Marwa Abbas :IBM is the state and private sector strategic partner in digital transformation and sustainability
The company has provided technical solutions for big projects since its work in Egypt in 1954
Implementing sustainability goals requires strong technological infrastructure and artificial intelligence techniques
The company makes hybrid cloud platforms available with the required flexibility and ease of adaptation
Cooperation with the state in projects, including the automation of Egyptian taxes and Supply wheat silos
The silo project reduces wastage and ensures good control over goods transportation
Contracting with "e-finance" provides the best level of service performance while preserving the environment by consuming less energy by 52%
Cooperation with “E-Bank” contributed to 80% faster transfers of funds
Cyber security is an important part of the company's work system throughout IBM's world history, extending for more than 111 years
IBM SkillsBuild platform contributes to qualifying human resources for future jobs and developing their capabilities in digital awareness
Strengthening IBM role for Egypt's Strategic Plan 2030 implementation
Since its presence in the Egyptian market from the early fifties, IBM International company has provided technical solutions and technology that keep pace with the time changes and meet the needs and directions of the Egyptian state at all times, and IBM Egypt was a partner in many national and strategic projects with its technological services.
In accordance with the implementation of Egypt's Strategic Plan 2030, the role of big companies providing technology services, is increasing, including IBM which participates with its services in many sectors in the country to achieve the digital transformation plan, as it works on several projects, for example, cooperation with the Ministry of Finance in developing the tax system and implementing the Egyptian tax mechanization project with the announcement of the opening of 10 new tax offices that provide these services.
IBM also makes great efforts by launching many technical solutions that are compatible with the country's efforts to deal with climate changes, which was announced by the company during its participation in the COP27 Climate Conference.
Marwa Abbas, General Manager of IBM Egypt, stated that the company continues to provide the latest technical and technological solutions since its launch in the Egyptian market in 1954, and it has been since that date a strategic partner in implementing national projects by providing appropriate technological solutions, which the company continues to offer so far.
The company is proud of being a technological partner with the Egyptian government at the COP27 Climate Conference, which was held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt in according to its role as a partner with many institutions, government agencies, and the private sector, she added.
Sustainability goals requires strong technological infrastructure and artificial intelligence
She indicated that the implementation of sustainability goals requires strong technological infrastructure and artificial intelligence techniques, as there are, with the rapid development of technology worldwide and digital transformation, permanent challenges that require work strategy and continuous development, and IBM provides hybrid cloud platforms that are flexible and easy for clients to adapt, whether on the public or private cloud.
She confirmed that it is necessary to designate suitable strategy to help institutions and private sector companies achieve sustainability, as if the trend is to reduce emissions, standards must be set to apply it and evaluate each stage in the application and what has been achieved in order to reach the final goal with the highest standards of quality, therefore, each institution defines its goals on which an appropriate strategy is developed to achieve it.
Distinguished Partnerships
Marwa Abbas praised the distinguished partnerships in many big projects for the government institutions, as the company provides advisory and technological expertise in many projects, including the Ration silos mechanization, where the partnership was concluded with the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade to create a digital system using IBM technologies for artificial intelligence and hybrid cloud for effective management of wheat supply chains to ensure reducing the waste, controlling the quality, and without shortage of commodities at every stage of transportation.
The company is present with its expertise through the implementation of projects for its clients in the New Administrative Capital, and IBM Egypt's CEO confirmed as an Egyptian citizen that the Administrative Capital differs from any new city that was built in the past considering the level of infrastructure, roads, facilities and technological techniques. She expected that, with the Egyptian government moving to work in the capital and opening the monorail, the electric train, and other projects, as well as the start of the movement of citizens to housing, there will be different and new form for the Capital with all the surrounding areas and different form for downtown Cairo in terms of reducing congestion and crowdedness in the streets.
IBM Egypt cooperation with banks and private sector
IBM Egypt's CEO affirmed, concerning dealing with banks and private sector companies, that the international company cooperates with many Egyptian companies, as cooperation was recently announced with the “e-Finance” group for the technology of operating its affiliated financial facilities, in order to expand the cloud services provided by the “e-Finance” group, based on IBM's hybrid cloud technology.
E-Finance provides, through its cooperation, IBM Power Servers services on e-Finance's cloud computing systems inside Egypt by using IBM's latest product, the Power 10 system, which avails the ability to host giant systems with the best level of service performance while preserving the environment by consuming 52% less energy than previous versions.
IBM's Giant Systems
Many of the giant systems of the "e-finance" group have been operated on the IBM Power 10 system, including the electronic payment systems and management of government points of sale for the "e-finance" as well as the card management system for the e-card company, the electronic payment system for the khales company and many other systems.
"IBM" will offer, as part of the collaboration, IBM FlashSystems and IBM Software-Defined Storage (SDS) to e-Finance group, enabling streamlined administrative and operational processes across on-premises environments, hybrid cloud, virtualization and containers.
By offering advanced compression properties that allow data to be stored in much smaller spaces than conventional units, e-Finance will be able to host clients data and workloads more efficiently, reducing data centers and storage spaces by up to 40% and saving energy consumption by 50%. .
Marwa Abbas indicated that cooperation is taking place with banks such as E-Bank (Egyptian Export Development Bank) to develop technological solutions to serve the banking sector concerning speed of transfers, as IBM's hybrid cloud makes 80% faster transfers to the bank's clients, so the money transfer process does not take more than two minutes compared to 10 minutes, ensuring faster client service and speed up transfers between banks from 4 minutes per transfer to 50 transfers per minute while allowing all transactions to be secured, monitored and traced at the same time.
Cyber security
Marwa Abbas stressed that cyber security, the protection of systems and networks from technology risks are important parts of the company's work and services system throughout IBM's global history, which extends for more than 111 years, as the company is always keen to develop these technologies in accordance with changes, since cyber security has various parts and techniques.
The company has technical support and work team of qualified Egyptian youth, which guarantees the permanent excellence of the company, she added .
The Sustainable Community Role
Regarding the sustainable community role, the IBM Egypt's CEO explained that the company has two parts: the first is platforms such as IBM SkillsBuild, which are provided to qualify human resources for future jobs and develop their capabilities in digital awareness and the second is modern technology mechanisms such as artificial intelligence, data solutions and cyber security.
“Sustainability Accelerator” Program
She indicated that the company announced at the beginning of this year the “Sustainability Accelerator” program to support environmental issues in the most needy communities, and called on non-profit institutions, NGOs, and others to provide ideas to support sustainability, as the company at this stage of the global initiative tries to promote and expand the scope of clean energy projects by using techniques such as hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence, to support populations exposed to the threats of climate change.
IBM company announced during COP 27, the winning of the Egyptian Foundation, Environment Without Borders, among the winning projects worldwide in the Sustainability Accelerator Program to support environmental issues in the neediest communities, after strong competition with more than 100 applications and projects submitted from all over the world and IBM also announced its intention to provide $30 million in services and techniques through the program to organizations and companies by 2023.
The Selection Criteria
The selection process took into account a number of criteria, the most important of which is the applicant's commitment to supporting communities that are particularly vulnerable to environmental threats and its ability to increase access to clean energy services at reasonable prices within the reach of all, as well as its strategic focus and transparency about impact measurement and reporting.
UNDP is pleased to collaborate with IBM
Ahuna Eziakunwa, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNDP Regional Director for Africa, declared that the organization is pleased to collaborate with IBM on this initiative that helps improve policies and investment decisions as this partnership strengthens the integration of UNDP and contributes directly to providing 500 million people with the ability to access to safe and reliable energy by 2025 by focusing in early stages on African countries.
Marwa Abbas concluded: "We are enthusiastic and keen to work with Environment Without Borders in order to provide alternative solutions that support the green transition in Egypt, especially in light of the state's increasing interest in achieving sustainability and the transition to clean energy."
