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ELL Technologies hosted the Riyadh edition of its Dell Technologies Forum, bringing the technology industry in the Kingdom together at the Four Seasons hotel, Riyadh. Under the theme ‘Make it Real’, the event keynote addresses, break-out sessions, and expert workshops brought attendees insights and updates from the seven technology companies under the Dell Technologies umbrella, including Dell, Dell EMC, Pivotal, RSA, Secureworks, Virtustream, and VMware. Keynote speakers at the Forum included Margaret Franco, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Dell EMC, and Dr. Khalid Al-Otaiby – Dean of information technology and E-learning in the University of Hail.

Speaking at the event, Dr. Khalid Al-Otaiby said: “Higher education is undergoing a significant shift in transforming traditional educational models to deliver enhanced learning experiences. Keeping pace with the new wave of change, at University of Hail, we aim to enrich the quality of teaching, learning and research and help our students chart an efficient path to workforce readiness. To this end, our strategic partnership with Dell EMC will enable us to modernize our IT environment with cloud and converged infrastructure solutions to build and provide a technology-blended learning environment that promotes greater user self-sufficiency. This will help us facilitate knowledge sharing and provide digital solutions for everyone, anywhere, anytime.”

At the forum, Dell EMC revealed the findings of its recent Dell Technologies Digital Transformation Index (the DT Index). The DT Index, which was completed in collaboration with Intel, maps digital transformation progress of mid to large-sized companies and examines the digital hopes and fears of business leaders. Showing an optimistic outlook for the Kingdom, a third of regional heads of business believe that, in five years, they will disrupt their sectors rather than experience disruption themselves.

Mohamed Talaat, Vice President, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya and Levant at Dell EMC, said: “The awareness of the potential of technology to have real impact on life and business in the Kingdom has never been higher. Through our DT Index, we have gained insight into the concerns and priorities around digital transformation initiatives in Saudi Arabia, and the Forum is our platform to come together as an industry and look to the future with optimism. We have the opportunity to make transformation real, and play our roles towards achieving the goals of Vision 2030.”

At the forum, Dell EMC also spotlighted the presence and contributions of women in the IT sector. The Women in Technology session brought together women from within Dell EMC and beyond to speak on topics including milestones, challenges, and other realities faced by women in technology workplaces.

Globally, the technology industry typically falls behind others when it comes to inclusivity and diversity, resulting in a sparse talent pool of female IT professionals, and the number of female Chief IT Officer (CIOs) stands at just around 16%. In Saudi Arabia, there has been a 144 per cent growth in technology firms run by Saudi women, according to the Badir Program for Technology Incubators. — SG