Accenture Named Exclusive Digital Transformation Partner of GITEX Technology Week

Accenture Named Exclusive Digital Transformation Partner of GITEX Technology Week

Company to focus on driving digital agenda to help businesses and governments meet customers’ and citizens’ changing expectations

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES; Oct. 7, 2015 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has signed a three-year agreement with the Dubai World Trade Centre to become the exclusive digital transformation partner of GITEX Technology Week.

Under the agreement, Accenture will team with the event organizers, Dubai World Trade Centre, on a broad mission to deliver compelling, industry-leading insights on how digital technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) is transforming businesses and governments in the region, as well as globally. It will unveil the Middle East findings of its flagship Technology Vision research program and help facilitate a ‘digital discussion’ through social media wall installations at this year’s event.

“The Internet of Things era presents bold new opportunities for organizations across the region to deliver value through real-time insights of business processes, employees, and customer experiences. In line with the Gitex theme of ‘The Internet Future of Everything,’ the Dubai World Trade Centre welcomes Accenture as the Exclusive Digital Transformation Partner to help set the region’s agenda in guiding the digitization processes and innovation agendas for organizations across all sizes and verticals,” said HE Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing and Dubai World Trade Centre Authority.

Omar Boulos, regional managing director of Accenture in the Middle East and North Africa, said: “Digital transformation can boost competitiveness and economic growth, and our research shows that unlocking this potential can add trillions to the GDP of top global economies. This region’s appetite for innovation makes it uniquely positioned to take advantage of the digital opportunity and we’re delighted to be at the heart of this conversation at GITEX.”

Accenture named exclusive digital transformation partner of Gitex Technology Week From left: Omar Boulos, regional managing director of Accenture in the Middle East and North Africa, and Helal Saeed Almarri, Director General of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing and Dubai World Trade Centre Authority

Paul Daugherty, Accenture’s chief technology officer, will address the opening day’s session of the GITEX flagship conference in October - ‘GTX Ignite’, a high-level leadership summit focusing on innovation, smart cities and the Internet of Things. Other Accenture speakers will include:

• Simon Giles, global director for intelligent cities, will take part in a panel discussion on smart cities;
• Ben Salama, global connected operations lead for IoT, will discuss stretching boundaries with the Industrial Internet of Things; and
• Dr. Majid Altuwaijri, Middle East health and public service lead, will look at empowering patients in the digital world, through a future of integrated healthcare delivery.

“Today’s highly mobile and digitally-savvy population of the Gulf Cooperation Council want services that are customized for them, available on demand and at the touch of a button,” said Tony Karam, managing director of Accenture Digital in the Middle East and North Africa. “To meet the growing expectations of citizens and customers, leaders of the region’s governments and the private sector need to adopt a digital mindset and take advantage of new technologies that can rapidly redefine how they create and deliver new or enhanced products and services.”

Accenture Digital is working with organizations across the region to solve operational problems through innovation, enabled by new digital technologies. This approach can enable better outcomes and improve the user experience for citizens, patients, students, employees and customers, who are becoming less tolerant of limitations imposed by institutional boundaries, legacy inefficiencies and bureaucracy.

GITEX will mark its 35^th anniversary this year. The conference and exhibition is expected to welcome more than 140,000 visitors from more than 140 countries, including 20,000 C-level executives and 3,500 exhibiting brands from all around the world.