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Smart solutions can help you reach new targets

Various smart city solutions can help businesses reach certain demographics of the population that they might not have been able to reach before, experts at the Arab Future Cities Summit explained.
Speaking to Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the event, Paolo Gagliardi, CEO of Trriple, a UAE-based fintech start-up, noted that since the Central Bank of the UAE released the regulations regarding electronic payments in January 2017, there have been a number of mobile wallet initiatives in the country.
"Our mobile wallet was launched with a very distinct aim in mind - to live in a world where everyone has access to financial services," he said. "The challenge in the UAE is that between 60 to 65 per cent of the population rarely bank, and, as a consequence, most of the transactions that take place are in cash. According to the Central Bank, around 70 per cent of transactions still happen in cash. Our target was this category of people in particular, who had little access to financial services, but had cash in their pockets. Our mobile wallet is a tool for people to convert cash to electronic currency."
He further explained that the whole idea is in line with the UAE Government's vision to go completely cashless by 2021. "As of today, one of the most important services that we offer is for users to top up their phones. We are developing our network of merchants to reach 3,000 merchants in the next six months. Users are intrigued by the idea and we are working hard to introduce new services such as international remittances."
Smart cities by themselves demand services such as mobile wallets, Gagliardi added. "It is unimaginable to live in a smart city and still rely heavily on cash. Electronic payments are due to become a commodity and will soon be something that everyone takes for granted."
Similarly, Julien Bertin, SAP managing director - UAE and Oman, noted that there are certain elements of smart cities that are only just becoming visible to residents
"The UAE is leading the way on this journey in the region," he said. "There are various discreet use cases regarding different areas such as smart waste management and traffic management. The key challenge now is to link all these use cases into one, and create a network. Dubai, and the UAE, is at the forefront of this connection because of the amazing infrastructure that is in place. Dubai Airport is a very good example of how various smart technologies come together to make it almost seamless for passengers to reach their gate."
He added: "As a resident, we all want to have the best possible service, in a minimum amount of time. Today, the focus is on reducing waiting times, and providing automated services wherever possible. Another challenge is to find the right expertise to carry the smart city vision forward. An excellent example of this is the One Million Coders initiative. The government sector is leading the charge in an extremely efficient way, and this has set the benchmark for the private sector to follow."
- rohma@khaleejtimes.com