The digital revolution has exposed abundant value opportunities for companies to raise efficiency and develop new kinds of products, services, and business models. Accenture is the engine to help transform businesses and leverage the new technologies that are disrupting the industry as we know it. Only by building strong innovation capabilities, can companies successfully make the wise pivot and manage disruption. Xavier Anglada is the Strategy & Consulting lead for Accenture in the MENA region, and is leading his team in harnessing the power of innovation and disruption in the digital era. Smart Cities World Forums sat down with Anglada to explore how disruption is playing out in the Middle East, and how companies can leverage new digital technologies to power through their digital transformation journey.

Veeam is a company that develops backup, disaster recovery and intelligent data management software for a variety of infrastructures, namely multi-cloud. The company entered the market back in 2006 and has since then become a key player in the industry for its work in helping enterprises move towards the Cloud.

The global telecom industry is currently experiencing a new age in connectivity, with the impending introduction of the world’s fastest next-generation network, 5G. There is no doubt that this industry will experience yet another era of unprecedented opportunities and innovation.

Microsoft Corporation and C3.ai, a company which specializes in artificial intelligence (AI), have partnered with six US-based universities to form a research consortium in an effort to speed up the digital transformation of governments, societies and businesses.

Digitalization has seeped its way into all areas of society in the postmodern world, namely in the developed world, be it politics or economics; it has changed our lives for the better in the ways that we interact with one another and go about our daily lives. While it has simplified a number of processes and enabled businesses to become more efficient, it has brought about a great deal of vulnerabilities that were not previously accounted for to organizations that use these new emerging technologies.

Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Dubai Chamber) highlighted the readiness of its array of seamless smart services which are available to the business community to conduct their work easily and efficiently.

The UAE is a world-renowned leader in adopting smart city technologies and since the novel coronavirus struck the entire world, there has been no better time than now to leverage the opportunities that emerging technologies brings into our lives.

Technology has dug its roots deep into the foundations of the sustainable existence of both modern enterprises and individuals. It has evolved to be indispensable for most of us by essentially catapulting our customer experience radically in various transactions. One current example can be seen in the growing trend of using cashless payments made across borders to buy real estate virtually. Gone are the days when one had to board a plane and physically reach a location to buy property. We’ve charted a new world, and such experiences will only evolve further with emerging technologies entering our digital mainstream. 

With the private sector supporting UAE’s government remote learning initiatives during the closure of universities in light of the COVID-19 pandemic period, Huawei is providing the means for education to continue by delivering free online lectures that will be available for all students.

Huawei launches Singapore’s first 5G-powered Artificial Intelligence (AI) lab equipped with AI, 5G and Cloud technology, at Changi Business Park. The lab boasts facilities that offer extensive 5G support, from Proof of Concepts (POCs) to free trials, with a 5G test-bed and Huawei’s Cloud platform. It also supports AI enablement through offline AI developer kits, as well as Huawei’s ModelArts AI Platform, to support AI R&D efforts.

Huawei has recently unveiled several all-new products and initiatives ideally suited to help enterprises step into the fully digital era, covering areas like storage systems, Wi-Fi 6, artificial intelligence (AI) and data center performance.

Microsoft has announced that it will open an AI Centre of Excellence for Energy in the United Arab Emirates – a global first for the company – to empower organisations in the industry in accelerating digital transformation, equipping the workforce with AI skills, as well as collaborating on coalitions to address sustainability and safety challenges.

Over 300 professionals from the Middle East’s HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) industry gathered in Dubai to plan out the sector’s path to sustainability with global experts outlining how technological disruption can aid the region’s energy and water conservation drive.

In Moscow, MTS and Huawei have demonstrated the first two-way intercity holographic telebridge using 5G technology.

UK public transport provider, National Express, has decided to make their IT system cloud-based with IBM Cloud.

Since its inception in Saudi Arabia in 2001, Nokia, the leading global telco, has been supporting operators throughout the Kingdom to enhance their network performance and unique offerings such as data, voice and video applications.

We are in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution, the most advanced revolution of all time which has been driven by the creation and adoption of emerging technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), the Internet of Things (IoT), as well as Augmented/Virtual reality (AR/VR), among others.

With the prevalence of smart cities and digital transformation seeping their way into the industry and our lives, the role of telecom operators is becoming more crucial than ever before.