Designing IT for Reliability, Regulation, and Scale: IT Operations in MEA
About this interview
We're on the first episode of the FSO Spotlight Roundtable Series, a discussion format where IT solution experts representing different regions converge for a conversation to share their region's market dynamics and technology adoption trends.
This episode focuses on the Middle East and Africa (MEA), exploring how enterprise IT teams operate in environments influenced by government-led digital platforms, data sovereignty mandates, and uneven infrastructure maturity. Unlike markets where innovation is driven primarily by enterprises, MEA often sees governments setting the pace through centralized identity systems, shared platforms, and cloud-first policies.
The discussion with our regional IT solution experts brings forward practical perspectives on observability, infrastructure design, and ITOps maturity as they exist today across diverse MEA markets.
What we discussed
- Government-led digitization in MEA and how it shapes enterprise IT maturity
- Why digital maturity varies sharply across MEA regions
- Reliability, uptime, and resilience as core priorities
- Broadband, power stability, and connectivity challenges in South Africa
- The rise of regional cloud data centres and their impact on latency and trust
- Hybrid and cloud adoption patterns driven by regulation, security, and cost
- Why enterprises increasingly prefer integrated ITOps platforms over point tools
- How observability, service management, and workflows work better when tightly connected
- Vendor stability as a deciding factor: pricing predictability and product continuity
About the speakers
Aziz Sukhsorwala brings over 15 years of experience across network architecture and cybersecurity, helping organizations design secure, resilient, and scalable IT environments. With a strong consulting background, he works closely with enterprises to translate complex infrastructure and security requirements into practical, business-aligned solutions that improve operational efficiency and reduce risk.
Paras Ajwani has more than 12 years of experience leading application and infrastructure transformation initiatives across industries such as Retail, BFSI, and Consumer Goods. He has managed large-scale global transformation programs end to end, with a focus on IoT, M2M solutions, and enterprise application platforms. His expertise spans program delivery, risk management, and aligning technology initiatives with measurable business outcomes.
Murad Fayed leads strategic business development and consultancy initiatives at Alnafitha IT, one of Saudi Arabia’s leading digital transformation providers. With hands-on experience in enterprise IT solutions, he works closely with customers, vendors, and internal teams to deliver scalable, market-relevant solutions aligned with regional standards and evolving business needs.
Philip Slimowitz is a seasoned business leader with extensive experience in building, scaling, and leading technology-focused organizations. As CEO of ITR Technology, he brings a strong perspective on growth strategy, vendor partnerships, and aligning IT investments with long-term business performance. His approach combines commercial insight with a deep interest in technology-driven value creation.