Building bankable smart and cognitive cities

Did you know that when many people hear "Orange," they still ask if it involves SIM cards? That was the perfect place to begin my conversation with Sahem Azzam, President for IMEA and Inner Asia at Orange Business.

Once we cleared that up, it opened the door to a much richer story about what enterprise innovation looks like across one of the fastest-moving regions on the planet.

Sahem joined me from Dubai, a city that has become a living case study for what happens when a region refuses to think small. As we compared notes from Gitex Global, it became clear that what is happening across the Middle East is not a short burst of enthusiasm.

It is a deliberate long-term shift driven by young populations, bold government ambition, and a willingness to adopt new technologies before anyone else. Sahem explained how this appetite for speed is shaping the region's digital transformation and how Orange Business is supporting it through cloud, connectivity, cybersecurity, digital integration, and large-scale smart city programmes.

He shared practical stories that peeled back the curtain on cognitive city design, energy optimisation, and the pressure on enterprises to simplify sprawling hybrid IT environments. What stood out was how often the conversation returned to value. Better user experiences, lower costs, and new revenue paths.

Everything Orange Business builds must deliver one of those outcomes. Sahem talked through platformization, why unified infrastructure matters, and how enterprises can reduce complexity in an age where cloud, security, networking, and AI all collide at once.

We also discussed the growing focus on responsible AI and the shared need for transparency. Sahem spoke about data ownership, trusted models, and the careful guardrails that must sit behind every AI deployment.

The rise in cyber threats is making this more important than ever, and he offered a candid look at how Orange Cyberdefense approaches modern security through an integrated view of infrastructure, operations, and risk.

What gave this conversation a personal edge was Sahem's final reflection on learning. After years at Stanford, London Business School, and Harvard, he still sees human experience as the most valuable teacher.

Listening to people, sharing problems, comparing perspectives. Events like Gitex remind him that optimism is contagious and that the future of the region will be shaped by collaboration as much as technology.

If you want a grounded view of digital transformation from someone living it every day, this conversation is a rare window into both the opportunities and the tension behind innovation at scale. Have you seen the same momentum in your own region, and how do you stay ahead of the pace of change? I would love to hear your thoughts.

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