The Future IT Summit 2016, organized by Enterprise Channels MEA and brought to you by Global Enterprise Connect, concluded on a high note at the Armani Hotel, Burj Khalifa. The two-day summit stood witness to some amazing presentations and discussions on Cloud and IoT by the keynote speakers and panelists as they engaged in some ice breaking sessions throughout the 2 days. The event hosted the top government organizations, ministries, business conglomerates and leading organizations from various verticals in the 2 days.
Setting a very non-conventional tone, the summit presented the audience the Future IT landscape of GCC countries with some thought provoking and technology rich presentations.
The first Future IT Summit was held in The Address Hotel, Downtown Dubai on 16th March 2015, it analyzed the hybrid cloud market and received a great response from the market and was applauded for exploring multiple layers of hybrid cloud along with top experts from the industry. The success of the first year led to the Future IT Summit to be held again for two days.
The sponsors for the FITS2016 were; platinum sponsor – DELL; gold sponsor- Veeam; networking partner- Intertec and HP Enterprise; Government supporting partner- Consulate General of India, Dubai Municipality, University of Ha’il, KSA, Ministry of Community Development, TRA Oman; Strategic partner- Finesse; Supporting Partner- Microsoft and Fortinet; Event Partner- Cisco, Rittal, Aruba, Emitac, Pure Storage, Oxygen, VCE, OMA Emirates, Spectrami, Unify; Official Airline Partner- Gulf Air; Hospitality Partner- Hyatt Group.
The first day of the Future IT Summit 2016 was dedicated to ‘CLOUD’, its growth, security and maturity in the market along with potential opportunities for cloud was analyzed. Future IT Landscape of UAE and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were examined with key speakers. The panel discussion on ‘Challenges and Opportunities- A Reality Check’ was a thundering one with experts like Mr Mubarik Hussain, Head of IT, Petroserv; Mr Faidy Sleiman, CIO, Waha Capital; Mr Mohammed Salman, Head of Managed Services, Emitac Enterprise Solutions; Mr Omar Akhtar, Regional Channel Manager, ME and SAARC, Veeam; Mr Loay Ahmed AlNakhal, Dubai Municipality. The panel was moderated by Mr Ashish Dass who is a leading IT industry veteran. Day 1 speakers were; Mr Mohammed Sayed, Cloud Services Leader, IBM, Middle East and Pakistan; Mr Omar Akhtar, Regional Channel Manager, ME and SAARC, Veeam; Mr Loay Ahmed AlNakhal, Dubai Municipality; Mr Hussam Juma, Director of Enterprise Architecture and Business Process, Dubai Customs; Mr Kevin Ashby, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Cloud and Enterprise, Microsoft; Dr Majed Alhaisoni, Dean of IT, University of Ha’il, KSA, Dr Mustafa H. Qurban, Consultant and CIO, KFMMC; Mr Tony Zabaneh, Channel System Engineer, Fortinet.
The second day of Future IT Summit 2016 was packed with ‘IoT’ developments and future world of IoT. The ICT landscape of countries like Oman and India were analyzed. The speakers for the day two were Mr Venkatesh Mahadevan, Head of IT, Dubai Investments PJSC; Mr Basil Ayass, Regional Marketing Director, DELL MEA; Mr Anthony Sayers, IoT Strategist, DELL, OEM Solutions EMEA; Mr Yahya Al Mawali, ICT Advisor, TRA Oman; Mr Murat Ethem Eldem, Senior Director M2M and IoT, Etisalat; Mr Ashley Woodbridge, Senior Solutions Architect, Cisco; Dr Vivek Mansingh, Chairman of AxisCades. The thundering panel discussion was carried out by Mr Ashish Dass and the members of the discussion included Anthony Sayers, IoT Strategist, DELL, OEM Solutions EMEA; Mr Ajay Rathi, Director of IT, Meeras Holding; Mr Kumar Prasoon, CIO, Safeer Group; Mr Firoz Kumar Rauta, Head of IT, Skyline University; Mr Rusty Bruns, CIO of American University of Kuwait; Dr Hani Al-Zaid, Consultant and CIO, The Saudi Shura Council, KSA; Mr Nasser Mustafa, MD Channels, Alliances, BD & Ventures, MENAT, GE Digital.
In conjunction with the summit, the most awaited Catalyst Awards was held on the 7th April 2016, Enterprise Channels MEA values individuals and believe in awarding their capabilities and dedication to the efforts they put in project after project. Catalyst Awards was pioneered by Enterprise Channels MEA and which is a novel and one of its kind award to honor individuals.
CATALYST CIO AWARDS
| CATALYST CIO IN OIL & GAS | MUBARIK HUSSAIN, HEAD OF IT, PETROSERV, |
| CATALYST CIO AVIATION | JASSIM HAJI, DIRECTOR OF IT, GULF AIR |
| CATALYST CIO CIVIL AVIATION – UAE | MOHAMMED JAMEELUDDIN, GCAA |
| CATALYST CIO HEALTHCARE_KSA | DR. MUSTAFA QURBAN, |
| CATALYST CIO HEALTHCARE_KSA | ABUDLELAH ALMAYMAN, SAHMC |
| CATALYST CIO HEALTHCARE_UAE | HASNAIN JUZER, SAUDI GERMAN HOSPITAL, |
| CATALYST CIO TELECOM | SABRI YEHYA, ETISALAT |
| CATALYST CIO RETAIL | VENKATESH MAHADEVAN, DUBAI INVESTMENTS PJSC |
| CATALYST CIO RETAIL | KUMAR PRASOON, SAFEER GROUP |
| CATALYST CIO BANKING & FINANCE_UAE | FADY SLEIMAN, WAHA CAPITAL |
| CATALYST CIO BANKING & FINANCE_KUWAIT | FAISAL ALNAIBARI, KUWAIT CREDIT BANK |
| CATALYST CIO EDUCATION_UAE | Dr. FIROJ RAUTA, SKYLINE UNIVERSITY |
| CATALYST CIO EDUCATION_KSA | Dr. MAJED ALHAISONI, UOH |
| CATALYST CIO REAL ESTATE_INFRASRTUCTURE | AJAY RATHI, MERAAS HOLDING |
| CATALYST CIO REAL ESTATE_RESEDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL | SEBASTIAN SAMUEL, AW ROSTAMANI GROUP |
| CATALYST CIO REAL ESTATE | MARIO FOSTER, AL NABOODAH GROUP |
| CATALYST CIO HOSPITALITY | ROBIN KURIAN, SHERATON |
| CATALYST CIO GOVERNMENT_UAE | HUSSAM JUMA, DUBAI CUSTOMS |
| CATALYST CIO GOVERNMENT – KSA | Dr.HANI AL ZAID, THE SAUDI SHURA COUNCIL |
| IT MAN OF THE YEAR_KSA | DR.EISA RAWAS, MINISTRY OF HAJJ |
| IT MAN OF THE YEAR_QATAR | TREVOR MOORE, QATAR UNIVERSITY |
| IT MAN OF THE YEAR_OMAN | YAHYA AL MAWALI, TRA OMAN |
| IT MAN OF THE YEAR_BAHRAIN | ABDULLAH NASSER, BAHRAIN SHURA COUNCIL |
| IT MAN OF THE YEAR_UAE | MOHAMMED ALZAFFIN, DUBAI MUNICIPALITY |
| IT MAN OF THE YEAR_INDIA | Dr. VIVEK MANSINGH, CHAIRMAN, AXISCADES |
CATALYST VENDOR AWARDS 2016
| BRANDING | MELITA RODRIGUES, All 4 one planners – OMA EMIRATES | |
| CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS | JITENDRA BULANI, Manager PR (Global) in Sophos | |
| VISIONARY MARKETER | ANKUSH MEHRA, Marketing Manager, SAGE | |
| INTEGRATED MARKETER | DIA HAMDAN, Regional Marketing Manager, TPLINK | |
| ENTERPRISE MARKETING_SECURITY | MAYA ZAKHOUR, Channel Director, Fortinet | |
| ENTERPRISE MARKETING_STORAGE | BINU THOMAS, DGB, PC and Client services, TOSHIBA | |
| ENTERPRISE MARKETING_NETWORKING | MANISH BHARDWAJ, Senior Marketing manager, Middle East and Turkey, ARUBA | |
| ENTERPRISE MARKETING_INFRASTRUCTURE | MARWA ABDULWAHED, VCE | |
| EMERGING MARKETER | BASEM AL BANNA, Country Manager Qatar, Jordon and Lebanon, SOPHOS | |
| STRATEGIC MARKETING | HASSAN HAMADANI, Senior Regional Marketing Manager, PURE STORAGE | |
| INNOVATIVE MARKETING | SANTOSH VARGHESE, General Manager, MEA Digital products and services, TOSHIBA | |
| SALES- EMERGING MARKET | NEHA CHAUHAN, Business Development Manager, REDINGTON | |
| PRE SALES | KHWAJA SAIFUDDIN, Senior Sales Director, Western Digital | |
| ENTERPRISE SALES | SHAMS HASAN, Enterprise Product Manager, DELL | |
| PROJECT MANAGER | ZUBAIR SKIREDJ, CIO, SEJEL TECHNOLOGY | |
| MARKETING TRANSFORMATION ENABLER | MALLIKA SHARMA, Marketing and Alliance Manager, EMEA 3IINFOTECH | |
| MARKETER OF THE YEAR | BASIL AYASS, Regional Marketing Director, DELL |
CATALYST CHANNEL AWARDS 2016
| BRANDING | MARY AJI, Marketing Director, STARLINK |
| CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS | RESHMA YESODHARAN, Channel Marketing Manager, COMGUARD |
| VISIONARY MARKETER | RANIA AL-KHATIB, Regional marketing manager, MINDWARE |
| INTEGRATED MARKETER | POURNAMI NAIR, Strategic alliance, QA and Group marketing manager, SPECTRUM GROUP |
| ENTERPRISE MARKETING_SECURITY | ALEXANDRA Pisetskaya , Marketing Manager, HELP AG |
| ENTERPRISE MARKETING_STORAGE | MANJU MATHEW, Marketing manager, STORIT |
| ENTERPRISE MARKETING_MOBILITY | ROHAN DANIEL NAIR, Strategic Marketing director, ME and Africa, OXYGEN |
| NICHE MARKETING | ASHUTOSH BARONIA, Strategic Marketing Manager, SPECTRAMI |
| STRATEGIC MARKETING | BASAK YOLGECTI, Marketing Manager, ME and SAARC, VEEAM SOFTWARE |
| INNOVATIVE MARKETING | BHARATI SURESH, Marketing Manager, EMITAC ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS |
| SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION | SAMER DLIKAN, Senior Solution Architect, FINESSE |
| ENTERPRISE SALES | RANJITH KAIPADDA, STORIT |
| CHANNEL SALES_MOBILITY | HEMAYUN BAZAZ, Regional Manager Channel Sales, ARUBA |
| APPLICATION SALES MANAGER | HIREN BHATIA, Senior Business development manager, FINESSE |
| PRE SALES | MANJUNATH SUBRAMANYAM, EMITAC ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS |
| SALES- EMERGING MARKET | GREGG PETERSEN, Regional Sales director, VEEAM |
| SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING | LATIF SHEIHK, Account Manager – Business Development, FINESSE |
Tushar Sahoo, Managing Director, Enterprise Channels MEA said, “We are delighted for the response we received for Future IT Summit 2016. We had a fantastic array of expert and eminent speakers and experienced panelists along with enthusiastic delegates. Such events make us more confident and clear about the level of trust the IT market has in us, aim to bring to limelight various aspects of ICT and scrutinize them with professionals. I would say Future IT Summit is a good learning platform and Catalyst Awards is a way to award talents who explore and put to use IT solutions in the best of their organization’s interest.”
Mr Ronak Samantaray, Director of Marketing, Enterprise Channels MEA said, “This is indeed an exciting event for us and we always look forward to bring the best talents from the industry and put forth discussions that bring value to the IT fraternity, the end users and the region collectively. We are thankful to everyone who was a part of the event and we look forward to our other events like GEC open golf tournament and GEC awards too. I would like to thank our sponsors, speakers and participants for making this event a big success.”