Jyoti Lalchandani is a seasoned business executive with more than 25 years of experience in emerging markets across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). In his role as IDC’s Group Vice President and Regional Managing Director for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META), he has been instrumental in establishing IDC’s presence in the region – first, through the initial expansion of the Dubai headquarters and then by spearheading the development of IDC offices in Johannesburg, Istanbul, Riyadh, Casablanca, Lagos, Nairobi, and Cairo.

Jyoti is responsible for the planning, development, implementation, and coordination of IDC’s market intelligence and advisory services, sales, conferences and events, go-to-market services, and office development activities across the META region. As a respected authority on emerging market tech trends, he is also regularly invited to speak at major industry events throughout the region and is frequently quoted by both the national and international media.

His field of expertise includes key tech areas such as cloud, analytics, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things, and he is well known for providing guidance on digital transformation strategies for the entire C-suite. He is a trusted advisor to senior executives in the supplier/enabler space across the ICT ecosystem, as well as to tech buyers from the CIO and line-of-business communities.

Starting at IDC’s CEMA (Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) headquarters in 1995 in Prague, the Czech Republic, Jyoti served as IDC’s regional consulting manager. In this role, he headed several country-based project teams that advised local and multinational IT vendors on issues relating to entry strategy, competitor analysis, ROI analysis, distribution and partner evaluation, and market segmentation. He later took on the additional responsibility of overseeing the CEMA software practice, in which he was responsible for overseeing all related research (applications, system infrastructure, and tools) and advisory work across emerging EMEA countries.

Before joining IDC, Jyoti served on the national board of international non-profit organization AIESEC, where he managed the association’s partnership agreements with leading Indian conglomerates. He graduated from Loyola College, India, where his studies focused on strategy management and business policy. He later attended a corporate-sponsored program at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts.

Michael Yeo is the Associate Research Director for IDC Financial Insights and Retail Insights in the Asia/Pacific region.  Mr. Yeo’s core research coverage focuses on payments including the uptake of mobile payments in the Asia/Pacific region, digital banking, and the evolution of joint digital ecosystems involving ecommerce, mcommerce, and payments. Mr. Yeo has also significant experience in advising financial institutions on their fintech management strategies, placing particular emphasis on organizational and technology restructuring within banks to better cope with the demands of current-generation digital customers.

Prior to IDC, Mr. Yeo headed all financial services–related research at KPMG Malaysia. Previously, he served as a project manager at an advisory firm in China, where he advised multiple international clients with their China market entry strategies. Mr. Yeo started his career in an advisory role for financial services at Ernst and Young.

Credentials:

• B.A Accounting and Economics from the University of Reading, United Kingdom
• Frequent speaker in the region on mobile payments and digital ecosystems. Contributor to major global and regional media outlets including CNBC, South China Morning Post, Straits Times, and Global Finance

Dr. Jassim Al Awadhi is a distinguished executive leader in Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation, currently serving as Executive Director – Enterprise Platforms at Emirates NBD, where he leads the strategy, governance, and evolution of enterprise platforms within one of the region’s most advanced financial organizations.

With over 20 years of experience across telecommunications, banking, and government collaboration in the UAE, he has been at the forefront of driving enterprise-scale transformation, specializing in AI adoption, platform modernization, and operating model excellence and innovation.

In his current role, Dr. Al Awadhi is responsible for transforming enterprise platforms into AI-enabled, resilient, and scalable ecosystems that support the bank’s ambition to become a data-driven, AI-first organization.

His work spans modernizing core financial systems, integrating AI across business and operational domains, and establishing governance frameworks that deliver measurable business value, operational excellence, and regulatory compliance.

A recognized thought leader in responsible, human-centric AI, Dr. Al Awadhi advocates embedding governance into the architecture of AI systems to ensure effective implementation, align innovation with ethical standards, manage risk, and ensure strong human oversight. He emphasizes AI as a decision-support capability that enhances, rather than replaces, human intelligence.

Dr. Al Awadhi holds a PhD in AI strategy and implementation, a Master’s degree in Strategic Management, and a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering. His work closely aligns with the UAE National AI Strategy 2031 and the UAE 2071 Centennial Strategy, advancing AI-driven ecosystems and supporting the UAE’s vision to lead globally in innovation and digital excellence.

A sought-after keynote speaker, he regularly shares insights on enterprise AI, digital transformation, the UAE government’s future foresight in AI infrastructure and implementation, and the future of intelligent organizations across regional and international platforms.