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Middle East Teams 2018

Information technology

Microsoft

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Middle East Teams 2018

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The Microsoft in-house legal team in the Middle East region came together less than two years ago as the role of the in-house team in the Gulf adapted to working as “digital transformation advisors”, assisting Microsoft clients with the implementation of cloud software and other Microsoft products into their team’s functionality. Joanne Fischlin, head of corporate, external and legal affairs, Gulf leads a team of three including Dr Lena El Malak, commercial attorney, and Hazar Alzaki, government affairs lead, all covering the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait. The team has worked on the launch of the Middle East’s first cloud data centres in the UAE and completed a corporate re-structuring in light of changing local laws including mainland local majority ownership, trade license limitations, VAT and changes with privacy and data protection. One major task of the team and in particular the external affairs function of the department was to engage with regulators and ISPs to understand the reasons for three GCC states blocking voice over IP (VOIP) products such as Skype Consumer, Facetime and others. Fischlin said of this endeavour, ‘we engaged with regulators and ISPs to understand the drivers for the block, address state concerns whilst mitigating the collateral impact on enterprise collaboration tools such as Skype for Business. Mitigation efforts, policy advancements and interim solutions have avoided significant impact on Microsoft Office 365 Suite adoption, whilst helping regulators also understand the societal impact of VOIP unavailability on blue collar, student and expat communities’. About the strength of the team, a nominator said: ‘A team of three intelligent, strong, diverse women who managed to integrate their function into every aspect of our business, from supporting us with difficult and challenging customer conversations around compliance, to consistently delivering briefings on trust and security to our high level customer officials and executives – not just in the UAE but in Gulf, MEA and beyond. Its clarity, transparency and unwavering commitment to support the business and enable customers and governments digitally transform is exemplary to everyone in the field’.

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