#610 Your POS Should Run the Business. Not Just Take Payments | Ahmed Sameh

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Mehmet: Hello, and welcome back to a new episode of The CTO Show with Mehmet. Today, I'm very pleased, joining me, Ahmed Sameh. He's the CMO of Fortis. Fortis is a company that specialize in, in payments for retailers and for small businesses. But I don't like to steal much from my guest's time, I like to keep, you know, the intros for themselves.

Ahmed, thank you again for being here with me today. Pleasure to have you on The CTO Show. As usual, traditional question I ask all my guests, tell us a bit more about you, your background, your journey, and tell us a bit more about, like, background about Fortis, and then we can start discussion from there.

So the floor is yours. 

Ahmed: Amazing. Thanks a lot for having me here. Uh, I'm really glad, uh, to be with you here in The CTO Show. Uh, so, uh, my name is Ahmed Samh, I'm the CMO at Fortis. I've been with Fortis now for, like, almost a year and a half. And, uh, previously, I used to work within the, uh, different industries.

So I used to be in the marketing for the last kind of like [00:01:00] more than 14 years, even more within the business itself, I used to do, like, a lot. Um, and mainly my focus is within the B2B side, and especially the fintech side of things. Uh, and that's what I was focusing on, working with big names, um, like Tap Payments, working with, like, different industries, like even Mastercard, working with f- on some accounts like Fab, launching some different, um, startups within the region through my journey working on the agency side.

So that's a little bit about myself. I'm glad to be here again. 

Mehmet: Great. Great. Thank you again, Ahmed, for being here. It's a pleasure again. Now, tell us a bit more about Fortis, the business. Like, what's... I like to ask it this way: what are, like, some of the challenges that Fortis solve for its clients today? 

Ahmed: So let me, uh, let me say it, like, simply.

So Fortis is a software solution, so let's take it in a simpler way. So [00:02:00] we are solving the problems that SMEs are facing on daily basis, um, when they are talking about their, um, management of their, let's say, uh, day-to-day operations. Uh, so that's what we are actually focusing on. So when it comes to payment side, we're not a, a payment provider.

However, we are supporting within the payment, um, kind of flow, uh, by making sure that they are accepting, like, uh, cards and cash through our terminal machines or, like, our software on the terminal machines, and also making sure that they are recording the data of their customers, how they are dealing with it, like, within the whole flow and the full funnel itself.

So let's say we are an ecosystem- 

Mehmet: Mm-hmm ... 

Ahmed: that supports SMEs to kinda, like, manage their day-to-day, uh, operations. That's what we do- Cool ... in Fortius, yeah. 

Mehmet: Great. Uh, Ahmed, let's, like, I, I like to, to deep dive more in, in, in the core problems, and we know, you know, [00:03:00] personally, I know a lot of, uh, business owners, like small business owners, entrepreneurs also as well.

You know, like, the first thing that they start to complain about is, like, spending their times managing operations, you know, reporting, paperworks. So why, why is that? Like, wh- what's the root cause, I would say, for, for this, uh, pain, I would say? 

Ahmed: So w- when we, when we started to look into the market at the beginning, we have found that, uh, the SMEs themselves, they are having a, a huge burden when they are kind of, uh, working on the day-to-day operation-wise.

So mainly they have issues when, let's say for example, they are doing so many man- so much manual work when it comes to that. Uh, let's say for example, they are using spreadsheets, they are using pen and paper, they are tracking, uh, who, the inventory, how they are managing the inventory, customer data, all of these kind of things are actually [00:04:00] creating for them a problem.

So we have done the research with, like, different industries, if I would say that. Mm-hmm. Yep. So for example, was in the F&B, we have seen some of the staff, they are actually working in a paper sheet to track the stock, uh, what they are kind of like, um, product that are wasted. Even, like, if they want to understand more about their customers, some of them, they're still using pen and paper.

Uh, let's say for example, even if you are look- looking at the loyalty cards, you still have the paper loyalty card. So these are kind of creating a huge burden on the business owners or even the managers who are managing these day-to-day jobs, which is not helping them to focus on growing the business itself, and I'm talking only about one, one type of an industry, which is like the F&B.

So if we, if we take, if we talk about the services, it's gonna be exactly the same, even if in the retail itself. [00:05:00] Um, like, one of the main issues that we have seen is tracking the customer data that they have is, is huge, and what they have in the inventory is actually one of the other things. Then making sure that the customer come back to them is another thing.

So all- Right ... of that is actually, uh, creating a problem for them. 

Mehmet: Right. Now, we know for a fact also, Ahmed, because again, this is, I, I think we see, we see it in the discussions, we, we hear it from friends and, uh, you know, close circles. Um, when someone open a business, so the first thing that they came to their mind, i- if they decide to go in the technology route, which I th- I think they should, so they go with the traditional point of sales, or as we call it in, uh, for abbreviation, POS, right?

So which is, you know, everyone who went to a, a shopping place or like a grocery nowadays, you know, when you tap the card, so we call these machines POS, right? So, so people think that this is, you know, that's it. You know, like, if, if I have this, I'm done for the [00:06:00] day, but still they don't understand that they are missing on huge gaps.

Tell us more about these gaps between, you know, enterprise software expectation and the realities, you know, of running, you know, small businesses, and why traditional POS is not the solution. 

Ahmed: So there are, there are two parts of it. One is the POS solution, which is like the point of sale solutions. Yes, it's something that actually if we're talking about, again, we, we need to kind of split the, the, the, the, the target audience or like even it depends on the merchant themselves or the clients, uh, and the business owner.

They need to kinda categorize themselves in which category they are. So for example, you cannot go for like a, like a main POS who have a huge, uh, features that actually you might not be using, which is something that you need to actually have a simple solution that actually supports your day-to-day business, [00:07:00] and then look into the how you can grow the business itself be- rather than focusing on getting like, um, let's say an ERP, and then this ERP is like actually not helping the business itself.

I know that this is a struggle for like, and I've seen it with some of our clients as well, that they choose big kind of solutions just because of the name or because like someone have recommended them and like, oh, but they don't understand what is the needs. This is first. Second, mainly it's not only about the terminal machines.

Yes, the terminal machines is, is, is, is like where the money ends in the end, and this is what actually the business- Right ... owner is looking for, like how he can take the money from the, from the customers, right? However, with the customer itself, there is like so many things that you actually can do. Let's say, for example, uh, you need to take a person who comes or like a customer who comes and like he needs to pay in card and cash.

How to track these kind of transactions? [00:08:00] Most of the, most of the terminals machines at the moment, they don't have the tracking of both, and this is one of the solutions that we have done to how to track in one transaction both of them. This is first. Second, a split of the payment itself, which is also a split between two people, for example, and it's how it can be done easier in the easiest way to not be struggling.

So there are some options that actually you can look into from managing one machine, which is like the terminal machines, and- In this case, if we are having Fortis on top, you actually can do a lot, which is also, as I've mentioned, one is customer data. How to, to record the customer data itself is actually really important because you need to understand more about your customers, right?

So if they are reoccurring customers, if you want to send, send them like some loyalty, uh, campaigns, how to understand more about what they are ordering, even this data is something that you actually need to understand on your side. And how [00:09:00] this can be tied up with the inventory itself, which is, uh, your inventory that you have.

So all of that is something that you actually need to focus on, not only on one part, uh, rather than going for like a bigger kind of a, of a POS machine, which is like can fit in like a specific place. So I think that's one of the main things as well I've seen, uh, when some, um, some clients that I have seen like, "Oh, how to put...

Where we will put the POS system?" Mm. Like, you need to have a bigger screen, we need to have like all, like, all of these kind of things. And I don't think they might need it because you're in a small shop, you actually need to understand what you're selling and whom you're selling to, and how big is your business to kinda choose what you actually will be helpful for you in the end.

Mehmet: Right. So I think this is a natural evolution to the card machine that we, we, we all interacted with at, uh, at some stage, and maybe we interacted with it like on [00:10:00] daily basis. Like, um- So what I understood from you, Ahmed, like this is the natural way of the, you know, uh, evolution of, of these machines from just being a, a, a mean to collect payments to something more big.

So, um, can small businesses run the whole thing, you know, on, on, on such systems with this evolution? Like you gave like just couple of examples, but if you have like more like use cases that you can share with us, that would be great actually. 

Ahmed: De- definitely. So again, let's, uh, let's talk about like all of us lives here in the UAE, right?

Who from us doesn't have like a, like a drink from a kind of a cafeteria in the middle of the road or like something. So let's imagine this cafeteria is rather than the, the waiter is coming to your car, for example, if we're saying, especially in the, in the conditions that we're living in, which is like hot.

So you want to stay in your car, you want to order something, and then the, [00:11:00] the, the waiter comes to you, and then he needs to go back to the, to the shop, right? He'll enter whatever he's, you ordered, and then come back again for you to pay and then go back, enter that, that he received the amount from the POS.

So imagine all of this operation, like how many steps have been taken, all of these kind of things. Also one of the other things is how many orders that you actually can take from one place, and that's one of the things. So the small, the small businesses, if they have only one machine that actually can have the catalog on it, which is, okay, I want one karak tea, for, for example, and then the waiter comes, and then this is the menu itself, and then he orders the karak tea from the machine, and you pay immediately.

This has like solved so many things, and that's one of the things as I, as I've mentioned, that actually supports, and we are trying as much as we can to support the small and medium businesses on everything, on all the [00:12:00] aspects. That's one of the main things. Again- Right ... and we all know a specific cafeteria that we actually feel that, okay, we are attached to, for example.

So if I'm going there, he want to give me a 10% discount on like my, my thing. It's, it's one click. I don't need to go do calculations. I've seen so many things, and I need to get my phone, do calculations. I'm like, "Oh, all of this can be done through one machine," and it's done. It's a, it's a, it's a full operation that actually have to, let's say if we calculate it based on numbers, for example, it like if in a week it will take like a lots of hours from, from this waiter to kind of like have this, and imagine if you're a busy times or like all and like you have like so many visitors.

Doing this through one machine can save you so much time, also can make you track a lot From the back, the backside or like even the back office, even for like a manager. So I have like four branches, and I need to know what branch A have done other than branch B. So I need to kind of [00:13:00] track all of that.

But at the moment it's not happening because the, the, the... And I think it comes to the part of, again, to the business itself. Right. What is the needs you actually want to see out- the outcome that you're actually looking for? 

Mehmet: Right. Ahmed, you know, there is something which, uh, we started to notice in the UAE specifically, and in the Gulf region in general- Yes

which is the push from governments for, you know, digitization. Of course, when you look at the macro level, we see, you know, um, you know, we talk about these huge initiatives around AI, you know, building data centers. But on the, you know, micro level, especially here in the UAE, we started to see also some mandates coming into place.

Um, so for example, there was a mandate I think couple of years ago for the accounting software that every- Yeah ... company, they have to follow it, and there are like some accredited software that are complying with the, uh, federal tax authority, right? [00:14:00] Now, the new initiative is the e-invoicing, and the e-invoicing is, you know, like the ability to send you your invoice by email or any other, uh, you know, digital, uh, form.

Now- Seeing, uh, seeing that, right, um, how this would accelerate, you know, small businesses' digitization because, you know, honestly, like, we, we used to feel that they are the slowest to adopt. They used to think, "Oh, like this is an enterprise, big companies thing. It's not for me." So how this will change, you know, this and why you think the, the point of sale is, or the POS system is the logical start for such transformation?

Ahmed: Um, again, it comes to what, what is the UAE itself is, like, going. Because again, as you've mentioned, like UAE is actually looking for developing the, the whole system itself and being away from having this kind of like, again, papers and, like, [00:15:00] so much data that actually is thrown away, no one knows anything about.

And to kind of find one invoice in the middle of, like, so many invoices that you m- you actually have, it's gonna take you, like, days and years, I think. Um, so having all of that being digitalized is actually really important, and this is what the UAE is, like, looking for. So I think from July 2027, paper invoice and the BDF invoice will no longer be, uh, legal for, like, the, the B2B transaction.

So everyone needs to have the digital kind of invoicing. 

Mehmet: Mm-hmm. 

Ahmed: Uh, which is mainly one of the main things that actually the, the, the, the, the, uh, the merchant themselves, or, like, even the business owners, they need to start, like, looking into how this is will be supporting. This is one. Two, why the POS itself is, like, actually the, the good start for that because, again, it's...

this is where the money goes, right? So you [00:16:00] pay on the machine. So if you're actually tracking what, what have been sold and, like, everything can be done, so the, the, the invoice itself can come out of the machine, so actually it's done. So you don't need to do, like, so many things. So in the end, the customer come, paid, and that's it.

You don't need to kinda like go back again, track everything in, like, an Excel file or, like, doing all of these kind of things. It's something that you don't need to do anymore. Through the machine, you can download all the invoices. One day, done. Everything is, like, being tracked and ev- even it's recorded.

So you don't need to do so much effort, and I think that's one of the main things I think the country is going for, is, like, how to utilize that. And again, using AI word is, like, a big thing. It's like- Right ... I mean, everything needs to be digitalized, right? So in the end- 

Mehmet: 100% ... 

Ahmed: how to make sure that the AI understands the information and then creates, like, reports and, like, making sure that everything...

A- a- and again, it [00:17:00] comes back to what do we actually as a business owner want to see as faster and, like, moving within our business, how to make sure that we are actually growing the business in the end, and I think this is where the direction is going. 

Mehmet: Absolutely. Everyone is after growing their businesses, Ahmed.

Now, s- mentioning this, you know, and I think this is something became more trend in the past few years. I think during COVID it became more because of everyone was in the lockdown. So people started to do business, like, not only over emails. Like, you know, um, if you ask someone 10 years ago, everything was, like, formal.

You know, we-- you interact through emails and everything, you know, like now. But you have the all this, I would say, communication platform that all became, like, business platforms. Actually, you know, like Middle East I think is unique in this. I s- I s- I speak with a lot of people from the US, from Europe, and I say, "Guys, like, there's no one like you who does business on, on, on WhatsApp and, you know, like, other, uh, channels."

But this is, again, it's, it's a business, right? So, so it's a [00:18:00] business transaction. Now, Ahmed, like how, how, you know- These, uh, blind spots I would call them, and if inefficiencies, um, because you have multi-channels, because you might be using multiple software can cause also, um, you know, hurdle on, on the business and how you can help them here.

Like when you have all these, you know, point solution, I call them single point of failure sometimes because if you miss one, you might miss, miss a big contract or you might miss a big invoice. So, so how, you know, we can reduce these inefficiencies and blind s- blind spots? 

Ahmed: I totally agree with that point because it's wh- again, it's, it's, it's something that we all of us face.

I mean, i- imagine if I'm, I'm... I am like something in my personal level, like if I want to order something, now I go to WhatsApp. Right. So I imagine the person on the other side himself, he needs to take my order, need to enter it, like to enter the, the, [00:19:00] the, the, the item that I ordered in like a specific machine or like something, and then he needs to send it to someone from operation, check if there's the inventory is there.

And again, I, I totally agree between all of these kind of platforms, it's creates like this issue in the end, and maybe the order will be lost or like something like that. And I'm, and I'm sure all of us have faced such a thing. So one of the things when there are so many systems in the end, the, the human error is, is possible, right?

Which is, which is a normal thing because you need to collect like everything from one place, and then you need to reply to your customer, and then like all of these. So all of these multi-touch points are actually creating a problem. However, having one single system to track all of that is something that I think that's the direction for the business owners.

That's why, for example, within the POS now to making sure that you have the invoicing, you have the accounting system, you have like all of these kind of things being in one place, [00:20:00] understanding more about your customer loyalty. There are so many sides of the business itself. When it sits in one system, it makes it easier for you.

So again, th- this is like as in like an input, and then the output as an business owner, you need to understand how the business is growing. Is the business actually is profitable or not? Like all of this information in the end is something that you actually need to look into. But imagine how many operations are actually happening to kinda like do all of that, and the time itself, the time consuming, and I mean, I mean, like it's...

we are in the, in a, in a fast-paced coun- like country and also look into it like how the AI is evolving on daily basis. So if we kept doing that, we actually missed. We missed a lot. So- Trying as much as we can to unify one place to make sure that we are tracking everything, making sure that we are focusing not only on the inputs, because it, I mean, like it takes like 80% of the [00:21:00] time of the business owner, but like actually the output itself and making, taking more decisions, growing the business, focusing on like different lines or like inventory or like something else is actually really important.

So that's how I see it with how many systems that we have, and I think, and, and I think I've mentioned it at the beginning as well, like the business owners, like sometimes the- th- they try to get like as much kind of like platform tools, reporting tools and like all... And again, it comes to the business when they want to sell, right?

Like, "Oh, my system is the best than the other system." But like what is the actually the business needs is really important. Making sure that everything in one place, everything is being tied up together is really important. That's, that's how I see it, uh, from my point, to be honest, and I have seen it with like some of our clients as well.

Mehmet: Right. Now, there's something, Ahmed, which is funny and not funny at the same time, you know? Now, i- in the enterprise world, and I work a lot [00:22:00] and I still work with- in the enterprise, so, you know, like it's normal to see multiple solutions for multiple use cases. Now, in small businesses, so there is this myth, I would call it, like, "Hey, let's go buy this software for that.

Let's do this." And you know, of course, in the small business, it's kind of word of mouth and someone just suggests to their friends what they do, and now with the AI, of course, like you go ask ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, whatever, you know, and it would go, "Hey," like, "yeah, buy X software for this and Y for that," you know?

And at the end of the day, you know, like I, I heard it actually from some people, "Hey, like we get overwhelmed with all this." So why, you know? We need to challenge the assumption that business need more tools to become more efficient rather than they need simplification actually, especially if they are a small business.

Ahmed: Mm-hmm. Yeah. The main thing here is that, the main thing is here that we actually, I think, again, comes to the [00:23:00] overwhelming ourselves with like how many softwares are there in the market, and how beneficial they are, and we use them, and then they are unutilized. So I end up paying and I receive an invoice of like a system that I might have used it once or not even used the whole features in it, which is like actually really a big thing.

So one of the things is understanding what do I need and what is the information that I, like I need to gather, that's, that's really important. And then what is the actual output that I'm actually looking for, whether it's becoming... Again, we will tie this back to inventory. What I'm actually showing is like my catalog, am I a- am I adding like the right thing that actually was in a product that I have and this being tied up with my inventory and like, or again, it comes to the point like how the business owner himself is looking into [00:24:00] uh, the sides of the business, because adding...

Imagine if it's like a, like a four-cornered square of the business itself, and then adding five kind of, like, tools or two tools in the operation side, and then one other tool in, uh, for the owner himself to kind of see. But because I've hired, like, a manager who is only using this tool, and then one other manager is using another tool, so imagine how many tools you will end up having for, for, like, a business, and then this creates, like, the problem.

So simplifying the amount of tools and the, um, and the, like, the day-to-day operations that we actually need is really important. And making sure that you have one tool that actually satisfy in the end, like again, it's the input and output. What do you need? Right. Right. So making sure that the input is matching the output and gives you the right information that you actually need.

It's not about the tools. [00:25:00] It's not about, like, my business is gonna be successful if I use this tool. No, it doesn't work like that. It more, it's more, I've been in the business for, like, a bit and, and like I, I did this mistake by myself. Right. I had- And I did this mistake. I, I wanted to buy, like, tools. I wanted to do, like, this and that, but again, it didn't help me at all to do my own business.

Mehmet: Yeah. 100%. Yeah, you need simplification because you need to keep things lean, as we, we, we call it- Yeah ... right? So, and simple. You know, simplicity, nothing beats simplicity actually. No. And even by the way, like, even in the enterprise, you know, like, there's always this huge initiatives to consolidate and try to, to...

It's only, not only for cutting costs, to your point, also, like, to make, you know, the operations, you know, much- Yeah ... simpler, right? Yes, exactly. Smooth. 100, 100%. Now, Ahmed, one thing which we see a lot here in the UAE, and I think it's coming up in, in other parts of the GCC and the Gulf region, with this mobile first business, right?

So, uh, whether it's a kiosk, pop-up shop, food trucks, [00:26:00] uh, home services, and you know, we were, we talked even about WhatsApp, and I know people who manage their business literally on WhatsApp. So they take, you know, orders on WhatsApp. They deliver, you know, everything is running there. So- How does shaping, you know, h- uh, these new trends shaping the technology SMEs need?

Like, w- how, how the ultimate, you know, uh, I would say scenario would look like for this mobile first business? 

Ahmed: Um, we are in, in the market that actually can absorb, like, so many things, right? So let's look into how big is the, um, the markets now, like the, the events which is like happening as a rape market or Ramadan markets or Friday markets, whatever the, the market is.

Right. So there are so many things are happening here, right? And, and people have started to... Because I think one of the main things is like, as business owners, like business owners, they, they do have like ideas that actually can... It, it has a need, [00:27:00] uh, and they are trying to sell their, their products. They are trying to sell their ideas, and they have like something, right?

So cooking at home and like then you do like this main dish and then you want to show it to everyone. So this is like some- something that actually increasing, and we started to see it increasing in the UAE, Dubai specifically. So But other than having like a shop or like having all of these kind of things, it's not like actually supporting you.

So that's one. So and then you will start seeing like digital banks are supporting people to receive payments through their, their app, uh, which is like everything can be managed through the app. However, the main part here is actually receiving the, the, the transaction or the payment, but then it's not being translated into something that you actually have measured.

So still I went to the rate market to kind of see how the people are running the business, especially like it's in, it's in our targets and like [00:28:00] how I want to see how people are starting to interact with that. They still need to use papers, pen and papers, and like all of these kind of things rather than using one place, one machine.

I mean, if it's Fortes or any other, however, to utilize this kind of machine to make sure that they are tracking everything and like, I mean, it's a small business. Any small mistake that you might have, right, it might cost you like a little bit, and you actually need this, this profit, right? So a small mistake or like a missing in like a, in, in like a small payment or like difference between...

And again, it's a small, it's a small thing. It's an event that actually you can go to after work and like, because I like to do honey, for example, or whatever, like I have a like or something that I want to do. And then in the end, this is something that I create, and I want to manage it in the most efficient way.

So again, coming back to the part which is how I see even the market themselves are building this solution to support the [00:29:00] small businesses, so to accept. But again, as a business owner, you need to make sure that everything is being tied up to one place, making sure that you're tracking everything in the right way, the easiest way, and yeah 

Mehmet: Absolutely.

And you know, one of the-- and this brings me to, to, to the, the next question about why collecting these transactions and tracking everything is important in the age of AI. We know, like, for a fact, like, um, big retailers, like big names, uh, they were tracking, you know, what we do, what we purchase, so they can, of course, using machine learning AI to, to, to just, you know, set their marketing machine.

And you are, you are a, a, a chief marketing officer, so you know it better than me on, you know, utilizing the data and insights. Now, uh, in the age of AI, how this is turning transactions into actionable business insights. And if you can just, on a high level, we don't need to go into the technicalities, of course, as [00:30:00] Fortis, like how you, you are utilizing AI, uh, to empower also your clients.

Ahmed: So there are-- this is a really good question, and I like it, to be honest. Again, we talked all the last few minutes about the, the, how, the data and how to make sure- Right ... that everything's being smooth in one place, making sure that everything is being tracked, how to make sure that we are understanding the data that we have.

This is, this is amazing. However, the main part here is, okay, what do we do with this data that we have? This is really important and, and, and really huge question that I see so many people like having sits on the lots of data, but they are not utilizing it, which is will come to a part that, okay, first of all, I need to understand more about what product have sold better.

So utilizing that from the data that you have is actually really important. Maybe you need to remove it from your, uh, from your inventory or [00:31:00] even your catalog because you're not selling it. This is really important because it might cost you, uh, like a lot for like... And it's not being, uh, good for the margins or like whatever.

And then in the end, it's something that you're actually not-- you don't need, maybe. How to utilize the data of the customers themselves, as I've mentioned, in sending them offers, making sure that they are having-- they are loyal customers. And, and all of us now, we, we-- if you find someone that you're, that you're dealing with and you visited them couple of times, you want these customer...

Like, sorry, the, the mer- the, the, the business owner or even the, the, the brand itself keep engaging with you. And, and we see it now with like how many loyalty cards are out there Then back to that point on how Fortis is actually utilizing the AI with this huge amount of data that we have, is making sure that as an, as an business owner, how to make sure that [00:32:00] you are actually understanding so you can...

We, we have, we, we actually implemented like a, a beta version of like an AI for reporting. So for example, if you want to understand how is the amount of transactions that happened today, you can ask the AI tool and it will give you a full detailed report on that, making sure you understand which branch have done better.

You can start like talking with them, which product and inventory. You can understand like so much about this part. Then there is another part which is more, um, how you can start making sure that even as I've mentioned, the loyalty part, making sure that you are sending more, uh, to your customers. M- also you have a lots of data.

Like if a customer that actually didn't visit you for the last couple of months, I mean, you can give them an offer, and you can ask the AI to create a specific campaign to send it to these customers, uh, that, that actually come and visit and we give you 20% off or 30% off. All of [00:33:00] that is not manually done anymore.

It's an AI one line of a prompt and then you're done. Like you can speak with the AI and like all of that will be created. He can create like this customer list of an audience and then he one, one line and then you can actually send it. And that's where we are actually all of us are going now. Who's not utilizing AI anymore?

Like everyone is utilizing- Yeah ... all the platforms, all the tools have AIs. But again, the main part if, if you have a specific tool, like amount of data you can utilize it. There are so many ways that you can utilize it. And I think in Fortis we are actually working on that and we are doing that. We are going into this AI part like really Like- 

Mehmet: Agents maybe also as well, 

Ahmed: Ahmed?

We, we do have lots of agents that will be coming around, like soon, uh, for reporting, for inventory management, for even you can do this vendor kind of a thing. Yeah. So we're connecting [00:34:00] them with the vendors and how they are sending to the vendors. There are so many things that actually we are working on to support the SMEs, and I've mentioned the main part for Fortes now is how to support the SMEs on the operation side, making sure that they are utilizing one platform for everything.

Mehmet: Right. 

Ahmed: In 

Mehmet: like this. This is very important, you know, um, because you're empowering SMEs, of course, with the platform that you d- you, you mentioned to us, so you do more than just POS, like you help them in their inventory, loyalty cards, taking payments. Y- you know, like I'm just trying to summarize. But moreover- Yes

you know, like now with the AI and the agentic AI, I think, and I'm mentioning this for a reason, not because of Fortes only alone. Of course, what you're doing is amazing, but, uh, this is for the small business owners. I think you need to look at partners like, you know, Fortes or any other, you know, in whatever domain they are because people who [00:35:00] thinks agents are like kind of a hype or like AI is kind of hype, it's not.

Like- Not at all ... really it's, it's something that if you are a one-person business even, or maybe, I don't know, maybe you are a small team of three or four people, like imagine like you have all of a sudden as if you have I would say 20 maybe people w- working with you. Of course, you will have the agents, you will have someone supervising them, human in the loop, all this.

This is very important, and why I'm happy about this, Ahmed, and the reason I ask you, because you work with SMEs. SMEs are close to my heart because we know, and I, I can't remember the exact statistics, but here in the UAE I think, like, th- there are big chunk of, of the GDP comes from SMEs, right? So- Yes ... um, uh, and we need to keep empowering them.

We need to keep, you know, getting them, uh, with the latest and greatest when it comes to technology, and great that you're doing this, uh, you know, on, on that level. And you know, how if you check the website, I mean, just for the audience, you can see the [00:36:00] flag name- flagship names that Fortis work with. So no, I don't need to speak.

Um, you know, Mehmet, you're, you're here to speak about this. But you know, what you gave us really is important for, um, small business owners to rethink about, um, running their business in a simplified way, as we said. As we are coming close to, to the end, Ahmed, any final thoughts? Like what kind of maybe trends you're expecting?

And very famous question I ask at the end to all my, um, guests is where to get in touch. 

Ahmed: Uh, first of all, thank you so much for this, and I totally appreciate the questions. And again, the UAE is a home for, like, half a million SME. Imagine with- Right ... I mean, uh, UAE is a small country, but, like, half a million SME and, like, this is a really good place for everyone to start their own business.

Everyone have an idea. Everyone have... And again, as you said, if it's a one t- one person business or, like, even two, three, 20, whatever, in the end, you need to [00:37:00] make sure that you're utilizing all the efforts and all the time to grow your business, making sure that you're using the right tools, making sure that you are in the right place.

Again, and back to data and how the trend is, we... Everyone is going to, to AI, and everyone is seeing, like, what is, what is happening with Claude, what is happening with ChatGPT, and, like, how the evolution from that side is going and how it is going faster than even we all of us expected, and even the, the, the, the, the, the CEOs of these companies have actually expected.

It's like- Going crazy, I would say 

Mehmet: Mm-hmm ... 

Ahmed: and the data that is there, all of these kind of things. But to make sure that we are utilizing that in the right way, and it's not something that, oh, okay, I'm gonna use AI, and then, uh, like I'm prompting and that- that's it. No, it's not about that. It's more about how to utilize the tool in the right way and making sure that you're utilizing in the best way possible to benefit yourself and bus- [00:38:00] benefit your business in the end because you put sweat, you put like time, effort, money, whatever you have put in there to make sure that you're actually reaching to the right people, making sure that you're selling your idea in the end.

Everyone is doing some- everyone is doing a business is like there for, to be successful. So to make sure that you're being successful, you need to go not with the trend, but utilize the trend with yourself, like with whatever you are doing at the moment. Um, again, it's a hype. It's a big, it's a big hype, making sure that you're actually utilizing everything to the, to make, to make the right decision, making sure that you're growing.

This is like the big thing, um, I see in there. Um, and how to reach to Fortis? I mean, we have our own website. Please go there. Speak with us. We are, all of us are available anywhere. Please come and visit us. Like try to reach out to us on like everything. We're a good, good team, good people like there to support [00:39:00] SMEs, as I've mentioned.

Fortis is there in the market to support businesses, making them grow. W- the main thing, and I see this even with our teams and like all, we're actually not trying to sell the software, we are actually supporting you to grow your business, making sure even we... If, if it's not related to only the product or the software, we're actually- Right

giving you the right advice in the end, uh, to make sure that you're growing, as I've, as I've mentioned at the beginning. 

Mehmet: Right. Ahmed, maybe I should have asked you this at the beginning. So currently you're offering are only for UAE or like you, you have like some int- some kind of international footprint as well?

Ahmed: So, so we have an international footprint. However, the main focus now is the UAE. Uh- Okay ... and yeah, that's, that's the main focus for now, but we are expanding. We are, again, we're growing. The, the, the, the, the platform is actually... We have seen a good interaction with the, uh, with our business owners or even the merchants or like all, so it's actually helping us to grow.

Mehmet: Great. [00:40:00] Uh, I can't thank you enough, Ahmed. I know how busy things can, can be, especially, you know, uh, i- in this season where everyone is looking for, you know, how they can modernize their businesses. So thank you for being here with me on the show. So the, any link, you know, would be available in the show notes.

And this is how I end my ep- my episodes usually is for the audience. If you just discovered us by luck, thank you for passing by. I hope you enjoyed. If you did so, give me a favor, subscribe and share it with your friends, colleagues, whoever you think this might be, uh, useful for them. And w- if you are one of the people who keep coming again and again, thank you very much for tuning in always, and I see the statistics every week, every day, even sometime we see spikes, and we, we know, like, some people are referring other people, and it's because of you.

We are trending on, you know, the Apple Top 200 podcast charts across multiple countries all the time, so we keep changing places. We made it almost to all continents, so still, like, some countries, we are awaiting them to, to tune in. But as I say always, stay tuned [00:41:00] for a new episode very soon. Thank you.

Bye-bye.