Tell us about the revolutionary last-mile services DHL Global Forwarding introduced to reduce its carbon footprint

DHL Global Forwarding is committed to reducing its carbon footprint. We have pledged to spend EUR7 billion on sustainable fuel and clean technologies by 2030 to reduce CO2 emissions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. At DHL, we remain very focused on enhancing last-mile delivery, a crucial component of e-commerce fulfillment, which can be made more efficient with the deployment of artificial intelligence and automation. We are working on several innovations, service upgrades, and expansion plans.

Amadou Diallo, CEO – Middle East & Africa at DHL Global Forwarding

We also aim to put more than 80,000 e-vehicles on the road by 2030. This will account for more than 60% of our last-mile vehicles. We will also increase the use of sustainable aviation fuels to more than 30% by 2030. In addition, all new buildings will be designed to be carbon neutral. We plan to offer green alternatives for all our core products and solutions.

Elaborate on DHL’s other zero-emission projects and achievements

We have introduced many projects to reduce our carbon footprint. For example, we launched a new, more comprehensive Carbon Intelligence program as part of our digital customer platform myDHLi where customers have more options to reduce, track and report their CO2 emissions (in setting and offsetting options). With our GoGreen Plus Service customers have the opportunity to neutralize their CO2 emissions for the ocean and air freight shipments via the usage of Sustainable Aviation and Marine Fuel with only one click. The CO₂ emissions are reduced where they are emitted, what we call carbon insetting and the achieved reduction of our services are transparently passed onto our customers.

In the UAE we have partnered with Total Energies to fulfill our zero-emissions logistics ambition by 2050. This partnership will solarise eight of DHL’s sites in Dubai to cover the equivalent of over 46,000m² of photovoltaic panels, saving more than 6,000t of CO2 in the first year. The whole solar system will produce over 14,000 MWh per year, enough energy to power over 16,000 homes yearly in the UAE. Moreover, eight electrical vehicle charging stations will also be installed – which contributes to the group’s goal of electrifying 60% of its fleet by 2030. In addition, we are pioneering new green solutions in the region. For example, we have launched a new 23,500 -sqm EV Hub in Dubai South to drive the EV circular economy, where batteries can be stored, recycled, repaired, and processed at end of life, ensuring long-term sustainability.

Describe DHL’s “Go Green” initiative and its global impact

GoGreen is part of our worldwide environmental protection program to reduce and avoid the emission of greenhouse gasses and local air pollutants. GoGreen Plus is our service offering sustainable alternatives to our core transport products, such as the usage of sustainable aviation fuel or sustainable marine fuel for transport and contributes to our mid-term sustainability roadmap to have at least 30 percent of fuel requirements covered by sustainable fuels by 2030. The GoGreen Plus Service is based on the displacement principle: the more customers book the service; the more alternative fuel or clean technology is used – making transport chains greener step by step. Following this principle, the appropriate amount of biofuel is purchased for the respective air or ocean freight shipment and used in the partners’ ships and aircraft. The GoGreen Plus Service will enable our customers around the world to fulfill their decarbonization ambitions, with clear and measurable results.

Would you have any current associations with governments (or affiliated) bodies in the GCC?

We are always exploring strategic opportunities with the right government entities, business partners, and markets around the world. Currently, we remain guided by our Strategy 2025, which focuses on harnessing globalization, e-commerce, digitalization, and sustainability for the profitable long-term growth of our business. Our goal is to intensify the trade between Asia and the Middle East (UAE) and further expand trade in Africa while leveraging the most sustainable solutions.

What advice do you wish to give to your business counterparts in the industry ahead of building a sustainable and ecologically balanced world?

Businesses must remember that building a sustainable and ecologically balanced world is a shared responsibility. Sustainability must therefore be closely integrated into the bottom line. Businesses must look at increasing their profitability in a continuous, sustainable way, and embed social and environmental aspects more firmly in their business operations.

At DHL, we take the UN Sustainable Development Goals into account as we go. As diverse as our business models may be, we believe that sustainable development is a must as well as a favorable differentiating feature.

What ambitions of Emirates Post will be fulfilled with the launch of its e-commerce-oriented services?

Emirates Post is an established enterprise in the UAE, which handles both domestic and international parcels. With the launch of e-commerce services, we are striving to make the UAE one of the largest e-commerce hubs in the world.

Steve Stanton, Chief Business Officer, Emirates Post

We already have the most extensive last-mile network in the UAE and are truly a pan-UAE service provider with around 1300 people in the carrier-handling team at the moment. So, the e-commerce business would be an extension of the service point.

We are also launching the new elements predominantly around sustainability including electrification and sustainable packaging. For regular and corporate customers, we are launching a new portal that facilitates easy interaction and a simple dashboard to trace all necessary information. E.g., shipment tracking.

For transit, we launched an app that is predominantly driven towards the end consumer and it gives the consumer control over the volume or control over their shipping. They can decide when they want delivery, and how they want delivery.

Explain the vendor partnerships that you are looking for in an e-commerce

From a partner perspective, we cater to the whole different types of vendors. We have been handling the last-mile delivery services of Amazon, Landmark, and other companies in the Middle East and North Africa. At this juncture of the visible and rapid growth of the e-commerce business, we approach the market from an entrepreneurial perspective. Besides creating a suitable ecosystem, we foster business for SMEs and small enterprises to establish their business. We offer to help businesses with marketing and financial partnerships through our network, and shipment handling.

What are the competitive advantages that businesses can expect from Emirates Post than that of other e-commerce service providers?

Emirates Post focuses on quality, service, commitment, and consistency. Everything that we invest in terms of frontline, backline team, and supporting technologies would ideally help us achieve great performance and we expect it to be the differentiator. Regarding the service commitment, we are aiming to provide customers with same-day or next-day delivery services. We have to go to the right network to handle it.

Apart from that, the parcel lockers will be available at post offices and selected petrol stations, while the service points will be at petrol stations and partner locations, adding further time and place simplicity and convenience to the customer experience.

In line with our commitment to give quality logistics and supply chain services, we are also adding temperature-controlled vehicles for its cold chain solutions. This will be particularly important for perishable goods such as food, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics.

Nearly 20 percent of the sales in retail account for e-commerce and it is projected to grow by 25 percent in 2025, which is $11 trillion in five years. No dispute that e-commerce is becoming an indispensable part of retailing with impending digitization and technological advancements in the industry. Today, there is a scope for every retailer or product manufacturer to start their e-commerce venture.

Nonetheless, the desirable market share and positioning of e-commerce companies – estimated 12 million across the globe – is obscure next to the dominant players, such as Amazon, Alibaba, eBay, Rakuten, etc. Since co-existence is not well appreciated in the business world, the only choice is to keep the competitive spirits high no matter whether you are a newcomer or an established enterprise.

Discuss Customer Experience, Not Pricing

Experts say, “to stand up against the competition, e-commerce enterprises should enhance customer experience instead of reducing the product prices from reasonable levels. However, dynamic pricing should be appreciated.” Most e-commerce companies are presumably paying high costs for infrastructure, logistics, IT, and payment services. Reducing the margins of revenue not only invites failure but also ceases their potential for futuristic investments.

If surveys are reliable, the e-tail business is growing at a record pace and a large chunk of buyers are added every year with bigger buying potential and bargaining power. According to Statista.com, “as internet access and adoption are rapidly increasing worldwide, the number of digital buyers keeps climbing every year. In 2020, over two billion people purchased goods or services online, and during the same year, e-retail sales surpassed 4.2 trillion U.S. dollars worldwide.”

These trends simply suggest that organizations should work on a war footing and focus on improving investments in user experience – starting from product search to delivery.

Easy Search, Filtering, and Fast Delivery

For an e-commerce customer, the experience starts from the moment she or he chooses to open an e-commerce portal or a mobile app, not to mention that m-commerce has about 73 percent market share. So, the e-commerce companies should aim to win the foremost battle of listing products and convenient filtering and navigation features based on the keyword input. Voice-based searches and image scans are add-on features in the latest platforms.

The caliber of an e-commerce business is put to the test, time and again, in the delivery of products to customers. Every customer will seek fast and on-time delivery of products even if it has to import from another country. Therefore, the establishment of logistics infrastructures (incl. warehousing, shipping, and handling) should be based on a well-thought-out plan – the same applied to the return of products. As multiple agents are involved in this process, efficient coordination is needed; failing which, is nothing lesser than losing a customer.

Customer Retention is More Important Than Ever

Loyalty isn’t an impressive term any longer in free-market societies and even loyal customers should be ideally labeled as regular or returning customers. Regular customers help a business thrive even if that is small in number. Experience of buying a quality product and its smooth delivery influences a buyer to revisit the portal whenever the need arises. That underlines the importance of what types of products are to be listed and how efficiently they have to be presented to potential customers.

Smartphones overwhelmingly impact the buying practices of customers as they give customers extremely personalized experiences of using shopping apps. From product comparison to live tracking, everything is easily possible in shopping apps. Apart from that, payments are flexible through smartphones if that is done from debit/credit cards and unified payment interface (UPI) apps.

With efficient tracking and analysis of user data, the marketing teams can reach customers uniquely in terms of running customized ads, offering exclusive prices, sending push notifications on viewed or cart items, etc.

Reports said, the mandate of Apple, along with iOS 14.5, raised the eyebrows of marketers as it categorically states that apps must show their users a pop-up and track them only if they decide to “opt-in,” or to “allow tracking.” It appears that tailored cross-platform advertisement campaigns are not possible anymore as Apple wishes to bring in another layer of safety net for user data.

When you look on the bright side of it, online shoppers’ data needs to be safeguarded, and so does their buying behavior. Users’ data (combining PII) are valuable beyond becoming dashboard insights in a third-party application. Anyways, marketing professionals should figure out more creative concepts to retain customers.

AI, Data Analytics, and Automation

AI-powered tools are gearing success in several areas, such as chatbot customer support, product suggestions, logistic handling, delivery-process notifications, etc. In addition, e-commerce companies can invest further to analyze data (excluding PII) to arrive at solid conclusions about the buyers’ interests, nature of buying, payment patterns, etc. Based on these parameters, they can persuade customers to buy relevant items at exclusive pricing.

Similarly, e-commerce ventures, especially warehouse and logistic companies, are attempting to automate their operations from packaging to consignment shipping with shared benefits, such as increased profit, elevated reputation, reduce workforce, quick process completion, etc. However, the significant questions are: Is it cost-effective? Who can afford to have it?

The incurring cost to e-commerce business is based on numerous levels including staffing, platform, cloud solutions, infrastructure, and logistics. Not all e-commerce businesses can afford to handle all of them within their organization but can get them on lease or contract.

We often come across marketplaces that simply operate e-commerce websites, take care of staffing, install IT systems, and rely on suppliers, external warehouses, and logistics service providers to handle the rest. Whereas large e-commerce enterprises (i.e., Amazon, Alibaba, eBay, etc.) handle much of the tasks within the organization and outsource some for convenience. Such e-commerce companies would be dominating the industry and tactically superior to others.

Shopify Disruption: It is an e-commerce platform that helps customers, predominantly independent retailers, build online shops quickly. Shopify serves 1.7 million merchants globally.

Immersive technologies (AR and VR) are expected to involve in the e-commerce sector as they promise to provide customers with a virtual experience or preview of the product in their environments.

Conclusion

Commercial transactions on the internet would bring significant changes in the retail industry besides transforming economies worldwide. With extensive sourcing, storage, warehouse, and shipping potential besides investments, some enterprises would rule the market while others strive to succeed. One thing is certain, each of them should consistently improve and enhance the customer experience in their platform. Because that can make the real difference!

Discuss the capabilities of AppsFlyer’s analytics for the growth of enterprises

As the global leader in marketing measurement, analytics, and engagement, AppsFlyer sets businesses up for success in this mobile-driven economy. Our solutions enable marketers, developers, and product managers to accurately measure the success of their work and create relationships with their customers based on trust.

Could you describe the service AppsFlyer offers e-commerce web portals and apps?

AppsFlyer provides e-commerce apps with the marketing measurement and analytic tools they need to grow their user base, increase the lifetime value of existing customers, and deliver an exceptional customer experience across all channels without compromising on privacy.

As an example, we offer deep linking technology that allows brands to create and measure personalized, contextual journeys from any channel, including web, email, TV, in-store, and out-of-home (OOH) advertising, directly to the relevant point in an app, or the app store if the user doesn’t have it installed.

Samer Saad, Regional Manager – Middle East, AppsFlyer

E.g., Let’s say a brand is running an influencer marketing campaign on Instagram. Each influencer is given a dedicated link for promoting a product, and when a user clicks on that link, they will be taken directly to the product page in the app or to the app store. Not only does this offer the customer a seamless experience from Instagram to the mobile app, but brands can also measure which influencers are driving the most traffic and purchases.

What support do you offer to the online marketing needs of an enterprise?

Many marketing campaigns today have countless moving parts and span multiple channels, including mobile, online, out of home, and more. AppsFlyer helps businesses keep track of and make sense of it all with holistic, cross-channel insights throughout the entire funnel. Our suite of solutions enables marketers to:

• Measure effectively by delivering full visibility into the source of conversions, and which campaigns bring in the best customers across every channel, platform, and device
• Analyze and therefore make better, faster marketing decisions at every stage of the customer journey with a unified view of campaign performance
• Engage more effectively with customers by providing seamless customer experiences across channels and audience segmentation, while getting accurate measurement data for all campaigns
• Protect marketing budgets by staying ahead of every threat, before, during, and after installation with industry-leading fraud protection
• Connect the dots by syncing attribution and marketing analytics data with internal platforms, using our comprehensive APIs and raw data solutions

Speak about the strengths of AppsFlyer in identifying ad fraud?

Globally, mobile ad fraud is responsible for wasting billions of dollars in marketing budgets. Fraud tactics like malicious bots or device farms directly impact marketing campaigns by draining advertising resources on fake users who pose zero value.

AppsFlyer enables organizations to counter this threat with our Protect360 anti-fraud solution. This employs a real-time, multi-layered approach that includes cluster analysis, personalized validation rules, in-app fraud rules, and post- attribution fraud detection. Protect360 analyses hundreds of mobile sensors to differentiate between humans and bots and determine authentic customers, not only at the time of installation but also for in-app usage and CPA (cost per action) fraud protection.

Perhaps, it is simple only to define and there is a tough journey awaiting an e-commerce enterprise to become the trusted choice of a customer, who makes an important decision to purchase a product online or repeat the act.

There are a few proven approaches, including dynamic pricing, fast delivery, platform competency, and personalized marketing, that can influence customers’ decisions and help improve the customer experience and, eventually, the market share of the business.

The June issue of The Integrator evaluates the global e-commerce business in length. While the cover story appraises the role that customer experience plays in the success of an e-commerce business, expert interviews and features amplify the voice of tech, payment, logistics, and other service providers. You can read it here: https://issuu.com/varmea/docs/the_integrator_-_june_2022

The Integrator is planning to host “Virtual Roundtable Sessions 2022” on the topic “SECURITY THREAT FOR BFSI SECTOR IN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ERA.” The sessions will participate information security professionals (i.e., CIOs, CISOs, CSOs) of reputed banks in the Middle East and senior executives/spokespersons from tech enterprises, and security solution service providers to discuss all such matters of security concern in BFSIs.

Simply write to m.muralidharan@omaemirates.com, showing your interest, if you are bearing any of these roles or capacities. We are excited to choose you as a participant and listen to your views on the subject.

Thank you for the support and we are excited to receive your feedback on the publication.

Happy reading!

Murali Margassery
Assistant Editor

Elaborate on the significance of Adyen’s payment platform in a merchant store

When users attempt to make payments at a merchant store or e-commerce website, their data flows through different breakpoints, usually handled by several companies in the process. This model has been the default for over two decades and it is failing for many reasons. So, Adyen built an all-in-one payments solution to ward off any difficulties that either merchants or customers face.

For example, if a merchant sells flowers online, we provide them with the payment gateway, APIs, an anti-fraud solution, the processing solution, and more. This in itself is already a big step up for merchants because we are working end to end to optimize their business.

Could you elaborate on the competitive advantages of using Adyen solutions compared to other platforms in the market?

With end-to-end payments, data, and financial management, we provide customers with best-in-class solutions. Businesses will have lesser breakpoints when they choose to work with Adyen and they will get to know the customer behind each payment. In addition, we offer them efficient risk management to keep fraudsters out of their stores.

Our unique approach helps businesses solve many of their payment challenges. From there, we evolved into the financial technology platform of choice for the world’s leading companies. Adyen’s system is flexible for adjustments and the amount of control we give to the merchants is incredible. Similarly, if we make changes, it reflects everywhere across the platform.

Tell us about how well you could configure Adyen solutions to the existing applications and software the merchants use

Good question.

Global merchants have middleware in their payment structure that can connect to Adyen. Therefore, we can work with multiple applications and customers get to control the entire activity internally alongside hassle-free integration to their existing systems. We also have off-the-shelf integrations that merchants can decide to use, which saves a lot of implementation time. 

What are your stakes in hospitality and mobility solution verticals?

The good thing about the versatility of the Adyen platform is that it can cater to a wide variety of industries. Both of these industries have their specific needs and we use different features and products to help those businesses get better at accepting payments.

When it comes to serving mobility and micro-mobility businesses, we are helping them to keep their customer base accurate while making the sign-up process very smooth and also cutting down on fees, contracts, and partners.

In hospitality, we have a different scenario that includes prompt check-ins and check-outs of guests and payments at restaurants, spas, bars, etc.

Many businesses have very specific payment needs. If you take the example of unmanned gas stations, where users get to pay upfront and fill their vehicles after an approved transaction, it is completely different from what other industries require in terms of payment service.

What is unique about “rent a car” services offered by Selfdrive.ae?

The USP of Selfdrive is its association with Dealers and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMS) to offer brand new and almost brand-new cars to its customers from 1 day to 36 months. The artificial intelligence (AI) driven system, makes the reservation journey and documentation seamless for the customers to reserve the cars of their choice, ranging from 65+ Models of 16 different brands across the UAE, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain.

Soham Shah, CEO, Pinewoods Tech Serv (Selfdrive)

Explain Selfdrive’s customer base and engagements with enterprise customers

Selfdrive aims to serve Local residents, Expat Population and the International travelers who are in need of a car, creating an alternate to car ownership by offering micro leasing and leasing solutions.

Selfdrive offers an extensive option of services under its B2B Enterprise module which delivers an intangible flexibility in its leasing solutions for corporate and government sectors under its portfolio.

How do you onboard dealers to your business and how well are you equipped with the latest technologies?

Selfdrive’s “Proprietary Real Time Fleet Management Technology” integrates to create a revenue channel by incorporating existing and new fleet with the platform, increasing the brand – customer engagement as well as reducing the holding cost of the asset.

Moving in line with the global shift of buying vs alternative car ownership model, Partnering with Selfdrive has empowered the Dealers and OEMs to align with the trend shift and achieve substantial market share with no capital investment in technology.

Let’s discuss the competition, and plans of expansion in the coming years

Selfdrive, the market leader in vehicle subscription technology has a competitive advantage by partnering with the Dealers and the OEMs. The tactical partnerships of the platform has given a deeper penetration into the market due its alignment with the customer trends and sentiments. Selfdrive as a brand, intends to go live in Bahrain, Qatar & Kuwait in Q1 2022 to establish its presence in the GCC Market and UK & Europe.

“As a payment service provider, we needed to respond in real-time to any kind of demand spike and to give our merchants the instant response times they expect,” said Marco Incalcaterra, Head of Technology at noon payments. “Microsoft offers the most comprehensive solution in the market; the products are connected to one another. The company’s large, flexible offering was one of the key factors in choosing Microsoft as our partner that will enable us to develop a strong, resilient, easy-to-scale platform.”

“Being a holistic payments platform, organizations like noon payments play a crucial role in enabling digital transformation for enterprises across the world,” said Naim Yazbeck, Regional Director, Enterprise and Partner Group (EPG), Microsoft UAE.

The Microsoft Azure cloud deployment was also expected to meet noon payments’ requirement for zero downtime by leveraging Traffic Manager to divert transactions to other regions during times of maintenance.

“Automation of E-Commerce Policy Procedures” is expected to contribute to facilitating the practice of business by improving the procedures for the movement of trade for shipments and keeping pace with the requirements of the growing trend towards e-commerce, contributing to the increasing business volume through an advanced digital system capable of linking all customs systems following global best practices.

The launch of “Automation of E-Commerce Policy Procedures” came within the framework of Abu Dhabi Customs’ strategy for complete digital transformation in completing transactions and providing customs services through a unified digital platform that meets the requirements of all customers, including investors, traders, suppliers, and loyal investors.

The provisions of the Policy also apply to the exports of goods by companies from distribution centers in the local market to the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) countries and other countries of the world, in addition to exports of goods from the local market to distribution centers in the Free Zone or customs warehouses, as well as exports of goods from the centers of Distribution in the free zone or customs warehouses to the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and world countries.

The E-Commerce Policy requires companies to fulfill the registration requirements, as companies wishing to engage in e-commerce activity must register and add the activity in the registration system at the Customs Licensing Department of the General Administration of Abu Dhabi Customs and add the activity in the trade license, while the licensed and registered logistics companies are allowed in the authorized department of companies to clear goods provided that their customers are registered in the Customs Licensing Department.

Also, companies wishing to obtain the privileges contained in this Policy must obtain a customs registration number, while e-commerce companies must establish distribution centers for goods intended for sale through their electronic platforms so that distribution center requirements are met and companies are required to provide dedicated and separated storage spaces for goods suspended from goods for which customs duties have already been performed in distribution centers.

The new e-commerce policy prohibits the entry of several goods into the distribution centers, which are “flammable goods except for fuels, in addition to radioactive materials, military weapons, ammunition and explosives of any kind”. The policy also prohibits the entry of goods that violate the regulations related to the protection of intellectual, commercial, industrial, literary, and artistic property.

Among the victims are governments in Southeast Asia and dozens of companies belonging to various industries located mostly in Canada, Vietnam and India, but also in the US, New Zealand, South Korea and other countries.

Today, ESET Research is publishing the white paper “Anatomy of native IIS malware” and launching a series of blogposts on the most notable of the newly discovered threats: IIStealer, IISpy and IISerpent. These will be published on WeLiveSecurity starting today and following through to August 11, 2021. The findings of ESET’s IIS malware research were first presented at Black Hat USA 2021 and will also be shared with the community at the Virus Bulletin 2021 conference on October 8, 2021.

IIS malware is a diverse class of threats used for cybercrime, cyberespionage and SEO fraud — but in all cases, its main purpose is to intercept HTTP requests incoming to the compromised IIS server and affect how the server responds to (some of) these requests. “Internet Information Services web servers have been targeted by various malicious actors, for cybercrime and cyberespionage alike. The software’s modular architecture, designed to provide extensibility for web developers, can be a useful tool for attackers,” says ESET researcher Zuzana Hromcová, author of the paper.

ESET has identified five main modes in which IIS malware operates:

• IIS backdoorsallow their operators to remotely control the compromised computer with IIS installed.
• IIS infostealers allow their operators to intercept regular traffic between the compromised server and its legitimate visitors and steal information such as login credentials and payment information.
• IIS injectorsmodify HTTP responses sent to legitimate visitors to serve malicious content.
• IIS proxiesturn the compromised server into an unwitting part of the command and control infrastructure for another malware family.
• SEO fraud IIS malwaremodifies the content served to search engines to manipulate SERP algorithms and boost the ranking for other websites of interest to the attackers.

“It is still quite rare for security software to run on IIS servers, which makes it easy for attackers to operate unnoticed for long periods of time. This should be disturbing for all serious web portals that want to protect their visitors’ data, including authentication and payment information. Organizations that use Outlook on the web should also pay attention, as it depends on IIS and could be an interesting target for espionage,” explains Hromcová.

ESET Research offers several recommendations that can help mitigate against IIS malware attacks. These include using unique, strong passwords and multifactor authentication for the administration of IIS servers; keeping the operating system up to date; using a web application firewall and endpoint security solution for the server; and regularly checking the IIS server configuration to verify that all installed extensions are legitimate.