Empower people to use new technologies

dubai — The UAE is at the forefront of adopting the latest technologies that can help the community, businesses and the overall nation to create a happy and smart place to live in. However, while technologies will prevail, are people equipped to adopt them?

Aritifical Intelligence, blockchain, IoT and innovation will change the way businesses are done in the UAE. However, what needs to be done is to empower people and bring in a cultural change to embrace new tech, said finance stalwarts at a panel discussion held during the Gitex Technology Week on Tuesday.

The panel, which was moderated by Matteo Rizzi, founder, FintechStage, focused on the adoption of technologies in finance and newly evolved fintech ventures. The panel discussion was held under the theme ‘Building an interoperable financial innovation network leveraging blockchain and AI’. The session saw views exchanged by Neal Cross, CIO, DBS Bank; Dan Morgan, head of regulatory relations, Europe Ripple; Tal Elgar, EMEA sales director, Intel; and Hany El Gohary, enterprise sales lead, Microsoft.

When asked if local banks and fintech startups are ready to adapt with the tech wave in the UAE, Cross said: “People often mistake innovation and technology. Innovation is all about identifying problems and doing it or solving it in a better manner which minimises time and effort. While digital transformation is important and inevitable, it becomes mandatory to first digitise staff who, in turn, will digitise the bank and not vice-versa. Technology is incredibly important but making your staff more digitally inspiring is equally crucial. A culture change and a laser focus on customers will be key to further growth.”

El Gohary said: “The technology change in the financial sector will see a major culture change from how we focus on customer experience, empowerment and optimising the customer numbers.”