Cisco has predicted the technology trends that will drive digital transformation for businesses in the Middle East, before the LEAP 2023 conference in Riyadh. The company identifies the security, remote and in-office work balance, multiple cloud structures, and sustainability as crucial topics for 2023, all dependent on strong connectivity and advanced networking.
Visitors of LEAP will experience the following trends and latest technologies, designed to accelerate public and private customers’ agendas for a digital and green future, at Cisco’s booth under the theme of “Powering A Connected & Sustainable Universe”:
Future of Work: In 2023, the way we work will involve a mix of remote and on-site tasks. This hybrid approach will lead to a more equitable and inclusive work environment, promoting happiness and productivity among employees. Additionally, the use of NLP and AI/ML in collaboration tools will also be new and inventive, driving the success of hybrid work.
Security Resilience: Digitization opens endless opportunities, but at the same time there is a surge in cyber threats at all levels across organizations. Cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated and the toolkits available to them have evolved. In 2023, the next evolution in security will have to include anomaly detection and behaviour patterns, through the use of AI and machine learning. At Cisco, security is foundational throughout the wide breadth of Cisco’s product portfolio, from networking to the cloud. Having visibility across the network endpoints, Cisco can securely connect people and devices everywhere to applications and data anywhere.
Simplifying and Automating Infrastructure: The network will become more experience-focused in 2023, with improved capacity for foreseeing potential problems and offering solutions. Predictive technologies will be more widely available to businesses via integrated, user-friendly SaaS offerings. This is a significant step toward a time when self-healing networks with planning, prediction, and learning capabilities would fuel connectivity. The same predictive analytics that is acquired from numerous telemetry sources will power predictive networks.
Accelerating the Cloud Experience: In the year ahead, we will see a noticeable shift in how companies leverage multi-cloud architectures. While 89% of enterprises are adopting a multi-cloud strategy for a variety of reasons (geopolitical, technical, provider diversification), the benefits come with additional complexity in connecting, securing, and observing a multi-cloud environment. We are seeing a move towards new multi-cloud frameworks, with more private and edge cloud applications and services ushering in a new multi-cloud operating model.
Internet for the Future:
It is crucial to alter the economics of the internet to reach the next billion users globally. For 40 years, Cisco has securely connected the world to the internet and provided captivating experiences. To make 5G, IoT, and the internet accessible to all, Cisco is now transforming the way networks are constructed for optimal operational flexibility and future-proof infrastructure.
Sustainability and Journey to Net Zero: Net Zero will drive common standards to meet sustainability goals with advancements in Power Over Ethernet (PoE) design and hardware to transform data centres for a more sustainable future. Networking and APIs will become more advanced within data centre platform management to monitor, track, and change the use of energy. IT vendors and equipment partners are focusing on the reuse of hardware (circularity).
Commenting on Cisco’s participation at LEAP, Reem Asaad, Vice President, Cisco Middle East and Africa said: “With its rapidly developing and diversifying the economy, Saudi Arabia looks to digitization to play a key role. For more than 25 years, Cisco has been working with the Kingdom on its innovation journey, through initiatives such as our Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) program and Cisco Networking Academy. As we continue to help the nation realize its Vision 2030, LEAP serves as a significant platform for Cisco to showcase the possibilities of a digital and green future.”
Through the Cisco Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) initiative, which has been running in Saudi Arabia since 2016, LEAP attendees will learn about Cisco’s contributions to the Kingdom’s shift to a digital economy. To actively invest in strategic projects that are in line with national digitization agendas, Cisco has established a long-term global collaboration with national leadership, business, and academia called the CDA programme.
Salman Faqeeh, Managing Director, Cisco Saudi Arabia said: “Through our presence in the Saudi market since 1997, Cisco has shared its expertise and technology to positively impact economic growth, job creation and skills development. This year at LEAP, we aren’t only unveiling our ground-breaking digital technologies, we’re also highlighting our commitment to spurring innovation and growing the technology ecosystem in the Kingdom.
We will also celebrate the 25th global anniversary of the Cisco Networking Academy while showcasing its local impact in Saudi Arabia. To date, the academy has trained more than 274,500 learners in the Kingdom with in-demand IT skills, preparing them for the jobs of the future.”
At LEAP, Cisco will showcase its latest innovations alongside its channel partners, including Main Sponsor BTC Networks as well as Gold Sponsors Crystal Networks and GEER ICT. In addition, Cisco distributors and ecosystem partners will present end-to-end use case solutions which integrate seamlessly with Cisco technologies.
The Cisco booth at LEAP is located at Stand C50, Hall 02.
