لا بد من إشراك المغتربين لإطلاق الطاقات البشرية غير المستغلة خاصةً وقت الأزمات

اظهرت دراسة لمجموعة البنك الدولي في مطلع العام 2017 حول الدور الذي يمكن أن يلعبه المغتربون في تعزيز التكامل الاقليمي والاقتصادي ونشرت تحت عنوان "حشد جهود المغتربين من منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا من أجل تحقيق التكامل الاقتصادي وريادة الأعمال" أن المغتربين من بلدان الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا يمكنهم القيام بدور بالغ الأهمية في تعزيز التكامل الإقليمي وريادة الأعمال والنمو الاقتصادي في المنطقة، كما يمكنهم مساعدة بلدانهم على أن تصبح من الأطراف الفاعلة الرئيسية في الاقتصاد العالمي.

(Version française)

Over the past decade, the MENA region has experienced considerable economic and population growth, which is only expected to continue in the future. The demand for power in this diverse region (comprised of energy importers and exporters) is expanding between 3% and 8% annually. In fact, the demand for energy is rising so rapidly in the Arab world that even countries which have traditionally exported energy in the past are facing the prospect of becoming energy importers themselves. The following figure shows the increasing demand for electricity overtime in the Arab region, especially in the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Middle East Business Magazine

STME warns UAE business to protect IT systems following Wannacry

According to data, 50% of Middle East businesses do not have any cybercrime prevention measures in place, placing systems in danger of attack

STME, the Middle East’s leading IT solutions provider and systems integrator, has issued a strong warning to the region’s business community about the potential vulnerability of IT systems following the global Wannacry attack in May 2017.

It is estimated the attack affected 200,000 computers in 150 countries, including systems used by Fedex, Nissan and the UK’s National Health Service.

Ayman Al Bayaa, CEO, STME, said: “Today, cyberattacks pave the way for extortion, bribery, blackmail, theft and even a complete blackout of systems, yet according to data from KPMG, only 50% of respondents have any counter attack measures in place. It is of vital importance that these firms and organizations stress test their systems and address all potential vulnerabilities.”

In response to the new generation of security challenges, STME, the Middle East’s leading IT solutions provider and systems integrator (SI), has underlined its commitment tohelping combatattacks.

Al Bayaa added: “In an increasingly connected world on the cusp of another digital revolution and the roll out of Internet of Things (IoT) technology, cyber security has never been more important and the World Economic Forum lists this as a top 10 threat in 140 economies. We are all part of the same connected global community as such should adequately protect the systems we depend upon.”

There are three trends driving cybercrime currently. New hacking technology has paved the way for automated attacks, meaning that it is only a matter of time before an unprotected system is detected and compromised. There has also been an emergence in hackers taking control of computers, with access to all the information employees and management see. Thirdly, hackers copy and encrypt information that may be useful to them – bank details, log in codes – and can use these to re-access the system and even post a ransom demand.

Al Bayaa added: “This isn’t just about the individual business, but the data held on clients, payments and other confidential matters. It is a duty of all businesses to protect that information and ensure it is only accessed by the people who should see it.”

Forewarned is forearmed, as the saying goes, and STME believes that knowledge is the first link in the chain of stopping an attack. STME provides an informative consultancy service to clients, covering the security climate in general and the options available.

To ensure its products are accessible to the entire business community, STME has developed solutions across cost models, meaning all companies in the MENA region can access STME’s security products covering networks, host, identity, database, cloud security, security management and security operation centres.

Al Bayaa concluded: “In the Middle East today, strong penalties exist for those convicted under cybercrime laws, which are broad enough to include ‘misuse of the internet’ and ‘damaging public morals’. However, in order to address a global threat that is unparalleled in its scale and ability to devastate business operations, bespoke and adequate systems are required. These don’t have to break the bank, but they can eliminate the impact of somebody attempting to break into your systems.”

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Middle East Business Magazine

Advanced Conferences & Meetings (ACM) is launching the Abu Dhabi Digital Transformation Summit on 13-14 November2017 in Abu Dhabi. This specialized summit will focus on utilising innovative global strategies & solutions to advance government integration, automation & performance.

Abu Dhabi continues to position itself as one of the leaders in digital transformation in the era of smart government development. The announcement last year by the Abu Dhabi E-Government Supervisory Committee and the Digital Transformation Leadership Team, demonstrates the intention of the Government of Abu Dhabi to increase momentum on its quest to improve government performance, optimise service delivery and transform the Emirate into a truly Smart City.

Integrating smart technology in the UAE Government

The UAE government target is to complete 100 smart initiatives and 1,000 smart services by the end of 2017, many of which will be in Abu Dhabi.

Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC) introduces the Abu Dhabi Smart Government programme and Government Data Exchange programme which will see million dollars’ worth of investment in smart technologies to raise productivity, enhance the quality of life of end-users and strengthen the positioning of Abu Dhabi as an ideal investment and business destination.

H.H Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Ruler of Abu Dhabi, has issued a new law mandating the Department of Finance to develop and operate a centralised IT platform for government procurement, which all government entities must use for all their purchases.

The Abu Dhabi Digital Transformation Summit is hosted to support this effort by providing a platform for government authorities leading this drive to interact and engage with key industry partners, stake-holders, local and international ICT experts, to demonstrate thought leadership and present case studies on the latest trends and global best practices that will drive the digital government transformation strategy and agenda.

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Middle East Business Magazine

As some unethical practices remain unchecked, there is a greater need to improve ethical behaviour, especially in the financial sector. To shed more light on this issue, Middle East Business News & Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Amal Daraghmeh Masri, met with Hasan Al-Jabri, CEO of SEDCO Capital, during the recent summit on Responsible Finance and Investment in Zurich, Switzerland.

Can you tell us a little about SEDCO Capital?

SEDCO Capital is one of the largest asset managers in Saudi Arabia and one of the world’s leading Shariah-compliant investors.

What type of clients you have?

We are an asset manager of choice for investors who seek Shariah-compliant services, ranging from institutional investors to high-net worth individuals. We are also welcoming an increasing number of clients who do not typically invest in Shariah-compliant funds, but are nonetheless attracted to a strong track record of returns and a clear commitment to responsible investing.

SEDCO Capital has recently launched Prudent Ethical Investing (PEI). Can you tell us more about that?

Prudent Ethical Investing is the name we have given to our new and innovative Islamic investment strategy. We realised that investors were seeking sustained returns in a low-growth world, but also sustainable outcomes with an eye on ethics. Shariah-funds combine both criteria and it became clear that Islamic investing and responsible financial investing have significant overlap. These are two models with the same laudable goal. We decided to bridge the two models in order to maximise both our returns and social impact as an asset manager.

How does shariah compliance match ethical, social, and governance (ESG) investing? How are they different?

When we devised our model of Prudent Ethical Investment, we drew on the United Nation’s Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI), which were introduced in 2006 by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. SEDCO Capital was the first Shariah-compliant signatory of the UNPRI and we have always had a strong corporate ethic. From our standpoint, the UNPRI calls upon traditional investors to take an ethical approach that Shariah-compliant investors have always taken. The one advantage of UNPRI is that it outlines the responsibilities of investment with somewhat more detail that basic Shariah-compliance. Of course, there is a fundamental difference in that Shariah-compliance is based on the social responsibility at the heart of Islam. This religious calling is the main motivator for us.

You have issued a report recently on PEI. What can you tell us about it?

As part of our work to adopt Prudent Ethical Investing, SEDCO Capital produced a white paper looking at the performance of responsible investment, Islamic investment and unconstrained portfolios across the US, Europe and Asian equity markets. The paper was authored by Christian Gueckel, our Chief Risk Officer. His excellent research shows that Shariah-compliant portfolios have outperformed unconstrained and responsible investment strategies over the last decade on an absolute return and risk-adjusted basis across all analysed markets.

These findings have given us the confidence to bridge Shariah-compliance with responsible investing into a single investment strategy. The white paper has helped us demonstrate to clients why our investment platform of Shariah-compliant funds should be an option for anyone looking to pursue responsible investment.

Can you give us concrete examples of how you help your clients invest ethically, responsibly, and therefore, compliant with Shariah?

Recently, an asset manager much larger than SEDCO approached us to seek a co-investment in a forestry project, which was presented to SEDCO as being Shariah-compliant. When we responded that we have a new policy of Prudent Ethical Investing that goes beyond simple Shariah-compliance, requiring additional assurances around environmental protection and the treatment of local populations, the potential partner initially baulked. But upon further review by the investment committee, the larger asset manager reconsidered their approach, agreeing with the merit of SEDCO’s PEI strategy, not only for the investment at hand, but as a potential new portfolio-wide requirement. For us, this was a major validation of our commitment. We now see PEI as a way to drive our business forward with new partners and new projects, bringing better outcomes to clients.

How do measure the impact of the work you do with your clients?

Our shift to PEI was all about making it easier for clients to measure the impact of their investments. PEI stresses the importance of due diligence and transparency of investment structures. We want clients to be able to see the underlying assets and to know exactly how their investment generates returns. But importantly, we also seek to measure environmental, social, and governance outcomes. Therefore, the idea of impact becomes holistic. It is not just about achieving returns, but about how we achieve returns and what other socially responsible outcomes we can promote. We feel this approach to the idea of impact is a kind of global reflection of the ideas at the centre of Islamic investing. It is very important to the team at SEDCO Capital that we continue to lead in this space.

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In recent years, the demand for energy in the MENA has risen significantly due to the region’s rapid population growth, economic development and urbanization. The power demand in the MENA is expanding between 3% and 8% annually, which is above the global average. A reality that has spurred the formation of a vibrant market for energy solutions, which has the potential to drive economic diversification and create new jobs in the Arab world in the future.

However, many Arab countries still lack some of the basic elements needed to enable the development of new energy markets. In order to reap the full economic, social and environmental benefits of these budding markets, more Arab countries need to improve the legal frameworks regulating the “green economy,” ensure the availability of funding for “green enterprises” and develop individuals with the “green expertise” needed to create and implement such energy solutions.

Taka Solutions, a Dubai-based startup in the energy sector, is a prime example of a “green enterprise” that is trying to deploy innovative energy solutions that support the MENA’s economic development in a sustainable way. In the following interview, Charles Blaschke, Managing Director of Taka Solutions, shares how his startup is trying to promote energy efficiency in the region, while also educating their clients and the public about the importance of responsible consumption.

1. What is Taka Solutions?

Taka Solutions is a Dubai-based ESCO – Energy Services Company – that finances, develops and implements solutions aimed at enhancing customers’ energy efficiency and reducing energy-related expenditures providing both economic and environmental benefits.

We have delivered; audits to 350 buildings in the UAE, over 5 million sq.ft. worth of retrofits and an average of 29% energy savings. Taka Solutions is building a new energy future for the MENA and the world.

2. How is Taka Solutions trying to change the perception of energy consumption in the MENA region?

To achieve the region’s energy efficiency targets in the buildings sector, a global “race to the moon” approach is needed to launch deep building retrofits. The private sector’s effort towards energy efficiency in buildings is crucial to offset building energy demand growth while still providing comfort, improved quality of life and reduced energy/operational costs.

Greater effort to improve global understanding of energy efficiency services and energy performance contracting therefore seems be a priority. Taka Solutions, is trying to change the peoples’ perception by findings new and simpler ways to explain the benefits of energy efficiency.

Our business itself is built around an innovative paid-from-savings model, benefiting building owners, operators, end-users and finally the planet. Sharing is caring!

Making energy, efficiency and people buildings and homes easier to understand, and giving them the information in a clear and concise way will help them learn about their impact, consumption and how to reduce it. Buildings and homes represent 40% of the worlds carbon output, and they can easily save 50% using readily, easy, cheap technology. If everybody did this the world would meet the COP21 targets and more.

3. What are Taka Solutions’ objectives in the MENA region? How are you trying to position yourself in the region’s energy sector?

In a few bullet points, Taka Solutions objectives are:

• To make of energy efficiency services a simple and seamless user experience.
• To shift energy efficiency’s current reputation of “hidden fuel” to “first fuel”
• To leverage technology, engineering and finance in an integrated solution addressing our customers’ energy needs efficiently.
• To create value for society, business and people
• To make the biggest impact by reaching more customers, and helping them save more, with deeper retrofits and technology, not just the cheap and easy stuff

We really want to refine and focus our energy to plan the launch into new markets to reach more people. We position ourselves as a global and trusted energy efficiency partner.

4. Are Taka Solutions’ internal objectives aligned with any national, regional or international energy frameworks? (For example, IRENA’s Pan-Arab Renewable Energy Strategy 2030 of the UN’s 2030 Agenda)

International organizations’ policies and objectives are part of Taka Solutions’ DNA. Not only are our objectives aligned, but we also share the same vision of a world where energy needs are met without negative impact.

As a company, we forged a global vision of the challenges to develop a diversified energy mix and manage resources, buildings as well as networks to achieve sustainable growth. In the United Arab Emirates, in Saudi Arabia, in Jordan and Kuwait, we have seen a rapid development of the urban environment as well as governments creating entities or investment funds pushing energy efficiency across buildings and new renewable energy infrastructure.

Over time and with tangible results being published, private customers are showing more and more interest in taking part in this clean energy transition. Taka Solutions is therefore at the forefront of this transition and making these international policies and frameworks a reality.

We are facing the world’s biggest challenges head on, with a solution that works. This is why most global and local governments around the world have policies and programs around sustainability, energy, and efficiency, of which we are not only aligned with, but solving without manipulation or intervention, using raw engineering and business.

5. As you mentioned in an article in Arabian Business, Taka Solutions focuses on promoting efficient energy use. With this in mind, do you believe that countries in the MENA region should investment more in energy efficiency or renewable energy production?

There are three levels in the electricity value chain, generation, distribution and consumption. For the MENA to remain a central player in the global energy industry we believe that the MENA countries should diversify their investment on each level, but will gain the most from efficiency.

This is because it is the easiest, cheapest and most scalable, because every single person can make an impact. If each of the 5,000,000 people in the UAE reduced their energy at home and work by 50% (which is very possible and even easy), then the countries energy consumption would reduce by 30%. That is a HUGE impact.

On the generation side, in rapidly developing cities, the need to satisfy growing electricity demand offers an opportunity to deploy energy efficiency services and renewables from the outset to ensure the development does not consume, or require large generation. This allows for renewables to be made to serve these.

On the distribution side, incorporating a higher share of renewables and supporting the electrification of end-use sectors will require a more flexible electricity system. Existing regulatory and market frameworks are currently supporting the system-wide flexibility benefits of certain technology options, such as smart metering and feed in tariffs.

On the demand side, increasing the efficient use of electricity can help reduce investments both in generation and at the system level investigating opportunities to avoid the unnecessary use of electricity and to improve the efficiency of remaining generation should be a first step in any effort to transition towards a sustainable energy system.

The cost of more efficient technologies on the end-use side are often more than made up by savings making the investment in energy efficiency more attractive than investments in generation. In the end, energy efficiency can free up the same amount of energy than new renewables only at a fraction of the cost.

6. With one of the youngest and fastest-growing populations in the world, the MENA region will inevitable need to generate more energy as its population grows. Keeping this in mind, how do you think government and renewable energy providers can ensure that they are efficiently using the energy they are producing?

By;

1. First, reducing the existing consumption and demand using energy efficiency and performance standards.

2. Second, ensuring that all new development is efficient through good code, and strong enforcement.

3. Third, requiring all new generation to be clean and renewable – but without too much intervention and support, to ensure sustainable business that does not fail without subsidies.

Indeed, growing cities will have to match energy demand with supply and the way the infrastructure is designed, built, operated and maintained can yield different energy performance outcomes. Compact urban development, energy-efficient buildings, public transport, low-carbon end-use fuels, distributed renewable resources generation and smart energy networks all offer a vast and largely untapped potential to effectively achieve the MENA countries’ energy related targets.

For the past 3 years, governmental entities led the way on the critical tasks of adopting, monitoring and enforcing building energy codes for new power plants or buildings construction and a global uptake of retrofits in existing power generation assets. These efforts have included the development of local energy and awareness programs supporting the private sector, as well as end-users’ involvement, which is a great step in ensuring the efficiency of the energy system.

The results of the region’s first renewable energy production assets and energy performance contracts are a huge step in developing the understanding and confidence in these innovative business models.

7. What criteria were used to judge the participants of the GCC edition of The Venture competition and what aspects of the Taka Solutions business model led you to win the GCC final?

The five criteria that were used to evaluate the participants of The Venture were:

• Market opportunity and size
• Business Model & organizational strategy
• Skills, Experience and commitment of the Team
• Social impact
• Scalability

The two main drivers that led to the Taka win were;

1. Paid from savings model that could have a big impact in solving the world’s biggest challenge, with aligned interest between Taka, the customer and the environment, where Taka bares all risk and is only paid once we save

2. The B2C mobile app and business model that would help to reach down to the individual level, and help people save, the ones who can and want to save, and need to save.

Cities are at the heart of the decarbonization and energy efficiency quest. With more than half of global population and about 80% of the world’s GDP in 2016, cities account for about two-thirds of primary energy demand and 70% of total energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Continuing on the current trends, carbon emissions from energy use in cities, including indirect emissions from power and cooling/heating production would increase by 50%. Hence the market opportunity, size, business model, social impact and scalability of Taka Solutions’ business model.

Finally, and most importantly, the team was recognized for its expertise and commitment towards contributing to a world where energy needs are met without negative impact. A company is only as strong as the people behind it.

8. What gaps currently exist in the MENA’s energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors?

The biggest gaps are the understanding from customers about the potential or energy efficiency, and specifically the paid from savings model and their inability to make smart, informed decisions to saving and reducing their energy consumption, while getting new technology, engineering, finance and a better building that is better for their tenants.

If we look at renewable energy strictly as a means of large scale power generation and energy efficiency as small-medium scale services then the gaps are huge. Renewables being a tangible product, they benefitted from a seamless deployment and gained popularity. On the contrary, energy efficiency is a service aimed at uncovering a hidden potential which is more complex to show.

Despite this apparent gap, we also see growing synergies between energy efficiency and renewable energy especially in the building, transport and district energy systems sectors.

Net zero-energy building (NZEB) projects are getting more and more consensus and we have recently offered consultancy services for a few of these in the UAE. The energy efficiency of the building is ensured from the design stage and the remaining needs for energy are satisfied with renewables.

9. What challenges do you face as startup in the energy sector in the MENA region? What can be done to eliminate these challenges?

Our biggest challenge is educating people about their impact on the environment by not using energy efficiently and the magnitude of savings and positive impact they can have by saving energy. Another challenge we face is how we manage our resources to achieve a global impact and create the greatest capacity to reach people effectively to help them save more.

Finding qualified and experienced employees, partners, contractors and vendors is a huge challenge now, and will get bigger over time.

We are looking to spread the word around different educational institutions. By taking part through global conversations and through combined teamwork, and experts in a wide variety of areas, we can team up by cutting and making our presence be known globally through platforms such as the Venture.

10. What role do you think that startups should play in the energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors in the MENA region?

We might say that the recipe to Taka Solutions’ success includes adaptability, research, ingenuity, and the fearlessness to go against the pack to find new and better ways to navigate the industry. Startups are generally highly adaptable and every idea is valued and considered, making of them very agile, quick and customer centric entities.

Startups can therefore adapt their offers much more easily than big corporations which have defined range of offers and capabilities. Providing innovative, out of the box solutions is where startups can challenge the status-quo.

11. What should the key stakeholders in the MENA’s startup ecosystem do to promote energy-focused entrepreneurship in the region?

The energy industry, and especially the energy efficiency sector, is still in a growth phase, creating or reinforcing existing associations gathering the different players in the market would help shape best practices and promote energy-focused entrepreneurship in the region.

Creating an infrastructure that would help small companies support larger companies with their services, and get contracts, along with secured payments would make a very large positive impact.

12. What trends do you see emerging in the energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors and where would you advise foreign venture capitalists and angel investors to invest?

Foreign venture capitalists have already understood the attractivity of the energy efficiency and renewable energy businesses. We already see large Groups entering the MENA looking for partners already having an experience in the region, enabling them to take part without having to start from scratch.

For a riskier, but very lucrative investment would be in technology deployment and R&D in existing energy efficiency firms of the region. There are many hardware, software, equipment, technology and processes that can be used in projects in the region that are not available.

To have the venture funding to create and deploy these (through existing contracts like we have) would make a low-risk investment with a huge potential return. A secure investment would be the newly formed green funds financing renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

Individuals and Businesses around the globe are benefiting from the wide set of opportunities the internet is creating. However, these benefits are not shared equally, in that individuals with high incomes, high skills and in specific geographic locations reap the economic gains disproportionately. Countries or regions that are more endowed with these characteristics are more advantaged in terms of digital dividends, which explains one factor into the ever-rising inequality between and within countries.

The new World Bank regional report; “Reaping digital Dividends” suggests on the other hand that this doesn't have to be the case. It argues that digital dividends can reduce poverty and produce shared economic growth in the Europe and Central Asian region (ECA), if the right policies are implemented. The report also states that because the internet is the main driver of technological change, States must effectively adapt to its disruptions to achieve efficiency gains.

Some of the ways to adapt after process and product innovation produces displacement effects in the economy is to allow the spread of new technologies by supporting those who lose their jobs to find another, rather than protecting jobs in the first place and limiting innovation. Moreover, to target bottom-up technological progress by improving access to the internet and big data rather than top-down monitoring of information.

The report illustrates for example that ECA countries in western economies hold less shares or e-commerce sales in GDP than the USA and Japan, not because of weak internet access or imagination, but rather a lack of confidence in the financial system, high levels of cyber security and strong regulations. In comparison, the report highlights a different set of reasons in the eastern part of the region, namely Central Asia and the Caucasus. Landlocked countries with distributed populations face higher costs for internet expansion, as weak internet relations with neighboring countries make them susceptible to internet transit provider's high price demands. Turkmenistan, for instance only endows three connecting fibers, while Armenia's borders with many of its neighbors are completely cut-off due to obliterated political ties. In particular, over 80% of Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Georgia spend 10% of their household income to afford basic mobile plans.

Nevertheless, the report describes that despite key challenges, ECA countries occupy an important position to reap digital dividends. Governments in the east can implement the successful policies the new EU members put in place, to improve or even outperform the richer economies of the west in terms of internet access. Their closeness to China can also foster strong e-commerce possibilities and relationships. Moreover, improved internet infrastructure in terms of speed and cost can lower the disadvantages of barely populated regions. Russian-speaking countries can even take advantage of economics of scales in content development or online freelancing.

On the other hand, governments in the west can attract important ICT intensive investments from their high level internet infrastructure, which could lead to the long over due creation of the Googles and Facebooks of Europe. They can also capitalize on digital technologies to include older workers into the labor market which would bring about a dynamic market that would otherwise fall fatal to aging population phenomenons.

The report highlights the importance of International Connectivity. Concerning the connection between Europe and the Middle East, the report talk about Europe-Persia Express Gateway, which is a terrestrial cable linking Europe with the Middle East, which was achieved in 2012. It goes from Frankfurt, across Eastern Europe then to Russia, Azerbaijan then through Iran to the Persian Gulf then to Barka, in Oman. It offers an alternative to the Red Sea route for linking Europe to Asia.

Middle East Business

Organisations in EMEA with advanced API management processes experience up to 45 percentbetter business results than those with basic API management. This is the major finding from a new global study, APIs: Building a Connected Business in the App Economy, commissioned by CA Technologies among 1,770 senior executives, including 695 in EMEA. Some 45 percent more organisations report an improvement in customer experience moving from basic to advanced API management, while customer satisfaction increases by an additional 33 percent and IT costs fall by a further 31 percent. Respondents in advanced organisations are also more than twiceas likely to express confidence about differentiating themselves from competitors (82 percent versus 36 percent).

“APIs are a cornerstone of business agility, enabling organisations to drive rapid, continuous improvement in customer experience and be ‘Built to Change’,” HishamMalak, Director of Operationas, CA MENA.This research makes a compelling case for API use—and more importantly, for having a sophisticated approach to managing the APIs. By adopting an advanced, full lifecycle approach to API management, organisations see significant improvements in customer experience, customer satisfaction and competitive differentiation.”

Application programming interfaces (APIs) are the central nervous system of the app economy. By allowing pieces of software to communicate with each other, they provide ready-made, universal access to whatever functionality an organisation needs to deliver. The growing use of APIs calls for a formalised approach to API management, which encompasses creating, securing, managing, and optimising APIs throughout their lifecycle, and at enterprise scale.

With this in mind, the study’s API management maturity model assesses how far organisations have implemented the tools and technologies, systems and processes, and the capabilities required for full API lifecycle management.

Other Key Findings:

• 93 percent of advanced API management users witness an improvement in customer experience compared to 64 percent for basic users;
• 86 percent of advanced API management users report an improvement in their leverage of third-party developer innovation compared to 68 percent for basic users;
• Advanced API management users experience a 40 percent increase in customer satisfaction compared to 30 percent for basic users;
• Advanced API management users experience a 38 percent reduction in IT-related costs compared to 29 percent for basic users

Conversational commerce

The study also shows that 69 percent of EMEA organisations report an improvement in their ability to leverage third-party developer innovation using APIs. By opening up and sharing select applications with third-parties, these organisations are absorbing data from partners and adding essential services to their apps—without having to write new code. Among these innovations are ‘conversational commerce’ services that enable consumers to interact with brands or aggregated services using chat, messaging or other natural-language interfaces. For example, instructing your mobile device using natural language to book a flight and aggregating different services together to book a preferred hotel, restaurant or taxi partner at the destination.

Widespread API adoption and increased agility—but barriers remain

Some 90 percent of organisations across EMEA have now adopted APIs, and this widespread use is focused—among many processes—on driving revenue growth (cited by 32 percent) and delivering speed and innovation via third-party APIs (32 percent).

The result is increased business agility. According to the study, EMEA organisations are seeing a 33 percent increase in business agility (i.e. speed to market) from their API efforts—reducing the time to develop/test and release new apps from an average of 10.80 weeks to 7.25 weeks.

Barriers to API adoption in remain though. The major barriers are the lack of skilled resources (cited by 34 percent), the time needed to develop an API (32 percent) and the ability to scale usage/manage performance (31 percent).

“The digital revolution is prompting opportunities to offer new products, create platforms to deliver services and provide better experiences to customers—all by using APIs. While APIs themselves are not a new innovation, it’s more important than ever in the digital economy to manage them effectively. That unified approach to management enables companies of all sizes, in all sectors, to level the competitive playing field, and cope better with the rising volume, scale and volatility of customer-facing apps,” says Malak.

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Middle East Business

Renewable Energy Employs 9.8 million People Worldwide, New IRENA Report Finds.

Global energy system creating more jobs in renewables than in fossil-fuel technologies
More than 9.8 million people were employed in the renewable energy sector in 2016, according to a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Renewable Energy and Jobs – Annual Review 2017, released at IRENA’s 13th Council meeting, provides the latest employment figures of the renewable energy sector and insight into the factors affecting the renewable labour market.

“Falling costs and enabling policies have steadily driven up investment and employment in renewable energy worldwide since IRENA’s first annual assessment in 2012, when just over five million people were working in the sector,” said IRENA Director-General Adnan Z. Amin. “In the last four years, for instance, the number of jobs in the solar and wind sectors combined has more than doubled.
“Renewables are directly supporting broader socio-economic objectives, with employment creation increasingly recognised as a central component of the global energy transition. As the scales continue to tip in favour of renewables, we expect that the number of people working in the renewables sector could reach 24 million by 2030, more than offsetting fossil-fuel job losses and becoming a major economic driver around the world,” Mr. Amin added.

The Annual review shows that global renewable-energy employment, excluding large hydropower, reached 8.3 million in 2016. When accounting for direct employment in large hydropower, the total number of renewable-energy jobs globally climbs to 9.8 million. China, Brazil, the United States, India, Japan and Germany accounted for most of the renewable-energy jobs. In China for example, 3.64 million people worked in renewables in 2016, a rise of 3.4 per cent.

IRENA’s report shows that solar photovoltaic (PV) was the largest employer in 2016, with 3.1 million jobs — up 12 per cent from 2015 — mainly in China, the United States and India. In the United States, jobs in the solar industry increased 17 times faster than the overall economy, growing 24.5 per cent from the previous year to over 260,000. New wind installations contributed to a 7 per cent increase in global wind employment, raising it up to 1.2 million jobs. Brazil, China, the United States and India also proved to be key bioenergy job markets, with biofuels accounting for 1.7 million jobs, biomass 0.7 million, and biogas 0.3 million.

“IRENA has provided this year a more complete picture on the state of employment in the renewables sector, by including large hydropower data. It is important to recognise these additional 1.5 million working people, as they represent the largest renewable energy technology by installed capacity,” said Dr. Rabia Ferroukhi, Head of IRENA’s Policy Unit and Deputy Director of Knowledge, Policy and Finance.

The report finds that globally, 62 per cent of the jobs are located in Asia. Installation and manufacturing jobs continue to shift to the region, particularly Malaysia and Thailand, which has become global centre for solar PV fabrication.

In Africa, utility-scale renewable energy developments have made great strides, with South Africa and North Africa accounting for three-quarters of the continent’s 62,000 renewable jobs.
“In some African countries, with the right resources and infrastructure, we are seeing jobs emerge in manufacturing and installation for utility-scale projects. For much of the continent however, distributed renewables, like off-grid solar, are bringing energy access and economic development. These off-grid mini-grid solutions are giving communities the chance to leap-frog traditional electricity infrastructure development and create new jobs in the process,” Dr. Ferroukhi said.

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