Speakers
Melih Murat
Associate Research Director, Artificial Intelligence (META)
IDC
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Melih Murat
In his role as associate research director for IT services and software across the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META), Melih drives IDC’s regional research and consulting engagements in the areas of IT services, Cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), and intelligent automation.
He first joined IDC in 2012 as a senior research analyst located out of IDC’s Istanbul office, with various responsibilities for the firm’s IT services, cloud computing, software, and telecom domains — both in Turkey and across the wider META region. Between 2016 and 2021, Melih headed the international marketing and investor relations practice at P.I. Works, a global automation and AI software vendor that serves telecom operators.
Now back at IDC, Melih is leveraging his vast experience in the IT services, cloud, software, and telecommunications domains to advise clients on go-to-market strategies, technology marketing and promotion activities, and market trends analysis. He is also driving a wide variety of research and consulting projects across the META region.
Melih has also previously served as enterprise channel and marketing manager at Nortel Turkey and as business development and strategy manager at Netaş, one of the leading systems integrators in Turkey and a former Nortel subsidiary. He possesses a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and received his MBA from Esslingen University of Applied Sciences in Germany. He has worked as a business development specialist at HP and wrote his MBA thesis for the company, covering European retail channel trends and winning strategies for channel businesses.
Shilpi Handa
Associate Research Director (META)
IDC
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Shilpi Handa
Shahin Hashim
Associate Research Director (META)
IDC
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Shahin Hashim
Massimiliano Claps
Research Director
IDC
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Massimiliano Claps
Massimiliano (Max) Claps is the research director for the Worldwide National Government Platforms and Technologies research in IDC’s Government Insights practice. In this role, Max provides research and advisory services to technology suppliers and national civilian government senior leaders in the US and globally. Specific areas of research include improving government digital experiences, data and data sharing, AI and automation, cloud-enabled system modernization, the future of government work, and data protection and digital sovereignty to drive social, economic, and environmental outcomes for agencies and the public.
BACKGROUND
Max Claps has over 20 years of public sector experience. After starting his career as a management consultant, he joined IDC in 2002 as the lead analyst for the government, healthcare, and education industries in Europe. He has since held various analyst and management roles at IDC working as an advisor to technology suppliers, public sector senior leaders and policymakers throughout North America, Europe, the Gulf Region, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. He focused on helping public sector organizations realize the benefits of artificial intelligence, edge computing, cloud computing, shared services, digital services, smart cities, and sustainable mobility and transportation. Max also worked at Gartner, where he was research director and agenda manager for the global government research analyst team. IMax spent two years at SAP, where he was the global solution lead for the SAP Future Cities, Citizen Experience and Postal Services programs.
EDUCATION/INDUSTRY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Claps holds a degree in international business from Bocconi University in Italy.
Throughout his career at IDC, Max Claps has been a co-author of several studies published on behalf of the European Commission on topics like eGovernment, location data and intelligence, cloud computing, and data spaces.
Max Claps has actively contributed to ITU working groups, such as the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) global UN initiative coordinated by ITU, UNECE and UN-Habitat, and the ITU focus group on Metaverse.
Event Sessions
One Day Event 8:50 am
IDC Keynote: From Pilots to Platforms: Saudi Arabia’s Next Leap in AI-Powered Governance
Saudi Arabia’s digital landscape is entering a scale-up phase where AI, data platforms, cloud, and cybersecurity converge to deliver tangible public value. This keynote outlines how to institutionalize shared capabilities, embed safety and governance, and align investments with outcomes in citizen experience, resilience, and sustainability—setting a new benchmark for the digital state.