Digital transformation is fundamentally reshaping how every industry all over the world operates. Enterprises and organizations that resist digital transformation or are slow to embrace digitalization ultimately fall behind and struggle to remain competitive.
The advent of revolutionary new technologies such as AI, machine learning, internet of things, big data and 5G will help accelerate the global movement towards digital transformation even further by 2020.
Moreover, global technology companies like Microsoft, Huawei and SAP are now developing their own digital platforms in an effort to establish a foothold in what it is fast becoming a hugely lucrative market worldwide. However, those technology thought-leaders are at the very formative stages of the development of their digital platforms.
These technology leaders, in many ways, are being reactive to the emergence of digital transformation, which has completely engulfed major industries globally. However, one company which has been proactive in its approach to digital transformation is NXN.
The company, formerly known as NeXgen, decided to rebrand its operations and launched its new DNX digital platform two years ago. Under the dynamic vision and leadership of its CEO, Ghazi Atallah, NXN has now become the go-to player for digital transformation with its tried and trusted DNX platform.
NXN has enjoyed phenomenal success with the DNX platform, and what ultimately differentiates the platform from its competitors is the fact that it is now mature and is already achieving the digital transformational objectives and goals for governments, enterprises and organizations all over the GCC region.
NXN identified the emerging trend of digital transformation much earlier than any of its global competitors, thanks to the innovative vision of Atallah. He recognized that enterprises and organizations would need to embrace digital transformation in order to stay relevant and maintain growth in a new era, which has been dubbed by ICT experts as ‘The Fourth Industrial Revolution’.
When NXN rebranded in 2016, the company decided to change course. NXN moved beyond consulting services, as part of its efforts to become a fully-fledged digital services provider. It has enjoyed phenomenal success over the last number of years, sought after by enterprises and organizations seeking to implement digital transformation into their existing operations.
It has also become a pioneer and trailblazing figure in the smart city movement all across the GCC region.
NXN is spearheading a number of smart city initiatives all over the GCC region, and signed a notable strategic partnership agreement with telecommunications operator, Zain, which is aligned with Kuwait’s Vision 2035 government development plan.
The critical component in the success of NXN in terms of leading the ME region to embrace digital transformation has been the creation of its innovative and cutting-edge digital platform, DNX. Its flagship solution is a smart, open, digital platform enabling all individual services to run in a cohesive environment.
It synergizes across applications, fusing data and analysis to provide a 360- degree platform view for digital service development, management and operations. DNX provides a horizontal interoperable platform to deliver vertical use cases efficiently with collaborative ecosystems throughout the value chain.
Global consulting colossus, IDC, is currently examining the phenomenon of digital transformation and is compiling detailed research into digital platforms, which are also known as DX.
IDC recently produced a comprehensive whitepaper which examined the role NXN’s DNX platform has played in helping deliver the digital transformation goals for the organizations, enterprises and stakeholders it has partnered with all over the GCC region.
As mentioned above, its strategic partnership with Zain has created smart city technology solutions as a service - which includes design and integration for applications such as smart living in smart districts, smart safety and security, smart utilities, smart healthcare and smart education - and has been described as groundbreaking, whilst other ICT experts have labelled the DNX platform as a game-changer.
In IDC’s report, it claims that NXN is well-placed to continue the success it has enjoyed in leading digital transformation in the Middle East because its DNX platform is now mature and can easily integrate new technologies into the platform as they emerge.
IDC wrote, “The DNX platform has artificial intelligence and blockchain modules with the flexibility to add more emerging technologies. By adopting the as-a-service approach, DNX allows organizations to start working almost immediately on projects that have a meaningful impact on customers, while controlling expenses and ensuring flexibility. The platform is architected around functional blocks with well-defined capabilities and integration boundaries, so they are open and swappable, and can be developed and sized independently, as warranted.”
The whitepaper also highlights the collaborations NXN has embarked upon with global technology leaders which significantly enhances the platforms capabilities. In addition to this, it illustrates how the DNX platform enables organizations to improve their decision-making processes through its data analytics and technology dashboard.
IDC writes, “The DNX platform sits on top of existing systems and acts as an intelligent platform that allows the free flow of data within the organization and turns data into insights, as well as builds new digital services. These digital services can be pre-built or custom-built based on the unique requirements of the organization. The DNX platform is built in cooperation with well-known technology leaders including DELL EMC, SAP, Esri, Microsoft, Vidsys and others. The technology has been architecturally orchestrated and integrated in a way that allows NXN to provide organizations with dashboards and data analytics that add value to decision-making processes.”
Digitization is the conversion of analog or traditional data into digital data and putting it into a platform for specific services. Digital transformation is the process of using digitization to change the processes of an organization to foster transformation. This process, DX, is where the term DNX arose from for NXN's digital platform.
In a previous interview with Telecom Review, NXN’s chief business officer, Labib Matta, explained the thought process behind the platforms creation and highlighted the capabilities it brings to enterprises seeking change.
Matta said, “It's about changing the culture of an organization to be more agile and efficient. In order to achieve that, you need to tackle issues within the organization piece by piece so that you're able to manage it. To address that, we came up with our platform DNX – an enabler for digital transformation across industries. It's a platform that enables the development and rollout of digital services across multiple verticals in a structured and cohesive way.”
The sentiments expressed by Matta were echoed by Khaled Charif, director of technology and innovation at NXN, who reiterated his belief that the best way to integrate and harmonize transformative technologies was through a digital platform.
Charif said, “We believe that a digital platform is the best way to effectively harness the benefits that many emerging technologies promise to deliver on - the resulting landscape is a perfect example where the total is greater than the sum of the parts. Artificial intelligence applications, for example, can only strive when they feed on large and heterogeneous data sets; an underlying big data platform brings those data sets into the picture and facilitates their consumption, while enablers such as M2M and IOT facilitate the process of connecting and tapping into relevant data sources. This is a good example where we can think of these technologies as individual building blocks that form part of a common digital platform.”
According to IDC what differentiates NXN’s digital platform from its competitors is the technology behind it.
IDC wrote, “The DNX platform is built in cooperation with well-known technology leaders including DELL EMC, SAP, Esri, Microsoft, Vidsys and others. The technology has been architecturally orchestrated and integrated in a way that allows NXN to provide organizations with dashboards and data analytics that add value to decision-making processes.”
* IDC White Paper, sponsored by DNX, "Embracing Digital Transformation through DX Platforms," IDC, November 2018.