COVID-19 crisis accelerated digital transformation, financial inclusion: Summit CEO

National projects including Grand Egyptian Museum, Administrative Capital alleviated effects of pandemic, says Magda El-Sabee

Magda El-Sabee, CEO of Summit Technology Solutions, said that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has accelerated digital transformation and increased financial inclusion.
She said this took place despite the pandemic's negative effects globally, which were lessened by national projects which have contributed to reducing the severity of these effects. These efforts have even pushed the growth of the communications and information technology (CIT) sector.
Speaking to Daily News Egypt, El-Sabee said that the company has participated in the implementation of several national projects, such as the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), the City of Arts in the New Administrative Capital (NAC), and Port Said's tunnels.
These projects have collectively contributed to the growth of the company's profits by 30%.
El-Sabee added that 2020 was one of the most difficult years for all economic sectors, locally and internationally, due to the negative impacts of COVID-19.
The spread of the virus has disrupted some sectors while others, such as CIT, have continued to grow. This has served as the driving force for other sectors, thanks to the unconventional solutions it offered.
She revealed that Summit Technology Solutions achieved a growth in its business volume in 2020 by 15%, while the growth rate in profits exceeded 30% despite the pandemic's negative effects.
The company implemented a number of strategic projects in 2020, especially the GEM and City of Arts projects, the Port Said tunnels project, and the strategic network of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA). This was alongside several other projects in the NAC, and at the city of El Alamein.
The company has also won the implementation of several other vital projects such as developing the Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA) data centre, and the tax inquiry and tax returns system of the Ministry of Finance.
Additional projects include: the development of the customer service centre at the Bank of Alexandria (AlexBank:); the system of maintenance and technical support for the data centre at the Children's Cancer Hospital 57357; and the tickets reservation network of ZED Park.
In the real estate investment sector, the company implemented an integrated communication network for the Sky Park project for SKY-CTS in Sheikh Zayed. It has also implemented the light-current system at ZED Towers in Sheikh Zayed, 6th of October City.
According to El-Sabee, the company will focus on some sectors of great importance in 2021. These include the education, health, government and financial sectors, in addition to the petroleum sector and real estate investment.
She noted that digital transformation has become a reality, and the implementation of its solutions has been accelerated as a result of the coronavirus crisis. These circumstances imposed new out-of-the-box ideas on everyone.
As a result, digital transformation and financial inclusion came as a magical solution for many of the challenges the business community and some economic sectors had to deal with.
The biggest proof of the success of the digital transformation is the Egyptian political leadership's interest in it. This comes after the Ministry of Finance allocated a budget of EGP 12.7bn this fiscal year for the gradual transformation of projects into "digital Egypt".
All sectors have promising opportunities for digital transformation, whether education, health, transportation or other sectors.
El-Sabee revealed that the company has recently supplied integrated communication solutions to the Al-Masah Capital project in the NAC. This includes supplying surveillance cameras, access control systems, garage management systems, smart sensors, fire alarm systems and internal broadcasting on a unified network.