The Gulf Business Summit discusses challenges and trends of e-enabling strategies

The Gulf Business Summit in the UAE Discusses Challenges and Trends of e-Enabling Strategies for Businesses in the Region

Dubai, 6 March, 2002- Reuters Solutions, the IT arm of Reuters which is better known as the leading news agency in the world, will be outlining the challenges that companies, both bricks-and-mortar and Internet-based, are facing in the current challenging business environment.

The Gulf Business Summit, organised by the Economist Conferences, will take place at the Emirates Towers Hotel in Dubai on March 11 and 12 and will be addressed by top Arab and international businessmen and IT specialists, including Ian Evans, Strategy Development Manager at Reuters Solutions, a global leading provider of financial information and solutions worldwide with a strong local presence in the Gulf; Gilbert LaCroix, Intel's General Manager for the Middle East and North Africa; Mohammad Hassan Omran, Chairman of Thurayya; Ramzi Zeine, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Arabia Online; and Daniel Franklin, Editorial Director of the Economist Intelligence Unit. (any others: al-Waleed Bin Talal, Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammad Al-Khalifa, Lubna Al-Qassimi, Salim Ali-Al-Owais, etc.)

Announcing the details of Reuters' participation in the Gulf Business Summit, Ian Evans said that the conference is geared to address the global and regional economic situation under the current political conditions and its impact on the confidence of businesses in future investments in technology. It will also discuss how technology can help businesses during an economic slowdown and how technology can even take advantage of such business lapses.

Existing and potential investors in the Gulf region will discuss market strategies, technological developments and the essential principles for achieving sustainable growth and development in both the short and long term.

This summit will seek to examine the outlook for the region, identify the potential opportunities for organisations and advise on the risks that they may face.

Ian Evans said: "The global economy is now moving towards a demand chain cycle rather than a supply based model which means that the demands placed on IT will be even greater than in previous years. Forward looking solution providers, such as Reuters, are now concentrating their efforts on Event Driven computing more commonly known as real-time processing. If companies cannot deal with client requests in real-time, their competitors will!"

Explaining Reuters' initiative in addressing this event, Evans said: "Our role as a specialised technology company dedicated to providing total IT solutions to the financial and corporate sector does not merely stop with engineering innovative and customised products for our customers. Reuters is a global industry leader in technology solutions, and we have a commitment to create further awareness in the business community of what technology can bring to their businesses."