Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 44 | Page 57

CASE STUDY We spoke to Osamah AlAbdullah, Deputy General Manager – Information Technology at Gulf Bank Kuwait, to find out more about how the solutions are helping to futureproof the organisation. What were the key requirements when you were looking for a solution/vendor? We were looking for a state-of-the-art solution with a lower TCO to replace the existing EOS systems, purpose-built to meet the demand of our future with active/active metro clustering and better data protection. Why did you select Dell EMC? Data is a critical asset to a bank. Hence, Dell Technologies was selected as its solutions are built on proven technologies and methodologies. Moreover, it has strong local presence pertaining to vendor and partner support. www.intelligentcio.com How is your organisation approaching the Digital Transformation process and what has been the impact on the organisation? Gulf Bank (GB) is in the initial phase of implementing its Digital Transformation roadmap. This is a particularly challenging process as it requires a complete culture change alongside investment in both technology and people. Having said this, GB is making strides in the right direction. We believe partnering with Dell Technologies is one of the first steps in realising our Digital Transformation vision. How will the solutions future-proof the organisation? These solutions will provide higher availability, resiliency and protection for our mission critical applications and data. Furthermore, they help us to use our data centres to its optimum. Are there any other trends you expect to see within the data centre space or any emerging requirements? Automation and orchestration of the full data centre is one of the emerging trends bound to dominate the industry. Havier Haddad, General Manager – Gulf at Dell Technologies, said: “It is always great to see established organisations look at technology as a platform to uncover the answers of tomorrow. Therefore, we are pleased to be a part of the transformation journey embarked by Gulf Bank. Its vision to modernise and simplify data management to unlock new enterprise capabilities and offer more value to its customers is something we advocate completely. “ We look forward to helping Gulf Bank build a benchmark by being fully committed to investing our expertise in this relationship.” n INTELLIGENTCIO 57