Technology & IT | Sunday 29 September, 2019 10:48 am |

Hosted at Jeddah city on 18 -19 of Sept., the two-day IDC CIO Summit 2019, that organized by International Data Corporation (IDC) with a platinum partnership with Microsoft Arabia, has brought together the most influential ICT leaders in KSA and the region.

The summit aims to advise Saudi IT organizations to make the right digital decisions based on facts and analytical figures to ensure continued competitiveness in this dynamic and accelerated industry, and role of digital transformation (DX) in reshaping global economy.

"As digital transformation (DX) continues to reshape the global economy, innovation will multiply, platform wars will intensify, and data will increasingly be used for competitive advantage," says Hamza Naqshbandi, IDC's country manager for Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. "And with market leadership ranks being disrupted, a new ICT world order is taking shape, built around innovative technology offerings, evolving business models, and emerging DX use cases. Given this unprecedented disruption, our aim is to advise Saudi organizations on making the right decisions today to ensure they remain competitive tomorrow.” He added.

“IDC CIO Summit will help IT managers in particular, and digital organizations in general to develop their capabilities in this vital sector by exploring new digital potentials, KPIs and organizational structures, especially in light of remarkable expansion and wide usage of AI and robots.” said Chief Operating Officer at Microsoft Arabia, Rayan Zahid.

Chief Security Advisor at Microsoft EMEA, Cyril Voisin highlighted the “recent DX security in the region”, emphasizing importance of supporting new cybersecurity solutions methodologies. He called on the concerned parties to increase preparedness in this sector, expecting increased attacks due to ambitious DX vision of Saudi leadership.

Voisin reviewed Microsoft's advanced cybersecurity solutions and services and described it as “best consultant and partner that can help various sectors in early detection of cyberattacks”. He noted the Saudi methodological steps by establishing the National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA), a specialized government entity in cybersecurity, and increasing number of national cadres qualified to operate NCA. He reviewed the main challenges and cyber threats facing the Kingdom and mechanisms to address them.

The attendance has interacted with the valuable ideas of Voisin, who has 20+ years of experience in software industry and worked as Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) specialist and Certified Information Privacy Technologist (CIPT). He provided hundreds of consultations on security, risks, threat protection, business change and DX opportunities for leading government and private institutions and sectors in France, Belgium, Italy, Middle East and Africa.