digital in Your Transformation Through App and Infra Modernization

Prashanth Karanth,
Head of Pre-Sales, Huco

The cerebral core of any digital business, powered by IT, is for features to go live faster with secure controls and superior quality at economical costs. In a world that is grappling with many right solutions coupled with challenges related to collaboration and cultural changes, there is a pragmatic need to strategize programs to accelerate adoption and resolve the underlying challenges.

Partner Spotlight
Adapting Quickly and Imaginatively in an Increasingly Data-Driven World

Jessica Constantinidis,
Field Innovation Officer, ServiceNow

As thousands of travelers geared up for their holidays last year, one leading European airline took the unusual decision to cancel 10 to 20 flights per day to and from one of the EU’s largest airports from early July until late August. The airport was struggling with a shortage of staff, leading to passengers missing flights because it was taking too long to get through security. The airline also announced it would reserve 20 seats on each flight for those who couldn’t get through customs on time.

Analyst Spotlight
Cloud Overspend and the Role of CloudOps and FinOps

Matt Eastwood,
Senior Vice President, Worldwide Research, IDC

Over the past few years, IDC has seen investments in cloud grow rapidly as enterprises build their digital footprints. In many cases, this growth has occurred without the proper governance necessary to ensure resources are optimized appropriately. And the impact on budgets has been significant, with cloud now representing 35-40% of a typical IT budget. Additionally, the typical enterprise is reporting that their cloud overspend can be upwards of 25-35% today. Customers are clearly struggling to understand how to best optimize cloud spend for architectural and business benefit while also allocating cloud costs to the correct team.

One of the ways that enterprise IT customers are tackling this challenge is through the implementation of CloudOps and FinOps. CloudOps is the practice of optimizing and managing the use of cloud resources, while FinOps is the practice of managing financial aspects of cloud operations. Together, these practices allow customers to better understand their cloud usage and costs, and to identify areas where they can reduce expenses effectively.

For example, by using CloudOps tools, customers can monitor and adjust their usage of resources such as storage and computing to ensure they are only paying for what they need. Additionally, FinOps techniques such as forecasting and budgeting can help customers plan and control their spending, preventing unexpected or unnecessary cloud charges.

As a result of these efforts, many enterprise IT customers are seeing significant reductions in their cloud expenditures and can more effectively allocate their IT budgets to other areas of the business. This can mean the difference between a project being viable or not. It also allows these users to have a better understanding of what they pay for and predict future costs, which can help them avoid financial surprises and make more informed decisions. And as many organizations deal with financial headwinds in the market, the time to implement or augment internal CloudOps and FinOps functions is now.

CXO Spotlight
How to Improve Innovation in the Information Technology Field

Eng. Huda Ahmed Mohsen,
Chief of IT, Ministry of Information Affairs (Bahrain)

It's time for all organizations to start driving innovation within the information technology field. Businesses and industries are always looking for ways to enhance their development and potential growth, and the acceptance of innovative ideas will be critical to ensuring the survival of companies in the future.

However, while this philosophy may sound good in theory, the truth is that many companies are reluctant to implement new ideas because they fear that they will require a large investment of money and resources to implement new IT systems. In reality, however, implementing innovative IT solutions can be relatively easy and inexpensive. Here are a few tips for improving innovation in your company’s IT department:

1. Identify areas in your IT department that can be improved through the use of innovative technologies. Once you have identified these areas, create a plan for implementing these new technologies. This should include a detailed budget and a timeline for implementation.
2. Use analytics to identify areas where your IT department could be more efficient. Analytics tools allow you to measure the effectiveness of your IT systems in real time and identify areas where improvements could be made. By analyzing data in this way, you can develop an accurate picture of how your IT systems are being used and identify areas for improvement.
3. Keep an open mind when developing IT solutions. It is important to be open to new ideas and new ways of doing things. This will help to ensure the development of creative solutions to your problems and enhance your overall productivity. If you develop a rigid approach to solving your IT issues, you are less likely to come up with innovative solutions to the problems at hand.
4. Encourage your employees to come up with ideas for how to improve the efficiency of the department.

Analyst Spotlight
The Three Core Pillars of Efficient Digital Infrastructure

Shahin Hashim,
Associate Research Director, IDC

Pandemic-induced transformation has enabled governments and enterprises across all industries to deliver their products and services through digital channels. The sheer pace of this transformation has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience worth living through. As we move forward into 2023, the digital world has become the norm for most industries and organizations. This requires them to constantly innovate and improve their digital offerings to meet changing customer expectations, making a digital-only approach the default strategy for many. Indeed, three out of five UAE organizations surveyed by IDC rank the need to digitalize their operations as their utmost digital priority.

The implementation of highly responsive, resilient, and agile infrastructure is the foundation for any digital-first/only organization. IDC defines this as digital infrastructure, and our Future of Digital Infrastructure Framework helps technology suppliers to position their infrastructure products and services. It also assists technology buyers in defining their road maps for infrastructure transformation, enabling them to attain their ultimate digital infrastructure goals.

The framework is built around three core pillars:

Cloud-Native Technologies: This refers to any modern network, compute, and storage infrastructure, as well as software solutions and technologies delivered at cloud scale and with cloud attributes. These technologies enable frictionless governance, data management and mobility, and security compliance for enterprise workloads across the edge, core, and cloud, thus proactively preparing enterprises to face the interconnected uncertainties of the new world order.

Autonomous Operations: This is a model that allows organizations to run their infrastructure services in a highly automated and self-sufficient manner. This enables more efficient and reliable operations, freeing up resources and enhancing the overall customer experience. To achieve the most advanced level of autonomous operations, organizations can use a combination of modern programmable infrastructure with an API-enabled automation control plane coupled with a suite of cloud-native tools such as full stack observability, intelligent monitoring, asset management, configuration management, application performance management, and end-user experience management. Such an API-driven control plane enables DevOps teams to increase their developer velocity. Additionally, the IT service management function can be enhanced by adopting a proactive approach using AIOps augmented with AI/ML models, helping to significantly reduce the time to detect, respond to, and resolve incidents.

Ubiquitous Consumption: This refers to the utilization of digital infrastructure building blocks based on business objectives, regardless of the location of consumption or the method of delivery. This can include the consumption of resources at the edge, core, or cloud, as well as whether they are shared or dedicated. Essentially, it is about being able to consume the necessary digital resources in a flexible and adaptable manner so that they can be used to achieve desired business outcomes.

The future of digital infrastructure is an exciting one, and it will be interesting to see how organizations continue to leverage these developments to drive their digital-only journeys.

Partner Spotlight
Identifying Cyber Risk to Combat the Threat of Cybercrime

Maher Jadallah,
Senior Director (MENA), Tenable

Over the last two years, we've seen wave after wave of ransomware attacks forcing organizations to make the unenviable choice between meeting the attackers' extortion demands or seeing their sensitive data made public or even wiped. We also saw a resurgence in DDoS attacks and phishing campaigns targeting organizations in 2022.

Partner Spotlight
Adding the Human Touch to Content Automation

Dr. John Bates,
CEO, SER

The trouble with best-of-breed business ecosystems (e.g., SAP, Salesforce, Workday, ServiceNow, Microsoft) is that they have created new silos. Meanwhile, a wealth of information remains hidden away in emails and other places that are hard to determine. Process automation can help highlight these locations. However, where it exists, it is only partial, and likely lacks content understanding and context.

It is no wonder that many companies do not see the returns they expected despite investing heavily in the latest technology. Huge numbers of knowledge workers still have to manually consolidate information from a multitude of different systems to do their jobs.

This isn't the digital dream that anyone wanted. It does little to boost productivity, nor to delight customers, highlight new business opportunities, reduce risk, or improve process efficiency.

Fortunately, there is a better way. It involves bringing unstructured data into the light, and linking associated insights with existing structured data, to create a holistic and ever-evolving narrative that can form the basis for more context-aware process automation.

Bringing Context to Bear

Future platforms or systems will understand content. They will intelligently and automatically take the appropriate actions in a complex enterprise environment, relieving the pressure on overstretched teams.

They will employ more human-like understanding and contextual memory of what that information is, what it means, and how it adds to the story. And how this knowledge could be applied in smarter ways across different use cases, expedite the next courses of action, and deliver a broader range of business benefits.

Take the example of invoice and financial management. There is immense potential for the optimum combination of AI-enabled tools to read and make sense of incoming documents. The same tools can then intelligently trigger any next actions. All within the context of wider enterprise services like ERP, CRM, contract management, and so on.

For instance, pattern-matching AI, such as deep learning, is ideal for automatically ingesting and processing invoices to identify the document type and its constituent parts. In addition, a novel form of AI, known as contextual A, is about recording content in context. For example, recalling how documents of that class are usually handled – rather like a human's contextual memory.

But before companies can harness AI to full effect, they must be able to overcome content silos.

Overcoming System Silos

Where a company is using SAP for ERP, Salesforce for CRM, Workday for HR, ServiceNow for customer service, and the Microsoft suite for everything in between, teams are generally unable to fully understand and address a situation or opportunity, because they can't see the 360-degree picture across all systems.

Integration – not just at a data level, but at a content and process level – alleviates this problem. True integration can share entities such as customers and suppliers across different systems and can automate a process based on these entities.

Given the accelerating pace of change, few organizations can afford to develop their own custom apps on an enterprise content management system to enjoy tangible business outcomes. A more practical option is to snap together pre-built but configurable content apps – which are built with next-generation content management inside. Under the covers, these content apps can communicate and share wisdom based on contextual AI derived from their growing repository, accelerating workflow and business outcomes.

An example of this might be a healthcare application suite for onboarding patients. The suite will store information that can be readily linked to a purchase-to-pay suite for analyzing invoices in Finance and order confirmations in Purchasing. In turn, this also connects with the hospital SAP system for patient billing. Another might be a customer-centric solution suite that can link and share insights on customers with Sales, Customer Service, Project Management, Finance, Legal, etc.

This offers the organization the best of both worlds. Each specialist solution continues to do its given task well, while also contributing to the broader enterprise knowledge – enriching the 360-degree view of a customer, supplier, patient, or business opportunity.

More Than the Sum of Its Parts: Intelligent Content Automation

It's this vision – of delivering more tangible impact and timely ROI at a functional level, while contributing to a shared higher purpose – that is driving the convergence of several adjacent technology fields.

These include the following:

• ECM for managing content
• Robotic process automation (RPA) and business process management (BPM) for orchestrating processes
• Intelligent document processing for understanding incoming content
• Enterprise content integration for bridging content silos and content automation applications

These converging technologies all point toward intelligent content automation (ICA). This is the next, more intelligent generation of content and process automation. It combines content management, process automation, and AI-powered document understanding.

Intelligent content automation platforms will harness different forms of AI to enhance the overarching enterprise narrative about an account, or other scenario, over time. Better still, they will automatically link that knowledge to each business process in context.

Enterprises are becoming more ambitious in their process automation and content management plans. And as they look to drive next-level ROI from their latest tech investments and cross-enterprise knowledge integration, contextualization will become critical.

The use of composable, embedded, contextual AI will drive new and more ambitious waves of content-centric process automation. This technology will have enormous potential to transform the way organizations perform.

CXO Spotlight
Improving Visibility & Enhancing Threat Response: The Path to Strong Security

Virgilio Viegas,
Senior Vice President of IT Security, QNB Group (Qatar)

Constantly evolving security risks, an increasing number of threats, myriad systems to protect, and connections between both internal and external networks all require organizations to implement an increasingly complex range of security measures and simultaneously maintain full visibility of their assets while ensuring they are able to quickly detect and respond to security incidents.

CXO Spotlight
Artificial Intelligence Is Revolutionizing the Way Humans Live

Jason E. Roos,
CIO, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

As a CIO for a science and technology university, I realize that artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the way humans live, work, and play, and the world is on the precipice of a new technological revolution as a result. AI is making it possible to automate repetitive tasks, streamline operations, and personalize services. The impact of AI on various industries is vast and has the potential to solve many of the world's most pressing problems.

Partner Spotlight
Build the Cloud You Need

Kamel Al Tawil,
Managing Director (MENA), Equinix

Enterprises around the world are investing in digital transformation, empowering themselves to be more responsive to the demands of end users everywhere. One crucial factor driving this trend is the growth of digital ecosystems, where rapidly evolving cloud computing technology provides endless possibilities of what businesses can achieve with cloud services — as well as accelerating sustainable success for businesses and communities.

Partner Spotlight
Multifactor Authentication Isn't Enough

Nour Fateen,
Director, Sales Engineering, Recorded Future

It’s easy to rely on multifactor authentication (MFA) as the foundation of identity security for an organization. Once it's in place, anyone who wants to gain access to a system or platform needs to present more than one form of personal identification, whether that's a password, a fingerprint, or a numerical code sent to a phone. The extra layer of security is a step in the right direction for keeping employee and business information safe, but it is not a silver bullet solution.

Partner Spotlight
Tech Trends 2023

Kalyan Kumar (KK),
Global Chief Technology Officer and Head of Ecosystems, HCLTech

2022 has been a transformational year in the world of tech innovation. So, what does the future hold? Here is a sneak peek. From AI to metaverse and the future of work, take a look at ETO's 10 biggest tech trends shaping the future of enterprises today.

Partner Spotlight
Four Reasons IT Modernization Falls Short

Nidal Azba,
Chief Technology Officer, Kyndryl

As the world continues to navigate the pandemic, companies are doubling down on digital-first solutions and systems to deliver better experiences, services, and outcomes for customers, employees, and partners. Globally, investments in digital transformation are forecast to reach $3.4 trillion in 2026.

To accelerate digital success, many firms are also aggressively pursuing IT modernization. But too often, both digital and IT modernization efforts are falling short of expectations. For many large enterprises, the transformation journey takes longer and costs much more than expected.

So, what’s standing in the way of successful IT modernization? While each company’s challenges are unique, there are some common themes and reasons why these efforts fall short.

Reason #1: Oversimplifying cloud

A more measured approach to cloud can deliver quick wins while setting you up for long-term success:

• Think strategically to optimize security and efficiency. Not every workload belongs on the cloud. First consider what your organization actually needs to migrate, then build out a timeline that ensures all your necessary operations are functional when you need them — or are at least down for the shortest amount of time possible. The cost savings of cloud are best thought of as a long-term play — consider FinOps strategy to evaluate your financial benefits.

• Be prepared to pivot when the unexpected occurs. When Carrefour Belgium’s on-premises servers overheated early in their Google Cloud Platform migration, they had to take emergency steps to ensure essential business services stayed online while they finished their timeline. They migrated at-risk systems to an interim cloud environment, preventing downtime and data loss, and were able to finish their cloud migration on schedule. Their interim environment was later migrated to their permanent platform as planned.

• Simplify cloud management with a platform-based operating model. BRF Global operates dozens of companies in pursuit of its commitment to safely providing quality food to hundreds of thousands of people across the world. When it acquires new businesses, it has to integrate their operations into its own, leading to over 20,000 cloud assets needing to be managed. An integrated multicloud management platform allows BRF to see and address issues across all of them from one single point of control.

• Give yourself room to grow. Compass Group Spain has always enjoyed autonomy within its regional market, but when the mandate to migrate to a shared digital infrastructure came down from corporate, they had to adapt. Thankfully, they had already switched to a private cloud internally, making their migration to Amazon Web Services (AWS) much easier. Now, they still maintain their autonomy while gaining the capacity to grow and scale, both within AWS and their international parent, Compass Group PLC.

Reason #2: Changing too much

In our work with thousands of customers across industries, we’ve found that the average company can have up to 10 digital transformation initiatives running at once, often competing with each other for talent, attention, and resources. The ambition behind this is good but change without focus can lead to churn and burnout. If something goes wrong, it can take days to detect and diagnose it, leading to downtime or outages that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per hour.

IT modernization requires discipline. Rather than attempting to change everything at once, optimize your efforts by prioritizing the projects most essential to business goals and build your timeline around those, ensuring your digital transformation is as intentional and effective as possible.

Partner Spotlight
The Best of Both Worlds? How Storage as a Service Strikes the Right Balance

Samer Semaan,
Channel and Alliances Manager, Pure Storage

The public cloud’s gravitational pull is immense, and we live in an age in which it drags data towards it and away from the customer datacenter. But while the lure of the cloud is undeniable, many of its attractions come at a cost. The cloud promises flexibility in capacity and performance, with the ability to scale up — and down, in theory — and with pay-as-you-go pricing options that make it an opex running cost rather than a capex spend.

However, the reality can often prove less rosy. Costs can spiral out of control, SLAs have to be monitored in hawk-like fashion, and performance cannot be guaranteed as it can onsite. For these reasons, many prefer the predictability of their own datacenter, and the concept of cloud repatriation has entered the lexicon. Fortunately, another option has emerged, a potential best-of-both-worlds — storage-as-a-service (STaaS).

STaaS is a consumption model of storage procurement, which allows customers to deliver the capacity and performance they need, on-premises, in cloud or any other combination, and paid for on an as-a-service basis. Below, we look at the benefits of on-premises STaaS consumption models and the kind of services customers should look out for.

Benefits of StaaS

Consumption models of storage purchasing turn the procurement of onsite capacity in block, file, and object storage into a pay-as-you-go transaction. That’s in contrast to the traditional ways of on-premises hardware purchasing, where new products were bought on a three-year cycle to replace equipment bought during the preceding refresh three years before. And so on.

It was a purchase of goods. You owned the item outright and paid for a support contract alongside it. You could upgrade controller software, and add drives and shelves, but when it groaned under the weight of increased performance or capacity demands and reached end of life, it was time for the next refresh and a forklift upgrade.

Consumption models try to do away with that by turning storage procurement into a service-like experience. Customers usually commit to some kind of minimum capacity level, with agreement also to extra buffer capacity and the ability to scale beyond that. Some form of monitoring then allows the vendor to present a bill for storage used. Treating storage as a service has the big benefit of being potentially more flexible in terms of scalability and providing the ability to add more capacity or performance.

Meanwhile, being deployed in the customer datacenter means storage performance can be better than it would in the cloud and nowhere near as susceptible to suffering any degradation over the wide area network (WAN).

Also, compared to cloud storage, bills and usage are likely to be more predictable, especially without costly cloud peculiarities such as egress charges, which can mount up unnoticed and result in huge bills. Concerns about security that go with the cloud are also mitigated.

Having said that, if the storage vendor has cloud infrastructure or partnerships, hybrid cloud working may be available as part of the arrangement, and so the ability to burst to the cloud to take advantage of extra production capacity or stage less-frequently used data becomes a possibility.

And on top of all this, STaaS can be treated as an opex cost and so can be offset against tax.

So, to sum up, consumption models of storage procurement potentially offer flexible and scalable capacity and performance operated on-site but billed as if it were a service, with the potential to link to the cloud as an extension of the datacentre. And all treated as an Opex cost.

Key Features of Storage as a Service

So, what should customers look out for in STaaS offerings? Core to consumption model offerings is the ability to deploy storage capacity onsite and be billed for consumption.

Key to watch out for here, however, is that the service is being truly delivered as a service. In other words, levels of capacity and performance should be underwritten by SLAs, and when more hardware is required to meet those it should be delivered and deployed non-disruptively.

Most vendors offer something that's more like a leasing agreement, in which their products are deployed on a three- or five-year cycle with forklift upgrades at the end. By contrast, the best StaaS offerings work to guaranteed service levels with automated upgrades to meet performance and capacity guarantees without extra cost and which are triggered by AI-based monitoring and telemetry.

Customers should also check the storage supplier's ability to deploy file and block access storage as well as fast file and object storage in the same hardware, with tiers of performance defined by input-output speed, throughput, and capacity. That way, all workloads are covered, from rapid transactional block access, via unstructured file data, to the rapid throughput performance needed for analytics and restores from backup data.

Monitoring software should give the customer an easy-to-read view of capacity usage and performance across on-premises storage infrastructure and the cloud that shows how things are matching up to SLAs. It should also allow the ability to provision storage. AI-driven tools should enable prediction of future usage and be part of the process of triggering performance and capacity upgrades.

These are the key features of the most advanced storage consumption models on the market today, and can help your organization deliver cloud-like flexibility but with the peace of mind that only on-premises operations provide.

Partner Spotlight
Embracing a Twin Transition that Is Both Digital and Green

Mohannad Abuissa,
Chief Technology Officer (Gulf) & Systems Engineering Director, Cisco

The world is facing unprecedented environmental challenges, with experts predicting that climate change could be irreversible by 2030 if we do not act now. Sustainability agendas have pivoted from being a "nice to have" to a business imperative.

Partner Spotlight
Unified Observability Promotes Digital Agility & Resilience

Charbel Khneisser,
Vice President, Solutions Engineering, EMEA, Riverbed Technology

The role of the CIO in 2023 is being shaped by a constellation of new technologies and the burning need of organizations to use them to deliver innovation, adapt to changing market dynamics, and enhance the sustainability of their operations. As they incorporate an increasing number of these technologies, their IT environments are growing in scale and complexity, impairing agility and decreasing their ability to remain resilient in the face of constantly evolving market dynamics.

This is where unified observability steps in as a solution for the needs of the modern IT team. Rather than being drowned in a deluge of data from disparate tools, with unified observability, IT teams become empowered with actionable insights, gained by correlating information across disparate systems. These contextual insights paint the complete picture and enable IT to understand and rapidly act upon what is happening and what has happened while avoiding missing key events due to sampling.

Observability is the ultimate evolution of visibility tools, which was the cross-domain correlation of monitoring tools. Data is becoming abundant, which promotes the need for observability to drive actionable insights based on the telemetry data being captured from networks, apps, and users.

And for remediation/self-healing to become relevant and actionable, the use of ML/AI becomes crucial in the troubleshooting step so that baselines and behavior changes can be properly analyzed. By doing so, it can bring the most important issues to the surface faster and with precision, making the organization more resilient, even in the face of rapid and unpredictable change.

At this crucial point when CIOs and IT leaders are under immense pressure to use the latest technologies to drive competitive differentiation, unified observability will deliver the agility and resilience these initiatives need to thrive.

Partner Spotlight
Intelligent Automation Is Key to Future-Proofing Your Digital Strategy

Ashraf El Zarka,
Vice President, Regional Managing Director MEA & Pakistan, UiPath

With business landscapes becoming increasingly complex, leaders find themselves in a position where they are having to manage both internal shifts in priorities and ever-changing external macroeconomic conditions. This has a direct impact on the organization, as well as its network of customers and partners.

Ronita Bhattacharjee

Vice President - Conferences, IDC Middle East, Africa, & Turkey

+971 4 391 2747 Email

Taher Hamdan

Senior Sales Manager, Conferences, IDC Middle East, Turkey & Africa

+971506591320 Email

About IDC

59 Years

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International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,300 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading media, data and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com.

8:30	Registration & Networking
8:55	IDC Welcome Address
	Steven Frantzen Senior Vice President & Regional Managing Director (EMEA), IDC
9:00	Opening Address
	H.E. Dr. Mohamed Hamad Al Kuwaiti Head of Cybersecurity Council for the UAE Government
9:15	Driving Business Outcomes Through Software Development Best Practices
	Investing in removing developer friction, with a focus on spending the maximum time possible delivering business value through code, can drive the outcomes needed for business to thrive. In a rapidly evolving digital world where multi-cloud and hybrid workloads are becoming the norm, cyberattacks increase year on year, and regulations and compliance are at an all-time high, leveraging DevSecOps best practices is more important than ever before. Abstracting the complexities of the IT ecosystem will allow developers to do what they do best – deliver the applications that will differentiate business and ultimately maximize revenue growth. Darran Rice Tanzu Value Advisor, VMware
9:35	Accelerate Your Journey to Net Zero
	This session describes an opportunity to leverage technology to deliver business outcomes with a sustainable future in mind. Attendees will learn how sustainable solutions and innovations can help organizations get to net zero faster, particularly through energy management and the monitoring of power and data. With a focus on "greener networking," the session will explore how end-to-end architecture encompasses circular economies and consumption. Garsen Naidu Director, Specialist Sales and Architectures, Cisco
9:55	Perspectives on Building an Intelligent Enterprise
	Business performance improvement and customer service/satisfaction are key metrics for any enterprise. This is enabled by building an intelligent enterprise so that the business responds to the customer in the best possible manner. An intelligent enterprise is built around proactive business alerts and decision-enabling support systems through digital services that improve business performance. Enablers to achieve an intelligent enterprise include technology levers like cloudification, data/AI/ML, etc. This session will explore strategies for building an intelligent enterprise. Ram Ramachandran Senior Vice President & Head, Middle East & Africa, Tech Mahindra
10:15	Understanding and Driving the Technology Disruption Agenda
	Technology transformation has undergone a monumental change. Technological disruptions not only transform the technology landscape but also drive business model changes that lead to the creation of new markets and the transformation of existing ones. Disruption represents both an opportunity and a threat — an opportunity for novel and ecosystem-driven boundary-less innovation and an existential threat to classic approaches to business services. A technology disruption agenda also creates infinite growth possibilities and challenges. These challenges need different treatments and responses to fulfill client needs. This session addresses these dimensions as disruption unleashes future growth avenues. Kalyan Kumar Global Chief Technology Officer and Head of Ecosystems, HCLTech
10:35	Evolution of the Human Species
	Neil Harbisson The World’s First Officially Recognized Human “Cyborg”
10:55	Tea/Coffee & Networking Break
11:20 11:30	Transformation Zones (Parallel Sessions)
	Zone A: Industry 4.0 11:20 - 11:30 Evolving Beyond Industry 4.0: Leveraging AI, Digital Transformation, and Emerging Technologies Via Industry 4.0 Leading organizations have benefited from sustainable revenue growth, productivity improvements, process optimization, and new value-added services. A strategic approach to Industry 4.0, underpinned by practical initiatives, provides businesses with a road map to the smart factory and the connected, collaborative enterprise. Industry 4.0 is a digital reality that may alter the rules of production, operations, and workforces — even society. This session will look at how Industry 4.0 has allowed organizations to connect their customers, supply chain networks, employees, and plant and equipment to drive predictable revenues. The session will further examine what is coming next in this evolving domain. Pranish Kushare Senior Principal Business Solutions Consultant, Infor Zone B: Sustainability 11:20 - 11:30 Securing the Remote Workforce In the post-pandemic period, organizations are trying to offer employees new flexible and scalable solutions for hybrid and remote working. With the accelerated move to the cloud, security has also become a top concern. Moreover, supply chain shortages have become a real obstacle for every single IT organization. This discussion addresses the solutions that can help CIOs address remote work without compromising security. Indeed, with a couple of clicks, organizations can scale up and down and offer new and modern desktops to their employees while retaining investments in security and desktop management. Ahlem Njah Senior Technical Cloud Endpoint Specialist, Microsoft
11:30 12:40	Technology Focus Tracks (Parallel Sessions)
	Technology Focus Group A: Cyber Protection for Today, and Tomorrow’s Threats: Dynamic Security Strategies to Minimize Risk 11:30 - 11:35 Opening Act: Time for Fitness 11:35 - 11:37 Overview Saqib Chaudhry CIO, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare (KSA) 11:37 - 11:40 Start of Session Raffle-Apple Watch 11:40 - 11:50 Cyber Immunity: The Key to Safe and Secure Digital Transformation Vladimir Slinko Senior Technology Advisor, KasperskyOS 11:50 - 11:55 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Skullcandy Headphones-Courtesy of Kaspersky 11:55 - 12:05 Intelligent Cybersecurity Transformation Intelligent cybersecurity transformation (ICST) bridges the gap between the AI cyberattacks and AI cybersecurity by protecting organizations' assets and reputations, as well as the economies and national data of entire countries. By combining all the new weapons every cybersecurity expert should embrace, ICST leads transformation in two directions — across people and technology. This session will show that in the fight against AI cyberattacks and the damage they cause, ICST experts are equipped to build a framework that protects the future of organizations and countries in the new AI world. Wajeeh AL Mesherky CEO, Sahara Watira - RiCSOC 12:05 - 12:10 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Apple Watch-Courtesy of Sahara Watira 12:10 - 12:20 Cybersecurity Automation in SecOps The cybersecurity perimeter of an organization's IT gets redefined as and when new threats are identified, thanks to the advent of new technology in this digital transformation era. The increased use of devices within the network adds much to this chaos. Existing cybersecurity solutions are no match for the threats posed by attackers. Hence, there is demand for robust cybersecurity solutions that can adapt to technologies like automation, AI, ML, and so on. This session will explore cybersecurity automation concepts and outline key strategies you can implement to enhance your security boundary and safeguard your business. Karthik Ananda Rao Chief Technical Evangelist, ManageEngine 12:20 - 12:25 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Raffle Prizes 12:25 - 12:35 The Power of Low-Code Security Automation What separates top performing cybersecurity teams from everyone else? It is largely their ability to quickly uncover, understand, and remediate threats. Enter low-code security automation. This powerful and extensible technology can unlock the potential of security teams with machine-speed decision making. But just what can organizations do with low-code security automation, and how can it help take security teams from good to great? John Doetch Vice President, Global Sales Engineering, Swimlane 12:35 - 12:40 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Apple Watch-Courtesy of Swimlane Technology Focus Group B: Connecting the Distributed Cloud – From the Edge to the Core 11:30 - 11:35 Opening Act: Time for Fitness 11:35 - 11:37 IDC Overview Marc Dowd Advisory Partner, IDC Executive Advisory 11:37 - 11:40 Start of Session Raffle-Google Smart Home Controller Assistant-Courtesy of Pure Storage 11:40 - 11:50 Unlocking the Potential of Artificial Intelligence Through Cloud Computing This session looks at how cloud computing unlocks the potential of artificial intelligence (AI). It examines how cloud computing and AI have evolved over the past decades, demonstrates the current capabilities of AI via real-world examples, and highlights the future of cloud computing. The session also provides details on some of the challenges and considerations associated with cloud-based AI implementations. The session concludes by showcasing how cloud computing has made AI more accessible and affordable to a wide range of industries and organizations. Dr. Dani Abu Ghaida Chief Digital Officer (MEA), Crayon 11:50 - 11:55 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Raffle Prizes 11:55 - 12:05 Build the Cloud You Need Enterprises around the world are investing in digital transformation and empowering themselves to be more responsive to the demands of end users everywhere. One crucial factor driving this trend is the growth of digital ecosystems which allow business partners to exchange data and services with one another and unlock new capabilities and co-innovation opportunities. This session will look at how applying digital services can help maximize the flexibility and agility of digital infrastructure. Making the decision to move to the cloud is a complicated and expensive prospect for companies looking to deliver a seamless, real-time experience to employees and consumers. Given this context, the session will highlight how companies can simplify the journey from centralized to distributed network infrastructure and improve speed to market, localize data, decrease operational downtime, and lower costs in the process. Denis Dincic Senior Global Solutions Architect, Equinix 12:05 - 12:10 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Raffle Prizes 12:10 - 12:20 When Data Comes to Life: Achieving Business Outcomes with Data Organizations realize that their data is a critical foundation for success, but many are not able to exploit it. Their data is locked in silos, unconnected, and often of poor quality. This session will show how organizations can break down those silos and deliver clean, well-governed data to the right person at the right time, resulting in the provision of personalized services and a competitive advantage. This is how data comes to life! Hafdi Salah Vice President, Solutions & Customer Success, BBI 12:20 - 12:25 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Raffle Prizes 12:25 - 12:35 Solutions for Digital Transformation and Sustainability Modern data services empower organizations to realize a fully automated, as-a-service data layer for traditional and modern applications while increasing insights for data-driven decision making. This session explores how organizations can lower costs and gain measurable operational and energy efficiencies with a data storage solution that drives innovation and promotes a more sustainable future. Samer Semaan Channel and Alliances Manager, Pure Storage 12:35 - 12:40 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Google Smart Home Controller Assistant-Courtesy Pure Storage Technology Focus Group C: Enabling the Data-Driven Enterprise 11:30 - 11:35 Opening Act: Time for Fitness 11:35 - 11:37 Overview Mai B AlOwaish Chief Data & Innovation Officer, Gulf Bank (Kuwait) 11:37 - 11:40 Start of Session Raffle-Samsung Watch Courtesy HCL Tech 11:40 - 11:50 The Future of Modern Data Protection This session explores how organizations can own, control, and protect data on any cloud. Participants will discover how to protect data against ransomware, modernize backup to eliminate data loss and downtime, and accelerate their moves to any cloud, all while ensuring data is always available. Islam Afifi Regional Presales Manager, Veeam Software 11:50 - 11:55 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Raffle Prizes 11:55 - 12:05 The Future of Data Accessibility: Content Services Enabling Enterprise Growth With exploding information growth and increasingly complex regulatory requirements, the effective management and protection of critical data will be key to organizational success. Yesterday's enterprise content management tools struggle to meet today’s data requirements, provide from access anywhere at any time, and eliminate information siloes. This informational session will look at how forward-looking companies are addressing today’s needs while discovering valuable new efficiencies along the way. It will highlight emerging technologies that are driving innovation, including cloud deployment, artificial intelligence, and low-code tools. The session will further explore how real-world customers are managing this transition and explain why content services will be essential for supporting their future ambitions. Marouan Betaleb Solutions Engineer, Hyland Software 12:05 - 12:10 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Amazon Kindle- Courtesy of Square One/ Hyland 12:10 - 12:20 Navigation Through Low Code Jungle: The Essence of Low Code Software Development. Maik de Wolf Vice President, Middle East & South Africa, Mendix 12:20 - 12:25 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Raffle Prizes 12:25 - 12:35 Manage Applications and Data Everywhere Across Hybrid Multi-Cloud Environments Farid Najjar Area Distribution Lead–EEMI (Eastern Europe, META, Iberia & LATAM), NetApp 12:35 - 12:40 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Raffle Prizes Technology Focus Group D: Transition through AI and Analytics How to Win in the Intelligent Economy 11:30 - 11:35 Opening Act: Time for Fitness 11:35 - 11:37 Overview Moayad Hassan Digital Transformation Specialist, Dubai Municipality 11:37 - 11:40 Start of Session Raffle - Apple Watch 11:40 - 11:50 Intelligent Automation for Next-Generation Citizen Experience Operational excellence has always been a key government mandate. With the rapid resurgence of digital services across departments, citizens have had the chance to experience different levels of quality in service delivery. Unfortunately, they are largely unsatisfied with the inconsistent services their governments have provided. With prevailing challenges like increased inflation rates and disrupted supply chains, a digital-first approach is the only way to overcome uncertainty and thrive as a nation. This session will thus identify the top three automation mandates that governments must take into consideration. It will further look at a maturity model that governments can use to reach service excellence and highlight the impact of successful government automation projects on citizens in different countries. Karim Y. Rizkallah Regional Vice President of Solution Consulting, OpenText 11:50 - 11:55 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Raffle Prizes 11:55 - 12:05 How Can Businesses Overcome the Challenges of Complex IT Environments? Radical Simplicity is the Answer This session highlights new ways for the intelligent monitoring and pre-emptive management of complex and heterogenous multi-cloud and hybrid IT estates. Participants will learn how to control, streamline, and personalize services to deliver improved outcomes with a unified experience. Nidal Azba Chief Technology Officer, Kyndryl 12:05 - 12:10 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Raffle Prizes 12:10 - 12:20 Accelerate Industry Transformation with the Digital-Native Network Faisal Ameer Malik Chief Technical Officer, Huawei Enterprise Business Group 12:20 - 12:25 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Raffle Prizes 12:25 - 12:35 ServiceOps – An AI Infused Transformation Platform Simplify the complex and accelerate innovation in your digital transformation journey. With a ServiceOps approach, you can accelerate new product development, time-to-market, and revenue growth. Gunal Kannan AVP, CTO Office (EMEA & APJ), BMC Software 12:35 - 12:40 Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win Raffle Prizes
12:40	Networking Break
13:10	Partner Felicitation
13:20	IDC Middle East Advisory Council Felicitation
13:30	IDC Excellence Awards 2023
14:00	Lunch
15:00	Close of Summit

IDC Middle East CIO Summit 2023

In 2023, we are going further, together! Join us for the 16th Edition.

Delegate Journey

Key Topics

Sustainable Strategies & Technologies

Talent Development & The Demand For New Skills

Four IT Improvements you can Implement Today

Venue

IDC Middle East Advisory Council 2023

2022 Event Highlights

Agenda

Filter Topics

Registration & Networking

Opening Act: Art of Music

IDC Welcome Address

IDC Opening Keynote: Strategies for the CIO and Enterprise Innovation

Harnessing Data and AI for Growth

Dealing with Economic Uncertainty in the Digital Age

The Digital Journey: Digital Agility, Transformation, and Digital Re-Invention

Special Address

Tea/Coffee & Networking Break

Summit Partner Tracks (Parallel Sessions)

Tea/Coffee & Networking Break

Transformation Zones (Parallel Sessions)

Platinum Partner Tracks (Parallel Sessions)

Lunch & Networking

Transformation Zones (Parallel Sessions)

For The CIO - By The CIO Tracks (Parallel Sessions)

Close of Day 1

Registration & Networking

IDC Welcome Address

Opening Address

Driving Business Outcomes Through Software Development Best Practices

Accelerate Your Journey to Net Zero

Perspectives on Building an Intelligent Enterprise

Understanding and Driving the Technology Disruption Agenda

Evolution of the Human Species

Tea/Coffee & Networking Break

Transformation Zones (Parallel Sessions)

Technology Focus Tracks (Parallel Sessions)

Networking Break

Partner Felicitation

IDC Middle East Advisory Council Felicitation

IDC Excellence Awards 2023

Lunch

Close of Summit

Speakers

Partners

Awards

CIO (Chief Information Officer) of the Year

CIO (Chief Information Officer) of the Year

CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) of the Year

CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) of the Year

Women in Technology & Business

Women in Technology & Business

Proceedings

Protected content

Photo Gallery

Knowledge Hub

Transformation ZoneMetaverse

Transformation ZoneMetaverse

Transformation ZoneSustainability

Transformation ZoneSustainability

Transformation ZoneIndustry 4.0

Transformation ZoneIndustry 4.0

Analyst SpotlightA New Approach to Security in the Post-Pandemic World

Analyst SpotlightA New Approach to Security in the Post-Pandemic World

Partner SpotlightModern Data Protection in the Age of Digital Transformation

Partner SpotlightModern Data Protection in the Age of Digital Transformation

Partner SpotlightThe CISO: A Species in Permanent Mutation

Partner SpotlightThe CISO: A Species in Permanent Mutation

Analyst SpotlightThriving in the Digital-First Economy

Analyst SpotlightThriving in the Digital-First Economy

Partner SpotlightActivating the Digital in Your Transformation Through App and Infra Modernization

Partner SpotlightActivating the Digital in Your Transformation Through App and Infra Modernization

Partner SpotlightAdapting Quickly and Imaginatively in an Increasingly Data-Driven World

Partner SpotlightAdapting Quickly and Imaginatively in an Increasingly Data-Driven World

Analyst SpotlightCloud Overspend and the Role of CloudOps and FinOps

Analyst SpotlightCloud Overspend and the Role of CloudOps and FinOps

Partner SpotlightThe Role of AI in Revolutionizing Industries

In 2023, we are going further, together!
Join us for the 16th Edition.

Transformation Zone
Metaverse

Transformation Zone
Metaverse

Transformation Zone
Sustainability

Transformation Zone
Sustainability

Transformation Zone
Industry 4.0

Transformation Zone
Industry 4.0

Analyst Spotlight
A New Approach to Security in the Post-Pandemic World

Analyst Spotlight
A New Approach to Security in the Post-Pandemic World

Partner Spotlight
Modern Data Protection in the Age of Digital Transformation

Partner Spotlight
Modern Data Protection in the Age of Digital Transformation

Partner Spotlight
The CISO: A Species in Permanent Mutation

Partner Spotlight
The CISO: A Species in Permanent Mutation

Analyst Spotlight
Thriving in the Digital-First Economy

Analyst Spotlight
Thriving in the Digital-First Economy

Partner Spotlight
Activating the Digital in Your Transformation Through App and Infra Modernization

Partner Spotlight
Activating the Digital in Your Transformation Through App and Infra Modernization

Partner Spotlight
Adapting Quickly and Imaginatively in an Increasingly Data-Driven World

Partner Spotlight
Adapting Quickly and Imaginatively in an Increasingly Data-Driven World

Analyst Spotlight
Cloud Overspend and the Role of CloudOps and FinOps

Analyst Spotlight
Cloud Overspend and the Role of CloudOps and FinOps

Partner Spotlight
The Role of AI in Revolutionizing Industries

Partner Spotlight
The Role of AI in Revolutionizing Industries

CXO Spotlight
How to Improve Innovation in the Information Technology Field

CXO Spotlight
How to Improve Innovation in the Information Technology Field

Analyst Spotlight
The Three Core Pillars of Efficient Digital Infrastructure

Analyst Spotlight
The Three Core Pillars of Efficient Digital Infrastructure

Partner Spotlight
Identifying Cyber Risk to Combat the Threat of Cybercrime

Partner Spotlight
Identifying Cyber Risk to Combat the Threat of Cybercrime

Partner Spotlight
Adding the Human Touch to Content Automation

Partner Spotlight
Adding the Human Touch to Content Automation

CXO Spotlight
Improving Visibility & Enhancing Threat Response: The Path to Strong Security

CXO Spotlight
Improving Visibility & Enhancing Threat Response: The Path to Strong Security

CXO Spotlight
Artificial Intelligence Is Revolutionizing the Way Humans Live

CXO Spotlight
Artificial Intelligence Is Revolutionizing the Way Humans Live

Partner Spotlight
Build the Cloud You Need

Partner Spotlight
Build the Cloud You Need

Partner Spotlight
Multifactor Authentication Isn't Enough

Partner Spotlight
Multifactor Authentication Isn't Enough

Partner Spotlight
Tech Trends 2023

Partner Spotlight
Tech Trends 2023

Partner Spotlight
Ensuring End-to-End Visibility in the Hybrid Multicloud Era

Partner Spotlight
Ensuring End-to-End Visibility in the Hybrid Multicloud Era

Partner Spotlight
Four Reasons IT Modernization Falls Short

Partner Spotlight
Four Reasons IT Modernization Falls Short

Partner Spotlight
The Best of Both Worlds? How Storage as a Service Strikes the Right Balance

Partner Spotlight
The Best of Both Worlds? How Storage as a Service Strikes the Right Balance

Partner Spotlight
Embracing a Twin Transition that Is Both Digital and Green

Partner Spotlight
Embracing a Twin Transition that Is Both Digital and Green

Partner Spotlight
Unified Observability Promotes Digital Agility & Resilience

Partner Spotlight
Unified Observability Promotes Digital Agility & Resilience

Partner Spotlight
Intelligent Automation Is Key to Future-Proofing Your Digital Strategy

Partner Spotlight
Intelligent Automation Is Key to Future-Proofing Your Digital Strategy