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THE MANAGED FUTURE

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Updated : August 24, 2014 0:0  ,
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Dimension Data is a company that offers an extensive managed services portfolio includes several globally standardised managed services products in specific technology domains – including networks, data centres, security, visual communications, unified communications and collaboration and contact centres. Youssef Fawaz, Managing Director, Dimension Data Middle East discusses the company’s focus


Discuss portfolio of Managed services that Dimension Data provides globally and in the region?

Dimension Data’s support, managed, and IT outsourcing lines of services are closely interrelated. We use the same platforms, systems, processes and delivery teams to deliver all three service types.

Our lines of service portfolios include both standard (‘productised’) services and customised services. Dimension Data’s services portfolio is replicated globally, which is a unique offer for our clients spanning not just locally, but also globally.  Dimension Data’s support, managed and IT outsourcing services portfolio includes IT Outsourcing spanning Transition and transformation, service aggregation & cross functional services across the network communications tower, the data centre tower, the end user compute tower, the contact centre tower & BPO.

Managed Services include IT service management, assessments and consulting, across enterprise networks, security infrastructure, Cisco unified communications, Microsoft Lync, Data Centre, Contact Centre and Custom services per client.

Support Services, include IT support, assessments and consulting for Uptime Maintenance, Uptime Support, Insite predictive support and Insite pre-emptive support.  Dimension Data also includes multi vendor service management and contract aggregation on behalf of our clients.

What is the demand scenario for various Managed services that you provide regionally?

The demand varies from country to country.  In response to the UAE, Dimension Data sees much demand for support services, that is, for the support of technology devices.  The requirement for Managed Services, that is, for the management of process outcomes is still not in high demand locally.  A focus on moving from a pure support contract to a managed services contract could add significant value to a clients’ business.

You offer standardized services in 6 domains while also giving the option for custom services. Discuss if customers regionally prefer the standard modules or whether they opt for custom ones?

Our experience in the local market is that clients are opting in for standard support services, mainly focused on SLA management and commitment, and not exploring the benefits attributed to custom services or managed services.  Currently, the requirements most clients have are focused on support services for the support of technology devices.  Most clients usually predefine this.  Dimension Data is able to further extract benefits to the IT estate for our clients through custom services, or through offering our managed services portfolio.

What are the Managed services you provide for datacenters in this region? Does it cover both large and smaller sized datacenters?

Dimension Data focuses on small, medium and large data centres for our clients – as long as the benefit to the business is realized.  Locally, Dimension Data includes the management of the physical data centre infrastructure as part of the managed services offered in the Data Centre Space.  Dimension Data’s managed services within the data centre includes the management of infrastructure such as servers, messaging, print & file servers, storage management, legacy/mid range servers, identity management and SQL database services.  Dimension Data also offers managed virtual infrastructure services to our clients.  In addition to this, Dimension Data’s Managed Cloud Platform offers our client expertise in deploying fully managed cloud platforms including private, hybrid and public cloud services.

Are enterprise customers comfortable with the idea of outsourcing such services? Which verticals do you find most proactive in the region in terms of adopting such services?

There is a demand for these services across multiple verticals.  By adopting these services our clients benefit by extracting benefits that include the exploitation of the data centre infrastructure – to the strategic advantage of their business, the realisation of the return on investment expected from a data centre technology environments, more efficient deployment of IT staff; access to the best skills in the market, providing a clear path to the cloud, a single point of contact, a proactive approach to service delivery, a consistent service delivery due to alignment of all services to the IT Instrastructure Library (ITIL) and flexible service levels that enable our clients to choose the service level that their budget and business requirements matches.

Are there customers regionally who you offer services across all the 6 domains that you focus on?

There are no current clients locally that procure services from Dimension Data across all the six domains.  Many of our clients explore support service engagements with Dimension Data in the Enterprise network, security and unified communications space.  As the market moves to the need for commercial outcomes and transformation, we expect to see more IT outsource engagement, spanning all domains, with regional client engagements.

Discuss any recent or expected announcements around Managed Services from Dimension Data?

Dimension Data announced that it will launch Enterprise Mobility-as-a-Service (EMaaS), signalling its intent to provide a suite of cloud-based end-user computing services on a global basis. EMaaS establishes the platform for the group’s future initiatives that will see Dimension Data announce increased functionality and feature sets that assist enterprise clients to deal with their rapidly changing end user computing requirements.

Dimension Data’s EMaaS offering is an integrated enterprise mobility management service that provides organisations with the ability to deliver comprehensive policy-based, device-independent, mobile device management, mobile expense management, integration to the enterprise and underpinned by true cloud principles of automation and consumption-based commercials.

The service, which utilises a cloud-based consumption model, enables organisations to rapidly scale deployments while easily managing the complex environment of mobile devices, data access and expense management. Due to the complex nature of mobility deployments, the EMaaS offering is complemented by Dimension Data’s Systems Integration and Professional Services competencies and addresses the full spectrum of an organisation’s enterprise mobility needs.

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Loylogic Shares 2026 Vision to Advance the Global Rewards Marketplace

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Advanced AI innovation, intelligent marketplace design, and trusted global infrastructure position Loylogic for continued leadership in rewards and loyalty commerce.

Gabi Kool, CEO, Loylogic

As the Middle East loyalty market is projected to reach $3.27 billion in 2025, expanding 16.3% year-on-year, and digital-first, personalized, and coalition-based models reshape the industry, brands face rising expectations around relevance and engagement. Against this evolving landscape, Loylogic, a leader in global loyalty rewards management, today shared its 2026 strategic outlook, outlining how the company is evolving its global rewards marketplace to support brands navigating rapidly changing loyalty expectations.


The company enters the year with a renewed focus on continued investment in AI-powered rewards marketplace intelligence, enhanced catalogue curation, and deeper integration capabilities designed to improve reward relevance, partner value, and member experience across industries and geographies. Rather than simply expanding choice, Loylogic’s approach centres on intelligent rewards marketplace design, aligning consumer relevance, operational efficiency, and long-term value creation within a single global platform.

To support enterprise scale deployment, Loylogic continues to operate under a robust compliance and security, compliance and governance framework. The company adheres to internationally recognised standards ISO 27001, GDPR, PCI DSS, and AES-256 encryption, ensuring secure and trusted data handling across every layer of its technology while maintaining alignment with the European Accessibility Act 2025 and WCAG 2.0. All platforms remain adaptable to regional data residency and regulatory requirements.

“As loyalty programs mature, brands are looking beyond scale alone,” said Gabi Kool, CEO of Loylogic. “They want reward ecosystems that are smarter, more relevant, and commercially sound. Our focus for 2026 is about advancing how global rewards marketplaces are designed, governed, and experienced, combining intelligence, trust, and flexibility.”

Advanced AI innovation is central to Loylogic’s next phase of growth. Loylogic continues to enhance its use of advanced analytics and machine learning to support smarter reward discovery, improved marketplace performance, and deeper insights for loyalty operators, while maintaining strict standards for privacy, security, and compliance.

“Our innovation efforts are focused on making rewards marketplaces more intelligent and adaptive,” said Amit Bendre, COO of Loylogic. “This means better insight, better decision support, and better experiences, without compromising on trust, transparency, or regulatory rigor.”


Looking ahead to 2026, Loylogic plans to deepen collaboration with global partners, engage more actively with industry stakeholders, and selectively strengthen capabilities across commercial, product, and technology functions, supporting a growing pipeline of enterprise clients across financial services, travel, and consumer sectors. With a proven global infrastructure, deep marketplace expertise, and a clear strategic direction, Loylogic continues to help leading brands transform everyday engagement into meaningful, long-term loyalty.

About Loylogic

Loylogic is a leader in global rewards marketplaces for loyalty and incentives management, enabling brands to deliver scalable, flexible engagement experiences through a modern commerce platform. Its global catalog and redemption marketplace support meaningful engagement across B2C, B2E, and B2B programs worldwide. With deep expertise in sourcing, fulfilment, and patented points-plus-cash innovation, Loylogic has enabled over 200 billion points and miles transactions, delivered more than $1 billion in commerce, and shipped experiences spanning 100+ categories across 190 countries to more than 10 million loyalty members worldwide.

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Financial

The StashAway Story and the Future of Digital Investing

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By Srijith KN, Senior Editor

Financial Integrator

Michele Ferrario, Co-Founder and CEO

StashAway’s journey began when Co-founder and CEO Michele Ferrario found himself frustrated and dissatisfied with the investment landscape marked by y high fees and a lack of transparency. By age 35, his corporate career had provided him with substantial savings — yet when he approached his banks to invest in a portfolio of ETFs, he was sold expensive products that didn’t fit his needs.

This frustration inspired him to create a platform that would simplify investing while providing access to sophisticated financial products. In July 2016, he, along with the other two co-founders, came together, and by July 2017, after navigating regulatory requirements, StashAway was launched in Singapore.

“Stash,” as the word suggests—meaning to store something safely for future use—perfectly reflected what he wanted to achieve for himself. Over the past nine years, that personal need has grown into a company of more than 200 professionals, operating across five regions through a single, centralized technology platform.

Today, StashAway stands out as a pioneer in digital wealth management. The company leverages technology and deep investment expertise to offer accessible, low-cost alternatives to traditional wealth management, with a particular focus on private markets. Its approach has resonated with clients and positions the firm to benefit from regional economic growth and an increasingly digitally savvy population.

In the UAE, StashAway operates from the DIFC and has extended its presence to Malaysia, Thailand, and Hong Kong, with a chief investment officer based in Hong Kong overseeing investment strategies.

Democratizing Access to Investments

The company’s core strategy revolves around democratizing access to sophisticated investments. Private markets, which historically deliver higher returns at lower volatility, are central to this approach. By making private market products for a fraction of traditional minimums, StashAway removes the barriers that have long prevented high-net-worth individuals from participating in this fast-growing asset class. The platform also emphasizes transparency, with fees typically 50–75% lower than competitors, avoiding the hidden charges common in conventional wealth management products.

In public markets, StashAway offers an ETF-based, globally diversified portfolio called General Investing. The General Investing portfolio uses a proprietary investment strategy called ERAA (Economic Regime Asset Allocation). They have recently launched Sharia Global Portfolios, offering the same approach in a Sharia-compliant format. These Flexible Portfolios allow customers full control to create their own allocations using ETFs—either by using an existing template or building a portfolio entirely from scratch.

Capitalizing on the UAE Market

The UAE market presents a unique opportunity for StashAway. The region is home to a digitally engaged population with significant underinvested wealth. While 81% of financial wealth in the UAE is investable, nearly half remains in cash, losing value to inflation. StashAway’s platform appeals to a diverse range of clients, from seasoned executives to younger retail investors, aligning perfectly with regional growth initiatives like Dubai 2033, which targets strong GDP growth and population expansion.

Nino Ulsamer-Co-Founder and CTO

A Comprehensive, Client-Focused Approach

What sets StashAway apart is its comprehensive, client-focused approach. Its offerings include globally diversified portfolios, flexible build-your-own options, Sharia-compliant solutions, thematic strategies, and access to private equity, infrastructure, and private credit for accredited investors. The platform’s investment philosophy is long-term, balancing risk and reward according to individual goals, while its high service standards ensure responsive client engagement. And thus far I have been having a frictionless digital experience and went through a quick onboarding process. Client acquisition is primarily driven online, with dedicated advisors for high-net-worth clients under StashAway Reserve. Other users can engage through the app and are supported by StashAway’s responsive client experience team through email, phone call, or WhatsApp.

Shaping the Future of Digital Investing

As the UAE continues to attract global wealth, its wealth management landscape is becoming increasingly digital, with affluent investors seeking alternative investment opportunities. In an industry often criticized for opacity and complexity, StashAway is redefining investing by making it more transparent, accessible, and tailored to the modern investor. By combining advanced technology, strategic insight, and personalized solutions, the company is not just managing wealth—it is shaping the future of digital investing in the UAE and across the region.

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The Brief:

StashAway is a digital investment platform that was launched in 2017 to empower people to build and protect wealth in the long term. Offering simple, intelligent, and cost-effective investment and cash management solutions, StashAway has led the way in transforming the way people invest and grow wealth. Today, StashAway operates in five markets, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the UAE, and Thailand, with billions of dollars in assets under management. The company was recognised by The World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer in 2020 and ranked among CNBC’s World’s Top Fintech Companies in 2023, 2024, and 2025.

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What Makes HUAWEI FreeClip 2 the Best Open-Ear Earbuds Yet?

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It has been two years since the debut of the original HUAWEI FreeClip, Huawei’s first-ever open earbuds that took the market by storm. Its massive popularity proved that the world was ready for a new kind of listening experience. The new HUAWEI FreeClip 2 tackles the hard challenges of open-ear acoustics physics head-on, combining a powerful dual-diaphragm driver with computational audio. It delivers depth and clarity, which was once thought impossible with an open-ear design. Solving the acoustic limitations of open-ear audio alone would have been sufficient to make the HUAWEI FreeClip 2 our pick for best open-ear audio.

But it is way more than that!

Comfortable C-Bridge design

The HUAWEI FreeClip 2 earbuds weigh only 5.1 g per bud, a 9% reduction from the previous generation. This lightweight architecture ensures an effortless experience, perfect for long calls, workouts, and commutes, allowing you to wear them all day without fatigue. The comfort bean is 11% smaller than the previous model, yet the design provides a secure fit that prevents the earbuds from falling out, even during intense activity.

Constructed from a new skin-friendly liquid silicone and a shape-memory alloy, the C-bridge is 25% softer and significantly more flexible than its predecessor. Finished with a fine, textured surface, it ensures a comfortable, irritation-free wearing even after extended use.

Adaptive open-ear listening

The acoustic system has been significantly upgraded, featuring a dual-diaphragm driver and a multi-mic call noise cancellation system. This setup not only delivers powerful sound but also maximises space efficiency. That’s why, despite their small size, these earbuds can deliver substantial acoustic performance.

The Open-fit design of the earbuds demands high computing power to maintain sound quality and call clarity. The HUAWEI FreeClip 2 offers ten times the processing power of the previous generation, serving as Huawei’s first earbuds to feature an NPU AI processor for a truly adaptive experience. The new dual-diaphragm driver includes a single dynamic driver with two diaphragms, effectively doubling the sound output within a compact space to provide a significant boost in volume and bass response.

Furthermore, the earbuds dynamically detect surrounding noise and adjust volume and voice levels in real-time. If the environment is too noisy, the system uses adaptive voice enhancement to specifically boost human frequencies, ensuring you never miss a word of a podcast or audiobook. When you return to a quiet environment, the earbuds automatically settle back to a comfortable volume level.

Crystal clear calls

To ensure call quality in chaotic environments, the HUAWEI FreeClip 2 utilises a three-mic system combined with multi-channel DNN (Deep Neural Network) noise cancellation algorithms. This system intelligently identifies and filters out ambient noise. Thanks to the NPU AI processor, the earbuds automatically enhance voice clarity, ensuring your conversations remain crisp regardless of your surroundings.

Battery life and charging

With the charging case, the HUAWEI FreeClip 2 offers a total battery life of 38 hours, allowing users to enjoy music throughout a full week of commuting on a single charge. On their own, the earbuds last for 9 hours—enough for a full workday of uninterrupted calls. For those in a rush, just 10 minutes of fast charging in the case provides up to 3 hours of playback. For added convenience, they support wireless charging and are compatible with watch chargers.

Rated IP57, the earbuds are resistant to sweat and water. They can easily withstand intense workouts or even a downpour.

Connectivity

The earbuds support dual connections and seamless auto-switching across iOS, Android, and Windows. When connected to EMUI devices, you can even switch audio between more than two devices. Additionally, when connected to a PC, the earbuds allow you to answer an incoming call without disconnecting from or interrupting your conference setup.

It is, quite simply, a pair of earphones reliable enough for the gym, the office, and the commute.

BRIEF: Designed for a new generation of listeners, the HUAWEI FreeClip 2 represents a significant evolution in open-ear audio technology. Combining a lightweight, comfort-first design with advanced AI-powered acoustics, the earbuds challenge long-standing limitations associated with open-ear listening. From adaptive sound processing and crystal-clear calls to all-day wearability and robust battery life, the FreeClip 2 balances innovation with everyday practicality. Built for work, workouts, and commutes alike, it reflects Huawei’s growing focus on intelligent, user-centric audio experiences that seamlessly integrate into modern, connected lifestyles. @2025

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