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Cisco 2024 Trends: Hybrid Work Model is Here to Stay

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  • Cisco unveils the transformative collaboration trends poised to impact hybrid work environments.
  • As hybrid work becomes standard practice, Cisco emphasizes the critical importance of cybersecurity, revealing further insights from the Cisco 2024 Cybersecurity Readiness Index

Cisco recently announced key insights into the future of hybrid collaboration and workplace trends. As businesses continue to navigate the shift towards hybrid work environments, Cisco’s latest predictions highlight the transformative impact of AI-driven collaboration technologies and the evolving challenges of cybersecurity.

As the global workforce continues its transition towards a more permanent hybrid model, organizational leaders are strategically balancing investments in physical office setups while empowering employees with flexible work arrangements, ultimately enhancing the productivity of today’s hybrid workforce. According to Cisco’s own Hybrid Work Study 2024, a significant 83% of organizations acknowledge that collaboration-driven enhancements effectively attract and retain top talent.

Reflecting on its innovations in the past year and the solutions prepping to unveil this year, Cisco emphasizes the enduring significance of the hybrid collaboration trends that promote inclusivity, innovation, and flexibility.

AI-Powered Collaboration Experiences

The adoption of AI in collaboration is set to revolutionize how we work and collaborate. Today, Cisco’s advanced AI audio and video intelligence technologies enable devices to intelligently follow presenters, listen for audio cues, switch between cameras, and optimize meeting views in real-time, creating an immersive virtual experience.

Looking ahead, technologies will continue to get even closer to fundamentally eliminating distance in any room type. As organizations map priorities for the year, it is critical to invest in technology that supports the integration of rapidly evolving AI capabilities, ensuring long-term value and fostering inclusivity and equity in collaborative environments.

Equitable and Inclusive Meetings

Meetings where everyone is physically present are no longer the norm, making it critical to provide equitable and inclusive meeting experiences. This fundamental shift in office dynamics has led to a substantial increase in virtual meetings among in-office workers, highlighting a 50% rise in participation compared to other work modes before offices reopened.

Despite this shift, only a limited number of conference rooms today are equipped with video conferencing technology, with basic camera and audio solutions falling short in achieving truly inclusive meeting experiences that capture the essence of in-person interactions.

To address these challenges, organizations will need to adopt advanced solutions that transcend physical barriers and emulate the richness of face-to-face collaboration, enabling all meeting participants to feel connected and engaged regardless of their location.

Workspace Transformation

With the ability to work from anywhere, motivating employees to return to corporate offices presents a unique challenge. Organizations are embarking on a journey to reimagine and revitalize workspaces, surpassing the comforts of home to generate excitement and collaboration.

These redesigned spaces prioritize organic interactions, essential for office environments where creativity and teamwork thrive on spontaneous, serendipitous encounters. Designated brainstorming areas and cutting-edge technology will further support co-creation and whiteboarding for both in-person and hybrid participants.

Cybersecurity in Hybrid Work Environments

With organizations navigating the shift towards hybrid work models, cybersecurity must remain top of mind. Recent insights from the Cisco 2024 Cybersecurity Readiness Index reveals that 86% of employees in UAE companies connect to work platforms from unmanaged devices. The study further indicates that 86% of UAE companies acknowledge that logging in remotely as part of hybrid arrangements has increased the risk of cybersecurity incidents in their organizations to some extent.

Cisco emphasizes the critical importance of integrating AI-driven cybersecurity measures into collaboration technologies to ensure the security and efficiency of hybrid work environments. By leveraging advanced technologies, Cisco enables organizations to navigate the complexities of hybrid work securely.

Cisco’s Approach

Ahmad Zureiki, Director of Collaboration Business, Cisco Middle East and Africa commented: “The demand for hybrid work collaboration solutions for businesses in the region continues to grow. Organizations are recognizing the value of adaptable workspaces and technologies that empower employees to work seamlessly, whether in the office or remotely. Cisco is committed to driving innovation in collaboration through advanced technologies and solutions in AI, ensuring that the future of work is inclusive, secure, and efficient.”

Cisco’s collaboration solutions have leveraged AI for years as a powerful tool to facilitate seamless hybrid interactions. It is no doubt that hybrid work models are here to stay. By offering employees flexibility and choice, this model will continue to not only benefit individuals but also organizations by fostering talent recruitment and retention without geographical constraints.

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Anomali to Address the Next Phase of AI-Led Cyber Defense at GISEC 2026

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Anomali, the leading global Managed Intelligence and Agentic SOC platform, announced its participation at GISEC Global 2026, taking place through 16-18 September at Dubai Exhibition Centre (DEC), Expo City.

The company’s discussions at GISEC will center on Autonomous SOC with Governed AI, Agentic AI, Actionable Threat Intelligence and Unified Security Data Lake capabilities that are changing the manner in which security teams investigate threats, manage workflows and make decisions.

Samer Jadallah, Vice President, Middle East & Africa at Anomali, will represent the company at GISEC and will focus on the growing impact of AI on both attackers and defenders, emerging shifts in the threat landscape, including the need to counter CEO impersonation attacks as well as key challenges facing modern security teams. He will also highlight AI’s role is helping organizations respond more effectively to evolving threats, Anomali’s commitment to the region and ongoing product innovation and plans to expand adoption of the Anomali platform across global enterprises and government organizations.

A key focus at this year’s event will be the changing nature of cyberattacks. As threat actors promptly adopt AI to scale campaigns and further accelerate attacks, security operations centers (SOC) are under growing pressure to process rising volumes of alerts with limited resources. To help with this, Anomali will demonstrate how AI can support analysts in multiple ways like surfacing higher- value insights, reducing manual effort and enabling quicker, informed responses.

Visitors can find Anomali at Booth E156 and Booth A80.

  • Event: GISEC Global 2026
  • Booths: E156 and A80
  • Location: Dubai Exhibition Centre (DEC), Expo City
  • Dates: 16 th to 18 September 2026
  • Time: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm GST
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HONOR BRINGS ITS ALPHA PLAN TO LIFE AT LEAP 2026 WITH THE WORLD’S FIRST ROBOT PHONE AND RENEWED “DARE TO BE” BRAND DIRECTION

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HONOR, a global leading AI device ecosystem company, concluded its participation at LEAP 2026, bringing its “ALPHA PLAN: From Vision to Reality” to life through the world’s first Robot Phone, advancements in robotics, cinematic imaging and connected AI experiences. The participation also marked HONOR’s renewed “Dare to Be” brand direction reflecting its continued transformation from a company predominantly known for smartphones into a broader global AI device ecosystem company.

Commenting on the participation, Lei Kunming, CMO HONOR Middle East & Africa said, “LEAP 2026 showed how HONOR’s ALPHA PLAN is moving from vision to reality. From the world’s first Robot Phone and Robotics to our connected ecosystem, we demonstrated how AI can work more naturally around people.” He added “Our ‘Dare to Be’ direction gives that transformation a stronger identity, with Saudi Arabia remaining central to our growth in AI and digital innovation.”

Bringing the HONOR Booth Experience to Life

Visitors explored HONOR’s expanding ecosystem through interactive experiences spanning sports, gaming, smart office, learning and everyday scenarios.

The booth demonstrated how smartphones, PCs, tablets, wearables and other smart devices can work together to deliver more seamlessly, across work, entertainment, sports and health, reflecting the ALPHA PLAN’s ambition to create a more intelligent, connected and human-centric ecosystem around the user.

Introducing the World’s First Robot Phone

At the centre of HONOR’s showcase was the world’s first Robot Phone, a defining proof point of the ALPHA PLAN and a new category combining AI, robotics and cinematic imaging.

Its integrated robotic gimbal can move, track subjects and respond to its surroundings, enabling more intuitive and proactive content creation. LEAP also marked the Robot Phone’s reveal for the Middle East and Africa, making the region the first overseas market to experience the new category.

HONOR also highlighted its collaboration with ARRI, bringing more than 100 years of professional cinema and image science expertise together with HONOR’s AI and robotics capabilities to make cinematic content creation more accessible to everyday users.

Advancing a Future Built on Human and AI Collaboration

Beyond the Robot Phone, HONOR showcased its ambitions in robotics through HONOR Robotics D1, reinforcing its vision of a future shaped not by humans competing against AI, but by humans working with AI to achieve more. The company also explored the future of AI devices and robotics through its LEAP keynote and panel discussions.

Entering a New “Dare to Be” Era

Reflecting this evolution, HONOR’s renewed“Dare to Be” direction reflects its evolution beyond individual devices towards an open AI ecosystem connecting technologies, industries and lifestyles. Supported by innovations including Agentic OS and AiMAGE, HONOR’s journey progresses from an intelligent phone to an intelligent ecosystem and, ultimately, an intelligent world.

Driving Growth Across MEA

HONOR entered LEAP with strong regional momentum. In H1 2026, the company grew by 35% while the Middle East smartphone market declined by 13%, making HONOR the only leading smartphone brand in the region to grow and the second-largest smartphone brand in the Middle East. This followed 73% year-on-year growth in Q1 2026.

Within this regional growth, Saudi Arabia remains a particularly important market for HONOR, supporting the company’s broader ambitions across AI devices and its connected ecosystem.

Strengthening HONOR’s AIoT Presence in Saudi Arabia

As part of this momentum, Saudi Arabia remains a strategic market for HONOR and an important part of the ALPHA PLAN. The Kingdom is now HONOR’s number one tablet market by share, while its AIoT business has grown by more than 500% and HONOR Earbuds Clip has surpassed 100,000 units sold locally.

Building on this strong foundation, HONOR continues to strengthen its presence through retail, after-sales, local partnerships and deeper engagement with the Kingdom’s technology ecosystem.

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greytHR expands agentic AI-powered HR execution across Middle East region with greytHR NAVOS

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greytHR, a leading full-suite Human Resource Management System (HRMS) platform, launched greytHR NAVOS across the Middle East region, bringing agentic AI competencies directly into its platform. The new capability enables HR teams  to find information, navigate workflows, while completing authorised HR activities through simple, natural-language commands.

The Middle East rollout comes as agentic AI begins to reshape HR functions globally. According to McKinsey’s August 2026 research on the agentic era of HR, roughly two-thirds of today’s HR activities, including recruitment, payroll, onboarding and benefits administration, could be largely automated by 2030.

Unlike conventional AI assistants that primarily focus on answering questions, greytHR NAVOS follows an execution-first approach, helping users move from finding information to initiating and completing supported HR actions. Its three core functions – Navigate, Operate, and Support – enable information and workflow discovery, authorised action execution and contextual guidance.

Girish Rowjee, Co-founder & CEO of greytHR, said: “We have evolved from a system that you work on, to a platform that works with you. As a full-suite HRMS, greytHR already connects the entire hire-to-retire lifecycle across key HR operations. With the launch of greytHR NAVOS, we are adding an agentic AI layer across this connected ecosystem, enabling users to manage everyday HR activities through conversational commands rather than searching through multiple menus or disconnected tools. Furthermore, greytHR NAVOS works within each organisation’s existing security and access controls, reducing administrative friction and accelerating everyday HR execution.”

greytHR NAVOS supports a wide range of workflows across core HR, leave and attendance, workforce management, performance management, recruitment, platform navigation and support. HR teams can use the capability to update employee information, generate and publish letters, access attendance records, manage leave and regularisations, support performance reviews, search for job openings and candidates, handle recruitment approvals and generate hiring content.

Based on early greytHR NAVOS usage in comparable markets,  HR administrators have reported productivity savings of approximately five hours per week by replacing repetitive manual workflows with conversational requests. In one practical example, an attendance-muster export that previously required around five separate steps can be completed through a natural-language prompt in approximately 10 seconds. By simplifying routine processes and reducing time spent on software interfaces, greytHR NAVOS enables HR professionals to devote more time to employee engagement, workforce planning and strategic decision-making.

greytHR NAVOS operates within each organisation’s existing role-based access control (RBAC) system, ensuring that access to employee information and platform actions remains aligned with individual user roles and permissions. Moreover, sensitive or irreversible actions require explicit human confirmation before execution. The platform also maintains a traceable audit record of AI-assisted activity, including the initiating user, timestamp, prompt and action details. Meanwhile, greytHR’s established privacy, security, and governance framework extends to greytHR NAVOS, including alignment with SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001:2022, and GDPR frameworks, supported by human oversight.

The new capability is available across all paid greytHR plans, including essential, growth, and premium, with no per-seat AI fees, usage caps or separate purchase required.

The launch showcases the evolution of HRMS platforms from traditional systems of record towards systems of action, where technology can understand user intent, identify the relevant workflow and support the execution of the next authorised step.

greytHR currently supports over 34,000 organisations and 3.5 million users across over 30 countries, providing a strong foundation for expanding its agentic AI capabilities across the Middle East region. With greytHR NAVOS, the company is helping regional businesses simplify HR administration and narrow the gap between intent and execution.

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