Page 37 - SAMENA Trends - June-July 2020

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Alfa Announces the Gradual Reopening of Its

Stores Starting from Dekweneh and Jbeil

Alfa, managed by Orascom TMT, announces the reopening of its of coronavirus. The Stores will reopen to customers from 8am
flagship Stores in Dekweneh and Jbeil starting today after a forced to 5pm from Monday to Saturday. Other regional stores will be
closure for 3 months as a preventive measure against the spread reopened gradually as part of a comprehensive reopening plan Alfa
is implementing to ensure full compliance with safety measures
to preserve the health of customers and staff. Internationally
endorsed safety and social distancing measures will be applied
in stores. In addition, a specified number of customers will
be allowed to be in the stores at once and customers will be
required to wear a mask. Alfa will keep its customers updated
on the reopening dates of other regional stores. For additional
information, customers can communicate with us via our social
media platforms on facebook and twitter as well as via the live
chat service on the Alfa website and mobile application or call the
111 helpline.

Arthur D. Little Acquires Cutter Consortium and
Presans to Expand Open Consulting Capabilities

Arthur D. Little (ADL) announced the acqui- and artificial intelligence, as well as a team Moreover, ADL’s more than 40 offices in
sitions of Cutter Consortium, a business of fellows (former research and innovation 30 countries has given Cutter an enhanced
technology research company based in executives) with in-depth knowledge in in- ability to assist its clients worldwide,” says
the US, and Presans, a leading player in in- novation, Presans leverages a network of Karen Coburn, CEO of Cutter Consortium.
dustrial open innovation based in France. over 6 million experts worldwide. Presans “Since its inception at the École Polytech-
By combining its own expertise with an ex- provides a variety of high-end open inno- nique's start-up incubator, Presans has al-
isting community of independent experts, vation services, contributing to the accel- ways engaged with the best experts in the
ADL expands its consulting ecosystem to eration of decision-making and removal world, mainly to help its customers solve
establish a next-generation value proposi- of scientific and technological roadblocks. complex technical problems,” says Albert
tion powered by open consulting and open Presans has worked for 50+ internation- Meige, Founder of Presans. “Presans now
problem solving. Cutter Consortium helps al industrial groups and delivered more addresses more and more problems at the
organizations navigate digital disruption than 100 innovation projects in Europe, crossroads of strategy consulting and sci-
of business models and leverage emerg- the US and the Middle East. “Arthur D. Lit- entific & technical expertise. The time had
ing technologies for competitive advan- tle applies an ‘open consulting’ and ‘open therefore come for Presans to strengthen
tage and mission success. Through its re- problem solving’ approach and brings the itself by joining forces with Arthur D Little.
search, consulting, training, and executive best global experts to every assignment to “Together with Cutter and Presans, ADL
education – all delivered by globally recog- complement its internal strengths,” com- reinforces its position on digital and infor-
nized thought leaders – Cutter delivers in- ments Ignacio García Alves, Chairman and mation technologies, as well as industrial
novative solutions to its thousands of cli- CEO of Arthur D. Little. “We believe the fu- innovation, particularly in breakthrough
ents worldwide. Cutter’s experts have done ture is open consulting. With the double innovation and convergence problem solv-
the ground-breaking work in areas ranging acquisition of Cutter and Presans, we are ing. In addition, through the acquisition of
from digital architectures to digital tech, able to expand our open consulting eco- the technological platform of Presans, ADL
enterprise agility to data analytics, and system and open problem solving capa- is accelerating its investments in artificial
digital leadership to sustainable innova- bilities, offering access to experts, premi- intelligence and machine learning to devel-
tion. At the heart of its business is a mem- um insight and a differentiated experience op state-of-the-art offerings for its clients.
bership service that gives clients valuable for our clients, in a seamless way.” “The Cutter Consortium and Presans will con-
access to its experts and their insight. Cutter team felt an instant synergy with tinue to operate under their current brands
Presans is a leading data-driven platform our colleagues at ADL. We share a focus with the same management teams, while
dedicated to industrial open innovation on innovation, which, in ADL’s case, goes benefiting from ADL’s capabilities, invest-
and open problem solving. Thanks to cut- back to its roots, and an emphasis on pro- ment, and global exposure.
ting-edge technology based on big data viding custom, leading-edge solutions.

37 JUNE-JULY 2020