Hisham Surakhi, the General Manager of Gemalto Middle East, speaks to Channel Post MEA about the Middle Eastern technology trends and the company’s plans for GITEX this year.
What sort of technology trends have you seen in the Middle East and Africa market over the last few years?
The world clearly mobilizes and digitizes. 4 billion people – well over half the world’s population – now have a mobile phone; and 1.7 billion use the Internet. Over the last five years the Middle East and Africa have experienced substantial growth in the adoption of mobile.
The popularity of the smartphone (60% penetration in the UAE) and the accessibility of data connections have established mobile devices as being invaluable for consumer purchases, personal banking, merchant transactions, and peer-to-peer payments. This digital boom is clearly having an increasing impact on the way billions of people are living their lives.
All types of applications and services are now available on mobile phone and it is changing the way people communicate, shop and even transact. Emerging markets offer not only new possibilities for traditional banking but major potential for transformative banking.
According to Juniper Research, 11.9 million mobile users in Middle East and Africa made transactions through mobile in 2012 and figures are expected to reach 71,9 million users by 2017. Mobile devices are a vital form of today’s global communication and these trends necessitate that industries have in place a mobile strategy for commercial success.
In the UAE for instance, a recent survey we conducted in Dubai unveiled that 85% of those surveyed are ready to adopt mobile NFC technology to pay for goods in shops in a contactless mode, with a gentle tap of their phone on the point of sales terminal and show overwhelming appetite.
This enthusiasm extends beyond the replacement of cash and encompasses a host of other applications such as public transport access, loyalty schemes and e-tickets for major music and sports events. Moreover, the survey suggests the younger generation is most likely to kick-start this new era in speed and convenience – transforming the UAE’s deep-rooted attachment to notes and coins.
Banks and mobile operators in the Middle East and in South Africa are closely looking into NFC technology to offer their customers a new and convenient payment channel.
How has the regional ICT market grown over the past few years? What sort of ICT products are in demand in the MEA region? Has there been a major shift in what the consumers want in ICT products?
The ICT market is growing fast, the trend goes toward dematerialization and digitalization of documents to improve efficiency in all sectors and reduce cost. We are more than ever entering the digital era and the need to protect data, secure digital access, online banking, mobile transactions and sign in a secure way online documents are more than ever a priority to embrace the digital revolution.
There is a strong demand for data protection coming from enterprises in the region. As for governments’ initiatives in the Gulf, they follow a clear digital vision which aims at using the latest technologies to build a state of the art, robust, future proof IT infrastructure to offer the most convenient and enhanced public services to citizens.
Which technologies do you think are the most-wanted technologies in the MEA region for sectors such as enterprise, SMB and end consumers?
We are living in an increasingly connected society and securing the digital world has become a top priority for most businesses in the region. At Gemalto, we support this growing demand for digital security by providing Middle Eastern banks, mobile operators, enterprises and government bodies with software, services and a wide range of secure personal devices such as electronic passports and identity cards, authentication devices for protection online, smart and contactless banking cards, as well as subscriber identification modules (SIM) and universal integrated circuit cards (UICC) in mobile phones.
Our range of solutions meet growing demands for mobile services, identity protection, payment security, authenticated online services, access to cloud computing, modern transportation, eHealthcare, eGovernment services in the region. More than 1 billion people worldwide are using Gemalto’s solutions and devices on a daily basis, be it to communicate, transact, cross the border, shop online, securely access their corporate network, and so on.
What do you plan to achieve through GITEX Technology Week and GITEX Shopper this year? Can you please share your plans?
Gitex is a flagship technology event in the Middle East. The show doesn’t only attract visitors from the entire region but because it is generic, it is attended by most of our customers in all of our market segments. It gathers mobile operators, some banks, government bodies, IT security managers, and so on, and gives us this fantastic opportunity to meet with most of our targeted audience in the Gulf: customers, prospects but also professional peers, potential partners and VAR to expand in the area, whilst showcasing our latest solutions.
In addition to this, Gitex is a good mix of BtoB and BtoC technology, attracting the general public. As we provide billions of secure devices worldwide ranging from banking smart cards, solutions and services, SIM cards and embedded mobile applications and solutions (mobile payment, LTE, and so on), secure electronic identity documents (eID cards, ePassport and so on), each one of us hold at least one Gemalto device without even knowing it.
Gitex gives us a chance to reach our solution’s end users and show them the latest secure devices and technologies which will be tomorrow in their pocket.
Do you plan to launch any new products or technologies at GITEX Technology Week and GITEX Shopper this year?
At Gitex, Gemalto will be showcasing for the first time in the Middle East its ‘POPWings’ NFC powered digital business card solution. POPWing enables people to enjoy even more the digital revolution in a secure and convenient way.
Not only POPWing NFC connected eBusiness card solution will enable you to increase your network and contact details on the spot with a simple tap of the mobile phone, but it will also remind you of when and where you met, even taking follow-up actions. It is indeed a fun & easy way to connect and stay in touch with people you meet.
The POP mobile application enables you to manage thousands of enhanced business cards to stay in touch and it enables a Smartphone to communicate with any other NFC-endowed device and exchange data such as contacts, URL, documents, pictures and music.
What’s going to be your theme at GITEX Technology Week this year?
At Gemalto, we’re helping people make the most of the digital world: communicating by mobile, banking online, protecting their IT networks, accessing securely government web services, transferring money by mobile, commuting to work and so on.
We have throughout the years positioned ourselves as an innovative provider of digital security software and services, with a vision for the “digital future” and this theme will be illustrated through products and solutions demonstrations at our booth. Each time customers, employees and citizens want to transact, connect or identify themselves; our solutions are there to make it safer and easier.
By doing this, we aim to achieve our vision of helping people to trust one another in an increasingly connected digital world.
