Xero joins Shopify Plus Certified App Program and launches new Xero & Shopify integration

Xero, the global small business platform, today announced a new integration with Shopify and revealed it has joined the Shopify Plus Certified App Program (PCAP), a select group of partners that supports the advanced needs of Shopify’s global merchants.

These are important steps towards solving common customer pain points and demonstrate a commitment to help ecommerce sellers to get started, grow, and increase efficiencies. 

Nick Houldsworth, Xero’s EGM Ecosystem, said "by partnering with Shopify we aim to support our small business community to not only weather tough economic conditions, but manage and grow their businesses via one of the world’s largest ecommerce platforms. This, in turn, enables them to enhance their own customers’ online shopping experience.”

The new Xero & Shopify integration will be available in both the Shopify App Store and the new Xero App Store. This will enable Shopify’s more than 1.7 million merchants to discover Xero’s global small business platform, while also giving Xero customers access to Shopify’s product using the Xero App Store’s new subscription tools and one-click sign-up (where available by region).

The integration helps small business owners save time on admin by reducing the manual data entry and paperwork associated with reconciling and interpreting sales data, giving them an up-to-date view of their finances, cash flow and business performance wherever they are.

“The Shopify Plus Certified App Program is designed to meet the advanced requirements of the world’s fastest-growing brands,” said Mark Bergen, VP Revenue, Shopify. “We’re happy to welcome Xero to the program, bringing their insight and experience in accounting and finance to the Plus merchant community.”

Xero & Shopify Integration app benefits:

·   Faster, more accurate data. Know how much revenue and profit is being made each day. Xero will automatically show Shopify sales on a daily basis, along with a breakdown of costs - enabling customers to clearly see how much profit they’ve made.
 

·   Shopify reconciliation in just a few clicks. No more manual data entry.  The integration is designed to help save customers time on admin by automatically sending Shopify sales transactions to Xero for easy reconciliation against bank data.
 

·   Easily track cash flow. Get an overview of a business’ performance in real-time with the Xero dashboard. Customers can view long and short term cash flow forecasts and use up-to-date insights to make fast and informed business decisions from anywhere.

The Xero & Shopify integration is available globally in the Xero App Store and in the Shopify App Store, alongside other solutions to help customers integrate Shopify into their workflows. Customers using existing Xero-Shopify integrations will be unaffected.

Xero joins Shopify Plus Certified App Program and launches new Xero & Shopify integration

London— 17 November, 2021 —Xero, the global small business platform, today announced a new integration with Shopify and revealed it has joined the Shopify Plus Certified App Program (PCAP), a select group of partners that supports the advanced needs of Shopify’s global merchants.

These are important steps towards solving common customer pain points and demonstrate a commitment to help ecommerce sellers to get started, grow, and increase efficiencies. 

Nick Houldsworth, Xero’s EGM Ecosystem, said "by partnering with Shopify we aim to support our small business community to not only weather tough economic conditions, but manage and grow their businesses via one of the world’s largest ecommerce platforms. This, in turn, enables them to enhance their own customers’ online shopping experience.”

The new Xero & Shopify integration will be available in both the Shopify App Store and the new Xero App Store. This will enable Shopify’s more than 1.7 million merchants to discover Xero’s global small business platform, while also giving Xero customers access to Shopify’s product using the Xero App Store’s new subscription tools and one-click sign-up (where available by region).

The integration helps small business owners save time on admin by reducing the manual data entry and paperwork associated with reconciling and interpreting sales data, giving them an up-to-date view of their finances, cash flow and business performance wherever they are.

“The Shopify Plus Certified App Program is designed to meet the advanced requirements of the

world’s fastest-growing brands,” said Mark Bergen, VP Revenue, Shopify. “We’re happy to welcome Xero to the program, bringing their insight and experience in accounting and finance to the Plus merchant community.”

Xero & Shopify Integration app benefits:
 

·   Faster, more accurate data. Know how much revenue and profit is being made each day. Xero will automatically show Shopify sales on a daily basis, along with a breakdown of costs - enabling customers to clearly see how much profit they’ve made.
 

·   Shopify reconciliation in just a few clicks. No more manual data entry.  The integration is designed to help save customers time on admin by automatically sending Shopify sales transactions to Xero for easy reconciliation against bank data.
 

·   Easily track cash flow. Get an overview of a business’ performance in real-time with the Xero dashboard. Customers can view long and short term cash flow forecasts and use up-to-date insights to make fast and informed business decisions from anywhere.

The Xero & Shopify integration is available globally in the Xero App Store and in the Shopify App Store, alongside other solutions to help customers integrate Shopify into their workflows. Customers using existing Xero-Shopify integrations will be unaffected.

Combined, the M1ST Payments Network reaches over 30 million consumer accounts in Thailand alone

Boku Inc., (AIM: BOKU), provider of M1ST, the world’s largest mobile payments network has today announced the expansion of M1ST into Thailand, with the addition of Thailand’s two most popular mobile wallets, TrueMoney and Rabbit LINE Pay.

TrueMoney and Rabbit LINE Pay join the M1ST Payments Network, which includes 330+ payment methods in 90 countries, reaching 5.7 billion payment accounts. Combined, the M1ST Payments Network reaches over 30 million consumer accounts in Thailand alone.

This milestone enables global merchants to unlock access to millions of mobile-first consumers. According to J.P. Morgan, 82% of all online sales in Thailand were conducted from mobile devices, with mobile wallets being used in 23% of all transactions. Thailand is one of the fastest growing mobile payments markets in the world, with mobile wallet penetration projected to reach 63% by 2025 (Boku), compared to credit card penetration lower than 10% (Statista).

For global merchants, the opportunity in Thailand is significant, with cross-border transactions making up more than 50% of eCommerce spend (J.P. Morgan). This latest addition to Boku’s M1ST Network further strengthens its commitment to ensure retailers around the world gain access to a new generation of mobile first-consumers in Thailand, Southeast Asia, and beyond.

Jon Prideaux, Chief Executive Officer, Boku, commented, "For digital merchants, the world is flat; they can sell to consumers anytime, anywhere. Mobile-first markets like Thailand require global merchants to accept the payment methods consumers prefer. We’re thrilled to add TrueMoney and Rabbit LINE Pay, opening up access to millions of new mobile-first consumers in Thailand for our merchants.”

Koravut Pavitpok, Head of Commercial, TrueMoney, commented, “TrueMoney is the most widely used mobile wallet in Thailand today. Our integration into Boku’s M1ST Payments Network ensures that our 20 million users will be able to access digital services from global merchants, using their preferred way to pay.”

Victor Topoyossakul, Co-CEO, Rabbit LINE Pay, commented, “With an increasing demand for digital payment due to Covid-19 pandemic, our mission is to give our customers a seamless online to offline experience and to be able to access what they need in daily life. Therefore, connecting Rabbit LINE Pay users to more of the online services they love is always important. We are pleased to add Rabbit LINE Pay to Boku’s M1ST Payments Network, joining LINE Pay in Japan”.

ION, a leading global provider of trading, analytics, business information and risk management solutions for capital markets, commodities, and treasury management, today announces the appointment of Robert Cioffi as Global Head of Equities Product Management. Robert joins ION Markets with over 25 years’ product management experience in Financial Services.

Prior to joining ION, Robert spent 15 years at UBS Investment Bank, where he recently held the role of Executive Director and Product Manager, Securities eCommerce. During his tenure at the investment bank, Robert led the Cash EQ Product Management team before moving to product management of the award-winning UBS Neo Platform, which grew to 1.8 million users.

A former Vice President at both Instinet, an institutional broker and independent equity trading arm, and the electronic trading platform MarketXT Inc, Robert joins ION with a deep understanding in Low Touch, High Touch, and Block Trading workflows.

ION Markets’ equities solutions support ION Group’s mission to use cutting-edge technology to fuel simplicity, automation, and reliability for clients, underpinning hundreds of thousands of daily transactions. As an early adopter of technology within the industry and an articulate communicator of technical information, Robert’s leadership and expertise will be essential in developing talent, forging cross-functional partnerships, and promoting cultures of engagement, collaboration, and transparency at ION Markets.

“Robert’s in-depth knowledge of the sector will help strengthen ION Markets as it continues to innovate in the increasingly complex equities trading space. Advanced technology is required for businesses to grow, facilitating the unification of business operations, simplification of automation of workflows, and improved efficiencies.” - Hishaam Caramanli, ION Group Chief Product Officer.

“As equities trading faces increased complexity, ION’s award-winning solutions will continue to automate and simplify trading across worldwide markets with its reliable and efficient technologies. I am excited to join the team for its next chapter, working with Fidessa to improve the execution outcomes for clients through ION’s own innovation and expansion,” – Robert Cioffi, Global Head of Equities Product Management – ION Markets, Equities.

Insig AI plc (AIM: INSG), the data science and machine learning solutions company serving the asset management industry, is pleased to announce it has entered into a conditional share purchase agreement to acquire the entire issued share capital of FDB Systems Limited (“FDB Systems”) (the “Acquisition”).

FDB Systems specialises in the collection and structuring of financial market data for investors and other capital markets participants. Integrating FDB Systems’ data ingestion and structuring technology with Insig AI’s storage, visualisation and machine learning optimisation capabilities will allow the Company to offer a complete end-to-end financial data solution to its customers. For more than 18 months, Insig AI has been a customer of FDB Systems and therefore has a close appreciation of its recent revenue growth and prospects.

About FDB Systems

FDB Systems, headquartered in London, was founded in 2019 to provide data and data solutions to hedge funds, asset managers, and private market investors. FDB Systems specialises in structuring data, which is the process of transforming raw data so that it can be more easily and effectively used as an input to machine learning, data science and AI processes. In addition, FDB Systems owns FilingDB. FilingDB is the first productised source of global company filings optimised for Natural Language Processing (“NLP”) use cases. FilingDB aggregates, parses and structures information including annual reports, interim reports and press releases enabling users to access relevant data more easily.

The unaudited accounts of FDB Systems for its financial year ended 30 April 2021 show revenue of £63,000 and loss before tax of £48,000. For the six months to 31 October 2021, the draft unaudited management accounts of FDB Systems show revenue of £127,000 and a loss before tax of £25,000. The unaudited cash balance of FDB Systems as at 31 October 2021 was £147,000. FDB Systems currently has six full time employees and two part time employees. For the calendar year to 31 December 2022 (“CY22”), FDB Systems is forecasting third party revenues of £0.9 million and £1.7 million for the year ending 31 December 2023. These revenue targets form the basis of the deferred consideration thresholds, as detailed in the section below.

FDB Systems is expected to generate a small operating profit in the calendar year to 31 December 2021 which is forecast to grow strongly as revenues increase in CY22 and beyond.

Terms of the Acquisition

The Company will pay to the selling shareholders up to £10.0 million comprising:

• £0.3 million initial cash consideration payable on completion;
• £3.7 million initial equity consideration comprising 7,022,471 new ordinary shares of 1 pence each in Insig AI (“Ordinary Shares”) at a price of 52.688 pence per share, being the volume weighted average price of the Ordinary Shares over the 30 business days preceding the signing of the conditional share purchase agreement on 17 November 2021 (“the VWAP”) (the “First Consideration Shares”) and deferred consideration based on revenue projections comprising:
  • Year one deferred cash consideration of up to £0.76 million and deferred equity of up to 4,251,442 Ordinary Shares (equating to up to £2.24 million based on the VWAP) conditional upon minimum revenue of £0.9 million being generated by FDB Systems during the 12 month period from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022; and 
  • Year two deferred cash consideration of up to £0.9 million and deferred equity of up to 3,985,727 Ordinary Shares (equating to up to £2.1 million based on the VWAP) conditional upon minimum revenue of £1.7 million being generated by FDB Systems during the 12 month period from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023.

Based on this revenue forecast for the year ending 31 December 2023, FDB Systems is being acquired on just under six times third party revenues.

Should audited third party revenues fail to exceed 75% of target, no more than 33% of deferred consideration will be paid. If audited third party revenues fail to exceed 50% of target, no deferred consideration will be payable.

The Acquisition is conditional upon admission of the First Consideration Shares to trading on AIM. The Acquisition will constitute a substantial transaction under the AIM Rules for Companies and will be funded out of existing cash resources.

Steven Cracknell, Insig AI CEO, said:

“Our clients and our sales prospects are clear: access to structured data fast tracks our sales process. FDB Systems has world-class technology to ingest and make sense of the huge quantity of text-based disclosures and information available, which is otherwise very unstructured and difficult to access. Combining its technology with our machine learning and analysis tools creates a world-leading aggregator of ESG information.

“Using our BERT-based NLP classifiers and easy to use web tools, we can now provide a total solution to fund managers that makes it simple for them to interrogate the vast volume of available ESG data but which is difficult to access with any transparency. Rather than analyse each prospect’s portfolio piecemeal, now being able to cover a broad universe of companies will enable us to shorten the duration of demonstrating results.

“Having worked with the FDB Systems team led by Simon Mahony for some time, we are delighted to be integrating them fully into Insig AI. As well as complementary and synergistic benefits, we will now be able to access FDB Systems’ client list and growth.”

Simon Mahony, FDB Systems CEO, said:

“Over the year and a half that we’ve been working with Steve and the team at Insig, we’ve seen first-hand the quality of the team and technology that they’ve put together. We are delighted to be combining with them when our businesses are so clearly complementary and where the opportunity in front of us is so compelling.”

Total voting rights

Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for admission of securities in respect of the First Consideration Shares. It is expected that admission of the First Consideration Shares to trading on AIM will become effective on 23 November 2021 (“Admission”).

Following Admission, the total number of ordinary shares and voting rights in the Company will be 105,675,645. The Company does not hold any shares in treasury.

The above figure may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure, India’s leading IT-enabled services provider, has received an in-principle approval from RBI to set up an account aggregator business under its wholly owned subsidiary, NSDL e-Governance Account Aggregator Ltd.

NSDL e-Governance has been at the forefront in laying out the e-governance infrastructure for the country and providing citizen-centric services at population scale. The company’s core strength lies in not just enabling technology, but also providing the necessary interventions for ecosystem creation and adoption of new technologies and business models.

NSDL e-Governance has, over the last two decades, created strong e-governance interventions impacting multiple sectors of the Indian economy, such as modernising the direct tax infrastructure, strengthening the old-age security infrastructure, promoting financial inclusion by contributing to the India Stack and enabling the BFSI sector by providing Aadhaar-based identity authentication and e-Sign services. Over these years NSDL e-Governance has implemented and managed 18 projects spread across seven ministries and autonomous bodies, ushering positive change in public delivery of services.

The Account Aggregator (AA) model has the potential to transform the way financial services are delivered through a unique architecture for consent-based data sharing. The AA network, a financial data-sharing system, could revolutionise investment and credit, giving millions of consumers greater access and control over their financial records and expanding the potential pool of customers for lenders and fintech companies. Account Aggregator empowers individuals with control over their personal financial data, which otherwise remains in silos.

Suresh Sethi, MD and CEO, NSDL e-Governance, said, “Account Aggregator is a critical step in enabling data democracy. It is a first-of-its-kind consent framework that empowers an individual with control over his or her data, and the ability to securely and digitally access and share the same. NSDL e-Governance has been at the forefront of creating the nation’s digital public infrastructure, and managing and securing citizen data at population scale. With the trust of millions, built over a period of 25 years, we believe NSDL e-Governance Account Aggregator services can play a pivotal role as a core contributor to a data-led economic empowerment and inclusion at scale.”

By giving people the power to decide how their data can be used, Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA) enables the collection and use of personal data in ways that empower people to access better financial, healthcare and other socio-economically important services in real-time, while preserving the safety, security and privacy of the user.

As a next step, the newly-formed subsidiary is completing the legal and operational formalities as per RBI guidelines, so as to be ready to commence operations once RBI issues the Certificate of Registration post-assessment.

Abillio is a payments gateway for the growing gig economy that lets freelancers and gig workers use its 'Company-as-a-service' solution to invoice their cross-border customers and get fast payouts for their services, while Abillio takes care of running the company, accounting, taxes and paperwork.  

Abillio, based in Riga, Latvia, launched its digital platform in the spring of 2021 and has experienced a rapid growth since then. While the growth is a good thing, it also has put a heavy load on the invoice and payment processing power since Abillio initially relied on human operators to get the job done. Aiia's open banking solution is a perfect match to solve this ever growing problem. “We learned about Aiia through the Mastercard's Lighthouse FINITIV program, where we got accepted in the fall of this year. Our service has received a wide popularity amongst the Latvian freelancers. As we are planning to launch in other EU countries, it would not be possible to make our platform scalable without the open banking solutions that Aiia offers, plus they have a dedicated SMB growth program, which is a great opportunity for small startup companies like ours,” explains Martins Vilums, the co-founder and CMO of Abillio, “Aiia's wide connection to the Baltic and EU banks, has enabled us to access the banking data of incoming payments and to automate the payout initialization, so we can save our valuable human resources for more important, non-routine tasks.”

Commenting further on the collaboration, Tanya Slavova, Director of Fintech from the open banking platform Aiia says “We’re thrilled to empower Abillio on their journey to create a quick, convenient and cost effective bookkeeping process for freelancers with easy access to financial data. Abillio is transforming the way of running a small business, allowing their customers to focus on their core business and leave the invoicing and taxing hassle behind.” And adds: “At Aiia we’re keen to keep empowering the promising Latvian financial services industry with open banking which is also why we’ve opened up for access to our growth programme, letting SMB’s and start-ups leverage open banking for free in a 6-months period. Abillio is a perfect example of a forward-thinking Latvian start-up increasing customer convenience with through open banking" 

“The automation of time consuming manual tasks means speeding up payments, which means less customer churn. According to our research, 72% of freelancers prefer the same day payments, so this is essential for us,” adds M. Vilums.

There are 20 million estimated freelancers in the EU - that is 10% of the total employment. Abillio is targeting freelancers and independent creators like web & software developers, designers, 3D animators, film production people, tutors, creative service providers, marketing consultants, and others for whom running a solo business means burdensome paperwork, time-consuming formalities and dealing with taxes. Abillio's mission is to remove all barriers to run solo businesses for freelancers and gig workers, ultimately aiming to become a neobank for freelancers by adding more financial tools for the gig economy in the near future.

FINXFLO to sit on DTI Foundation Product Advisory Committee

FINXFLO, the world’s first cryptocurrency liquidity aggregator, and DTI Foundation, the global Registration Agency for the new ISO standard for Digital Token Identifiers (DTIs), are pleased to announce the first official issuance of a DTI code for FINXFLO’s native FXF token.

DTI Foundation (DTIF), a non-profit organisation established by Etrading Software, has the exclusive global mandate to issue DTIs to support industry and regulatory requirements for transparency and reduced operational risk. The service complements the existing ISO standards for tracking counterparties to trade via the Legal Entity Identifier. The ISO standards body is the preeminent global organisation providing standardisation across an array of products and services, focusing on process improvement, safety and quality.

FINXFLO welcomes this ISO and DTI Foundation initiative to promote standards for digital assets as a positive step towards a well-regulated marketplace. As cryptocurrencies gain momentum and broader adoption, imminent regulation of cryptocurrencies appears increasingly likely. FINXFLO is committed to the highest standard of global regulations and has invested heavily in an experienced Compliance team to anchor the business around consumer protection and good conduct, to offer top-notch security and a safe trading environment.

The DTIF’s new service fully complements FINXFLO’s belief in a cryptocurrency market built on the values of legitimacy and trust. The DTI can be used to monitor digital asset trades for undesired activities such as money laundering and terrorist financing, and to legitimately identify a digital token for increased transparency and reduced operational risks.

Obtaining a DTI code will give FXF traders confidence and peace of mind when investing in the token. The process followed by the DTIF to issue a DTI code ensures stringent adherence to detailed ISO specifications to verify the existence of a token, and ensure that the data supplied by the registrant meets the ISO standard’s strict validation criteria.

Further, DTIF welcomes FINXFLO as an additional member of its Product Advisory Committee, which acts as a global arbiter in instances of dispute around the classification and/or treatment of tokens and coins. As a member, FINXFLO will take on a critical role to assess and classify digital tokens. FINXFLO will be represented by its Chief Compliance Officer, Mark Hope.

“The implementation of DTI codes for digital token marks yet another milestone, not just for FINXFLO, but for the entire cryptocurrency sphere,” said Mark Hope, FINXFLO’s Chief Compliance Officer. “A unique identification of digital tokens based on ISO’s new standard for digital assets will elevate wider acceptance of cryptocurrencies, reduce ambiguity, increase transparency, and set a strong foundation for a well-regulated industry. I am excited for FINXFLO to be an early adopter and to play a critical role as a member on the DTIF Product Advisory Committee.” 

Sassan Danesh, DTI Foundation, said, “DTI Foundation is the exclusive registration agency for ISO’s new DTI standard. We look forward to working with FINXFLO and other leading digital asset participants to classify and issue identifiers for all major digital tokens. We are pleased to see growing market awareness of the benefits of this important ISO standard and delighted that FINXFLO will be joining the DTIF’s PAC.”

Alexandre Kech, ISO TC68 / SC8 / WG3 DTI Convenor, said, “Digital assets require unique considerations when creating effective identifiers. The DTIF is working hard to bring together industry experts to help shape discussions between the private and the public sectors regarding standardisation in the crypto-markets. The DTIF, and the industry participation and collaboration it enables, will without a doubt help to shape an international standard that will make trading in digital assets a less risky, more secure and transparent activity.” 

Planning on a shopping spree this Black Friday or Cyber Monday? Ask yourself these questions before clicking ahead and becoming a scam statistic.

By: Carey van Vlaanderen, Chief Executive Officer at ESET Southern Africa

“Gucci bags 80% off!” screams the email that lands in your inbox on Black Friday. It seems like an impossibly large discount, but you open the email anyway - just to check if it seems legitimate. And it does – it’s professionally compiled, there are no spelling errors, and the logos and merchandise all look like the real deal. So, you click on the link provided. And you shop. Only to see a string of fraudulent charges on your next bank statement.

Black Friday is a lucrative day not only for retailers, but also for cyber criminals. In 2019, the use of retail phishing URLs jumped by 275% the week before Black Friday.

Before going on an online spending spree, ask yourself these questions to stay ahead of scammers:

1. Is my security up to date? Though many people secure their computers, they often leave their most connected device, their phone, vulnerable. Cybersecurity solutions like antivirus, firewalls and internet protection must be installed on any connected device. Before Black Friday starts, check if these solutions are up to date and apply any necessary patches.
2. Is it too good to be true? Cyber criminals are taking advantage of cash strapped consumers’ increased desire to save money, partly due the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Any deal that seems too good to be true should not be trusted offhand. Verify them by typing in the retailer’s website address in a browser window and searching for the deal there.

Apart from jaw-dropping discounts, coupons are also a popular way to reel customers in. According to ESET telemetry, of all the Black Friday-related emails you will get in one day an average of 12% will be spam emails. Again, do not click on any links. Be sure to shop on the real website and apply coupons there by manually typing out the code.

1. Is the website (or app) real? Scammers are better than ever at creating legitimate-looking fake websites and apps to steal your personal details. The website address might even be very similar, with only one extra character. Always type out the correct website address in your browser rather than clicking on a link, and make sure to download apps from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store itself – not from a link. Once on a website, look for a padlock and, on a desktop device, the https:// at the beginning of the website address. These indicate that communication between you and the site is encrypted and any data you send can’t be seen by anyone intercepting the traffic.
2. Is it an ad? Attractive fake adverts with great deals abound on Black Friday and, other than websites, you can’t tell them apart from the real ads until it’s too late. Avoid clicking on any ads, whether on search results or on social media. Again, rather type out the retailer’s address in your browser.
3. Am I on public wi-fi? Criminals often intercept public wi-fi by creating a fake hotspot in the same area as a real hotspot. Log onto the fake one, and they can easily steal your details. Rather use your carrier’s service.
4. How should I pay? Secure payment services like Apple Pay, Android Pay or PayPal are your best bet. Credit cards are also a good means of payment when shopping online, because banks keep a close eye out for fraudulent activity. If you are unfortunate enough to have been scammed, you can alert the card issuer to dispute the charge and get it reversed quickly. Be sure to set you card limit low to minimise any damage.
5. Am I logged in? Never over-share personal data by creating an account with a retailer and letting them store your personal or payment details. Reducing the number of people storing your data will help reduce your risk of being affected by a breach. If you do create an account, choose a strong password that can’t easily be guessed. Between May and August 2021, ESET detected 55 billion new password guessing attacks (up 104% compared to T1 2021).

Trescon’s World Cloud Show – Egypt succeeded in bringing in fresh narratives, innovative ideas and awareness on key areas such as Development of AI and Cloud Computing in the Age of Digital Economy, Neoteric Frontiers in Cloud and Edge Computing, Multi-Cloud adoption and modernizing information architecture in Egypt.

 On 27 Oct 2021, World Cloud Show which was hosted under the patronage of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Egypt, and supported by the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA – Egypt) hosted one of the most content-rich virtual conferences on Cloud Computing, and connected over 200 online participants, including government officials, policymakers, and the region's leading Cloud professionals. The World Cloud Show was organised to raise awareness about the socio-technical aspects of Cloud computing in Egypt and the MENA region. 

Highlights and key takeaways from the show: 

Ahmed Abdelaziz, Senior Systems Engineer & CTO Ambassador, Dell Technologies gave an overview of designing a winning Cloud strategy with Dell Technologies. He discussed how to address key challenges while adopting Cloud technology with strategic thinking. While speaking about strategic thinking he stated that, “The success of embracing Cloud is determined by strategically thinking about how to place workloads.”

The show also featured a government panel discussion on the topic, ‘The Future of Datacenter Networking and Interconnection.’ The speakers on the panel observed various multi-sectoral Cloud challenges creating policy, strategy and adoption plans and discussed how to ensure compliance and security in a regulated industry. They also touched upon topics such as adopting a hybrid, multi-cloud strategy, establishing a fully empowered Cloud centre of excellence and much more. 

The panelists included Ms Lim May-Ann, Executive Director, Asia Cloud Computing Association, Singapore; Pavle Sazdov, Head of Public Cloud Azure Platform, ABN AMRO Bank N.V, Netherlands; Juan Kanggrawan, Head of Data Analytics, Jakarta Smart City, Indonesia; Sureendhran Subramaniam, Global Head of DC, Cloud and Automation at Global Service Operation, British American Tobacco, Malaysia and Moderated by Rey Lugtu, Founder & CEO, Hungry Workhorse Philippines.

Andrew George, Technical Presales Consultant Trend Micro, Egypt in which he discussed understanding the current Cloud security standards: An overlook on Gartner market guide for Cloud workload protection 2021. 

The show also included other insightful sessions from Tejas Chopra, Software Engineer, Netflix Inc. United States of America; Nishith Agarwal, Engineering Leader (Storage & Compute)Uber, United States Of America; Dr Hoda Alkhzaimi, Director of the Center of Cyber Security at New York University Abu Dhabi and President of Emirates Digital Association for Women, UAE; Stefan Simenon, Head of Public Cloud Azure Platform, ABN AMRO Bank N.V, the Netherlands to name a few.

"Cloud Computing has fundamentally altered the way businesses and their customers' store and access data," said Mithun Shetty, CEO of Trescon. He further added, “The experts and thought leaders gathered at the World Cloud Show shared their thoughts on its capabilities and what it implies for the future of IT especially for Egypt & MENA region."

The show was hosted on the virtual events platform Vmeets which helped the participants to network and conduct business in an interactive and immersive virtual environment. Participants were also able to engage with speakers in Q&A sessions and network with solution providers in virtual exhibition booths, private consultation rooms and private networking rooms.

World Cloud Show – Egypt was officially sponsored by Headline Sponsor – Dell Technologies & Intel and Platinum Sponsor -  Trend Micro Incorporated.