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In: Africa Focus, Expert Views

Roelof Louw, is an expert on Cloud Computing and he works with leading South African ICT outsourcing service provider, T-Systems. The proliferation of cloud computing, in whichever form, had led to a change in the way organisations approach their outsourcing strategies. Indeed, it has effectively moved from services-based approach to include specific bundled products – cloud computing in essence represents the next evolution in outsourcing.
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In: Enterprise, Expert Views, Storage

Steady growth in the cloud services sector reflects the rapid pace at which companies are moving all or portions of their computing, applications and data storage requirements to this emerging destination. According to Gartner, the industry is poised for strong growth through 2014, when worldwide cloud services revenue is projected to reach $148.8 billion. More and more organizations across the Middle East are discovering the benefits of cloud computing and are looking to embrace the cloud. Early adopters of cloud technologies have viewed the migration as a business imperative, despite the potential dark lining of service outages and exposure to security and privacy risks. Read More…

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In: Expert Views

The adoption of social media is rapidly accelerating among businesses in the Middle East region, strategically placing itself as an integral element to today’s marketing mix. This has led to a re-shaping of consumer attitudes and behaviour like never before and has become a key influence in positioning brands and images and influencing consumer perceptions. Krishna Gopal, vice president-Global Alliance and Sales for Middle East and Africa, Tech Mahindra was one of the lead panellists in a discussion titled “Impact of Social Media in the Middle East and the Government’s support, or lack thereof,” during the Arab Advisor’s 8th Media and Telecom Convergence Conference held in Jordan recently.
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In: Expert Views, Security

Cyber criminals are becoming increasingly resourceful and cunning and the sophistication of attacks threatening businesses today has reached unprecedented levels. Added to this is the growing reality of cyber espionage which threatens to divulge sensitive and sometimes confidential organisational information. The need for security is clear, but with the ever increasing number of laws and regulations governing data protection and accurate reporting the need to prove this security has also increased, on top of shrinking budgets and a desire to decrease administrative efforts. Research and experience have proved that connected enterprises face a large number of threats which are serious, pervasive and are constantly on the increase.
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In: Africa Focus, Expert Views, Storage

As the world becomes increasingly digitalised, organisations are storing more and more data electronically, much of which is mission critical and essential to running their business. The integral nature of this data to the business world, as well as events such as the Enron debacle, led governments around the world to begin passing various pieces of legislation around the protection of electronically stored information. Compliance with legislation in this regard has forced organisations around the world to examine their data policies and adopt new guidelines for the retention, processing and destruction of electronic records and communication. One of the most notable regulations not only for the United States where this law was passed but for organisations around the world, particularly those is the financial sector, was Sarbanes-Oxley, or SOX.
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In: Enterprise, Expert Views, Storage

EMEA research shows that enterprises are putting the cloud at the heart of their IT strategy, with 48 percent seeing it as key to empowering agility and business performance. As organisations strive to compete in today’s economy, with workers demanding instant access to information wherever they are, the cloud is becoming a critical part of modern business strategy. Supporting this trend are the results from a new research project from Brocade indicating that 48 percent of EMEA businesses are already actively deploying cloud architectures, with more than half of respondents citing business agility as the key driver.
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In: Expert Views, Software, Telecom

Global research and analyst firm Gartners is predicting that worldwide smartphone sales will reach 468 million units in 2011, a 57.7% increase from 2010. According to Gartner, by the end of 2011, Android will move to become the most popular operating system (OS) globally and will build on its strength to account for 49% of the smartphone market by 2012. Sales of open OS devices will account for 26% of all mobile handset device sales in 2011, and are expected to surpass the 1 billion mark by 2015, when they will account for 47 percent of the total mobile device market. Read More…

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In: Expert Views, Security

Despite the serious threat posed to enterprises from accidental and malicious misuse of data, uptake of data loss prevention technology will remain low for the next four years, according to Ovum. In a new report, the independent technology analyst firm states that the data loss prevention (DLP) technology market will reach global revenues of just $832 million by 2015, from a low base point of $458 million in 2009. These figures are small in comparison to other key IT security markets such as network security, which will reach revenues of $6.5 billion in 2015.Read More…

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In: Expert Views, Telecom

Over the past decade and a half, an unprecedented wave of expansion has altered the global telecom industry. New global competitors are emerg­ing swiftly in the Gulf Cooperation Council region, bringing with them the oppor­tunity for operators to capture their full synergy potential and derive maximum benefits from their enormous foot­print. GCC operators must recognize to what degree they can create synergies across six key areas: procurement, product and service offerings, new revenue sources, shared services, knowl­edge sharing, and international best practices. Read More…

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In: Enterprise, Expert Views

IT Advantage: Spring 2011, a new publication from The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) described the global economic moves through 2011, and the companies facing far greater then ever before. For many of these businesses, the strength of their IT may prove to be a key competitive differentiator. It further sheds the light on a variety of ways in which companies can optimize the performance of their IT capabilities–and, in the process, maximize IT’s contribution to the bottom line. It features interviews with two chief information officers who are tackling a number of mission-critical challenges. The first interview is with Jeff Keisling, chief information officer of Pfizer. Keisling discusses a range of topics, including the IT-specific challenges in bringing together Pfizer and Wyeth; how to strengthen the IT organization’s relationship with the business side of the company; and leadership.

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In: Expert Views, SME

Channel strategy networks are becoming increasingly important for any business to reach its desired market, target audience and better serve its customer base. Carefully chosen networks and value added resellers are essential to the success of forming a connection with each customer to ensure that services and products are conveniently and easily accessible. Xerox Emirates entered into the indirect channel marketing model and by having made this its core focus in 2010, continues to reach out to resellers with specialized expertise in document management technology, advanced solutions, software and services for SMB customers.

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In: Expert Views

These consumer devices [iPad 2 and other tablets], theorised as thin clients back in the 1990s, are great lightweight personal terminals, but users now want everything brought together in one place. However, because of the devices’ lightweight form factor (they literally don’t have the physical ports in most cases), they simply can’t be connected into the traditional wired network. This is creating a mandate for high-quality wireless networks that can run mission-critical enterprise applications.
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