IDC and IBM Roundtable

10 Jun 2026 Jumeirah Mina Al Salam

IDC and IBM Roundtable

Turn AI from Threat to Advantage

The Rise of Autonomous Security

10 Jun 2026 Jumeirah Mina Al Salam

Hosted By

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Regional tensions have reinforced a reality many organizations are now confronting: disruption is no longer an exception—it is the operating environment. Alongside these events, enterprises in the UAE and the wider region have experienced cyber incidents that directly tested operational resilience, recovery readiness, and leadership decision making.

 

This closed-door‑ executive forum, hosted by IBM in collaboration with IDC, brings together C-suite‑ leaders and senior security executives to explore cyber resilience as a strategic business capability, not just a technical function. The discussion will focus on how organizations can maintain business continuity and trust amid escalating regional risks, increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks, and rapid adoption of AI across core business operations.

 

A central theme of the session will be resilience by design- Designing AI systems that are secure, governable, and resilient from inception. Understanding how AI is being weaponized by adversaries to increase scale, speed, and impact. Leveraging AI to strengthen cyber defense, accelerate recovery, and improve decision‑making under pressure.

 

Drawing on IBM global insight, regional threat observations, and IDC market intelligence, the forum will provide leaders with practical perspectives on embedding resilience into security, AI, and operating models—to ensure organizations can withstand disruption, recover faster, and continue to innovate safely.

 

The 2 hour session will conclude with an executive dinner, enabling peer ‑level discussions in a confidential and collaborative setting.

Agenda

IDC and IBM Roundtable

One Day Event

6:00 pm

Registration and Networking

6:30 pm

Welcome Address

6:35 pm

The Agentic AI Threat Reality

6:55 pm

The Path to Secure AI and Autonomous Security

7:15 pm

Autonomous Security in Action

7:55 pm

Networking Break

8:10 pm

Executive Roundtable: From Strategy to Action & Closing

8:40 pm

Dinner & Networking

Partner

Hosted By

Venue

Jumeirah Mina Al Salaam

Majlis Al Mina Ballroom

Madinat Jumeirah
Dubai

Be Part of it!

Register Now

IDC, Wipro & Google Cloud Roundtable

19 May 2026 Dubai, United Arab Emirates

IDC, Wipro & Google Cloud Roundtable

The Resilient Enterprise

19 May 2026 Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Hosted By

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Agentic AI, Cloud, and Continuity at Scale

The Middle East is navigating an inflection point. Geopolitical uncertainty is no longer a background risk. It is actively reshaping how UAE enterprises think about technology investment, operational continuity, and long-term growth. At the same time, enterprises must continue to embrace AI with speed, confidence, and resilience. Agentic AI is already moving rapidly from concept to execution. According to IDC, 45% of organizations already deploy it, and a further 32% are actively exploring its potential. Yet most deployments remain isolated and workflow-specific, reflecting a broader tension between the urgency to innovate and the imperative to stay in control.

 

Cloud is emerging as the connective tissue enabling organizations to pursue AI ambitions while maintaining the operational continuity their businesses demand. But unlocking that potential requires navigating the constantly evolving landscape.

 

This exclusive CIO roundtable, hosted by Wipro, Google Cloud, and IDC, convenes a select group of UAE technology leaders for a candid, peer-level dialogue on what it truly takes to build a resilient, AI-native enterprise. Not in theory, but in practice, and at scale.

Discussion Areas

Geopolitics as a technology catalyst and how regional disruption is reshaping investment priorities

From AI experimentation to scale and the path to enterprise-wide agentic AI

Cloud as continuity infrastructure to deliver on AI initiatives without compromising resilience

Navigating the barriers to AI at scale including data, security, skills, or legacy systems

Agenda

IDC, Wipro & Google Cloud Roundtable

One Day Event

9:30 am

Registration & Networking

10:00 am

Welcome Note

Mohamed Mousa

Mohamed Mousa

Country Head and Regional Head, Middle East, Wipro

Ahmed Afrose

Ahmed Afrose

Head of Customer Engineering UAE, Levant and North Africa Dubai, UAE, Google Cloud

10:05 am

IDC Keynote

Join us for a critical discussion on navigating today’s geopolitical disruptions impacting Emirati businesses. Join this session to learn about how companies are adapting to an ever changing geopolitical situation to manage their risk, maintain business continuity, and continue to innovate in delivering their services to their customers throughout the region.

Shahin Hashim

Shahin Hashim

Associate Research Director (META), IDC

10:25 am

Wipro Keynote

Sidharth Mishra

Sidharth Mishra

VP, Managing Partner (APMEA), Wipro

10:55 am

Ensuring Scalable, Secure Agentic AI In An Era of Disruption

Google Cloud’s approach to resilience is founded on its global, architecturally robust network, focusing on minimizing failure impact and duration. That resiliancy provides the foundation for secure, scalable artificial intelligence that customers across the world are using to agentify their businesses. Join this session to hear from Google Cloud experts on how we can help businesses achieve their strategic priorities in an ever more complex world.

Ahmed Afrose

Ahmed Afrose

Head of Customer Engineering UAE, Levant and North Africa Dubai, UAE, Google Cloud

11:25 am

Networking Tea / Coffee Break

11:40 am

Panel Discussion

12:10 pm

Closing Remarks

Ayush Mittal

Ayush Mittal

Head of Sales for Data, Analytics and AI services, Middle East, Wipro

Sidharth Mishra

Sidharth Mishra

VP, Managing Partner (APMEA), Wipro

12:20 pm

Lunch & Networking

Speakers

Shahin Hashim

Shahin Hashim

Associate Research Director (META)

IDC

Read bio

Sidharth Mishra

Sidharth Mishra

VP, Managing Partner (APMEA)

Wipro

Read bio

Mohamed Mousa

Mohamed Mousa

Country Head and Regional Head, Middle East

Wipro

Read bio

Ayush Mittal

Ayush Mittal

Head of Sales for Data, Analytics and AI services, Middle East

Wipro

Read bio

Ahmed Afrose

Ahmed Afrose

Head of Customer Engineering UAE, Levant and North Africa Dubai, UAE

Google Cloud

Read bio

Akshay Dalal

Akshay Dalal

Head of Regional Risk and Compliance, UAE

Google Cloud

Read bio

Zeid Chamma

Zeid Chamma

Enterprise Account Manager UAE

Google Cloud

Read bio

Venue

One&Only One Za'abeel, Dubai

Zenith Meeting Room

Za’abeel Street, Za’abeel 1

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Hosted By

Be Part of it!

Register Now

Knowledge Hub- Tarek Kuzbari_Picus

Partner Spotlight

Tarek Kuzbari ,
Vice President EMEA
Picus Security
Partner Spotlight

The Patch Gap Is Now an AI Problem

Anthropic’s Project Glasswing confirmed what many security leaders already suspected: AI can find software vulnerabilities faster than any human team can fix them. Mythos discovered thousands of zero-days across every major operating system and browser, some undetected for decades.

The discovery is not the problem. What comes after is.

Fewer than 1% of the vulnerabilities Mythos found were patched at the time of disclosure. The average enterprise remediates just 15% of its vulnerabilities in a given month. Meanwhile, the median time from disclosure to exploitation has collapsed from over two years to single-digit hours. AI does not just accelerate the attacker. It widens the gap between what defenders know and what they can act on.

Visibility without operational speed is just a more detailed inventory of your exposure.

The response cannot be absorbing more findings into an already overwhelmed process. It requires a shift in how validation and remediation work together. Defenders need the ability to ingest a new threat signal, determine whether their controls would actually stop it in their specific environment, and close the gap before an adversary gets there first.

That means moving from periodic testing to real-time, signal-driven validation. It means closing the loop between finding and fixing without manual handoffs. And it means demanding proof of effectiveness from every layer of the stack, not assuming tools work because they were deployed.

The organizations that respond to Glasswing with operational speed, not just vulnerability awareness, are the ones that will stay ahead.

From AI Pilots to AI Factories

9 Jun 2026 United Arab Emirates

From AI Pilots to AI Factories

Delivering ROI Across Infrastructure, Data, and Governance

IDC Middle East Virtual Roadshow

9 Jun 2026 United Arab Emirates

Key Themes

Prioritize AI Deployments with Measurable ROI

Revalidate Cloud and Infrastructure Resilience

Strengthen Cyber Readiness

Reassess Data Governance, Sovereignty, and Compliance

Modernize Data Platforms for AI Readiness

Diversify Technology Supply Chains

Agenda

From AI Pilots to AI Factories

One Day Event

11:00 am

Welcome Address

11:05 am

IDC Keynote- Infrastructure for the Agentic Era: From AI Pilots to AI Factories

AI is raising the bar for enterprise infrastructure. IDC keynote session will explore the evolution from traditional datacentres to purpose-built AI factories, examining how compute, cloud, and facilities must adapt to meet the scale, performance, and economics of the agentic enterprise.

Matt Eastwood

Matt Eastwood

SVP, World Wide Research, IDC

11:20 am

Architecting for Data Sovereignty: Hybrid, Multi-Cloud, and Edge Strategies

As data sovereignty becomes a critical business requirement, organizations must rethink how and where data is managed. This session explores how hybrid, multi-cloud, and edge strategies can help you balance compliance, performance, and flexibility—so your architecture supports both control and growth.

11:30 am

Operationalizing AI: Bridging the Gap Between Data, Models & Business Impact

Turning AI into real business impact requires more than models—it demands alignment across data, processes, and outcomes. This session explores how to operationalize AI effectively, bridging the gap between experimentation and measurable value.

11:40 am

Optimizing Cloud for AI: Cost, Performance, and Scalability Considerations

AI workloads are pushing cloud strategies to evolve. This session unpacks how to optimize for cost, performance, and scalability—ensuring your cloud foundation can support AI growth without compromising efficiency.

11:50 am

Securing the AI Enterprise: Managing Risk in an Intelligent Threat Landscape

As AI expands the threat surface, security must evolve with it. This session examines how to manage risk in an intelligent threat landscape, helping you safeguard data, models, and systems while maintaining trust and resilience.

12:00 pm

From Data to Value: How Enterprises are driving Business Impact in AI Era

In the AI era, data only matters when it drives outcomes. This session highlights how enterprises are turning data into tangible business value—connecting insight to action and impact.

12:10 pm

Driving Agility and Continuity Through Low-Code Adoption

Speed and adaptability are now essential for resilience. This session explores how low-code adoption enables greater agility and continuity, empowering teams to innovate faster and respond to change with confidence.

12:20 pm

Gold Tracks (Parallel Sessions)

Track A

12:20 pm – 12:35 pm

Making Data Sovereignty Work in a More Uncertain Environment

12:35 pm – 12:50 pm

Building Trusted Data Foundations for Resilience

12:50 pm – 1:05 pm

Zero Trust: Redefining the Modern Security Perimeter

Track B

12:20 pm – 12:35 pm

Building Cloud Resilience for the AI-Driven Enterprise

12:35 pm – 12:50 pm

Resilient AI Infrastructure: Building for Performance, Cost, and Continuity

12:50 pm – 1:05 pm

Upskilling the workforce for the agentic era

1:05 pm

Summary & Takeaways, IDC

1:15 pm

Close of Event

Speakers

Matt Eastwood

Matt Eastwood

SVP, World Wide Research

IDC

Read Bio

Harish Dunakhe

Harish Dunakhe

Senior Research Director, Software & Cloud (META)

IDC

Read Bio

Shilpi Handa

Shilpi Handa

Associate Research Director (META)

IDC

Read Bio

Partners

Be Part of it!

Register Now

Knowledge Hub- Notis Iliopoulos_Obrela

Partner Spotlight

Notis Iliopoulos ,
EVP of MRC
Obrela
Partner Spotlight

Operationalizing Cybersecurity Through Outcome-Based Delivery, Quantified Risk, and Resilience-First Prioritization

Cybersecurity becomes truly effective when it operates like a business capability, not a collection of tools and one-off projects. “Operationalizing” cybersecurity means building a repeatable way to deliver protection, detection, response, and recovery—consistently, measurably, and at scale. The shift is simple but profound: move from activity (“we deployed X”) to impact (“we reduced downtime risk on critical services”).

 

The foundation is outcome-based delivery. Instead of funding disconnected initiatives, organizations define a small set of outcomes leadership cares about—such as reduced ransomware-driven interruption, faster containment of identity compromise, improved recovery confidence, or stronger assurance for critical suppliers. Each outcome is supported by operational services (e.g., identity, exposure management, detection engineering, incident readiness) delivered through standard workflows and playbooks. Success is measured with performance indicators that demonstrate real change: containment time, restore-test pass rate, patch latency, privileged access coverage, and reduction in high-severity incidents.

 

To prioritize intelligently, organizations need quantified risk, not just qualitative heatmaps. Scenario-based quantification translates cyber threats into decision-grade business terms: likelihood ranges, loss ranges, and the expected reduction from specific controls. This enables budget optimization using a familiar logic—risk reduction per dollar, time-to-value, and feasibility—while making residual risk explicit and governable.

 

Finally, the most strategic programs apply resilience-first prioritization. Not every risk matters equally; the focus should be where cyber events threaten operational continuity. Investments that reduce time-to-detect, time-to-contain, time-to-recover, and blast radius typically deliver the highest resilience uplift. When cybersecurity is operationalized through outcomes, quantified risk, and resilience-led priorities, spend becomes easier to justify—and far harder to cut—because it demonstrably protects the organization’s ability to operate.

AI Sovereignty and Resiliency

AI Sovereignty and Resiliency

What CIOs Must Prioritize Now

Overview

The Middle East is navigating a period of significant geopolitical and economic change. For technology leaders in the UAE, the priority is not only to manage risk, but also to sustain innovation, resilience, and long-term digital progress in an increasingly complex environment.

 

The current crisis is introducing new variables into the global technology economy. IDC’s latest outlook indicates that IT spending in the Middle East and Africa is expected to grow by around 5% in 2026, with a downside scenario of 3–4% growth should geopolitical pressures persist. At the same time, IDC expects the near-term impact to be more toward timing and spending mix shifts than by a broad pullback in demand.

 

The regional picture is unlikely to be uniform. Gulf markets such as the UAE are expected to show greater near-term resilience than more import-dependent economies, giving CIOs in the Emirates a different challenge: how to maintain momentum on strategic priorities while adapting to shifting risk, regulatory, and investment conditions.

Join Us

The IDC Middle East Virtual Roadshow – UAE Edition will explore how these forces are reshaping CIO priorities in the Emirates and what they mean for technology investment, AI adoption, digital sovereignty, cybersecurity, and enterprise resilience in the months ahead.

Key Imperatives

Resilience First

Ensuring enterprise operations remain uninterrupted through stronger infrastructure, disaster recovery, and business continuity strategies.

Digital Sovereignty

Strengthening control over data, infrastructure, and digital ecosystems to support strategic autonomy in the Middle East.

AI Acceleration

Sustaining AI innovation and scaling intelligent capabilities even as organizations navigate crisis.

Cloud Continuity

Designing resilient cloud architectures that support multi-region availability, operational stability, and sovereign requirements.

Cyber Protection

Safeguarding digital infrastructure, data, and enterprise operations against evolving cyber threats and disruptions.

Smart Investment

Balancing cost pressures while prioritizing strategic technology investments that drive long-term innovation and resilience.

Agenda

AI Sovereignty and Resiliency

One Day Event

11:00 am

Welcome Address

11:05 am

IDC Keynote: The CIO Agenda Reset: What’s Changing for Technology Leaders in the GCC

Attendees will gain insights into new priorities around resilience, data sovereignty, multi-cloud strategies, and talent transformation as CIOs navigate an increasingly AI-first, regulation-driven, and fast-growing digital economy.

Ranjit Rajan

Ranjit Rajan

Vice President, Research (META), IDC

11:20 am

Anchored in Intelligence: AI, Data Sovereignty & Resilience in Shifting Economies

The rules of the digital economy are being rewritten. As Gulf economies navigate an era of unprecedented change, the ability to harness AI while maintaining control over data and digital infrastructure has never been more critical. AI is the new currency of power — and for organizations across the region, harnessing the value whilst maintaining sovereignty and resilience is no longer optional; they are strategic imperatives.

Join ServiceNow as we examine the strategies, technologies and practices needed to build intelligent, sovereign and resilient foundations — ones that withstand disruption and drive sustainable long-term growth.

Ask Questions and stand a chance to win exciting e-gift vouchers.

Tolga Tutel

Tolga Tutel

Field CTO, Middle East & Africa, ServiceNow

Shakeel Baig

Shakeel Baig

Specialized Solutions Sales Leader, Saudi Arabia, ServiceNow

11:35 am

Architecting for Resilience and AI Independence in a Volatile World

In an era where geopolitical shifts and economic volatility are the new constants, CIOs are being asked to do the impossible: innovate at lightning speed while guaranteeing absolute operational resilience. This session explores how a “Sovereign-First” approach—powered by open hybrid cloud and automated AI—allows Middle Eastern enterprises to reclaim control over their data, their costs, and their future. Join Red Hat as we share real-world blueprints from regional leaders like Emirates NBD on how to build a technology foundation that doesn’t just survive disruption but thrives on it.

Ask Questions and stand a chance to win exciting e-gift vouchers.

Anirban Mukherjee

Anirban Mukherjee

Director of Solutions Architecture, Middle East & North Africa (MENA), Red Hat

11:50 am

Digital Sovereignty: From Policy Imperative to Technology Strategy

As geopolitical tensions, regulatory pressures, and data security concerns intensify, digital sovereignty has moved beyond policy debates into the heart of technology strategy. This session explores how organizations are translating sovereignty requirements into concrete architectural and operational decisions—from cloud and data residency to vendor selection and cyber resilience. Attendees will gain insight into balancing control with innovation, and how to design future-ready digital ecosystems that meet both regulatory demands and business objectives in an increasingly fragmented global landscape.

Ask Questions and stand a chance to win exciting e-gift vouchers.

Ahmed I Farrag

Ahmed I Farrag

Chief Technology Officer, IBM

12:05 pm

Secure information Management for AI, by OpenText

Control your enterprise information to drive trusted, scalable results with AI.

In an AI-first world, success depends on secure, connected, high-quality, and well-governed data. OpenText helps organizations unlock AI’s full potential by unifying data sets across systems such as ERPs, CRMs, supply chains, content management and more, ensuring accuracy with zero hallucination and making sure AI is used in context, all of this in a compliant and secure ways. From ingestion and curation to search, summarization, and protection, we deliver secure information management that fuels smarter automation and scales to make your enterprise ready for the evolving demands of AI.

Ask Questions and stand a chance to win exciting e-gift vouchers.

Marc Merheb

Marc Merheb

Director Solutions Consulting, Middle East Region, OpenText

12:20 pm

Securing AI at the Edge: Innovate with AI While Keeping Your Data Safe and online

Unlock AI innovation without compromising data privacy or system uptime. Cloudflare’s Connectivity Cloud solves the modern CIO’s challenge by bringing computing and security directly to the edge.

Here is how Cloudflare empowers your secure AI transformation:

  • Fast AI: Run AI models directly on Cloudflare’s nearest servers for lightning-fast answers.
  • Advanced AI Security: Protect applications from hidden risks like prompt injections and shadow AI. Cloudflare acts as a protective firewall for your LLMs and applies Zero Trust protocols to secure AI agents.
  • Unified Control & Resilience: Manage AI APIs, control costs, and oversee data localization from a single dashboard. You can rely on a massive global network built to absorb cyberattacks and ensure continuous uptime.

Ask Questions and stand a chance to win exciting e-gift vouchers.

Bader Shaath

Bader Shaath

Senior Solutions Engineer, Cloudflare

12:35 pm

Building Resilient Workloads on the Cloud

Google Cloud’s approach to resilience is founded on its global, architecturally robust network, spanning 43 regions and 130 zones, and its deep Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) expertise, focusing on minimizing failure impact and duration. Utilizing this platform (“Resilience ON the Cloud”) involves a shared responsibility model, requiring customers to deploy critical applications using multi-zone and multi-region architectures to ensure rapid, automated failovers and high availability. The deck reviews enterprise Disaster Recovery (DR) strategies categorized by risk protection and RTO/RPO, including Backup & Restore, Pilot Light, Warm Standby, and Multi-Site Active/Active. Finally, the presentation emphasizes Google Cloud’s built-in Security, Privacy, and Compliance, detailing global certifications, a zero-trust model (BeyondProd/BeyondCorp), and specific customer controls over data through features like default encryption, Data Residency, and Access Transparency.

Ask Questions and stand a chance to win exciting e-gift vouchers.

Akshay Dalal

Akshay Dalal

Head of Regional Risk and Compliance, UAE, Google Cloud

Ahmed Afrose

Ahmed Afrose

Head of Customer Engineering UAE, Levant and North Africa Dubai, UAE, Google Cloud

12:50 pm

Governance, Protection and Resiliency in the era of AI

This session highlights the challenges of managing a rapidly expanding global datasphere, expected to reach 175 zettabytes by 2025. With most data unstructured and recently created, organizations face growing complexity, data sprawl, and security risks, even as AI unlocks valuable insights.

He introduces two frameworks. The 5-Step Value Pyramid helps organizations move from data storage to value creation: identifying useful data, migrating from legacy systems, optimizing storage, automating workflows, and leveraging AI for insights. The 3-2-1-0 Resiliency Standard strengthens data protection by ensuring multiple copies across different media, including one air-gapped, with zero recovery errors.

The presentation concludes by emphasizing Iron Mountain’s integrated approach to physical and digital data management, combining sustainable data centers and advanced restoration capabilities to support AI readiness while ensuring strong governance and long-term data protection.

Ask Questions and stand a chance to win exciting e-gift vouchers.

Cliff Madru

Cliff Madru

Vice President, Digital Solutions, Iron Mountain

1:05 pm

From Risk to Resilience in the AI Era

The role of the CISO is expanding faster than ever. AI adoption is accelerating, regulatory pressure is intensifying, and boards expect clearer answers on risk, resilience, and return on security investment. At the same time, CISOs face growing personal accountability while still being expected to enable innovation rather than slow it down.
In this executive level session, let us unpack the key findings from The CISO Report 2026: From Risk to Resilience in the AI Era and explore what they mean for security leaders

Ask Questions and stand a chance to win exciting e-gift vouchers.

Tom Gamali

Tom Gamali

Field CTO & Strategic Advisor, MEA-TRC, Splunk

1:20 pm

Beyond Digital Ghosts: Defending the New AI Attack Surface

As organizations embrace Agentic AI enterprise applications, the attack surface is shifting from traditional system access to complex identity replication and new vulnerabilities are introduced. In this session, we will explore the evolving AI security landscape and how proactive AI innovations, like Trend Cybertron, are transforming defense. Attendees will discover a comprehensive blueprint for securing the entire AI lifecycle. We will discuss safely managing the secure end-user AI journey, and enforcing real-time guardrails for AI applications Finally, we will unpack how to fortify underlying AI factory infrastructure using TrendAI AI security stack.

Ask Questions and stand a chance to win exciting e-gift voucher worth AED 500 sponsored by TrendAI. 

Bilal Issa

Bilal Issa

Technical Manager, Gulf, TrendAI

1:35 pm

Gold Tracks (Parallel Sessions)

Join the tracks to participate in the session kickoff raffle.

Ask Questions and stand a chance to win exciting e-gift vouchers.

Track A: Future-Ready Security for a Resilient Digital Enterprise

1:35 pm – 1:45 pm

Cyber Resiliency Journey Maps

Hazem AbuShaban
Senior Systems Engineer & Cyber SME – UAE, Commvault

1:45 pm – 1:55 pm

Preemptive Security in an AI World

Tareq Momani
Head of Systems Engineering, Middle East, Infoblox

1:55 pm – 2:05 pm

Securing the AI Future: Identity to Protect Sovereign Data

Rob Greenman
Principal Sales Engineer, Ping Identity

Track B: Data, Trust, and Sovereignty in the Age of AI

1:35 pm – 1:45 pm

The Sovereign Intelligence: Fueling Regional Innovation via Logical Data Management

Dr. Alexey Sidorov
Chief Data Evangelist and Data Management Director, Denodo

1:45 pm – 1:55 pm

Trusted & Sovereign AI in Action — From Insight to Responsible Execution

Faye Murray
Field Chief Data Officer (EMEA), Dataiku
2:05 pm

Summary & Takeaways, IDC

2:15 pm

Close of Event

Speakers

Shakeel Baig

Shakeel Baig

Specialized Solutions Sales Leader, Saudi Arabia

ServiceNow

Read Bio

Tolga Tutel

Tolga Tutel

Field CTO, Middle East & Africa

ServiceNow

Read Bio

Ahmed I Farrag

Ahmed I Farrag

Chief Technology Officer

IBM

Read Bio

Bader Shaath

Bader Shaath

Senior Solutions Engineer

Cloudflare

Read Bio

Anirban Mukherjee

Anirban Mukherjee

Director of Solutions Architecture, Middle East & North Africa (MENA)

Red Hat

Read Bio

Marc Merheb

Marc Merheb

Director Solutions Consulting, Middle East Region

OpenText

Read Bio

Hazem AbuShaban

Hazem AbuShaban

Senior Systems Engineer & Cyber SME – UAE

Commvault

Read Bio

Dr. Alexey Sidorov

Dr. Alexey Sidorov

Chief Data Evangelist and Data Management Director

Denodo

Read Bio

Tareq Momani

Tareq Momani

Head of Systems Engineering, Middle East

Infoblox

Read Bio

Cliff Madru

Cliff Madru

Vice President, Digital Solutions

Iron Mountain

Read Bio

Faye Murray

Faye Murray

Field Chief Data Officer (EMEA)

Dataiku

Read Bio

Tom Gamali

Tom Gamali

Field CTO & Strategic Advisor, MEA-TRC

Splunk

Read Bio

Rob Greenman

Rob Greenman

Principal Sales Engineer

Ping Identity

Read Bio

Ahmed Afrose

Ahmed Afrose

Head of Customer Engineering UAE, Levant and North Africa Dubai, UAE

Google Cloud

Read Bio

Bilal Issa

Bilal Issa

Technical Manager, Gulf

TrendAI

Read Bio

Akshay Dalal

Akshay Dalal

Head of Regional Risk and Compliance, UAE

Google Cloud

Read Bio

Knowledge Hub

Rethinking Digital Sovereignty in a Disrupted World

For years, digital transformation was measured by speed, scale, and efficiency. Today, resilience is emerging as a defining metric. As digital infrastructure becomes part of a nation’s critical fabric, disruptions no longer remain confined to IT — they impact economies, public services, and trust itself.

Hande Akdede Erbay
| IBM MEA
Head of Data & AI
Read More

Building Operational Resilience With Open Source

The conversation around digital transformation in the UAE is shifting. Organizations want to adopt artificial intelligence while retaining control over their data and infrastructure.

Anirban Mukherjee
| Red Hat
Director of Solutions Architecture (MENA)
Read More

Mapping Cyber Resilience in an Era of Disruption

Disruption has become harder to contain. Hybrid cloud has expanded the enterprise footprint. AI is embedded into core operations. Identity now sits at the centre of access.

Yahya Kassab
| Commvault
Senior Director and General Manager – KSA & Gulf
Read More

Partners

Be Part of it!

REGISTER NOW

Knowledge Hub- Shilpi Handa

IDC Spotlight

Shilpi Handa,
Associate Research Director (META)
IDC
IDC Spotlight

Future Trends and Outlook for Cybersecurity in the META Region

The cybersecurity landscape in the Middle East, Türkiye, and Africa (META) is undergoing a structural shift, propelled by accelerated digital transformation, pervasive AI adoption, and a regulatory environment that is both expanding and fragmenting. IDC forecasts that regional cybersecurity spending will surpass $12.5 billion in 2026 (up 14% year on year), with software and identity security outpacing other segments. The region is evolving from a consumer of cyber innovation to a producer, prioritizing sovereign trust, AI security, and cyber-physical resilience as strategic imperatives.

 

Agentic AI is moving rapidly from pilot to production, enabling real-time detection, mitigation, and self-healing across IT, OT, and cloud. While 85% of META organizations report having an AI strategy, fewer than 20% have implemented dedicated AI security frameworks — highlighting a critical gap as CISOs elevate AI governance, model security, and adversarial defense. Identity has become the fulcrum of cyber maturity, with GenAI and deepfake-driven fraud now the top threat vector, driving adoption of ITDR, IGaaS, and behavioral analytics, often integrated with national ID systems.

 

Cyber-physical risk is escalating: over 45% of organizations report increased incidents, and while 70% have integrated IT/OT, less than a quarter have dedicated OT security. Investments are accelerating in OT-MDR, protocol-native AI firewalls, and digital twins, underpinned by critical infrastructure mandates. The region is also shifting from fragmented, best-of-breed tools to platform-centric architectures that unify telemetry and automate response, driven by operational resilience and regulatory alignment rather than vendor lock-in.

 

CISOs must prioritize platform integration, agentic AI with explainability, robust identity and fraud defense, and cyber-physical security. Operationalizing sovereign trust and modernizing for hybrid/cloud-native environments are essential, as is closing workforce gaps through AI augmentation and upskilling. These actions are foundational for sustaining cyber resilience and regulatory compliance in META’s rapidly evolving threat and compliance landscape.

Knowledge Hub

Knowledge Hub

IDC Spotlight: Future Trends and Outlook for Cybersecurity in the META Region

The cybersecurity landscape in the Middle East, Türkiye, and Africa (META) is undergoing a structural shift, propelled by accelerated digital transformation, pervasive AI adoption, and a regulatory environment that is both expanding and fragmenting.

Shilpi Handa
| IDC
Associate Research Director (META)
Read More

Partner Spotlight: Operationalizing Cybersecurity Through Outcome-Based Delivery

Cybersecurity becomes truly effective when it operates like a business capability, not a collection of tools and one-off projects. “Operationalizing” cybersecurity means building a repeatable way to deliver protection, detection, response, and recovery—consistently, measurably, and at scale.

Notis Iliopoulos
| Obrela
EVP of MRC
Read More

Partner Spotlight: The Patch Gap Is Now an AI Problem

AI is accelerating vulnerability discovery faster than teams can respond- turning visibility into risk when action lags behind insight. The edge now belongs to organizations that validate, prioritize, and remediate in real time- closing the gap before threats become impact.

Tarek Kuzbari
| Picus Security
Vice President EMEA
Read More

IDC and IBM Roundtable

10 Jun 2026 Dubai, United Arab Emirates

IDC and IBM Roundtable

Compliance to Competitive Advantage

Digital Resilience for UAE Banks

10 Jun 2026 Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Hosted By

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Compliance and operational resilience are no longer defensive disciplines—they are strategic foundations for scale, autonomy, and sustained leadership in an era of agentic AI and increasingly autonomous financial workflows.

 

As AI moves from pilots to end‑to‑end workflow autonomy, and as tokenized money and assets begin to reshape settlement, liquidity, and collateral operations, Tier‑1 institutions face a defining challenge: how to industrialize AI at scale while maintaining unwavering control, auditability, and systemic resilience. In fact, by 2027, IDC expects that 90% of financial services institutions are expected to require compliance training for agentic AI agents as a formal control, tied to identity, testing, and revocation mechanisms.

 

This exclusive CIO roundtable is designed for large, complex banking institutions navigating enterprise‑wide AI adoption, multi‑jurisdictional regulatory expectations, and continuous‑availability mandates. Through IDC insights, IBM’s perspective, and a peer‑level client discussion, the session explores how leading banks are embedding resilience‑by‑design into hybrid cloud architectures, enabling governed agentic AI, token‑ready platforms, and real‑time risk intelligence.

 

The focus is not experimentation—but how Tier‑1 banks convert regulatory rigor into structural advantage, increasing decision velocity, operational leverage, and trust at scale

Agenda

IDC and IBM Roundtable

One Day Event

8:30 am

Registration and Networking

9:30 am

Welcome Address

9:40 am

IDC Keynote: Unlocking Enterprise Value: Strategic Outcomes from AI and Agentic AI

Harish Dunakhe

Harish Dunakhe

Senior Research Director, Software & Cloud (META), IDC

10:00 am

Operationalizing Trust for AI at Scale

10:30 am

Digital Sovereignty as a Banking Control Plane

11:15 am

Tea & Coffee Break

11:45 am

Tokenization Readiness for Core Banking Platforms

12:00 pm

Fire Side Chat: Client Success Story

12:30 pm

Open Discussion

1:00 pm

Lunch & Networking

Speakers

Harish Dunakhe

Harish Dunakhe

Senior Research Director, Software & Cloud (META)

IDC

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Partner

Hosted By

Venue

Jumeirah Mina Al Salaam

Majlis Al Mina Ballroom

Madinat Jumeirah
Dubai

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