How can technology help drive economic recovery in the Middle East and Africa?
There are probably four areas where technology can have an immediate impact. The smart use of technology can help save time, it can help save money, it can help increase employee productivity and it can help businesses connect with customers. If technology can help you do things faster, that s a direct saving of time. If you can do things with less travel, that saves both time and money. Using, for example, technologies like unified communication, such as smart video conferencing, has a tremendous and measurable impact on operating expenses. Also, using new technologies like virtualization [the process of using internet-based programs and storing data online instead of on traditional hardware] helps you reduce the number of servers you must buy. That helps you reduce the number of administrators that you hire. It helps you get a higher return on your current investments in hardware. There are now easy ways to measure how such technologies can save money. Having said that, during tough
