Speaker: Mohammad Al Abbadi- Executive Manager- Alliance Traffic System

Technology has revolutionised the way we live our lives. Over the last decade, technology has played a major role in many fields, including mobility and transportation. While driverless vehicles and flying taxis have received massive media coverage and breakneck traction from pros and novices alike, one of the areas where road transportation innovation has had the most impact is road safety.

Innovation with the aid of new technology is one of the most significant components for improving operations and safety in the road transport business. Technology is disrupting industries across the globe, bringing solutions to reduce the fatal accident rates on the roads to zero and to make operations more time and cost effective, and solving problems in new and innovative ways.

Better and safer lifestyle for drivers

In addition to improving automobiles, technology is also being utilised to improve driver lifestyle and efficiency. Alliance Traffic Systems, a total solutions provider of cutting-edge intelligent transportation systems, traffic management, and Artificial Intelligence Enforcement solutions, is investing massively to enhance drivers’ lifestyle through many innovative ways.

To boost skill development, Alliance invests in the most up-to-date roads security and safety tools, with the objective of making road commute safer.

The prospect of automation

It’s hard to overlook the opportunities brought about by automation when it comes to road safety innovation. We are already seeing elements of the automation puzzle fall into place as the reality of driverless automobiles approaches. However, one of the most difficult challenges is gaining the trust, support, and understanding of other road users and the public. Along with legislative and infrastructure changes, public education campaigns will be required for the deployment of self-driving vehicles. But more important, to enhance the safety of current roads in order to reach the level of having solid foundations for new technologies implementation.

Additionally, new AI Radars technology, which is fast changing every facet of life, provides a safer, smarter, and enhanced lifestyle at a reasonable cost that exceeds industry standards in ease and security, from safe and smart cities to connected living. Smart Radars integration is enabling a more powerful, efficient, and secure future for safety, automotive, transportation, security, and other industries.

Cooperation is the way to a thriving industry

In the short term, embracing technological innovation will help modernise the sector and make it safer. As demand for driverless vehicles and radars grows, road safety must evolve, with developing technologies like platooning systems playing a cardinal role in the long run.

Every stakeholder in the sector must work together to harness the opportunities offered by innovation, but this will take time and buy-in from everyone, including governments and regulators, who must ensure the industry has the necessary legislative and regulatory environment to make the desired impact. Technology and innovation are proven to bring extensive benefits to road safety, but these benefits will only be realised if all actors in the industry have access to these opportunities.

Papaya Global helps companies rise above geopolitical challenges and thrive using its global hiring expertise and payroll technology

Papaya Global, the powerhouse enabling people, payroll, and payment management for organizations in over 160 countries joins the UAE-IL tech zone’s unicorns and growth startups tour in UAE to discuss development goals in the region and how it can help support multinational companies with employees spread across multiple geographies.

Papaya Global’s innovative technology can help companies rise above geopolitical challenges and help growing companies thrive by creating better employee experiences for workers regardless of where they live. It enables this growth through its global hiring expertise and payroll technology.

Papaya’s co-founder and CEO, Eynat Guez said, “We are delighted to be part of the unicorns and growth startups tour in UAE as our workforce solutions help global companies with payrolls across borders while staying compliant with national and international standards relating to contracts, local benefits, immigration, and administration red tape. Our goal is to have a system in place that allows companies to be more agile while still be able to manage and pay the best talent.”

Amit Yampolsky, Director of Enterprise Workforce Solutions, will focus on how companies can rise above geopolitical challenges to support dispersed employees and manage from a global talent pool during the tour. He adds, “Regulations relating to workforce is always changing and getting stricter. Our HRIS solutions and payroll automations helps both employers and employees work easily together and navigate through emerging trends and challenges. We look forward to sharing our knowledge and experience with multinational companies from the UAE.”

Papaya Global has a technology infrastructure in the cloud that sets the standards for payments, and people management for years to come with a goal to make it as easy to transition to payroll automation, robotic process automation and AI to save time and improve accuracy. It offers a truly SaaS solution with three main objectives: to serve the needs of companies at all stages of growth, to support all types of workers (EoR, payroll and contractors) and to enable global payroll and payments for over 160 countries.

The company’s AI-powered automated compliance and accuracy engine will help companies better leverage real-time payroll data for strategic decision-making and as a critical analytic business tool to monitor how much they are spending globally and make decisions accordingly.

Papaya Global’s platform also has a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) dashboard in the business intelligence (BI). The acquired data can help investors, top talent, and potential partners monitor if companies are hiring fairly, paying equitably, and displaying social responsibility. Payroll has a wealth of data that can measure a company’s social health, such as gender equality, age, and distribution of salaries. With Papaya, companies track their progress and display their success, especially when preparing for an initial public offering (IPO). 

The early adopters of Web 3.0 providing secured transition to Metaverse in MENA

TCTx is the Metaverse arm of Telephony Communication Technologies, one of the early adopters of Web 3.0 technologies in MENA where customers will be able to access a wide range of solutions in Digital, Blockchain, FinTech, Xaas, ICT, Mobility, Telco, and Managed Services to improve efficiency, transformation and grow their businesses.

TCTx is one of the first Metaverse companies from Dubai, building the Digital Twin of the world. After securing the initial approval from the government, Dubai Digital, TCTx is creating the biggest Sustainable Smart City that will provide everything a business enterprise needs to perform in a virtual world in which users can interact with other users.

TCTx aspires to become pioneers in digital transformation with immersive experiences in the future. They have partnered with a group of innovative individuals and entities who are exceptionally passionate about emerging Web 3.0 technologies offering a portfolio of a wide range of services everything a smart city needs such as a Home, Office, Building, Workspace, Sharing space, Hotels, Restaurants, Supermarkets, Hospitals, Fashion, Movies, Sports, Technology and Security.

Today, companies developing Metaverse are focused on building new innovations and features to enable users to interact with each other efficiently and effectively in the digital world. Shefiq Abdulla, Chief of Avatars, TCTx said, “We are excited to start our journey and bring our Telephony business to a new level in the Metaverse! As a leader in web 3.0 and Metaverse transition in the MENA, we empower businesses in the region towards their ultra-digitalization goals. We want to contribute to building Dubai as the most significant digital economy in the world. We want Dubai and UAE to be the Silicon Valley of MENA.​”

“We are very excited to announce our soft launch on 28th June on the birthday of Elon Musk, the biggest ambassador of decentralized technology, and the main launch on 15th July on the birthday of our leader, HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Due to the rapid development of exceptional technologies all companies should be ready for the new digital revolution in web 3.0.”

With 70+ years of experience serving businesses across the Middle East, 20+ years of experience building technologies and implementing innovation, and 150+ certifications and accreditations, TCTx has a vision to create a sustainable socio-economic digital framework for communities to ensure a secured transition to Web 3.0 and Metaverse. These technologies are still largely unknown territory to even most tech companies in the region. That is where TCTx’s ambitious leadership is unique in its offerings.

Established in 1997, Dubai-based BMA International operates fashion retail in the Middle East and Asia across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and Qatar with more than 250 stores offering two major brands — Redtag and twenty4. BMA’s steady growth is a testament to its focus on building trust with its shoppers, employees, suppliers and stakeholders to create a company that is people-centric, ambitious and results-oriented.

CHALLENGE

Fraud is a common problem in the retail sector, particularly within large chains with hundreds of locations and tens of thousands of employees. BMA’s retail stores were no exception. Following an internal audit, security of point-of-sale (POS) terminals in retail outlets were identified as a serious concern, particularly the misuse of floor supervisors’ credentials to access terminals and modify or cancel transactions.

The problem persisted even after BMA switched from passwords to a smart card-based authentication system. The most common issues involved supervisors leaving smart cards with cashiers to use in their absence and failing to return the cards when a separation from an employer occurs — a frequent occurrence as many of BMA’s retail employees are expatriates who often return to their home countries.

Fraudulent use of the smart card was also a common problem. Once a sale was completed and the customer had left the store with their purchased items, the smart card could be used to improperly access the system so the cashier could void the transaction and pocket the “refund,” resulting in both monetary and inventory losses.

“BMA’s internal auditors were concerned with the lack of control over the
cards and the potential for fraudulent transactions due to their mishandling. They observed clear gaps in security and authentication practices that led directly to fraud and revenue leakage, resulting in the Internal Audit Committee recommending to the BMA Board of Directors that action be taken to plug the security holes by tightening the authentication process,” said Nainan M. Kurian, CEO of Technowave International LLC.

The decision was made to transition authentication to a biometric-based system that would provide the required security at a competitive price which aligned with the aesthetics of the retail stores. The system also needed to be compatible with the Oracle Retail Xstore Office Cloud Service, which BMA International was adopting across its brands.

SOLUTION

BMA International and its technology partner, Technowave International LLC, determined that the HID DigitalPersona® 4500 Fingerprint Reader met all their requirements — a decision supported by recommendations from other retailers that had deployed the product, and by the fact that competitive solutions were incompatible with Oracle Retail Xstore, a crucial requirement.

A USB peripheral with a compact design to conserve space, this fingerprint reader from HID is ideal for use by multiple people in a shared environment. Its professional, modern design looks elegant in retail settings while offering superior authentication control via biometric functionality that uses optical scanning technology to achieve excellent image quality and reliability.

With this easy-to-use technology, floor supervisors simply place their finger
on the reader window, which rapidly captures and encrypts the fingerprint image, then provides a red flash as a visual cue indicating that it was properly captured. That image is sent to the DigitalPersona FingerJetTM biometric engine for verification, and once the user has been authenticated, access to the POS terminal is granted.

“Deploying the HID DigitalPersona 4500 Fingerprint Reader was simple and caused no disruption to retail operations. It paved the way for significant reduction in the malpractice that had been occurring with the smart card system,” said Kurian.

RESULT

Since deploying more than 1,100 HID fingerprint readers in retail outlets across KSA, UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, BMA has eliminated nearly all POS fraud and abuse. The system has also driven tangible improvements in the attendance and punctuality of floor supervisors, who must now be physically present in the store for authentication to take place.

The HID authentication system is also capable of multiple types of authentications — providing flexibility that is appreciated by users who work at multiple locations.

“Because the HID DigitalPersona 4500 Fingerprint Reader requires proof of presence for authentication, there is greater accountability among supervisors which resulted in immediate cessation of POS fraud and stopped both revenue and inventory leakage. The exceptional support provided by HID Global has also allowed BMA to take full advantage of the system’s functionality and flexibility,” said Kurian.

The metaverse isn’t some distant future. It’s here. It’s been here since we transitioned from wads of cash in wallets to glossy cards in sleek cardholders, to paying online and finally digital currencies. The world of payments is already virtual. So why not make it fun?

With technology woven into the fabric of our day-to-day life, Ziina is taking the awkwardness out of digital payments by making them simple, fast, and interactive. A progressive digital wallet that makessending cash as easy as sending a text message, The Dubai-based, YC-backed start-up is on a mission to revolutionize online money transfers for consumers in the Middle East and is designed with today’s digital economy and consumers in mind.

Launched in February 2022, Ziina allows consumers to easily send and receive payments in just a few taps. Not content with eliminating the tedious process of entering IBANs and swift codes, Ziina took it one step further and abstained from collecting user’s emails. As anyone with a spam folder knows, we could all receive less promo emails.  Users also have the option to punctuate their payments with GIFs, photos, texts and emojis. Requesting money from someone using a winking Zach Galafinakis GIF feels a lot more like a text than a payment request.

With the formation of its innovative Cashless Dubai Working Group, Ziina is at the forefront of shifting transactions, and the numbers support this. Euromonitor International reports that in 2019, 60% of all consumer payment transactions in the UAE were non-cash payments, a rate that is set to reach 73% by 2025. This is where Ziina’s two-click payment system is leading the way.

On its quest to help enable a cashless economy and make it a reality in the UAE, Ziina is focused on developing state-of-the-art tools that are fun to use, empowering individuals to gain more control of their financial future. And they’re doing it in less taps than any other platform. 

But it’s not just money transfers among friends and family that Ziina serves. Business owners can expect to replace PDF invoices with QR codes and payment links — keeping both vendors and consumers at ease.

For a pain-free financial experience in the UAE, download Ziina. No IBANs, Swift Codes, or e-mails needed. Available on the App Store and Google Play.