ME PoV Summer 2019 issue

About this issue

For all you know, the words you are reading have been generated by a robot. Or not. Could you really tell the difference?

With the opening of Ai-Da’s first solo art exhibition in June in Oxford, England, new boundaries have just been breached in the world of Ai. You see, despite Ai-Da’s cascading brown hair and tinted lips, she is in fact, a robot. The first to be able to draw and paint from sight using her camera/eyes. The exhibition is aptly titled Unsecured Futures.

It has long been perceived that artists and social scientists would be immune to the Artificial Intelligence takeover. Human creativity was thought to surpass any algorithm possible. The human brain could reach creative horizons that no robot, or robot creator, could possibly hope to match. But now it may seem the opposite is true. As every struggling artist desperate to get showcased watches with envy as Ai-Da’s exhibition is mounted—not to mention Sophia, the first robot to be granted Saudi citizenship—it may even seem advantageous to be a robot in a still very human world.

Yet, despite what has often been depicted in sci-fi movies, we will not be descended upon by robots. The robots of the future will be us. Or rather our descendants and their descendants. The changes will be so incremental that we will hardly notice them. A heart pacer here, an artificial valve there, titanium legs, we will morph into cyborgs ever so gently. There will be no Robot Revolution but rather, a Robot Evolution.

It’s all a matter of acclimation. And as everything in life, it starts with education. In the first article in this issue – From fragility to antifragility – Ziad Zakaria and Elham Barghouty dissect the education sector in the region. “The shift in our thinking about education as a result of the rapid move towards the fourth industrial revolution has prompted key regional governments to embark on education reform that holistically addresses their challenges in improving the quality of education to meet the increasing labor demands of the digital world and beyond” they say.

It is not only the education sector in the region that is having to embrace technology. Faiq Khalid, in his article …In with the new says: “People want to carry out most of their mundane daily chores on their mobile phone […]” As such, “embracing technology is no longer a choice for a successful business, it is a requirement […]” and that this is particularly true for family offices in the Middle East.

But could that same mobile phone be The Black Mirror in your pocket? That is what Nick Athanasi and Boray Altunisler ask in their article about the unique opportunities and challenges associated with mobile devices in investigations and legal matters. “The information that the average user sees and interacts with on their mobile phone,” they write, “is only a portion of the vast data their device truly holds. In truth, the data on smartphones is rich and granular enough to build profiles of intimate detail about their users.”

You have been warned. But that is only one side of the story. When not in system breakdown mode, technology is synonymous with speed and efficiency and this is particularly true in the audit world. In Automating audit: The evolving role of auditors, Angelito Catacutan and Fadi Ghawi state that: “Auditors need to invest in understanding the value of new technologies and the skillsets now needed to deliver a new generation of audit.”

Who says technology says Big Data. On this subject, Bhavesh Morar et al., write that: “Gulf countries benefit from unique strengths to be able to unlock opportunities offered by Big Data such as the availability of an efficient legislative system, strong leadership commitment, and a state-of-the-art technology and infrastructure foundation” in their article Big Data in the GCC: from strategy to global leadership.

In all this turmoil, it is perhaps easy to feel dazed and confused, easy to miss our sense of purpose. Not an issue that millennials seem to be contending with. Tahani Sinjab, in her article Millennial 4.0: Gearing up for retention, describes millennials as “exponential professionals” who are disrupting much of what the Baby Boomers have established.

Too overwhelming? Then perhaps a day at the CFO Transition LabTM may be in order. Robert O’Hanlon and Bronwyn Millar recount the one-day learning experience that focuses on the three most important resources CFOs should consider managing during their transitions, namely time, talent and relationships.

So, as you can see, it starts with education, and ends in learning. Knowledge. While robots may be able to store more of it, we still need a human to make sense of it. Case in point, Ai-Da may be the artist but the exhibition still had to be curated by a human.

Big Data in the GCC

Big Data has become a hot topic in the last decade with many countries looking to acquire a competitive edge in this new industry. This disruptive technology offers numerous opportunities for governments across the world: it can help enhance decision-making, improve service delivery and also support the growth of a multi-billion dollar industry. 

Click here to read the full article.

…In with the new.

The questions that Middle East family businesses face are those that any other private business faces, namely, how to integrate technology into their business offerings to improve customer experience, drive efficiencies and remain competitive in this agile business environment. 

Click here to read the full article.

From fragility to antifragility

Managing organization change is hard, but today, top performing organizations are constantly changing and adapting. We call these organizations “adaptable.” They are organizations that not only survive, but thrive in the midst of radical change. They gain from disorder in their industry, and they get stronger rather than weaker in stressful times. 

Click here to read the full article.

The Black Mirror in your pocket?

The information that the average user sees and interacts with on their mobile phone is only a portion of the vast data their device truly holds. In truth, the data on smartphones is rich and granular enough to build profiles of intimate detail about their users by analyzing their behavior, browsing patterns, whereabouts and much more.

Click here to read the full article.

The CFO’s journey

Taking on the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) role, whether promoted from within or hired from outside, always comes with unknown territory and challenges. We have a limited period to make our mark within the new role and to set forth a plan that stakeholders will buy into and meet the business’ objectives. The challenge is how to do all of that and still deal with the day-to-day business of the job at hand.

Click here to read the full article.

Millennial 4.0: Gearing up for retention

Millennials are the “exponential professionals”—a rapidly changing breed of professionals—who are disrupting much of what the Baby Boomers have established and the first step in understanding why they are leaving is by asking the right questions.

Click here to read the full article.

Automating audit: The evolving role of auditors

It is not that audit is changing but that it is doing so at an exceptional pace. And it will continue to evolve in order to meet the future needs of clients whose business environments are changing at an even faster pace. Auditors need to invest in understanding the value of new technologies and the skillsets now needed to deliver a new generation of audit: smarter, more digitized, and that will be able to create a better audit experience for the clients.

Click here to read the full article.