ABU DHABI– Today, the Small and Medium Business, SMB, sector plays an important role in the UAE’s economy, accounting for 86 per cent of the total private sector workforce and more than 60 per cent of the country’s current GDP.

Etisalat serves close to 300,000 SMB customers in the country, working closely with them in their digital transformation journey. The relevance of digital innovation and capabilities have gained significance in today’s unprecedented times. As businesses navigate through the challenges posed by the pandemic, Esam Mahmoud, Senior Vice President, Small and Medium Business, Etisalat shared his insights on the unique challenges faced by small and medium businesses, SMBs.

"Today’s rapidly evolving situation poses unique challenges for everyone, and we understand that businesses are doing everything to ensure the safety of their employees while managing business continuity," Mahmoud said.

These initiatives are in line with the UAE’s efforts to ensure public health and safety and are based on the SMB requirements for virtual meetings, cloud video surveillance and analytics, data, monthly usage of voice minutes, device purchases, and post-paid plans, he added.

"With the gradual opening of businesses, safety measures, thermal scanners and social distancing procedures should be in place," Mahmoud stated. "In line with government regulations, Etisalat launched a temperature screening solution with multiple product types and a wide range of applications that would make temperature measurement and screening effortless during these challenging times." The thermal camera solution is designed to detect skin-surface temperatures to achieve rapid and safe preliminary screening in public areas with high efficiency in a multitude of scenarios. Thermal technology has been applied widely in temperature screening scenarios as it offers more flexibility and efficiency in a preliminary screening of elevated skin-surface temperatures. AI technology ensures thermographic cameras only detect human skin-surface temperature to reduce false alarms of other heat sources.

Etisalat’s proposition comes with five options, four different cameras and instalment plans of up to 36 months.

Customers can choose from four Etisalat Video Surveillance, VSAAS, packages, and a one-time installation will be waived off. VSAAS, a comprehensive security surveillance service with a business analytics solution, offers customers, end-to-end managed services, security surveillance with analytics, business intelligence, upgradeable cloud storage, as well as web and mobile access, on a monthly subscription model.

VSAAS offers heat maps, people-counting, a security system and queue management. It covers all CCTV requirements, ranging from supply to installation, testing, commissioning and maintenance. It provides cameras, network video recorders with local storage, cloud video management with analytics, web access, a mobile app, and basic seven-day cloud backup as default for continuous streaming.

As a provider of vital infrastructure, Etisalat is committed to keeping its valuable customers, employees and society fully connected now more than ever before.

"To support the unprecedented demand for connectivity and help businesses stay connected, we have come up with a wide range of device bundles along with access to Etisalat's unified communication and collaboration platform CloudTalk Meeting," he said.

Etisalat’s Business First Plus post-paid plan enables business customers to carry forward their unused minutes to the next month and enjoy the unused minutes with three-month validity. Plans start from AED110 with carry-forward and the Business Xtreme plan with unlimited local calling and double data offer provides 54GB data every month for 12 months starting at only AED 325.

"We have been laser-focused on providing tools and features to support SMBs confronted with a very challenging retail environment where clients tend to restrict their movements and minimise face-to-face interactions," Mahmoud explained.

 

© Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2020.