CXO Insight Middle East hosted first-of-its-kind live virtual Business Continuity Champions Conference and Awards 2020 this morning. Aligning to the demands of the new normal, over 200 attendees joined the live event to celebrate the success of companies who have effortlessly transitioned their businesses into remote models and to listen to interesting insights from reputed speakers and panelists.
The live event kicked off with the first speaker for the day – Sebastian Samuel, CIO, AW Rostamani, who shared the lessons learned while leading the firm through the pandemic.
He emphasised on the importance of those in leadership roles to show empathy to employees during this time. “We must put an end to ‘command and control’ way of operating and empower ‘empathy and care’. It is all about collaboration, trust, empathy and passion,” Samuel explained. “We have to build our organisations for resiliency. We cannot stop catastrophes from happening but can have adequate measures in place to face any situation and recover quickly.”
The next speaker Mubarik Hassan, Director of IT, Bloom Holding shared his thoughts on how to brace for the new normal. He explained the importance of having sound technology implemented within one’s business environment. If organisations do not have platforms enabling digital transformation today, they are not only left behind but also locked out from the business environment.
“Once people have experienced the convenience of remote working and digital solutions, then there is no turning back to the old ways. In addition to helping with energy efficiencies, cost and time savings, remote working also increases productivity as we have seen first hand in our firm,” he said. “While there maybe initial challenges of getting the workforce familiar with new digital online systems, but once they are used to it and are given proper training, the potential is great.”
Hassan’s talk was followed by a thought-provoking live virtual discussion, where our esteemed panelists spoke about how technology will shape the post-pandemic new normal. Moderated by Jeevan Thankappan, Managing Editor, CXO Insight Middle East, the panel included Abdulrehman Tariq, Regional Sales Director, Pulse Secure; Filip Verloy, EMEA Field CTO, Rubrik; Taj El-Khayat, Regional Director, Citrix and Tony Zabaneh, Manager Systems Engineering, Fortinet.
Key takeaways:
- Remote working will be increasingly preferred going forward. No longer is it a nice to have element but an essential component for business continuity.
- Cybersecurity and business resiliency is of paramount importance in the new normal
- Data Management and secure data access is another critical element.
- Technologies CIOs must focus on and invest in are Artificial Intelligence, 5G, 3D printing, applications, drones, Machine Learning, automation and so on.
The live virtual event concluded with the Awards ceremony where 14 winners were commended for their exceptional efforts for business continuity initiatives during the last few months.
Complete list of winners as below:
- Fahad Mashan Al Solaie, Ministry of Justice, Saudi Arabia
- Fatima Al Mansoori, Department of Municipalities and Transport, Abu Dhabi
- Esam Al Falasi, Moro Hub
- Mohamed Baka, CERT – The Centre of Excellence for Applied Research & Training
- Mubarik Hussain, Bloom Holding
- Jayesh Maganlal, Majid AL Futtaim Properties
- Sajid Lokhandwala, Al Khayyat Investments
- Citrix
- Dell Technologies
- Fortinet
- Pulse Secure
- Rubrik
- Thales
- Veeam
A snippet of winners accepting their awards live below:
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