How well did you persuade customers with your unique products at Seamless Middle East 2022?

At Seamless, we have been able to highlight Geidea at a very large scale and received an overwhelming response. We have well highlighted the value of Geidea to all our customers including merchants, banks, and other fintech companies.

Speak about the businesses that you have interacted with and the industry verticals Geidea would be focusing on in the upcoming years.

We want to focus on all Industry verticals – retail, F&B, utilities government and B2B business. We want to play a very large role in the supply chain management business as well. We see a large role of Geidea in converting cash to card and specifically in supply chain management business, We wish to replace that with a corporate purchasing card (card on file) and Geidea being the transaction acquirer.

Sailesh Malhotra – General Manager – GCC – Geidea

How do you deal with the competition and what edge ahead Geidea has against its competitors?

We would not focus too much on the competition but values we deliver. Our value proposition is very strong and simple – make payments easier at a cheaper cost by bringing the best technology to both the smallest and largest merchant in the market.

What about Geidea’s collaborations with financial organizations, mainly banks in the region?

One of the notable bank partnership has been with the First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). It has a fintech spinoff by the name of Magnati and we have signed up with them as a PSP. We have a few more partnership conversations going on in the region in Kuwait, Qatar and Oman for similar arrangements across multiple products. We will announce these shortly.

Tell us about the expansion plans you have in the middle east region

We want to go pan MENA. However, the selection of countries will be based on regulatory and technology availability / requirement. As of now, our focus is on the established markets, i.e., Egypt, UAE, and Saudi Arabia – we are doing phenomenally well in Saudi.

Do you collect user data as part of the business? If so, where do you keep it and handle it?

We collect information and follow all the standard requirements of Central Banks in the country of operation. We are very rigid and maniacal about following regulatory requirements and ensuring all customer data is well protected. We have our own data centers are these are closely monitored by our team. We follow and ensure all payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCIDSS) are followed and we stay compliant.

The cover story analyses several viewpoints on digital transformation delegating the idea of sustainable transformation. With expert comments, the story helps readers understand how the process can contribute to the collective growth of an organization.

The goal of digital transformation is to achieve seamless business and simplify the workflow of enterprises. However, there are confirmed reports of organizations’ failure in digital transmission. Boston Consulting Group conducted a story and found that 70 percent of digital transformation projects fall short of their goals – even after the leadership of respective companies is aligned to the process.

How does that happen? In simple words, the organizations are neither prepared to transform themselves nor their resources are united to the task!

Not Only Digitally But Also Culturally You Can Transform

Perhaps, digital transformation is inevitable as the competitive nature of the market would push every organization to partly or entirely digitize its business operations. Plus, business growth in the digital economy can depend on the successful adaptation of the latest technologies, i.e., cloud, automation, AI, hybrid work, e-payments, online customer engagements, etc.

While observing, a myriad of information technology (IT) solution providers is recently flocked into the industry – a pandemic phenomenon – to take virtue out of the digital transformation ambitions of businesses. Some are advocating the essentialness of transforming businesses, digitally, to mitigate any crisis in the occurrence of a pandemic-like situation. Getting digitally transformed is a sustainable choice that enterprises, of all sizes, should subscribe to if they wish to chase the newest growth standards. However, it should be done only after defining digitalization goals clearly.

If the goals are not perceivable to any of the department – that handles resources, data, implementation, employees, end-user experience, and, most importantly, coordination – the results could not just be unsatisfactory but also irretrievably disastrous. Thus, digital transformation should be introduced and enforced as a new culture in the organization.

Uncertainties to Opportunities

Despite acquiring momentum – at least a decade ago, the idea of a full-fledged digital transformation had not achieved major space in tech discourses. But today, it is a hot topic that invites huge participation of tech experts, researchers, academics, and students – even critics. It is not a surprise, most often we hear the word resilience tags along with digital transformation and it has a rationale.

When the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic struck the world order, the affected parties, including individuals, corporates, and governments, had to look for feasible options to overcome the crisis. Finally, decision-makers of private and state entities concluded that the intensification and reorientation of technology in all possible sectors could help resolve most of the issues.

Crawford Del Prete, global president at International Data Corporation (IDC), appears to have objectively analyzed the pandemic situation and commented, “the COVID-19 pandemic has thrust us into a digital-first world, where new digital habits are reshaping consumer behavior.” Further continued, “at the same time, end-user organizations are taking a digital-first approach to products, services, customer and employee experiences, and operations.”

Relentless and Cautious Journey for Future Growth and Benefit

Ram Narayanan, Country Manager at Check Point Software Technologies – ME, observes, “digital transformation empowers organizations to expand business opportunities, and increase profitability and efficiency while reducing operational costs.”

Most new-era enterprises are excited about the business opportunities and revenue generation prospects encompass upon adopting the latest technologies or classy solutions available in the market. At the same time, not all of them can identify the deficits of these technologies – until they detect severe vulnerabilities in their system.

The frenzy of digital transformation is somehow perceived as an urgency by many organizations – especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs/SMBs). When economies started to open up, the business-continuity narrators barged into the doors of enterprises with unusual cacophony and advised them to opt for next-level, pandemic-ready systems. Even though there is a sustainable need for pandemic-ready IT systems, the confusion that has created compelled businesses to choose anything bordering the philosophy of digital transformation.

Consequently, even before businesses fully understand the significance of threat intelligence and (or) the legal mandate of data sovereignty and privacy, compliances, and cyber laws, the jeopardy would have taken place in the systems. Ram Narayanan precisely articulates it, “digital transformation can also expose enterprises to a variety of vulnerabilities and challenges that if not properly addressed could result in financial loss, identity theft, and leakage of private and sensitive information.”

Cloud Shows the Way

If institutions choose to embrace the idea of digital transformation, they could ideally begin with moving data to the cloud, investing in cloud-based infrastructure, and installing cloud-native solutions. Uday Shankar Kizhepat, VP and GM – MEA, WSO2 rightly points out, “the cloud has rapidly become an enabler in today’s digital transformation initiatives and plays a crucial role in an organization’s ability to build and implement scalable solutions faster than ever before.”

Besides getting low-cost infrastructure and zero maintenance burden – compared with on-premises data centers- the cloud is limitless as it allows the enterprises to:

• react to the fluctuations in demand
• scale up or down depending on their needs.
• save cost significantly, and
• quickly respond and adapt to changing requirements

Middle East’s Billion Dollar Vision
Shibapriya Saha, Program Manager at Frost & Sullivan precisely points out, “as enterprises in the Middle East move to the cloud-based model, the region will become one of the most profitable markets for global cloud and data center providers. Industry and technology convergence is redefining organizational boundaries, and the focus is on developing innovative, cross-industry business models, such as fintech, edtech, and martech (marketing).”

Similarly, the global technology research firm, IDC also forecasts that the digital transformation spending in the Middle East will accelerate at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.6% over the five years, topping $58 billion in 2025.

The Middle East regions are known for their futuristic approach toward infrastructure and reliance on technology. Evaluating the standards while recovering from the pandemic hit, the region appears to be reshaping the technological paradigm. 5G networks, AI, IoT, future classrooms, and smart cities are clear examples of the growing phenomenon.