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Tag: DIGITAL

  • An experience of digital fragrance

    An experience of digital fragrance

    Swiss Arabian, UAE’s first fragrance house takes a stride forward in digital transformation to enhance customer experience…reports Asian Lite News

    With a vision to adapt to a time where technology is at its peak, Swiss Arabian looks to innovate and adapt to the modern-day digital era by incorporating a 3D virtual tour of the showroom at Dubai Mall, and online fragrance quiz to provide a more tailored array of choices.

    As UAE’s fragrance pioneer, Swiss Arabian bridges a piece of UAE’s heritage with the digital world we live in today to continue adapting to accommodate its customers.

    Swiss Arabian

    Virtual Showroom

    The retail industry significantly shifted over the past year as companies began combining their online platforms and physical showrooms to provide an overall holistic customer experience. Ensuring online shoppers are receiving a personalized service as they would in-store, Swiss Arabian has incorporated a 3D virtual showroom on their website, bringing that human connection to their customers regardless of location. 

    Fragrance Finder

    Swiss Arabian has also launched their online fragrance finder to help narrow down the customers preference, bringing to life that real-time connection a customer would have with an in-store associate. The fragrance finder begins with asking the user simple questions, such as their gender and fragrance style – to more detailed questions such as personality type. Once the quiz is over, the website will present a list of tailored options to choose from.

  • Dubai steps up plans for digital transformation

    Dubai steps up plans for digital transformation

    The framework aims to create a secure digital environment by establishing cybersecurity to protect data, information systems and the communication network…reports Asian Lite News

    Dubai Digital Authority (DDA) has held the first meeting with the four affiliated entities under its umbrella to discuss the unified vision for Dubai’s comprehensive digital transformation.

    Hosted at the Dubai Statistics Centre, the meeting, chaired by Hamad Al Mansoori, Director-General of DDA, was attended by Yousuf Hamad Al Shaibani, Director-General of the Dubai Electronic Security Centre; Arif Obaid Al Muhairi, Executive Director of the Dubai Statistics Centre; Younus Al Nasser, CEO of Dubai Data Establishment, and Wesam Lootah, CEO of Smart Dubai Government Establishment.

    During the meeting, the representatives discussed the framework of DDA and its entities during the next phase, and the mechanisms for digitalising life in Dubai through providing an integrated and innovative smart services ecosystem that would contribute to building a pioneering digital economy for the emirate.

    The framework aims to create a secure digital environment by establishing cybersecurity to protect data, information systems and the communication network, thereby preserving the wealth of data that Dubai has achieved over the years.

    Ultimately, the framework has the goal of ensuring the happiness and well-being of members of our society through the use of digital technologies.

    The meeting also discussed the importance of partnership with various institutions and companies working in the field of technology, as well as with academic institutions in the emirate, with collaboration being an important pillar of DDA to ensure integration in the plans to make Dubai a fully digital city.

    Al Mansoori confirmed that the four entities of the authority will work together and in line with Dubai’s strategy to accelerate the rate of digitialisation.

    He affirmed that they will collaborate to meet the visions and aspirations of our wise leadership and ensure the transition of Dubai into a globally leading digital hub, by adopting innovation and best practices and by providing a safe environment for all systems and tools that support this transformation.

    Al Mansoori explained that the authority is currently working on developing its strategies and digital projects to ensure high efficiency in government performance, enabling government agencies to automate their internal and external operations, as well as services and activities, thus enhancing people’s confidence and dependence in Dubai’s digital services.

    The meeting also saw the presentation of operational plans aimed at frameworking the strategic objectives for digitialising life in the emirate, which are to meet the needs and requirements of the new digital transformation, enhance the digital economy, qualify digital human competencies, preserve Dubai’s digital wealth and transform Dubai into a city entirely managed by smart digital transactions.

    ALSO READ: UAE Prez pardons 855 prisoners ahead of Eid

  • Priti unveils UK digital visa

    Priti unveils UK digital visa

    It will be required of all non-British or Irish citizens without a visa or immigration status who come to the UK…reports Asian Lite News.

    Home Secretary Priti Patel on Monday said new US-style electronic border permits will give ministers a clearer idea of who is in the country.

    A planned Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) would allow officials to “count people in and count people out”, the home secretary said, according to BBC.

    In an online speech, Patel said the electronic permits would create a “fully digital” and more secure UK border.

    It will be required of all non-British or Irish citizens without a visa or immigration status who come to the UK.

    The Labour Party has warned of “serious questions” over delivering the system.

    “The home secretary talks about a broken asylum system but it’s the Conservatives who have been in power for 11 years and are responsible for that,” BBC quoted Labour’s shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds as saying.

    He added that the idea of e-borders “has been around for a number of years,” whilst the loss of data from police databases in January meant there are “serious questions about the home secretary delivering this digital system.”

    The government says the ETA scheme will be fully in place by the end of 2024, with up to 30 million applications expected to be processed each year.

    At the event hosted by the Bright Blue and British Future think-tanks, Patel said the ETA would deliver “greater accuracy” on arrival and exit numbers.

    “We will have a far clearer picture of who is here, and whether they should be – and we will act when they are not,” she was quoted as saying..

    The new electronic permits, she added, would also “make it easier to identify potential new threats before they reach the border”.

    Since Britain completed its exit from the European Union at the end of last year, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been keen to set out a new independent vision on immigration. 

    “Our new fully digital border will provide the ability to count people in and out of the country, giving us control over who comes to the UK,” Patel was quoted as saying in the ‘Observer’.

    Travellers in the arrivals hall at Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, south China

    “Our new approach will make it easier to identify potential threats before they reach the border. The British people will have confidence that the strongest controls are in place to keep them safe,” she said.

    The Home Office hopes to make entry to Britain fully digital by the end of 2025.

    Digitising the border will mean officials “can now count who is coming in and out of the country and whether they have permission to be here,” said her Home Office department.

    ALSO READ-Priti Patel assures ‘wholesale immigration reforms’

    READ MORE-Priti, Jaishankar sign Migration & Mobility partnership

  • Patel to unveil US-style digital visas to count migrants

    Patel to unveil US-style digital visas to count migrants

    The Home Office hopes to make entry to Britain fully digital by the end of 2025, reports Asian Lite News

    Britain’s Home Secretary Priti Patel is set to unveil a new US-style digital visa regime at the country’s borders in order to measure immigration levels in and out of the country.

    The senior Indian-origin Cabinet minister is to confirm the so-called “sweeping changes” to the UK’s immigration policy to “streamline” the way in which people come into the country on Monday.

    The post-Brexit changes will include the border being managed digitally, which the government says will be easier to navigate for businesses and allow for the first time to accurately count people in and out of the UK.

    Digital identity checks will also be used to reduce the need to visit visa application centers. 

    Since Britain completed its exit from the European Union at the end of last year, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been keen to set out a new independent vision on immigration. 

    “Our new fully digital border will provide the ability to count people in and out of the country, giving us control over who comes to the UK,” Patel was quoted as saying in the ‘Observer’.

    “Our new approach will make it easier to identify potential threats before they reach the border. The British people will have confidence that the strongest controls are in place to keep them safe,” she said.

    The Home Office hopes to make entry to Britain fully digital by the end of 2025.

    Digitising the border will mean officials “can now count who is coming in and out of the country and whether they have permission to be here,” said her Home Office department.

    It means people wanting to come into Britain without a visa or immigration status will have to apply for an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), similar to the US system, with 30 million applications expected to be processed every year.

    As well as launching her latest immigration plans, Patel will also focus on failings in the asylum system and the need to crack down on people smugglers. Earlier in the week, she was filmed accompanying police as they arrested suspected ringleaders of a people smuggling gang that used minicab and lorry drivers to move migrants in and out of Britain.

    “What I’m unveiling and proposing is a new legal migration and border strategy…, which is based upon digitalisation of our borders, but also the simplification of our immigration laws,” Patel told Sky News yesterday.

    “I am introducing the new borders bill, which will come to parliament next month, where we will specifically clamp down and tackle the problems around illegal migration,” she added.

    The British government has said that in the past 10 days, more than 140 foreign criminals have been removed from the UK, totalling more than 700 so far this year.

    ALSO READ-Boris to announce decision on Priti Patel’s future

    READ MORE-Lord Rami Ranger To Lead Sardar Patel Trust

  • EU leaders summit turns digital

    EU leaders summit turns digital

    It will be the first regular EU summit since mid-2020…reports Asian Lite News

    A summit of European Union (EU) heads of state and government planned for later this week has been moved exclusively online as much of the continent faces a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

    Instead of meeting in person Brussels, as originally planned, the leaders will meet via video conference, a spokesman for EU Council President Charles Michel said on Twitter on Sunday.

    It will mark the first regular EU summit since mid-2020, reports dpa news agency.

    Leaders usually meet every three months, though there has been a series of additional video conferences in between meetings in recent months to deal with the pandemic.

    The pandemic will be high on the agenda at the summit planned for Thursday and Friday, as leaders try to hash out ways to reach a shared goal of speeding up vaccination campaigns.

    Future ties with Russia and Turkey will also be discussed.

    Also read:EU nations seek solidarity over migration