The next generation of digital platforms puts creative power in the hands of the user.

Creativity is increasingly informed and powered by technology—setting the stage for the next era of digital platforms and creative influence. Digital tools have “activated an entirely new world” of creativity—one where “creations can transcend physical limitations,” Helena Dong, creative technologist and digital designer, tells Wunderman Thompson Intelligence. 72% of gen Z and millennials in the US, UK and China believe that creativity today is dependent on technology, and 92% believe that technology opens up a whole new world of creation, according to Wunderman Thompson Intelligence’s research for “Into the Metaverse,” conducted by Wunderman Thompson Data in July 2021.

“For generation alpha and generation Z, customization and creation is an intricate part of their gaming experience,” Keith Stuart, games editor at the Guardian, tells Wunderman Thompson Intelligence. “For them, customization and the play element is part of the same thing—self-expression and exploration.”

Snapchat believes that creativity is the driving force propelling the future of digital engagement. As a user, “you’re not creating content that people consume, you’re creating content that people then create with,” Carolina Arguelles Navas, group product marketing manager at Snap Inc, tells Wunderman Thompson Intelligence. “That’s really powerful. You’re putting out a piece of content that everyone personalizes and has a personal experience with.”

This momentum is spurred on by what she refers to as the snowball effect of digital creativity: “The biggest opportunity with AR is that it is a catalyst for other people to now create content with that AR experience you’ve developed; then they are sharing it with their group of friends and their group of friends are unlocking that and sharing. You’ve created a catalyst where you’re scaling creation on your behalf.”

IMVU revolves around creativity, Daren Tsui, CEO of the social app and its parent company Together Labs, tells Wunderman Thompson Intelligence. “There are over 200,000 creators on our platform. Over the years we’ve amassed 15 million items in our catalog,” almost all of which are user-driven, Tsui says. “We create 0.001%; everything else is done by creators.” IMVU calls creativity “the new status symbol” for the next digital era—dethroning influence and income. When users come onto the platform, “making money is not the most important thing for them. It’s about being recognized for their creations,” Tsui explains.

“There are over 200,000 creators on our platform. Over the years we’ve amassed 15 million items in our catalog,” almost all of which are user-driven, Tsui says. “We create 0.001%; everything else is done by creators.” IMVU calls creativity “the new status symbol” for the next digital era—dethroning influence and income. When users come onto the platform, “making money is not the most important thing for them. It’s about being recognized for their creations,” Tsui explains.

Online habits are evolving. As stated by The Fabricant, in the digital world “people are not passive consumers, but creative agents crafting their self-expression and curating their virtual identity.” As digital engagement and influence shifts, the stage is being set for the next era of digital platforms and creative influence.

Starting November 1, we’ll host daily Live Shopping experiences on Facebook and Instagram with brands like Benefit Cosmetics, Cocokind, Macy’s, Paintbox Nails, Tanya Taylor, Ulta Beauty, Vuori and Walmart to educate shoppers and share exclusive deals.

We’re bringing back #BuyBlack Friday to highlight Black-owned businesses and are providing weekly #BuyBlack collections on Facebook and Instagram.

We’re showcasing exclusive gifts and deals from Shops that will be available when people make purchases on Facebook and Instagram.

Tune In Daily for Drops, Exclusive Deals and More

Beginning November 1, we’ll host daily Live Shopping experiences on Facebook and Instagram where you can find the latest gifts and exclusive deals, get advice from fellow shoppers and connect with celebrities, creators and brand experts. Some of the biggest brands including Benefit Cosmetics, Cocokind, Macy’s, Paintbox Nails, Tanya Taylor, Ulta Beauty, Vuori and Walmart will host live videos that allow you to shop the latest holiday trends from the comfort of your home. 

You can also discover the latest sought-after products on the Instagram Shop tab from drops to collections curated by creators you love and the Instagram @shop team. From the Drops destination, you can sign up to receive a notification for when an item is available for purchase. 

Support Small Businesses and #BuyBlack

This year, we’ll continue to support businesses that need it most, starting with the return of #BuyBlack Friday to encourage people to support Black-owned small businesses. We know the holiday season is critical for small businesses, our latest Global State of Small Business Report shows that a quarter of minority-led businesses expect to make half of their annual sales over the holiday period, compared to 14% of other small businesses. Starting on November 5, you can tune in every Friday in November to the #BuyBlack Friday show. The show will feature Live Shopping segments from Black-owned businesses including Shaquanda’s Hot Pepper Sauce, House of Takura and Obia Naturals, in addition to special guests and other surprises. You can also check out #BuyBlack collections, available weekly in the Facebook Shop tab starting November 1 and on the Instagram Shop tab starting November 5.

#BuyBlack Friday is part of Boost with Facebook: Good Ideas Season, our second annual program that gives small businesses access to free resources and training for a successful holiday season. As part of the Good Ideas Season, we’re also opening Good Ideas Shops in local communities across the US. Starting this week, people in Seattle, Fort Worth and New York City can visit our storefront window pop-ups to discover local small businesses and shop their products on Facebook and Instagram. We’ll also dedicate a storefront window in Los Angeles for people to #BuyBlack this December.

Shop Exclusive Gifts and Offers

People already use our apps to stay updated on the latest trends, get inspired and find their new favorite brand or product. This season, we’re bringing exclusive gifts to Shops that will be available when people checkout on Facebook or Instagram. This season, you may find gifts from Facebook and Instagram, like 20% off your first purchase and free shipping, when you complete an eligible purchase directly on our apps. And when you make an eligible purchase directly on Facebook or Instagram, you can also refer up to 10 friends to take advantage of an exclusive deal. 

If you’re looking for inspiration, check out the Shop tabs on Facebook and Instagram for Holiday Picks, our curated list of holiday items, available on November 1.

Shop Locally and Sustainably

Shopping locally on Facebook Marketplace is an easy and eco-friendly way to discover unique and hard-to-find gifts. Plus, you can get items quickly by arranging a pickup time via Messenger that works for you and the seller. We’ve introduced a few updates on Marketplace to help you shop easily, locally and responsibly this season:

Create and share a meetup plan: Create a meetup plan for an in-person transaction — including location, time and date — and share it with your friends via Messenger to let them know where you’re headed and encourage safer meetups. 

Meetup preferences: Sellers can let buyers know how they prefer to exchange an item locally, such as a public meetup or via door dropoff or pickup to minimize in-person transactions.

Saved search: Looking for a particular item on your wishlist? Create a saved search on Marketplace to get notifications when new listings match your criteria.

Cisco detected a targeted phishing campaign aimed at the aviation industry for two years, which was potentially organized by cyber threat actor(s) operating out of Nigeria.

The actor(s) have been targeting the aviation industry for the last two years, while managing other campaigns at the same time. Researchers found that they do not seem to be technically sophisticated as they’re using off-the-shelf malware since the beginning of their activities without developing their own malware.

The operators also bought crypters that enable the usage of such malware without being detected. Throughout the years they used several different cryptors, mostly bought on online forums and are believed to have been active since 2013.

The cyber attacks involve emails containing specific lure documents centered around the aviation or cargo industry that purport to be PDF files but link to a VBScript file, which ultimately leads to the delivery of remote access trojans (RATs), leaving organizations vulnerable to an array of security risks.

Actors that perform smaller incidents can keep doing them for a long period of time under the radar. However, their activities can lead to major incidents at large organizations. These are the operators that feed the underground market of credentials and cookies, which can then be used by larger groups on activities.

Commenting on the targeted attacks, Fady Younes, Cybersecurity Director at Cisco Middle East and Africa said: “Many operators can have limited technical knowledge but still be able to operate RATs or information-stealers - posing a significant risk to large corporations given the right conditions. In this case, what appeared to be a simple campaign was, in fact, a continuous operation that has been active for years - targeting a whole industry with commodity malware hidden with different crypters.”

“Even though cybersecurity is not a threat specific to aviation, in the last few years the sector has been at the forefront of several cyber attacks. It is crucial to be careful with weak links that could lead to flawed conclusions. The weak links shouldn't be discarded — it would be wise to view them as one more piece of information that, together with other links, can yield to a much stronger relationship between two pieces of information,” Younes added.

The rankings reveal the financial services brands that have been the most successful at converting aware consumers into considerers of brands

The UAE rankings are divided into three categories: Retail Banks, Insurance and Financial services

The top 10 list under Retail Banks features two Neo Banks, highlighting the growing popularity of digital banking among residents

The top ten list for financial services prominently features homegrown brands, with UAE’s leading remittance and foreign exchange service provider Al Ansari Exchange closely following Visa in second

YouGov Finance Purchase Funnel Rankings 2021 highlight the top-ten brands successful at converting consumers through the purchase funnel over the past year across key categories in the Finance sector.

The brands in YouGov Finance Purchase Funnel Rankings are ranked based on their Consideration score among consumers who are aware of each brand. Brands were measured between 1st September 2020 and 31st August 2021.

Retail Banks

In ‘Retail Banks’ category Dubai’s government-owned bank Emirates NBD takes the top spot with a consideration score amongst those aware of the brand of +40.5. Emirates NBD is an official Premier Partner of Expo 2020 Dubai and the launch of Emirates NBD's Expo 2020 Dubai account targeting SMEs should help the bank further consolidate its consideration scores looking ahead.

ADCB (Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank) is placed in second (30.4), followed by popular Islamic retail banking providers Dubai Islamic Bank, ADIB (Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank) and Emirates Islamic occupying the third (27.0), fourth (25.8) and seventh (19.7) place, respectively.

Also featuring in these rankings are two digital-only NEO banks, LIV. By Emirates NBD and Mashreq Neo, by Mashreq Bank. Their presence at 5th and 9th respectively in the rankings indicates a mature appetite in the region for digital-only banks.

Finally, First Abu Dhabi Bank (22.3), HSBC (17.7) and RAK BANK (16.2) complete the top ten list for this category.

Insurance

UAE’s largest health insurance brand Daman - National Health Insurance Company is the top performer in the Insurance category, with a score of 27.3.

Tawuniya, the Saudi headquartered insurer lands in second (24.5), followed by Friends Provident International in third (23.0) and UK based multinational insurance company RSA in fourth (22.3).

Life Insurance Corporation (International) appeared in fifth (22.2) with the French insurance giants AXA Insurance taking sixth (21.5) place in the list.

Other notable brands that make it to the top ten this year include Cigna (21.2), Oman Insurance Company (20.1), Abu Dhabi National Insurance (20.0) and MetLife (19.9).

Financial Services

Within ‘Financial Services’ category, global payments technology company Visa tops the UAE rankings with a consideration score of +48.6 among UAE consumers who are aware of the brand. MasterCard (also an official Premier partner of Expo2020) and Western Union follow in third (45.7) and fourth (35.8).

The top ten list for financial services in UAE prominently features home-grown brands, with Al Ansari Exchange following Visa in second (48.0). National Bonds appears in the sixth place (25.7), while payit, the digital wallet platform, UAEXCHANGE and MashreqPay take the seventh (25.3), ninth (19.6) and tenth (19.3) place, respectively.

Digital wallet brand Apple Pay that launched in the Emirates a few years ago is placed in fifth (33.2) and Xpress Money secures the eighth (21.7) position in the top ten list for this category.

Methodology:

The brands in YouGov Finance Purchase Funnel Rankings are ranked based on their Consideration score among consumers who are Aware of each brand. This allows us to show which brands are most successful at converting Aware consumers into ones that would consider the brand when next in-market.

To identify the Aware audience we ask, ‘Which of the following brands have you ever heard of? Please select all that apply.’ And in follow up we ask the Consideration question, ‘When you are in the market next to use a product or service from a Financial Services brand, which of the following would you consider?’. The questions vary slightly from this template in different sub-sectors and regions.

The rankings chart shows the brands with the highest average Consideration score between 1st September 2020 -  31st August 2021. The scores are representative of Aware consumers within the general population of adults 18+.

All scores listed have been rounded to a single decimal place; however, we have used additional precision to assign ranks. All brands have been tracked for at least 6 months to be included in the rankings. 

Liquid, the award-winning retail ideas company fully dedicated to ensuring brands sell by helping shoppers buy, has further strengthened its management team with the appointment of Kristine Varma as its new Director of Finance & Operations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). 

Kristine joins Liquid from Saatchi & Saatchi, where she held the position of regional Finance Director for 8 years. Kristine has also held a senior leadership role with Publicis Communications in the UAE.  Throughout her career, Kristine has been responsible for developing business and financial operations with a global remit. 

In her new role, Kristine will be responsible for the operational and financial direction of the organisation. In addition, she will play a crucial role in partnering with the leadership team to drive excellence throughout,  whilst contributing to the growth of Liquid as one of the leading retail ideas agencies in the Middle East and Europe.

A stalwart of the finance industry, Kristine has over 20 years of experience within a variety of senior roles, with key competencies firmly rooted in finance and business operations. Kristine has been recognised for her expertise on a number of occasions throughout her career.

Regarding her new role, Kristine said: “I am incredibly pleased to join one of the most exciting and fastest growing agencies around. I’m looking forward to delivering a fully integrated approach to financial and operational practices. The opportunity to work with some of the world’s best loved brands, as well as some of the leading minds in the industry is something I am really looking forward to. As the e-commerce industry across the region grows at an exponential rate, I am delighted to be part of the unique offering that Liquid brings.”

Sachinn J Laala, Founder and CEO at Liquid, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Kristine to the team with her wealth of experience in delivering excellence for a multitude of world-famous companies. A true professional, Kristine’s expertise in shaping dynamic practices will complement the growth of Liquid. We want to ensure that we attract talent and diversity in line with our clients’ needs, and with Kristine’s proven track record, we are proud to say we have one of the most talented and experienced teams in the industry”.

Liquid’s exponential growth comes off the back of a 35% increase in revenue in 2020, and follows Liquid’s recent move into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Europe - building upon its global hub office based out of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

One-of-a-kind, ICC-sanctioned Cricket Extravaganza Set For UAE Capital From 19 November - 4 December 2021

Sky247, a fast-growing sports news portal has come on board with the Abu Dhabi T10 as the presenting partner for the fifth season of the tournament. The partnership will certainly ensure that the Abu Dhabi T10 reaches an even wider fan base around the world. The Abu Dhabi T10, powered by Wolf777 News, has come to be known as one of the most exciting tournaments in the globe, catching the imagination of cricket fans around the world, especially the Indian subcontinent which accounts for the largest share of the tournament's viewership on television and digital platforms.

A host of cricketing stars which include Faf du Plessis, Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Eoin Morgan, Jason Roy, Chris Gayle, Yusuf Pathan, Nicholas Pooran, Shahid Afridi and Liam Livingstone among others are all set to take the UAE capital by storm in the fifth season of the Abu Dhabi T10, which will be held at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi from 19 November - 4 December 2021.

Speaking about the association with Sky247.net Mr. Shaji Ul Mulk, Chairman, T10 Sports Management said, “We are ecstatic to partner with Sky247.net news portal for another Abu Dhabi T10 season. It's a huge pleasure for us to have Sky247.net as the presenting partner for the fifth season of the Abu Dhabi T10. Our association with Sky247.net will certainly help us to take the high-octane Abu Dhabi T10 to as many cricket fans as possible around the world."

João Coimbra, Marketing Manager, Sky247.net said, “The Abu Dhabi T10 has grown in stature with every season and therefore we are absolutely delighted to partner with the tournament once again. Sky247, as an Indian brand, is excited to see the interest in cricket in the UAE rising manifold in the last few years and we certainly want to be in the thick of things by associating with exciting and entertaining tournaments such as the Abu Dhabi T10. We look forward to a long and fruitful association with the Abu Dhabi T10 and a fantastic fifth season later this year."

Trump Media & Technology Group and Digital World Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: DWAC) have entered into a definitive merger agreement, providing for a business combination that will result in Trump Media & Technology Group becoming a publicly listed company, subject to regulatory and stockholder approval.  

The transaction values Trump Media & Technology Group at an initial enterprise value of $875 Million, with a potential additional earnout of $825 Million in additional shares (at the valuation they are granted) for a cumulative valuation of up to $1.7 Billion depending on the performance of the stock price post-business combination.

Trump Media & Technology Group’s growth plans initially will be funded by DWAC’s cash in trust of $293 Million (assuming no redemptions).

Trump Media & Technology Group's mission is to create a rival to the liberal media consortium and fight back against the "Big Tech” companies of Silicon Valley, which have used their unilateral power to silence opposing voices in America.

Trump Media & Technology Group (“TMTG”) will soon be launching a social network, named "TRUTH Social."  TRUTH Social is now available for Pre-Order in the Apple App store.  TRUTH Social plans to begin its Beta Launch for invited guests in November 2021.  A nationwide rollout is expected in the first quarter of 2022.  Those who are interested in joining TRUTH Social may now visit www.truthsocial.com to sign up for the invite list.  

President Donald J. Trump, the Chairman of TMTG, stated, “I created TRUTH Social and TMTG to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech. We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American President has been silenced. This is unacceptable. I am excited to send out my first TRUTH on TRUTH Social very soon. TMTG was founded with a mission to give a voice to all. I'm excited to soon begin sharing my thoughts on TRUTH Social and to fight back against Big Tech. Everyone asks me why doesn’t someone stand up to Big Tech? Well, we will be soon!”

Patrick F. Orlando, Chairman/CEO of DWAC, stated, "Digital World was formed to create public shareholder value and we believe that TMTG is one of the most promising business combination partners to fulfill that purpose.  DWAC currently has $293 Million in trust, assuming minimal redemptions, which can fuel TMTG’s scale up, including to provide world class leading technology services to build strong and secure social networks and diverse media offerings. Given the total addressable market and President Trump’s large following, we believe the TMTG opportunity has the potential to create significant shareholder value.”

Additionally, TMTG intends to launch a subscription video on demand service (TMTG+). TMTG+ will feature 'non-woke' entertainment programming, news, podcasts, and more.  TMTG has named Scott St. John as the leader of TMTG+ Corporate Operations.  Scott St. John is the Executive Producer of “Deal or No Deal’ and “America’s Got Talent” and has produced over 1,000 hours of Network and Cable TV.

Social media spend would need to reduce by $94.3bn in order to mirror global consumption levels next year, while the investment gap is $86.9bn for linear TV

WARC Global Advertising Trends: The Investment Gap

A new WARC analysis of advertising spend forecasts for 100 markets worldwide and the results of a survey by GWI of more than 715,000 consumers, show that advertiser spend on TV and social media is highly inflated in relation to daily consumption. These findings are published today by WARC, the international marketing intelligence service, as part of its new WARC Data Premium suite, launched today.

The analysis finds that, as of the first quarter of 2021, social media now attracts more investment from advertisers than linear TV for the first time, however both media draw far more of advertising budgets than the average consumer spends with these channels each day.

Social media, for example, is forecast to account for 39.1% of 2022 adspend among the eight media studied in the report – linear TV, online video, social media, print press, online press, podcasts, broadcast radio and online audio – but has a 21.4% share of daily media consumption, a discrepancy of 17.7 percentage points (pp) equivalent in value to $94.3bn.

Socially devoted

Social media has accounted for over two hours of daily media consumption since Q2 2016, per GWI monitoring, and WARC Data Premium’s latest forecasts expect daily social time to reach 2:30 during the second half of next year.

Notably, all demographics measured in the report are set to spend twice as long with social media as they are with online press next year, despite ongoing trust issues – less than one-half of adults say advertising on social media is 'somewhat' or 'very' trustworthy, falling to 28% in China, 19% in the US and just 10% in the UK.

Despite this, the largest gaps between social consumption and adspend can be found in China (where advertiser spend is 3.3x consumption), the UK (2.2x) and the US (2.0x). Conversely, in Australia (0.9x), India (0.4x) and Russia (0.5x), social’s share of daily media consumption is higher than its share of advertising budgets – a potential indicator of opportunity for brands.

Linear TV adspend is 2x daily consumption, but online video investment is balanced

Linear TV is forecast to account for a 31.5% share of advertising spend next year among the eight media studied, compared to a 16.1% share of daily media consumption. This would equate to an investment gap of $86.9bn worldwide next year.

An overspend in relation to consumption does not translate directly into waste, and proportions vary by size of budget. Successful high-budget campaigns spending over $10m, for example, typically allocate 60% of their budgets to TV, while successful alcoholic drinks campaigns typically allocate 44%.

While linear TV spend is inflated in relation to its consumption, online video is now close to parity after years of underinvestment. It is worth noting that the world’s largest online video platform – Netflix – is predominantly ad free, while platforms such as YouTube are prone to ad blocking on desktop and mobile devices. 

Still, advertisers are forecast to spend $71.9bn on online video this year, a 13.6% share of the eight studies media which compares to a 12.9% of media consumption, or one hour 37 minutes.

Audio and online press heavily undervalued

Data show that audio media appear highly undervalued – a trend that was recently highlighted by WARC in the US.

Perhaps most notably, podcasts are found to be undervalued by $40bn, with the greatest opportunities for advertisers among audiences aged 16–24, middle earners, and those educated until the age of 16. 

One in three internet users now listens to a podcast each month, but a cost per thousand (CPM) of $23.55 is higher than even TV. Spotify has quickly gained ground on Apple to become the largest app for podcast streaming as of March this year.

Online press also appears to be another heavy undervalued medium: advertisers would need to spend $58.0bn on online press ads globally next year to achieve parity with consumption levels. Instead, forecast spend is just $12.8bn.

Business models in the publishing sector have been diversifying to counter the shortfall in advertising revenue; 76% of publishers are prioritising subscriptions this year.

James McDonald, Managing Editor, WARC Data, and author of the report, says: “The study shines a light on divergences between media investment and consumption, two metrics which are rarely seen to be in lockstep with one another. In some cases, particularly for undervalued audio formats such as podcasts, this presents a good opportunity for canny practitioners to reach audiences with comparatively little competition. 

“For industry stalwarts like linear TV, the seemingly inflated investment gap actually speaks more to the enduring power of the medium – its vast reach combined with attentive audiences and the heightened impact of audiovisual creative. These traits allow it to command a premium in the media mix, one which is likely to sustain even as social media further grows its share of budgets.”

Latest Market Intel on WARC Data Premium

Americas

53% of US advertisers expect to spend more on OTT/CTV

US podcast adspend up 24% as more advertisers join

Over 40% of Americans say they’re not fully represented in advertising

Asia Pacific

TikTok growing rapidly in Japan and South Korea, but YouTube still leads

Commerce and video streaming are most important trends for APAC marketers

44% of Southeast Asian consumers play video games while watching TV

Europe, Middle East and Africa

Gen Z consumers are twice as likely to buy from a brand with a sonic identity

Direct mail campaigns more likely to successfully use personalisation

Consumers in Poland, Spain and the UK most likely to always accept website cookies

More Than Half of UAE Organizations Plan to Implement a Passwordless Strategy

News Summary:

Multi-factor authentications soar as enterprises move away from passwords to secure hybrid workers 

Biometrics increase significantly, with a 48% surge in authentications year over year 

More than half of UAE IT decision makers plan to implement a passwordless strategy 

Duo also saw fivefold growth in Web Authentication (WebAuthn) usage since April 2019 

A new report explored today at GITEX from Cisco’s Duo Security, the leading multi-factor authentication MFA and secure access solution, confirms that UAE enterprises are taking steps to move away from passwords and adopting low-friction authentication methods to protect the hybrid workforce. While the total number of Duo MFA authentications increased 39% in the past year, biometric authentications grew even faster at 48%.

The 2021 Duo Trusted Access Report analyzed data from more than 36 million devices, over 400,000 unique applications and roughly 800 million monthly authentications from across Duo’s global customer base. It revealed how organizations across all industries are enabling work from anywhere, on any device, by implementing controls to ensure secure access to applications.

Biometrics were enabled on more than 71% of Duo customer mobile phones globally, illustrating a rise in adoption driven by users’ growing acceptance of non-traditional authentication methods and the accessibility of passwordless hardware that they already carry in their pockets. Further eliminating the need for users to retain a large cache of authentication passwords, Duo Security also saw a fivefold increase in Web Authentication (WebAuthn) usage since April 2019 when the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) first published the open standard. WebAuthn enables biometrics to be securely stored and validated locally on the device, as opposed to a centralized database.

Duo Security has been a champion of passwordless technology, driving WebAuthn’s ratification as a member of the W3C working group and launching its infrastructure agnostic passwordless authentication product in March 2021.

Moving away from passwords will significantly improve the login experience for the vast majority of users – in turn leading to stronger security. More than half of the UAE organizations (52%) are planning to implement a passwordless strategy, according to the new survey of global IT decision makers conducted as part of the Trusted Access Report. 55% of the UAE respondents said security issues related to compromised credentials are the most frustrating or concerning aspect of dealing with passwords in their environment.

“We’ve now reached the point where the user experience is a security control in and of itself,” said Fady Younes, Cybersecurity Director, Cisco Middle East and Africa. “Enterprises in the UAE are moving toward new, more effective ways of handling access control and seeing in action how democratizing security can go a long way in enabling hybrid workers to focus on their core competencies without sacrificing security.”

The importance of user-centric security that incorporates employee work patterns to keep resources accessible and out of reach for malicious actors is reinforced by the recent Cisco Hybrid Work Index. The report showed that while there was a surge in VPN and secure remote access at the onset of the pandemic, fraudulent access attempts grew 2.4 times during the same time period and remains elevated 18 months later. Due to these threats, organizations are setting stricter policies to verify the trust of users and devices before granting access to applications. The number of authentication failures due to out-of-date devices increased 33% between 2020 and 2021.

• The region’s leading tech hub hosted high-level guests and professional development workshops at its pavilion.

• The in5 stand saw numerous one-to-one meetings between start-up founders and angel investors, while the incubator signed a series of MoUs to bolster its start-up ecosystem.

 Dubai Internet City (DIC) and in5 concluded their activities at the close of GITEX Global with DIC hosting a series of knowledge-sharing workshops at its pavilion, while the incubator’s stand saw start-up founders gaining invaluable brand exposure while interacting with potential clients and investors. 

Throughout the Middle East’s largest technology event, DIC, the region’s leading tech hub, saw a number of high-level figures visit its centrally located pavilion, including His Highness Shaikh Hamdan bin Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai.

LinkedIn, Huawei and htc were among the tech giants that had a presence at the pavilion, where they held a series of professional development workshops across a range of topics over the course of GITEX. LinkedIn offered attendees advice on topics such as how to maximize their SME’s presence on the platform; Huawei’s talks included discussion on the importance of the cloud in an organization’s digital transformation journey; and htc’s workshops explored the rapidly expanding scope of business opportunities in virtual reality, including game development, training, health and safety, and design. 

A haven for founders and investors

At the in5 stand in Zabeel 6, start-up founders were able to sit down one-to-one with angel investors and venture capitalists to discuss potential partnerships and funding opportunities, among other things.  

For Atif Ahmed, CFO of ViewIT, a property technology (proptech) start-up, being hosted at the in5 stand at GITEX has been an invaluable experience. “It’s a fantastic experience for a young start-up like ours, which only launched on the Apple and Google app stores six months ago, to be here. 

“In5 has got a beautiful setup, and we’ve actually been able to sit down and talk with a number of investors, which is crucial for a seed-stage start-up like ours. Our product video has been playing on a loop, and that has attracted a lot of curious visitors who we have had the chance to educate about our offering.”

Viewit is a platform that allows real estate agents to visit a listing and create a walkthrough video for a verified listing in three easy steps. Viewit seeks to solve two issues: The prevalence of misleading images – the platform doesn’t actually allow pictures, only video – and fake listings. 

Andrew Widera, Co-founder of Veehive.ai, a mobile-first online streaming community that offers creators tools to easily manage and monetise their content, also feels that he had taken a lot away from GITEX, where he spent day one at the DIC pavilion and day three at the in5 stand. 

“It's been great to get the exposure and brand awareness with regards what we're doing. Being recognized and able to represent in5 at GITEX has also given us a lot of confidence.

“It's a really good opportunity for us to meet people – potential customers, investors and various people in the ecosystem.”

Widera added that being present at GITEX has also given his team the chance to develop deeper relationships with the people at in5. 

On Monday, in5 signed a number of agreements to further enhance the strength and offering of its ecosystem. Pen was put to paper on MoUs with Tie Dubai, TomTom, Gellify and Parsons to improve in5 start-ups’ access to mentorship networks, cutting-edge location technology, appropriate investors and market access to large corporate projects. The agreements followed in5’s announcement that its start-ups had raised a collective AED 1.4 billion in funding from VCs and angles investors so far. 

The Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation (DIDI) also had a presence at the DIC pavilion, where five projects created by the institute’s brightest students were on display. Developed from first- and last-year studio briefs, the projects address and tackle health, environmental and social challenges.