du – Brochure 2019 by B2e Media

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION FOR PROCUREMENT AT DU

P R O J E C T PA R T N E R

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION FOR PROCUREMENT AT WRITTEN BY D a l e B e n to n PRODUCED BY H ey ke l O u n i

THROUGH A DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION, ANIS TABKA EXPLORES HOW DU AND VIRGIN MOBILE EMBRACE INNOVATION IN PROCUREMENT

n 2017, it was announced

Key to this transfor-

that the Emirates Integrated

mation has been the

Telecommunications Company

company’s supply chain

(EITC) would launch a mobile service and

and procurement func-

bring the Virgin Mobile brand into the

tion and this is where Anis

UAE. Virgin Mobile UAE is a wholly owned

Tabka, Chief Procurement

business unit within EITC, which allows

Officer, has played a

one of the world’s most recognisable

pivotal role. Entering the

telecommunications brands to lever-

business in 2005, Tabka

age economies of scale in order to bring

has worked in the tele-

unique, innovative products, and value, to

communications space

market. The company represents a sister

for over 20 years, cutting

operation to EITC’s other telecommuni-

his teeth with the global

cations company, du.

conglomerate Siemens

du currently has more than 8.5 million

and overseeing commer-

mobile customers, representing close to

cial management across

50% market share and operates with a

its global operations from the United

clear vision: to enhance your life, anytime

States, Germany and Tunisia. Tabka feels

anywhere. Since 2006, du has had to

that this commercial experience has

evolve its operation in order to continue

been crucial to his role with du. “When I

delivering on this vision. And with tech-

joined du, which was to be a new service

nology continuing to redefine global

provider, it was my first experience with

industry, du has undergone a significant

the supply chain,” he says. “But since I’d

digital transformation to ride the wave of

been working on the sales side before

innovation.

handling large service providers such as

AT&T, Verizon, etc., I had an understand-

on far more responsibility and looked

ing as to what the expectations are for

after the full du sourcing requirements

procurement. I basically worked with the

(Technology, Marketing, Facilities,

company to build the whole supply chain

etc.) exceeding $1.5 B per annum. This

function from scratch and support my

saw Tabka absorb the Procurement,

technology colleagues with the roll-out

Contracts Management and Logistics

of du Mobile and fixed networks.”

responsibilities and consolidate the

Over the course of the following

company’s 19 warehouses into one

years, Tabka’s role evolved and he took

central warehouse, enabling greater w w w.d u.ae

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“ I BASICALLY WORKED WITH THE COMPANY TO BUILD THE WHOLE SUPPLY CHAIN FUNCTION FROM SCRATCH AND SUPPORT MY TECHNOLOGY COLLEAGUES WITH THE ROLL-OUT OF DU MOBILE AND FIXED NETWORKS” A n i s Ta b k a CPO, DU

efficiency and inventory control.

With a centralised procurement func-

Although it was managed by a very thin

tion, Tabka needed to call upon his

experienced in-house team, Logistics

sales experience in order to collabo-

ran like clockwork, with multiple partners

rate more effectively with du’s supplier

managing the distribution of du stock

network. “I know how things work on

(SIMs, handsets, customers’ premise

the sales side and what the suppliers

equipment, etc.) to all retail and enter-

think. What works, what doesn’t work

prise customers throughout the UAE.

and certain tricks of the trade,” he says.

Detailed stock planning processes were

“That makes it easier to establish a

also implemented to slash inventory

dialogue with a partner on what you’re

levels and improve company working

trying to accomplish, rather than turn-

capital.

ing the discussion into a price greeting

debate – it’s much more of a long-term

that over time, this has created a greater

relationship.”

understanding as to when to take risks

As Tabka entered du during its earliest days, he admits that it was a challenge to

and how to take risks. The challenge Tabka faced in the Middle

operate fast enough in order to get the

East, when compared to his experi-

network up and running. This, ultimately,

ence in the US and Europe, stems from

resulted in the company not being able

regressive notions of procurement and

to dictate the most favorable agree-

supply chain. “A lot of people aren’t

ments effectively and making compro-

coming from the supply chain back-

mises in order to launch services. Those

ground. They have technology expe-

agreements were renegotiated once du

rience or administration experience

launched its services. Tabka believes

and just assume that procurement is w w w.d u.a e

simple price squeezing and handling of contracts,” he explains. “I always try to tell them that there is so much more to procurement and so it’s a case of educating people as to what procurement can bring.” Running alongside this was a traditional approach in the region that saw businesses handling their own negotiations, or “doing their own deals and getting procurement to rubber stamp the contracts”. Tabka and his team had to prove that procurement was a business leader and a contributor to the full success of sourcing requirements, taking into account the company’s long term strategy. To him, it mirrors a global procurement conversation; businesses “waking up” to the value of procurement. To this, Tabka feels du has grown dramatically over time. “As my role evolved, so too had the company,” he says. “If we knew what we could bring, back when we started, everyone would sign up for it right away. Things can get done faster if procurement is integrated within their function and proper project planning is enforced within the company.” After long persuasion efforts and an alignment with Finance, he was able to get business to provide detailed future project information to constitute 10

“ IF WE KNEW WHAT WE KNOW, BACK WHEN WE STARTED, EVERYONE WOULD SIGN UP FOR IT RIGHT AWAY. THINGS CAN GET DONE FASTER IF PROCUREMENT IS INTEGRATED WITHIN THEIR FUNCTION” A n i s Ta b k a CPO, DU

an annual Procurement plan. This ultimately helped Business to improve their project execution timelines, Finance to improve the budgeting accuracy and Procurement to reduce the overall tendering process timelines. This visibility has also helped the Procurement category managers to better plan their Category Strategies. This new ethos and approach to a central procurement function is best personified in the start-up and roll out of Virgin Mobile UAE. Positioned as the second brand name of EITC, Virgin Mobile uses a platform infrastructure from Virgin, but a w w w.d u.a e

large portion of its backend functional-

says. “It’s a very smooth and different

ity is born out of du. Tabka, as a further

experience compared to the traditional

evolution of his role within the company,

telco. It is focused on a niche market, but

played a key role in this new venture.

the people are more technology savvy.

“When we set up the company and

It’s very different from du, but it’s born

launched, it was basically with a different

out of the success of du.”

mindset where everything was simple

Virgin Mobile UAE also differenti-

and agile. It’s very much customer expe-

ates itself from du in its supply chain

rienced and a very focused digital expe-

processes. Tabka had to accommodate

rience where all customer interactions

a new brand, which in itself brought new

are done through the Virgin Mobile app,

processes when compared to the du

with the minimum of human touch,” he

vision of mobile experience. Tabka had to

digital transformation of sorts for both Virgin and du, believes that digital transformation such as A.I. and chatbots are the key technology differentiators within the industry. “We try to minimise the interaction with customers via a call centre. Everything is as digital as possible,” he says. “We look to give flexibility to the customer to choose their mobile plan and the tariff. They can choose whatever tariff pleases them. They are more in control of their wallet and it’s not like the traditional telcos where they are imposed a certain tariff plan.” This approach represents both du and Virgin Mobile’s customer experience-driven ethos; it’s all about serving the customer better and making their lives less complicated. Virgin Mobile UAE has been praised for readjust some of the team members to

its excellent customer experience. New

adapt to the faster requirements of the

customers receive their SIM card, with

go-to-market offering. “The partners

activation happening within one hour of

we were working with were different too,

buying the service through the Virgin

so we had to basically put in a different

Mobile app. This was an industry first in

team within a team,” he explains.

the region.

As a new brand emerging at a time of

It’s not just the customer experience

great innovation, Virgin Mobile enters

that’s experiencing a sea change; the

a marketplace dominated by a seem-

very nature of procurement is being

ingly endless array of technologies and

redefined by innovation and disruptive

where mobile market penetration has

technologies. Since the beginning, du

exceeded 200%. Tabka, overseeing a

has implemented paperless processes w w w.d u.a e

in Supply Chain, Procurement and

so the customer would be able to track

Inventory ERP systems. As the company

on their mobile app their Virgin Mobile /

matured, constant changes were being

du order from time of order placement.

made to the procure-to-pay processes

Tabka described this as “Uberizing” the

to make them more agile. Business

telco supply chain.

Intelligence dashboards were automated

At this time, the number of logistics

to provide live data to category manag-

transactions being processed through

ers from the data warehouse rather than

RPA reached close to 65,000 customer

manual extracts from ERP. Live reports were also made available to Executive Management through digital handsets. In 2017, the company embarked on a true digital transformation of procurement through the implementation of robotics process automation (RPA). “Digital transformation is a journey and so I kept on pushing and pushing to drive innovation,” says Tabka. “RPA represents that push. With RPA we were able to replicate a number of processes, do them faster, work 24 hours a day and achieve zero human error. This translates into increased customer experience, because we could improve the customers’ orders, processing and delivery lead times while also reducing our internal costs.” Through this, supply chain was able to integrate the full sales to orders fulfillment cycle by integrating the 3rd party couriers applications to du and Virgin Mobile ERP systems (Sales Orders , Inventory management, Finance module) 14

Anis Tabka Chief Procurement Officer du

With over 24 years of Telecommunications experience, Anis Tabka has worked in very diverse environments from very large and established Fortune 500 companies like AT&T and Siemens in the USA and Germany to start-ups in the Middle East (UAE). Currently managing the Sourcing, Contract management, Logistics and Distribution channels of the Telecom Operator EITC (parent holding of du and Virgin Mobile) out of Dubai. His Sourcing department manages the whole company spend of over + USD 1.5 Billion/year. Under his leadership, du was the first Telco in the Middle East to get awarded the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply award in Q 4 2010 and ISO 9001 in 2015 for Procure to Pay Process.

orders, with around 7,000 front-end procurement transactions being fully automated. This was the first phase of RPA. Phase two, which is currently being implemented, will see RPA combining with chatbot capabilities to further reduce non-essential basic interactions of time between business and customer lead-times. To date, Tabka has seen a reduction in processing time of more than 50%. With Virgin Mobile and du, Tabka can point to a number of successes, both internally and around the customer experience. He is the first to admit that a digital transformation is a journey and that every milestone for him is the first step to achieving the next one. One in particular that will open the door to future innovation, has been the further inclusion of supply chain and procure-

Now we are the ones giving the tips and

ment into the strategic direction of the

advice.”

company for a full digital transformation.

It’s a time of great opportunity for

“Other areas of the business are asking

du and Virgin Mobile. Having already

for recommendations, or for feedback as

succeeded on so many fronts, Tabka

to what has worked and what has not,”

looks to the future with a sense of

says Tabka. “It’s interesting because

perspective. du is the solution provider

it’s normally the other way around. The

to a number of large enterprises, each

business or customer-facing depart-

with their own demands and ideas

ments implement new tools and then

for the future. For Tabka, it’s impor-

supply chain comes in at the end of the

tant to remain focused. “There are so

queue and asks the best way to do it.

many tools out there and so many

“ THERE IS A LOT OF VALUE ADD THAT YOU CAN BRING AS A CPO TO THE COMPANY AND TO REALISE THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION, YOU JUST NEED TO BE AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE OVERALL TRANSFORMATION” A n i s Ta b k a CPO, DU

consultancies or solution providers

thing together? There is a lot of value

that promise you the world. It’s not just

add that you can bring as a CPO to the

about putting these tools live and saying:

company and to realise the digital trans-

“We achieved automation,” says Tabka.

formation, you just need to be an integral

“What you need to focus on is what

part of the overall transformation. Don’t

you’re trying to achieve and marrying

look at it from just one single corner or

this to the strategy of the company.”

as a one-time project. You need to be

“It’s not only about your departments.

part of this overall journey and continue

It’s about the full experience. What are

to push the limits. Otherwise, it won’t be

the Marketing guys trying to achieve?

a successful transformation.”

What are the Technology guys trying to achieve? How do you marry the whole w w w.d u.a e

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