By Adrian Goulder, Technical Manager at VUE Audio Visual Trading LLC (VUEAV)

The landscape of customer engagement is undergoing a profound transformation, particularly across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Today’s consumers are not just seeking products or services; they are chasing experiences. We are living in the age of the ‘experience economy,’ where emotional resonance and immersive interaction are more important than the transaction itself. And at the heart of this shift lies a powerful, often underestimated catalyst: Audio-Visual (AV) integration.

For several years, AV has been viewed through a narrow, functional lens – a screen to display presentations or a sound system for announcements. But this perception is rapidly evolving. In the hands of forward-thinking businesses, AV has become a transformative tool, the medium through which compelling, multisensory experiences are crafted, and customer loyalty is deepened.

There are several instances in our daily life that showcase the exceptional use of AV to provide us with exceptional experiences. For instance, imagine walking into a retail space where digital displays shift in real-time based on your preferences, offering tailored product suggestions with vivid 3D visuals. Or maybe consider a museum where interactive projections breathe life into ancient artefacts, inviting visitors to explore history through gesture and touch. These aren’t visions of the distant future. They’re happening now, across the MENA region, thanks to the rise of integrated AV technologies.

A standout example of immersive AV integration is the BAPS Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi, where projection mapping transforms the space into a fully immersive 360° environment. Far from a passive visit, this installation surrounds worshippers and visitors alike in a blend of synchronised audio and visuals, delivering a multisensory experience. The entire Immersive Show was scripted, designed, and brought to life by a dedicated team of BAPS volunteers, who handled every aspect of the creative vision in-house – from concept development to execution.

VUEAV worked alongside Christie, a global visual technologies company and the BAPS technical team, to achieve this seamless fusion of form and function.

The installation features a sophisticated network of Christie projectors with a collective output of over 300 lumens per square metre, projecting over 60 million pixels onto architectural surfaces. This powerful AV system is orchestrated through Aurora’s IP-based solutions for video distribution and live system monitoring, while Pixera media servers ensure high-resolution content and pixel-perfect synchronisation across all outputs.

But it’s not just about what you see – it’s about what you hear and feel. Sennheiser microphones and Klipsch Professional Series 8-inch speakers, complemented by robust 15-inch subwoofers, deliver an acoustically rich environment. Each component is precisely calibrated and programmed to provide a unified and intuitive experience. Central to this installation is ‘The Fairy Tale,’ an immersive show that runs daily, merging storytelling with high-resolution visuals and surround sound.

In a parallel context, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is also leveraging AV to showcase the epic past of AlUla, an ancient Arabian oasis city. The Incense Road Experience, an immersive adventure developed through a partnership between VUEAV and The Aimes, is a project that blends live performance, interactivity and cutting-edge audiovisual technologies to reanimate the rich cultural heritage of this ancient trade route. A sophisticated array of Christie 4K laser projectors maps high-resolution, vibrant visuals onto architectural textures and theatrical spaces. Driven by Pixera media servers,the installation dynamically responds to visitor movement and interaction through a network of custom-designed motion sensors and RFID-triggered zones. As visitors travel the space, the audio-visual and lighting elements adapt in real-time.

A rich audio landscape is delivered through a premium Klipsch multi-zone sound system, enhanced with bespoke directional speakers and embedded subwoofers that allow scenes to breathe with immersive realism. Visitors can experience holographically projected historical, legendary figures and recreated ancient local environments complete with scent emitters and tactile surfaces. Furthermore, visitors can also craft their own incense blend through interactive prompts, in addition to unlocking personalised narrative paths using sensor-based interactions and gamified storytelling. At the heart of the experience is a powerful integration of hardware and creative content, blending high-resolution projection, real-time media control, interactive systems, and environmental storytelling.

So, what exactly is driving this transformation? These are not just futuristic fantasies. They are tangible realities being implemented across the MENA region, thanks to sophisticated AV integration, and their outcomes are remarkable. Among the many benefits are elevated engagement. Interactive kiosks, immersive video walls, and crystal-clear audio systems hold attention and turn passive customers into active participants. Offering personalised interactions is another benefit, as through integration with analytics, AV systems can adapt to individual preferences in real time. From digital restaurant menus that respond to dietary needs to personalised greetings displayed on screens in the experience becomes not just engaging, but personal.

Additionally, it creates immersive environments. Whether it is a showroom designed for multisensory experiences, or a collaborative workspace equipped with interactive displays and seamless video conferencing, AV is redefining physical space as dynamic hubs for engagement. AV technologies enable businesses to communicate their brand identity not just through words, but through unforgettable sensory experiences – such as stunning visuals, impactful sound design, and interactive installations – that resonate far beyond the initial interaction. Beyond the customer-facing benefits, AV integration streamlines backend operations, from wayfinding and internal communications to automating routine tasks and presentations.

For businesses in the MENA region, the opportunity is clear: those who invest in AV not as a utility, but as a strategic experience enabler, will lead the charge in redefining customer engagement.

In a market where expectations are rising and attention spans are shrinking, it is not enough to be seen or heard – brands must be felt. By embracing the full potential of AV technologies, organisations across the MENA region can move beyond the basics, crafting immersive, personalised, and memorable experiences that set them apart.

Presight has announced its participation at the World Police Summit 2025, hosted at the Dubai World Trade Centre. As part of the event, Presight officially launched the Presight AI-Policing Suite – a home-grown, modular solution designed to transform public safety and law enforcement operations using the power of Generative AI and advanced analytics.

With rising digital crime, urban congestion, and demand for accountability, law enforcement agencies around the world face mounting complexity. The Presight AI-Policing Suite is engineered to meet these challenges head-on. By integrating automated investigation processes, evidence analysis, advanced search functions, intelligent profiling, geospatial and relationship analysis, and proactive identification of criminal suspects, it empowers officers to make faster, more accurate decisions at every stage of an investigation.

Thomas Pramotedham, CEO of Presight, said: “At Presight, we believe applied intelligence is the key to creating safer communities. The Presight AI-Policing Suite empowers law enforcement agencies with the insights and tools needed to act faster, more precisely, and more proactively across every aspect of policing – from crime prevention to investigation and response. With modularity, scalability, and built-in multilingual support, this is a future-ready solution purpose-built for the demands of modern policing.”

Leveraging state-of-the-art technology, the solution delivers real-time detection, monitoring, and incident management capabilities tailored for traffic control and public safety. It turns multi-source IoT and real time data streams into actionable insights by automatically detecting, classifying, and analyzing events at scale, utilizing behavioral pattern analysis and sophisticated algorithms to ensure unmatched accuracy and reliability.

The suite integrates 5 modules into a unified, intelligent ecosystem:

• Law Enforcement Platform – a unified, AI-powered crime investigation platform
• Detective Assistant – a transformative technology designed to function as an intelligent digital detective
• Digital Forensic Platform – accelerates digital forensic investigation process
• Traffic Control – enables real-time violation & incident detection
• IoT Intelligence – provides real-time monitoring, anomaly detection, and situational awareness across urban and public place environments

Complementing Presight’s AI-Policing Suite, Presight will also feature the Presight LifeSaver Emergency Response Platform, which enhances preparedness and inter-agency coordination during crises.

Visitors to the World Police Summit can experience the AI-Policing Suite firsthand at Presight’s interactive exhibit, where company executives will also participate in live demos, media interviews, and expert panels on the future of AI in law enforcement.

Qlik recently announced an expanded set of capabilities coming soon in its Qlik Cloud Analytics solution — equipping enterprises with tools to detect anomalies, forecast complex trends, prepare data faster, and take immediate action through embedded decision workflows.

While organizations continue to invest heavily in AI and data, most still struggle to turn insight into impact. Dashboards pile up, but real-time execution remains elusive. Only 26% of enterprises have deployed AI at scale, and fewer still have embedded it into operational workflows. The problem isn’t access to static intelligence — it’s the ability to act on it. Dashboards aren’t decision engines, and predictive models alone won’t prevent risk or drive outcomes. What businesses need is intelligence that anticipates, explains, and enables action — without added tools, delays, or friction.

“Enterprises struggle making intelligence accessible and actionable for their business users,” said Brendan Grady, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Qlik’s Analytics Business Unit. “Too many systems deliver insights and answers after the fact. We’re building something different: a platform where AI detects what matters, surfaces it in context, and lets you act — all within the analytics environment itself.”

With these planned launches, Qlik will be introducing a new layer of intelligence across its platform — one that doesn’t just report what’s happening, but anticipates what’s next and enables action in the moment. Discovery agent, multivariate time series forecasting, write table, and table recipe work in concert to solve a singular problem: how to move from fragmented insight to seamless execution, at scale.

These launches, along with the renaming of Qlik AutoML to Qlik Predict and Qlik Application Automation to Qlik Automate, reflect a broader shift toward more intuitive, outcome-driven experiences across the Qlik platform. Each capability targets a critical enterprise bottleneck — from delayed awareness to inaccurate forecasting, data prep bottlenecks to disconnected workflows — delivering a cohesive solution that closes the gap between data and decisions.

• See what others miss before it’s too late — with discovery agent. Executives no longer need to manually track business changes or sift through data. Discovery agent continuously scans performance across applications and datasets, automatically surfacing critical risks and opportunities before they intensify. Insights are delivered through a personalized feed that clarifies what’s happening, why it matters, and suggested next steps.
• Forecast reality, not just trends — with multivariate time series forecasting. Built into Qlik Predict (formerly AutoML), this capability moves beyond single-variable projections to model the full complexity of business conditions. By analyzing relationships across interdependent variables — like pricing, campaign activity, seasonality, and economic signals — it delivers sharper forecasts that reflect real-world dynamics. The result: more confident planning, faster scenario testing, and better decisions.
• Annotate and update data live — with write table. Write table enables users to add context to data records directly in analytics tables, with instant sync across sessions and no reloads required. This capability enhances in-context data review and lays the groundwork for governed writeback into systems like SAP, Salesforce, and Snowflake — part of Qlik’s long-term vision for integrated, action-ready analytics.
• Prep data faster with no code — using table recipe. Table recipe provides a streamlined, spreadsheet-like experience for preparing single-table datasets — no scripting or complex modeling required. Users can clean, convert, and format data with over 60 visual functions, seeing changes in real time. It empowers non-technical users to prep high-quality data quickly, accelerating the path to reliable insights.

“We’ve spent too much time reacting to what already happened — and not enough time getting ahead of what’s next,” said Olga Garagonich, Lead Manager, Data Visualisation, BT Group. “With these new capabilities in Qlik, we’ll be able to catch issues earlier, forecast more accurately, and take action — all without disconnected workflows or delays. That’s a game-changer for how we operate.”

Together, these capabilities transform Qlik from a system of insight into a system of execution — building the foundation for what comes next in enterprise AI: decision-making that’s not just intelligent, but contextual, automated, and embedded at the point of need.

Discovery agent, multivariate time series forecasting, write table, and table recipe will be available for private preview for select customers this year. General availability will begin rolling out in phases starting summer 2025.