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ISSUE 44 // www.intelligentcio.com
Maximising potential
Making the most of data to
gain valuable insights
Banking on recovery
Bank benefits from
availability solution
Modernising
infrastructure
Solutions enable bank’s
Digital Transformation
Uncovering insights
Tourism enterprise Al Hokair Group boosts customer
engagement with Capillary’s AI-driven solutions.
Intelligent
ITSM Partner
Global ICIO
Knowledge Partner
Intelligent Threat
Management Partner
Intelligent
Education Partner
Global Innovation
Partner
Intelligent Data
Security Partner
Intelligent
Partner
Enterprise
Firewall Partner
Intelligent Banking
& Finance Partner
Intelligent Access
Management Partner
EDITOR’S NOTE
W
elcome to the latest edition of
Intelligent CIO for the Middle
East. This month we have another
packed edition for you, putting the spotlight
on some of the latest trends and most
exciting projects in the region.
This month’s Country Focus takes a close
look at a noteworthy project in Lebanon.
When BLC Bank decided to virtualise 85% of
its environment after the poor performance of
its existing backup system, which presented risk
and compliance concerns, it turned to Veeam
for help. To ensure integrity of vital customer
and operations data, and the availability of
critical services, the bank needed to drastically
reduce the time required for backup and
recovery of applications and data.
Georges Deaibess, Head of Infrastructure
Management and Database Administration,
at BLC Bank, told us how customers now
expect to access their financial data
anywhere and at any time.
“We simply cannot afford any downtime in
the underlying data and applications that
power these services,” he told us.
As a result, the bank installed Veeam
Availability Suite and installation was
completed in under half a day. Following the
installation, Deaibess told us that: “Veeam
gives us confidence that these mission-
critical services for both customers and
employees are always available.”
www.intelligentcio.com
Turn to page 48 to discover more about
the benefits the bank found after installing
the solution.
On the subject of banking, on page
55 we take an in-depth look at how
Gulf Bank, one of the leading financial
institutions in Kuwait, is utilising Dell
Technology solutions to enable its Digital
Transformation. The bank is leveraging
industry-leading storage management
and data protection solutions by Dell
Technologies, to ensure maximum return
on investment.
With digitisation at the top of every CIO’s
agenda we spoke to Vollmer about how
CIOs can be more successful on their Digital
Transformation journey.
Not only do we discuss how SAP Ariba helps
its customers manage complexity, we also talk
about how CIOs can make the most of their
data. He tells us that companies need to look
at using data in a systematic way. However,
he was keen to point out that if the quality of
data is poor it’s very difficult to gain valuable
insights from it no matter what.
You can turn to p44 to read the full interview.
Gulf Bank had planned to modernise its IT
infrastructure with a robust and flexible data
management backbone that can effectively
store and protect the ever-growing volume
of data from multiple sources.
Critically, its project with Dell Technologies
is divided into two critical parts – data
management and backup.
As always we have the latest news from
around the region and all the usual features.
If you would like to contribute to the
magazine please feel free to email
mark@lynchpinmedia.co.uk.
Don’t forget to check our website for daily
updates too.
To realise efficient data management,
continuous data availability, seamless
mobility and accelerate data centre
modernisation, Gulf Bank is leveraging
Dell Technologies VPLEX and RecoverPoint
solutions. You can turn to p55 to find out
more about the benefits that the bank is
now enjoying.
This month we include an exclusive interview
with Marcell Vollmer, Chief Digital Officer,
SAP Ariba and SAP Fieldglass.
Mark Bowen
Editor
INTELLIGENTCIO
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