Data holds the key to transformation

As companies across the UAE set their sights on digital transformation, there will be an increased focus on training a new generation of employees to collect and analyse data, experts at the second edition of the Digitrans 2018-The Digital Transformation Forum said.
Organised by Khaleej Times and MITSloan, the forum brought together several experts and decision makers to highlight the importance of digital transformation across various sectors and industries.
Matar Al Humairi, deputy CEO of Smart Dubai, who delivered the keynote address, highlighted the role of emerging technologies in Dubai's race towards becoming a smart city. "We believe that creating opportunities for the exchange of knowledge leads to a stronger economy," he said.
"The wise leadership of the UAE is passionate about providing the best to the country's residents. Our journey towards a smart city has been going on for over 20 years. The vision is to make Dubai the happiest city in the world. To do this, we are positioning Dubai as the global capital of blockchain. Our target is to execute all the government transactions with blockchain by 2020."
Al Humairi also spoke about other initiatives such as the Dubai Paperless Strategy and the UAE Pass, which will help propel Dubai towards its Smart City Vision. "Data is very important to us, and it is the fuel of all these smart city technologies," he said.
"We have estimated that the impact of the data that we are working with is more than $2.8 billion."
Sandeep Chauhan, EVP of Mashreq, spoke about how organisations today have to transform and adopt digital technologies, and that this is resulting in a changing workforce.
"The workplace's tasks are changing. Technology has solved a lot of problems that have been associated with repetitive tasks, leaving employees to focus more on other tasks such as building relationships and critical analysis."
"Supervisors will still have to set targets and monitor and guide employees," he said. "The emphasis will be on driving innovation across the organisation by adopting new technologies. Big data is offering you excellent insights that you need to be able to utilise. The workforce will need to be trained on how they can make the best use of all the digital tools that are available to them today."  
Danish Farhan, CEO of Xische, also addressed the event. Sudhir Pai, EVP and chief technology officer of Financial Services at Capgemini, noted that every industry has gone through a transformation. "The banking sector is witnessing a transformation, where the customer and not the bank is at the epicenter," he said.
"Banks have to think beyond their own industry as new business models emerge. The future is about lifestyle; and finance following lifestyle. Rather than a customer going to a bank, the bank is following the customer."
"Two concepts that we are most excited about are Digital Happiness and Trust P&L," he added. "We all know that there is lots of digital technology that is being adopted, but how many organisations are actually measuring the ways in which it is bringing about customer happiness. Trust P&L, on the other hand, can stand for many things including transparency. Trust is fast becoming one of the most difficult challenges that companies have to deal with."
Companies still failing at digital transformation
Many companies across the world are failing on their digital transformation journeys because they have failed to grasp the true definition of the concept, experts said.
Speaking at the Digitrans 2018 Forum, Ilkka Kivela, managing director at Protiviti noted that a few years ago studies which explored the major risks that organisations around the world are facing, identified issues such as geopolitical risks as the top threat. "Today, the top three risks to organisations all have to do with digital," he said.
"Our research showed that the top three risks include the rapid speed of disruptive innovations and new technologies, resistance to change operations, and managing cyber threats."
One reason why many organisations fail at digital transformation is that they are not being transformative at all, he said. "True transformation is not just a new coat of paint that everyone can see. Many companies think that adopting a few steps such as automation is the extent of digital transformation. You need to transform the business from the outside to the inside. There has to be a roadmap and the ambition to really change things."
Digital leadership, Kivela noted, is a state of mind. "The whole company needs to change its mindset and culture, and this is definitely one of the hardest things to do. Change is difficult but it starts when you have everyone at the company on board. True digitalisation starts at its core and people will be the key to it. Also, it is important to know your limitations and not put off making difficult decisions. Companies that keep all of these points in mind will reap the rewards." - rohma@khaleejtimes.com