FEATURE : OUTLOOK 2023
Walid Yehia , Senior Director and General Manager – UAE , Dell Technologies , said to be future-ready for this dynamic landscape , CIOs and IT leaders need to be ambitious in tapping into the opportunities presented by Digital Transformation . “ Enterprises are striving to stay ahead of the game , with disruption dramatically reshaping the competitive landscape for many industries . Updating their business models to adapt to change is essential in surviving the onslaught of disruptive technologies ,” he said .
CLOUD SERVICES SUCH AS MICROSOFT 365 IS NOT ONLY THE MODERN ORGANISATION ’ S WORK SURFACE , BUT ALSO ITS RISK SURFACE . IT HAS CREATED AN ATTRACTIVE TARGET FOR MALICIOUS ACTORS TO ATTACK WITH RANSOMWARE , MALWARE AND OTHER CYBERTHREATS .
“ Moreover , understanding and analysing new trends will also allow CIOs to prepare for and grasp new opportunities . Instead of transforming by adopting multiple technologies , focusing on changes that align with business priorities will result in a real competitive advantage . Having customer-centric goals is also essential and can increase the value of the products or services offered , enabling resiliency and business continuity .”
Prasad Ramakrishnan , CIO at Freshworks , said in 2022 , companies took high-efficiency measures , like layoffs , to financially safeguard business . Ramakrishnan noted that but in 2023 companies will need to replace this headcount because customer expectations remain high . “ Companies will deploy more bot workers in 2023 to reduce human dependence on mundane tasks . Bonus : it ’ ll also reduce costs and margin for human error . We ’ ve started to see this trend with understaffed retailers , but it ’ ll soon be mainstream ,” he said .
Muhannad Khattab , Director of Digital Infrastructure Solutions at Gulf Business Machines ( GBM ), said : “ In the coming year , I believe CIOs will need to accelerate their efforts to bring digital resiliency to the heart of the Digital Transformation journey for regional organisations , with an increased focus on leveraging cloud services to become digitally resilient and subsequently business resilient .”
Over the last two years , remote working and security concerns have dominated the CISO narrative . This will continue in the new year and CISOs are expected to overcome these challenges and come up with robust cybersecurity plans for their organisations .
Andrew Rose , Resident CISO EMEA at Proofpoint , said long term hybrid work has made protecting data a top challenge for CISOs , with employees now forming the defensive perimeter wherever they work . Rose said key findings from the Proofpoint Voice of the CISO 2022 report highlight that 32 % of CISOs agree that they have seen an increase in targeted attacks in the last 12 months . “ More than one in three ( 37 %) say that increases in employee transitions mean that protecting data has become a greater challenge , and investment in information protection is top of the list of priorities for the next two years ,” he said . “ For example , UAE CISOs named malicious insiders as the most likely vector , where employees intentionally steal company information . CISOs will need to be wary of these concerns if they are to overcome challenges in 2023 .”
Werno Gevers , Cybersecurity Expert , Mimecast , added that attacks on remote workers and hybrid working environments will continue to increase in 2023 , challenging CIOs and security leaders to implement multi-layered security strategies and conduct ongoing cyber awareness initiatives among employees at all levels of the organisation .
Gevers said hybrid work environments rely heavily on email and collaboration technologies . “ Cloud services such as Microsoft 365 is not only the modern organisation ’ s work surface , but also its risk surface . It has created an attractive target for malicious actors to attack with ransomware , malware and other cyberthreats ,” he said .
Evren Aker , Director of Partnerships , Genesys , META and France , said gone are the days when a one-size-fits-all customer experience could help a company prevail in the market . Aker said according to customers , a company is only as good as its service . “ Succeeding in this competitive era necessitates the use of a secure , flexible , and real-time platform capable of orchestrating individual components across client journeys . AI will improve the orchestration of client journeys , resulting in a cultural shift toward empathy ,” he said .
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