CIO Leadership Awards 2025 outlines the best amongst the region's thought-leaders
The 2025 edition of the awards ceremony celebrates the thought-leaders, who embrace opportunity wholeheartedly, and constantly strive for new innovative practices designed to pioneer change.
The awards process involved the CNME editorial team evaluating the nominations from across the region in an in-depth process to decide the most-deserving candidates wh0 demonstrated excellence in technology innovation and business value delivery. These criteria helped to provide a measurable impact for the use of IT within an organisation that paved the way to greater success.
Kausar Syed, Group Publishing Director at CPI Media Group paid tribute to the CIO Leadership Award winners, and said the keynote presentation by Hitachi Vantara, and subsequent panel discussion only served to reinforce the view that every organisation needs a robust AI strategy, and that it is no longer just a trend.
'Firstly, I'd like to congratulate all our winners, who over the last 12 months have continued to demonstrate excellence and leadership in their respective positions. The keynote presentation delivered by Hitachi Vantara showed the need for organisations to prepare for the next phase of AI, and 2025, will be the year of Agentic AI. Our esteemed panelists shared some great insights and perspectives on Gen AI, and as Wolfgang Kroj pointed out the Middle East region is unique, and can be a global leader when it comes to AI. A big thank you also to all our sponsors for their support in making the CIO Leadership Awards a reality.'
Sponsored by Platinum Sponsors- Hitachi Vantara & VAD Technologies, Gold Sponsors- Logitech, OPSWAT, Pure Storage & Raqmiyat and Silver Sponsors- Cyble & Finesse the event started off with a keynote speech by Rehan Shahid Regional Channel & Alliances Head – Midde East & Pakistan Hitachi Vantara. This was shortly followed with a panel discussion moderated by the CNME Editor Mark Forker. Under the title of Validating Gen AI: How Enterprises and Business Leaders can apply Gen AI to revolutionize their industries the panel featured insights from IT professionals such as Loubna Imenchal from Logitech, Padam Sundar Kafle from Aster Hospitals, Rami Nehme from OPSWAT, Samer Semaan from Pure Storage and Wolfgang Kroj from Hitachi Vantara.
The winners of the CIO Leadership Awards 2025 are:
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
TECHx
12 hours ago
- TECHx
Coursera Expands AI Courses on AI Appreciation Day
Home » Smart Sectors » Education » Coursera Expands AI Courses on AI Appreciation Day Coursera, Inc. (NYSE: COUR), a global online learning platform, announced an expanded portfolio of AI courses to mark AI Appreciation Day. The new offerings include updated Professional Certificates, courses, and Specializations focused on Generative AI. With this launch, Coursera's GenAI catalog now features over 925 AI courses. These are designed to equip learners worldwide with essential skills in artificial intelligence. Coursera reported that the growing demand for AI skills comes amid rapid industry transformation. According to the platform, 46% of job skills are expected to change by 2030 in the MENA region, compared to 39% globally. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), more than 500,000 enrollments in GenAI courses have been recorded on Coursera in 2025. This includes over 100,000 learners each from the UAE and Saudi Arabia. On average, there is one enrollment every two minutes across the region. Since the release of ChatGPT, learners in MENA have spent close to half a million hours studying GenAI on Coursera, which equals over 53 years of learning time. However, Coursera revealed that 80% of these enrollments are at the beginner level. Millennials account for 60% of the enrollments, followed by Gen X at 21%, Gen Z at 18%, and Boomers at 1%. Coursera also noted that only 25% of GenAI course enrollments in MENA are from women. This reflects the need for inclusive learning strategies. The platform has introduced several AI-powered tools to enhance online learning. Coursera Coach, an AI tutor using large language models (LLMs), assists learners with questions, summaries, and feedback. Data from Coursera shows that learners using the tool are 9.5% more likely to pass quizzes on the first try. They also complete 11.6% more course content per hour. In MENA, 175,000 learners have used Coursera Coach, exchanging nearly 240,000 messages. To support multilingual learners, Coursera has translated more than 5,500 courses and 65 Professional Certificates into 26 languages, including Arabic and French. This effort has attracted over 120,000 learners in MENA and generated 400,000 enrollments. Learners in Saudi Arabia rank among the top three globally for engaging with translated AI content. To support learners further, Coursera announced the launch of new AI-focused certificates:• Seven Professional Certificates from partners such as AWS, Microsoft, Google Cloud, IBM, and Snowflake • Two certificates from AWS AWS Generative AI Applications AWS Generative AI for Developers • Two certificates from Microsoft • Two certificates from Microsoft Microsoft AI Product Manager Microsoft 365 with Generative AI• Google Cloud Generative AI Leader• IBM RAG and Agentic AI • Snowflake Generative AI Kais Zribi, Coursera's General Manager for the Middle East and Africa, said the company is committed to supporting AI education in the region. He added that Coursera aims to expand access to world-class AI courses and build more inclusive, personalized learning pathways.
TECHx
12 hours ago
- TECHx
Gigamon Launches AI Capabilities for Deep Observability
Home » Emerging technologies » Artificial Intelligence » Gigamon Launches AI Capabilities for Deep Observability Gigamon has announced the first phase of its multi-year AI strategy. The company revealed new capabilities to help organizations secure and manage hybrid cloud infrastructure through deep observability. The initial offerings include AI Traffic Intelligence and GigaVUE-FM Copilot. These tools embed AI into the Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline to strengthen visibility, governance, and operational efficiency in hybrid environments. Gigamon AI Traffic Intelligence provides real-time insights into GenAI and LLM traffic. It tracks activity across 17 engines, including ChatGPT, Gemini, and DeepSeek.. This solution enables data-driven policy enforcement and governance. It is agentless and supports encrypted traffic, allowing organizations to detect shadow AI and manage AI-related risks and costs. According to Gigamon, AI Traffic Intelligence enables organizations to:• Gain visibility into AI usage across public, private, virtual, and container environments• Identify unsanctioned AI activity to reduce risk • Use network-derived telemetry to support IT and security decisions Gigamon also introduced GigaVUE-FM Copilot, a GenAI-powered assistant built into the GigaVUE Fabric Manager. It helps teams onboard, configure, and troubleshoot Gigamon deployments. Through a natural language interface, Copilot connects users to internal knowledge sources. It offers fast, context-aware support to reduce dependence on Tier 3 support teams. With GigaVUE-FM Copilot, organizations can:• Accelerate onboarding and configuration• Search documentation to troubleshoot issues • Improve operational efficiency using GenAI assistance The company reported that the AI Traffic Intelligence feature is now available for GigaVUE Cloud Suite customers. GigaVUE-FM Copilot is in early access for select customers and will be generally available in the second half of 2025. Gigamon said these developments address growing needs across the Middle East and Africa. Rapid AI adoption and digital transformation in these regions have increased demand for complete visibility across hybrid cloud environments. A recent survey revealed that one in three UAE companies are not confident in detecting unauthorized AI use. In Saudi Arabia, 40 percent of firms reported limited visibility into AI usage. Gigamon stated its Deep Observability Pipeline helps address this by delivering insights into lateral and encrypted network traffic. In the 2025 Hybrid Cloud Security Survey of over 1,000 global Security and IT leaders, 55 percent reported their tools cannot detect modern threats. Additionally, 88 percent said deep observability is now essential for scaling AI deployments. Damian Wilk, general manager for EMEA Emerging Markets at Gigamon, said organizations in the Middle East and Africa are accelerating AI adoption. However, they need deep observability to secure hybrid infrastructure and manage emerging risks. Michael Dickman, chief product officer at Gigamon, emphasized that visibility into AI traffic is critical for modern security teams. He noted the company's focus on embedding AI into observability tools to support both AI for security and security for AI. Bob Laliberte, principal analyst at theCUBE Research, stated that Gigamon offers valuable insights needed to track GenAI activity and regain control of complex network environments. Gigamon plans to showcase additional AI-powered capabilities at its virtual customer conference, Visualyze Bootcamp, scheduled for September 9 to 11.
TECHx
12 hours ago
- TECHx
Nutanix Reveals 2024 Financial Services Cloud Report
Home » Emerging technologies » Cloud Computing » Nutanix Reveals 2024 Financial Services Cloud Report Nutanix (NASDAQ: NTNX), a hybrid multicloud computing, announced the findings of its seventh annual Financial Services Enterprise Cloud Index (ECI) report. The global survey, conducted in Fall 2024 by U.K. researcher Vanson Bourne, measured cloud adoption progress in the financial services industry. According to the report, nearly all financial services organizations are now leveraging Generative AI (GenAI) applications. Most use cases focus on customer support, content creation, and automation. Despite rapid GenAI adoption, many firms struggle with infrastructure limitations. Nutanix reported that 92% of respondents believe their infrastructure needs improvement to fully support cloud native applications and containers. While containerization and Kubernetes are already in use, challenges like data silos and limited portability persist. Furthermore, 98% of organizations cited difficulties in scaling GenAI due to a lack of skilled personnel. Although 62% are actively hiring for GenAI roles, upskilling remains a key concern. Security was also identified as a major challenge. Nutanix revealed that 97% of respondents feel they must do more to secure GenAI models and applications. Additionally, 96% say GenAI is reshaping their data security priorities, and 90% express concerns about third-party IT vendor security. Financial leaders are also focused on long-term returns. While 39% anticipate potential GenAI-related losses in the next year, 58% expect gains within one to three years. Lee Caswell, SVP of Product and Solutions Marketing at Nutanix, said containers and hybrid cloud are now strategic tools in delivering customer value. He highlighted their role in enabling GenAI for fraud detection, cybersecurity, and customer engagement. Key insights from the Nutanix report include: GenAI adoption is high, but security and skills gaps remain. Infrastructure modernization is critical to scale GenAI. Financial services leaders are investing in long-term GenAI ROI. The 2024 Nutanix ECI survey included 1,500 IT and platform engineering decision-makers from multiple industries and regions, including the Americas, EMEA, and APJ.
