Business Chief - Middle East Edition - June 2018

June 2018 • MIDDLE EAST EDITION

TRANSFORMING THE

CONSTRUCTION

SECTOR AHMAD FARRAKH MANZOOR, HEAD OF BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES AT SIEMENS SAUDI ARABIA AND BAHRAIN ON INNOVATING TO CREATE THE PERFECT SPACE

PROFESSIONAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT WITH A PERSONAL TOUCH TOP 10 INVESTMENT COMPANIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST

BRINGING FIVE-STAR LUXURY TO THE MIDDLE EASTERN MARKET

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FOREWORD HELLO WELCOME TO the Middle East edition of June’s Business Chief magazine.

We speak to Andrew Bates, Head of Private Banking – Middle East at Nedbank Private Wealth, about why wealth management in the Middle East is unique and how banking the world over benefits from a personal approach. “Customer service across a lot of industries isn’t as high as you’d perhaps expect in the US or UK,” says Bates, “but our experienced team offers a consistent client experience across all our office locations.”

Shedding a more global light on the business this month, is Lloyd Snowden of Oliver Wight who talks us through the importance of value chains in sustainable business planning, and how we can make the most out of them to add to a business. We also caught up with Everbridge, a company which manages critical events from terror attacks and natural disasters to IT outages by using state-of-the-art software to keep businesses running and employees safe. Finally, looking into people management, Sony Electronics’ Head of Corporate Communications Cheryl Goodman is discussing the rise of women in STEM and how females can be encouraged to make it to the top.

Not only that but we also have in-depth interviews with the leading lights at Grand Hyatt Hotel and Villas, United Arab Bank, Siemens Building Technologies and Atlantic the Palm. Amman is our city in focus this month and we also list the top 10 investment companies in the region…

Enjoy the issue!

middleeast.businesschief.com www.bizclikmedia.com

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F E AT U R E S

L E A D E R S H I P & S T R AT E G Y

8 Creating perfect places with

technological ingenuity TECHNOLOGY

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CRITICAL EVENT MANAGEMENT across a changing landscape

Professional wealth management with a personal touch

24 PEOPLE

46

SONY ELECTRONICS and the rise of women in STEM

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

HOW MORE CAN BE DONE TO MAKE THE MOST OF VALUE CHAINS

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CITY FOCUS

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AMMAN

TOP 10

TOP 10 INVESTMENT COMPANIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST

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5

C O M PA N Y P R O F I L ES

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Grand Hyatt Hotel Food & Drink

United Arab Bank Technology

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Atlantis The Palm Technology

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Creating perfect places with

technological ingenuity

Written by Laura Mullan Produced by Shirin Sadr

Championing comfort, sustainability, safety and security, Siemens Building Technologies is revolutionising how we see buildings today with technological innovation

W

e spend a large proportion of our lives in buildings and it makes sense that they, in turn, have an enormous impact on our lives.

Studies show that buildings can have a tangible effect on our mood and wellbeing and, as a result, Siemens has made it its driving motivation to create perfect places for its consumers.

Headquartered in Switzerland, the company’s Building Technologies Division has earned a strong reputation for producing cutting-edge technologies for commercial, industrial and public buildings alike.

In doing so, it has become a trusted technology partner for those who want to create comfortable, energy-efficient, safe and secure spaces.

Ahmad Farrakh Manzoor, Head of Building Technologies in Siemens Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, says that buildings aren’t just four walls and a roof. Buildings are alive – and they talk to us with information. Billions of intelligent devices and machines generate massive amounts of data every day, every hour, every second and,

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June 2018

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SIEMENS BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES

with the right digital tools, you can now learn from them and interact with them like never before.

“It’s about making perfect places for people to spend their lives, whether it’s educational spaces, work environments, hospitals or even leisure facilities,” Manzoor explains.

“It’s about creating buildings which allow you to grow, to learn, and feel safe and secure. Today,

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90% of our lives are spent indoors and this is why at Siemens we want to make perfect places - perfectly designed for its purpose.”

Siemens Building Technologies is renowned worldwide for its stateof-the-art solutions and innovative thinking but, for Manzoor, what gives the company a competitive edge is the talents and expertise of its staff.

“I think the most important thing

CONSTRUCTION

“It’s about creating buildings which allow you to grow, to learn, and feel safe and secure.

Today, 90% of our lives are spent indoors and this is why at Siemens we don’t just make buildings, we want to make perfect places perfectly designed for its purpose” – Ahmad Farrakh Manzoor, Head of Building Technologies in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain

is our team,” he observes. “We have a very creative and talented team of people who can explain to our customers how they can benefit from our technologies and what sets our solutions apart.

This is the key to our success.

“You can buy fire detectors, thermostats and security cameras from anywhere in the market, but it’s how our team explain the benefit of these technologies and adapt it as per customer needs, so it works for you, is what makes us unique.

“It’s this human element,” he continues. “You need good communicators who can showcase the technology to the customers. It’s about the usage of the technology and ensuring that our customers can use their technology and be successful on their own.”

As one of the divisions within Siemens, Europe’s largest conglomerate, Siemens Building Technologies can also tap into the company’s cross-industry knowledge across sectors like healthcare (Siemens Healthineers), transport (Siemens Mobility) and computer

middleeast.businesschief.com

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SIEMENS BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES

software (Siemens PLM Software).

It is this cross-industry knowledge which means the firm can uniquely provide endto-end building technology solutions for its customers.

“Siemens is uniquely positioned as the only company in the market who can provide end-to-end solutions,” Manzoor notes.

“We can leverage this breadth of knowledge across Siemens and bring it together with our technologies to create solutions that are useful for our customers.”

This wide-reaching expertise is helping the company create incredible projects ranging from industrial facilities, educational buildings, office spaces and even cinemas, but perhaps the firm’s most notable contribution has been in its creation of smart cities.

The global smart city market has mushroomed in recent years and it’s an industry which Siemens Building Technologies is already tapping in.

Market researchers at Navigant Research have estimated that by 2023, global income from smart

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technologies will have tripled from its 2013 level – from $8.8bn to $27.5bn.

With the latest industry knowhow and end-to-end solutions, it seems Siemens Building Technologies is readying itself for this fast-growing trend.

“We have a unique position in smart cities,” Manzoor explains. “If you think about what constitutes a smart city, especially in the Middle East, you need three things: smart mobility, a smart grid, and smart buildings. Smart buildings play an immense role with over 70% of energy being consumed by buildings for cooling in the hot summer months.”

In today’s ever-evolving technology sector, the company’s competitive edge hasn’t gone unnoticed by the business world.

Last year, the German firm took a top spot on Forbes’s list of the World’s Top Regarded Companies, an achievement which Manzoor credits to the innovative, free-thinking work culture that is nurtured at Siemens.

“We are lucky we are seen as

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Ahmad Farrakh Manzoor Head of Building Technologies in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain

middleeast.businesschief.com

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Siemens Solution Partner

With a broad range of systems, indepth application know-how and highly experienced engineering experts, we design, install and maintain your fire protetion system to ensure life safety, protect valuable assets and business continuity.

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an employer of choice,” explains Manzoor. “The company’s reputation greatly helps to attract and retain the very best talent and expertise in the region.

“The company’s work culture has also been key,” he continues. “We’ve created a progressive, forwardthinking environment where there’s no such thing as a bad idea, because even if someone has an idea which isn’t that great, you can challenge each other, and have discussions which could inspire someone else.”

Heading up the Building Technologies Division’s operations in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, Manzoor believes that the Middle East is a particularly promising region for innovation and technology.

“I wouldn’t say the market is changing fast, I would say it’s disrupting fast,” he observes. “If you look at the demographics, the region is unique because of its young, tech-savvy population and high social media penetration.

Therefore, it complements our digital offering and smart city business.”

As more and more technologies

enter the fray, Siemens Building Technologies has kept pace, if not led the way, when it comes to digital disruption.

“I like to think that buildings can talk, we just need to listen,” explains Manzoor.

“Just like human beings or robots, buildings can talk. We just need to open our ears and listen to them.

This is what we do in Building Technologies. We see the data they generate, run analytics on this, and can better predict what’s going to happen in the future.

“So, for instance, we’ve been tapping into artificial intelligence to see how buildings can learn from the occupancy patterns of rooms,” he notes. “By using sensors, you can see which rooms are being occupied every day and which are not. Then, using artificial intelligence we can predict when it will be occupied in the future and you can adapt the air conditioning, for instance, to suit this. You can also make the building owners more aware which rooms and spaces they can free up and reuse across their portfolio.

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“The building can automatically cool up the room if it predicts there’s going to be a conference. By doing this, you’re not only making the building smarter, you can also save electricity, improve productivity, and make it more comfortable.”

Finding the right balance between comfort, building performance and sustainability is a task which Siemens has mastered over the years.

According to the firm, buildings represent 40% of the world’s primary energy use and so

creating energy-efficient buildings is more important than ever.

As such, Siemens has set itself an ambitious goal to become the world’s first major industrial company to be completely carbon neutral by 2030. To achieve this, it is investing in technologies such as

energy management systems and automation system for buildings.

This commitment isn’t just good for corporate citizenship, it’s also good business, says Manzoor.

“The company plans to cut its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in half by 2020 and then to be

SIEMENS BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES

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CONSTRUCTION

completely carbon neutral by 2030.

This requires a lot of funding so we are investing around €100mn ($118.75mn) in improving our energy efficiency so we can make our planet better. We like to walk the talk.”

In conjunction with its high sustainability standards, Siemens has also led the way as a strong champion of high safety and security protocols.

“We’ve seen many safety and security incidents across the world and so our mission is to create perfect places for everybody which are, most importantly, very safe and secure; but don’t just ask us, ask our customers,” Manzoor says.

“Most mission critical facilities in Saudi Arabia use Siemens’ Building Technologies, whether it’s the oil and gas industry or hospitals. Now, the one of the very first cinema complex has opened its doors in

Saudi Arabia and guess who they chose to implement fire detection within those cinemas? Siemens.

“We’re very excited and, of course, we’re very proud that the Cineplex is using our technology,” he adds.

“There are around 350 cinemas with more than 2,500 screens planned to open in Saudi Arabia by 2030. The Kingdom has a vibrant society and is investing heavily in entertainment.

It’s a promising, emerging market for us and we’re very excited about it.”

Whether creating cinemas or shopping malls, museums or university lecture halls, Siemens has earned its stripes as a leading building technology provider.

As Manzoor highlights, buildings can talk and if you have the right tools and analytics, and it’s clear that Siemens Building Technologies is there to listen.

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L E A D E R S H I P & S T R AT E G Y

Professional wealth management with a personal touch Business Chief speaks to Andrew Bates, Head of Private Banking – Middle East at Nedbank Private Wealth, about why wealth management in the Middle East is unique and how banking the world over benefits from a personal approach Writ ten by OLIVIA MINNOCK

ACCORDING TO ANDREW Bates, newcomers to the Middle East have three main complaints: the customer service, the traffic and the heat.

“Sadly, the only part I can make easy for them is choosing banking and wealth management services,” he laughs. “I can’t do anything about the heat or the traffic, but I can make sure the customer service you experience from us is second to none.”

Boasting 26 years of experience in the banking industry, Bates has now 26

June 2018

settled in Dubai to head up Nedbank Private Wealth’s private banking offering for the UAE. He is keen to discuss the various nuances of the region and where the business must adapt, evolve or stay the same.

“As a representative office in the UAE, the Dubai team promotes the banking and wealth management services which are offered out of the Isle of Man, Jersey, and London offices,” Bates explains. This includes banking, open architecture platform

L E A D E R S H I P & S T R AT E G Y

“WE FOCUS MORE ON CLIENT RETENTION, AND WIN CLIENTS BY LOOKING AFTER OUR EXISTING ONES: A SIGNIFICANT PROPORTION OF NEW CLIENTS ARE A REFERRAL FROM AN EXISTING CLIENT” – Andrew Bates, Head of Private Banking, ME, Nedbank Private Wealth

services, asset management, UK property lending and fiduciary (trust) services, which Middle East-based customers often wish to avail of.

International banking on a local scale This international flavour leaves Nedbank Private Wealth and Bates well-placed to offer international wealth management services at a localised scale. “The addition here is the ability to take UAE dirham deposits, and hold those offshore as well,” Bates explains, adding that this

is a distinct benefit compared to other banks in the region. Expatriate clients often prefer to hold assets offshore in a well-established financial centre such as the Isle of Man or Jersey.

What about the locals, then? “The local Emirati population make up less than 10% of the people that reside here in Dubai,” Bates outlines, adding that his business which is 90% international with just 10% of wealth generated from GCC locals, actually almost mirrors the population 27

L E A D E R S H I P & S T R AT E G Y split. The company also works to assist GCC local families with their UK property lending needs.

Maintaining culture in a new location In terms of making a global business’ service work on a local level, this has been more of an opportunity than a challenge for Nedbank Private Wealth. “Customer service across a lot of industries isn’t as high as you’d perhaps expect in the US or UK,” says Bates, “but our experienced team offers a consistent client experience across all our office locations.

In terms of helping clients when they first move to the region (aside from advising them on the best air-con), Bates adds: “The bank has a very smooth onboarding process and our bankers are very good at working with clients to assist them with the application process.”

Bates cites Nedbank Group’s lengthy history (it began in 1834) and recognises the importance for Nedbank Private Wealth to carry on this legacy while ensuring that a fresh approach is offered as the local market requires. “We have international clients all over the world, and the needs of international clients in the main will often be 28

June 2018

consistent. It’s the little cultural nuances, making sure you’re open for business when your market’s open for business, you’re culturally aware, but at the heart you don’t lose your core values of wanting to serve your client better than any other financial organisation. Our clients are at the centre of everything we do.”

A PERSONAL TOUCH It’s this client-centric approach that Bates feels most passionately about – he argues it’s even more important than the latest technology. “I’m a big embracer of technology – we are as a business… but our clients tell us, and we firmly believe, you can’t replicate one-to-one meetings. The internet and various media channels are useful to a degree, but when you really want to get to the bones of something, get to know someone, you have to do it face-to-face.

Bates warns: “There’s a danger of businesses, all businesses, removing face time by pushing technology. You’re in danger of losing that personal relationship, which is how you got together in the first place.” High-net-worth individuals looking to invest will

‘NEDBANK GROUP HAS BUILT OUR ITS REPUTATION ON PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, CONSISTENCY AND CAREFUL ATTENTION TO CLIENTS’ NEEDS’

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of course recognise the need for advice as well as tech – it’s all very well having data at your fingertips, but having someone to interpret and advise based on your individual needs is another matter. “If you’ve got a toothache, you don’t try and take your own tooth out. You need professional people around you.”

Cultivating these trusted individuals is in itself a full-time job, and once recruited it’s important that Nedbank Private Wealth retains its staff for as long as possible, so that all-important continuity and personal relationship aren’t lost. The company does so by offering staff the opportunity to grow not just as wealth managers, but as individuals. Bates himself is currently being supported through an Executive MBA with London Business School. “For the business to have that sort of faith in me is what keeps me motivated, dedicated and engaged.

“We also assist people wishing to do extra learning that might not have a direct impact on the business – we offer freedom to flourish wherever we can.” It’s paying off: 50% of Nedbank Private Wealth’s employees stay with the company for over a

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decade, in a sector where the norm might be three years or less. The company was recently reaccredited with the prestigious Gold status from Investors in People (IIP), which placed it in the top 16% of IIP accredited organisations across the UK.

ESTABLISHED GROWTH Outlining the company’s rapid success bolstered by its tailored service for high-net-worth clients, Bates says: “We’ve just come off the back of constant growth, with a compounded annual growth in underlying profits of 20% during the course of the last four years.”

However, Bates emphasises that it’s important to be established in the region among clients, rather than large-scale expansion. “We focus more on client retention, and win clients by looking after our existing ones: a significant proportion of new clients are a referral from an existing client. We don’t have any current plans to start running off and opening offices in other parts of the globe – we are very much committed to the regions we’re in and will continue to grow in these regions.”

L E A D E R S H I P & S T R AT E G Y

“THERE’S A DANGER OF BUSINESSES, ALL BUSINESSES, REMOVING FACE TIME

BY PUSHING TECHNOLOGY. YOU’RE IN DANGER OF LOSING THAT PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP, WHICH IS HOW YOU GOT TOGETHER IN THE FIRST PLACE” – Andrew Bates, Head of Private Banking, ME, Nedbank Private Wealth

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CRITICAL EVENT MANAGEMENT across a changing landscape In a fast-changing world, businesses and governments alike must become more proactive in dealing with a variety of threats.

Javier Colado, SVP of International Sales at Everbridge, tells us more

TECHNOLOGY

Writ ten by OLIVIA MINNOCK

TECHNOLOGY IN AN AGE where theft isn’t just of physical goods but of data, and criminals don’t just break into buildings but into digital ecosystems, security threats are becoming much harder and more complex to manage. Throw natural disasters and terror attacks into the mix, and 21st century security is about managing the unpredictable at an ever-increasing pace. Critical event management company Everbridge helps governments and business not only react to, but also prepare for and anticipate such threats.

We caught up with Javier

Colado, SVP of International Sales at Everbridge, to find out how the business takes care of companies and incidents of every shape and size, and where it plans to go next. Colado has worked with several global businesses like McAfee and SAP and as such is well-placed to head up Everbridge’s journey in an increasingly connected world. “I chose to come to Everbridge for two reasons: firstly, it’s unique in the market as our solutions help keep people safe and can even save lives; secondly, there is huge potential for us to grow out of the USA,” he explains.

“ WE ENABLE CORPORATIONS AND COMMUNITIES TO QUICKLY AND CONTEXTUALLY REACH ANYONE ON ANY DEVICE, ANYWHERE AT ANY TIME” JAVIER COLADO SVP International Sales, Everbridge

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In a nutshell, critical event management involves helping organisations deal with events as they happen, from active shooter incidents to internet outages. “Businesses today typically manage critical events in silos that use disparate data sources and unintegrated tools, making it difficult to achieve a common operational view of threats and of the status of response,” Colado explains. “A Critical Event Management (CEM) platform like ours helps unify this process by offering a combination of real-time monitoring, situational awareness and integrated

response and collaboration solutions from a single, enterprise-wide view.”

This platform helps businesses to not only keep employees safe, but also monitor potential threats so they can grow proactively across less familiar locations such as emerging markets.

Everbridge was founded in the wake of 9/11. It became clear that a tech-based solution was needed to enable communication during critical incidents. “We saw government agencies struggle to communicate with citizens and businesses,” says Colado. “The technology wasn’t what it was today, but the event demonstrated that emergency responders needed a technology platform to help them protect the public during a major emergency.”

Everbridge wanted to move away from the existing method of emergency response which largely consisted of a one-way ‘blast’ message. Instead, the Everbridge platform allows tailored communication specific to a situation for the specific recipient, through any means, to any location. “We also incorporate business rules, workflows and logic to enable contextual and effective communications and allow users to verify and confirm delivery 37

TECHNOLOGY and receipt,” Colado adds.

Since 2002 when Everbridge was founded, it has been necessary to adapt this offering to not only help government organisations get crucial messages out there, but also “global businesses, large healthcare organisations, leading universities, transportation hubs, IT operations teams and much more”. This has led to the service expanding to both operational and emergency-oriented applications. In short, there are many less dramatic incidents that can also pose threats to a business’

operations and profits, and it became a priority to deal with these as well.

Coldao adds: “Beyond our core mass notification services, we have developed an industry-leading set of applications to improve organisational responses for all these diverse types of events to help keep people safe and businesses running faster.”

Such issues range from IT outages, power outages, facility issues and scheduling challenges to supply-chain interruptions. In 2017, Everbridge’s platform dealt with over 2bn messages across 200 countries and territories.

“ WHERE TRADITIONAL EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION AND PHYSICAL SECURITY SOLUTIONS FOCUS ON AN INDIVIDUAL’S STATIC HOME OR WORK ADDRESS, SAFETY CONNECTION UTILISES MULTIPLE METHODS TO DYNAMICALLY LOCATE, NOTIFY AND INSTRUCT INDIVIDUALS” JAVIER COLADO SVP International Sales, Everbridge

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As well as helping organisations send secure messages to their staff at work or home, there is a lot more to the service. “We also enable multimodal delivery to dynamic – actual and predicted – locations,” says Coldao. “This is particularly critical when reaching mobile, travelling and remote workers. Overall, we enable corporations and communities to quickly and contextually reach anyone on any device, anywhere at any time.

“Our CEM platform also helps organisations develop a common operating picture of their risk events,

with the ability to assess threats impacting assets or systems, locate responders, resolvers and stakeholders, automate incident response workflows and analyse all results to improve future response efforts.” Applications such as Safety Connection, IT Alerting and Visual Command Centre all serve to keep employees safe during incidents as well as improving efficiency and maintaining, where possible, ‘business as usual’.

For example, last year Everbridge worked with London-based financial

The Everbridge Critical Event Management (CEM) suite demo

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TECHNOLOGY services giant, Willis Towers Watson, which manages over 140,000 staff in 140 countries. “They used the Everbridge platform while monitoring the approach of Hurricane Irma toward America in 2017.” This software helped the company decide to close 12 offices in Florida and inform 700 workers of the emergency decision. Coldao adds: “The company was then able to verify the safety of all colleagues as the storm hit, and advised when they could return to the office. Various messages were also sent to colleagues due to be travelling in the region.”

The security and safety market has of course developed due to technology transformation. “The historic market for corporate security and safety solutions has been focused on establishing perimeters (e.g. locks, alarms and guards) to keep threats to employees outside of the physical premises,” says Colado. “However, it’s been necessary to shift away from this given the nature of today’s increasingly mobile workforce.”

Everbridge recently conducted a survey of the key safety and security issues facing businesses today. It found that organisations were largely concerned by the risk of workplace 40

June 2018

violence. Only 79% felt they were even somewhat prepared for an active shooter event, and businesses stated that the biggest challenge faced was communicating with people in an impacted building. 37% of businesses said they maintained an accurate record of where employees are expected to be during working hours, and only 25% dynamically locate employees when a threat occurs in order to tailor their alerts.

Therefore, in emergencies like shooting situations, terror attacks and natural disasters, it’s clear that a CEM platform like Everbridge’s could provide a much-needed solution in an oft-overlooked area.

Indeed, with the labour force becoming increasingly made up of mobile – and indeed temporary or freelance – workers, corporations are finding it even harder to deal with threats, from keeping up-to-date with exact locations to checking in on people’s personal safety.

Everbridge’s software not only helps companies during these events but can also help them find out where it is safe for their staff to operate when contemplating expansion. Everbridge Safety Connection focusses on

79%

keeping mobile staff informed. “Where traditional emergency notification and physical security solutions focus on an individual’s static home or work address, Safety Connection utilises multiple methods to dynamically locate, notify and instruct individuals,” Colado explains. “When

THE NUMBER OF BUSINESSES THAT FELT THEY WERE EVEN SOMEWHAT PREPARED FOR A CRITICAL EVENT

deployed, security professionals can aggregate near real-time location data from multiple sources, including building access control systems and travel management systems to send notifications to individuals and employees who might be in dangerous situations.”

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TECHNOLOGY

“ OUR IPO WAS A SIGNIFICANT MOMENT WITHIN THE COMPANY’S HISTORY AS IT NOT ONLY DEMONSTRATED THE EMERGENCE OF EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS AS A MAJOR MARKET BUT ALSO OUR LEADERSHIP POSITION WITHIN IT” JAVIER COLADO SVP International Sales,

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June 2018

So far, Everbridge’s offering has garnered interest from well-known clients such as airports, investment banks and the UK’s NHS (in fact, around one third of FTSE 100 companies use Everbridge) as well as faith from investors. In 2016, the company made its debut on the stock exchange and since then its stock price has increased by over 200%.

Everbridge’s $100mn revenue in 2017 marked 36% year-on-year growth.

“Our IPO was a significant moment within the company’s history,” says Colado, “as it not only demonstrated the emergence of emergency communications as a major market but also our leadership position within it.”

Everbridge is set to continue on this path of rapid growth with its recent acquisition of United Messaging Systems, a leading European provider of critical communications. Will this be a step toward dominating the European market? “Given the importance of mobile delivery internationally, UMS’ unique ability to message the mobile phones of anyone connected to a carrier’s cell towers significantly enhances Everbridge’s ability to protect people worldwide,” says Colado, adding that UMS has

over 1,000 customers in Northern Europe and reaches over 500mn people with public notifications, using its Population Alerting System (PAS) to provide two-way SMS broadcasting.

“Together we will provide the broadest delivery capability for critical communications worldwide… UMS accelerates our international growth and creates the most comprehensive CEM platform for business, state and local government, and now entire countries. UMS provides Everbridge with a passionate and customerfocused team of experts, differentiated technology, and a shared mission to keep people safe and businesses running during a critical event.”

Overall, this European expansion will only add to Everbridge’s capability to deal with any event the world throws at it, and to help its clients do the same. While expanding out of the US and into Europe and the wider world will come with its challenges, such as GDPR compliance and generally making sure customers’ data is looked after and only used when truly necessary, it is also an opportunity to utilise the latest technology to keep people safe and keep the business world running like clockwork.

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PEOPLE

SONY ELECTRONICS and the rise of women in STEM

Business Chief speaks to the tech giant’s Head of Corporate Communications Cheryl Goodman on her career in technology and how other ambitious females can rise in the industry Wr i t t e n by TO M WA D LOW 47

PEOPLE

T

he world of technology is still largely dominated by men.

Almost all statistics (and there are many) point towards low female participation in STEM industries, from educational uptake all the way through to representation at boardroom level.

Take UNESCO Institute for Statistic’s 2017 Women in Science factsheet – globally, it says just 28.8% of the scientific research and development workforce are female, although figures are higher in Central Asia (47.2%), Latin America (44.7%) and Central and Eastern Europe (39.6%).

Further, United Nations research reveals that women who start out

in business roles in tech-intensive industries leave for other industries at high rates – 53% of women compared to 31% of men. This in turn leads to an extremely low presence in the boardroom, with IT industries struggling to hit 15% in terms of female representation at the highest leadership levels.

A bleak picture perhaps, but many of the world’s top technology companies are actively seeking to address the divide and drive women in STEM numbers significantly north.

One such industry heavyweight is Sony. In 2016, the percentage of management positions held by

Sony played an active role in San Diego Women’s Week, held in March

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June 2018

Sony headquarters becomes the hub for best practices and methods for women to live their fullest mission, wherever they are, whether that’s in Sony Electronics or down the street in a competitor’s company” CHERYL GOODMAN Head of Corporate Communications for Sony Electronics

women across the tech firm’s global operations stood at 24%, almost double the proportion seen in the 2011 financial year (12.7%). In the US, this figure rises to nearer 36%.

Cheryl Goodman, Head of Corporate Communications for Sony Electronics, is among this 36%. Stationed at the company’s base in San Diego, she is tasked with the formidable challenge of driving a greater understanding of key developments in an everchanging world of innovation.

“Is it a headache? Yes,” she tells Business Chief. “I think there are a lot 49

of nuances. When you walk into that television aisle I’m sure you look at the TVs and you see new HD, 4K, and all these acronyms and you probably think to yourself, ‘why do I care?’

“So, we have to drive that ‘why you care’, and we have to drive understanding. I figure if I can explain to my mom what all these acronyms mean, and why she should care, then we’re at a good spot. So, we try to drive understanding down to the very base level. It all equals quality.”

28.8%

of scientific research and development personnel are female 50

June 2018

Goodman is certainly wellqualified and prepared to negotiate the communications conundrum of such rapid advances in technology.

Having majored in political science and television media at San Diego State University, she has worked through the rise of web and increase in the number of ways we consume media.

Starting out at San Diego’s KGTV News, she moved to MP3.com and Lindows before a long stint in PR and marketing at Qualcomm. It was

36%

of the management positions held by women at Sony (USA)

PEOPLE here that Goodman ramped up her involvement in championing the wider ‘women in STEM’ agenda, chiefly through membership and local leadership of Athena, a professional development organisation helping women develop careers in STEM industries.

Goodman served as Executive Director for the San Diego branch between January 2016 and August 2017, during which time she doubled the number of technology and life science partnerships and helped break numerous fundraising records.

“Then I moved to Sony,” she says, “and nine months later, two grey hairs

later, I can tell you it is a phenomenal place. It had to be if I was to consider leaving my mission at Athena.”

A big part her decision was the approach to diversity of Sony Electronics President and COO Mike Fasulo. “My boss believes it is tried, true, and proven that diversity is a positive impact for the bottom line,” Goodman adds. “I had just not seen that before. For him it is a business imperative, and that’s why I’m here today to illustrate and support that.”

These beliefs are backed up by action. For three consecutive years Sony Electronics has been named among the best places to work in the

Sony is committed to the nationwide Women Unlimited Mentoring Programme

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PEOPLE Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index, scoring a maximum 100 each time.

“It’s a big acknowledgement,” Goodman says. “This is a very wellrespected organisation, and in the past 11 years we have had at least a very high 90s ranking. So, while it is the trend for many technology companies to pull together some type of gender agenda to check the box, Sony Electronics has been walking the walk and talking the talk for over a decade.

“Our president even wears the pin on his lapel every single day, and he brings it up at every meeting. It’s part of his DNA and it trickles down to the leadership and business as a whole.”

This is no better demonstrated than by Sony’s commitment to the nationwide Women Unlimited Mentoring Program. Designed to build talent management strategies through mentorship, Sony is supporting the participation of more than 70 women from its San Diego base.

Goodman is joined by Julie Wenzel, Senior Manager of Community Relations, who is taking part in a lead programme aimed at middle management and above.

She describes her experience 52

June 2018

While it is the trend for many technology companies to pull together some type of gender agenda to check the box, Sony Electronics has been walking the walk and talking the talk for over a decade” CHERYL GOODMAN Head of Corporate Communications for Sony Electronics

to date: “It really provides a great opportunity to not only experience a couple of different mentors from outside organisations at an executive level, but an opportunity to look at your career path, identify areas where you’d like to grow and put together a strategy for getting there. “It’s been a very positive experience and is a great chance to meet women from various industries and understand challenges and opportunities

regardless of where you work.”

Further still, Sony has become something of a hub in San Diego and Southern California, be it through participation with Athena, sponsoring the YWCA TWIN Awards or holding events for the North County Chamber of Commerce Women’s Week. For the latter, Naomi Tutu, daughter of cleric and human rights activist Desmond Tutu, recently addressed an audience at Sony Electronics.

“Sony headquarters becomes the hub for best practices and

methods for women to live their fullest mission, wherever they are, whether that’s in Sony Electronics or down the street in a competitor’s company,” Goodman explains. “We like to hold the conversation, we like to curate the conversation.”

Goodman is also keen to stress how Sony’s own products can be moulded by and contribute to that conversation. She cites Koov, an allin-one coding, robotics and design kit that combines digital coding with physical building to teach the next 53

PEOPLE generation of problem solvers and innovators. Launched in February, it is targeted at children as young as eight years old. “We don’t target necessarily girls or boys,” Goodman adds. “We are targeting coding as a skill, something the nation needs.”

Indeed, 4.4mn computer and IT jobs will exist in the USA alone by 2024, according to the country’s Bureau of Labor and Statistics. An added complication, revealed by a World Economic Forum report, is that 65% of children entering primary school today will work in jobs that do not yet exist.

However, while uncertainty

remains as to the future makeup of the workforce, Goodman is full of advice for women seeking to develop careers in STEM today.

“Number one is that your contribution level is more important than the colour of your skin or your gender,” she insists. “Bottom line is the value that you add to the organisation.

When we hire we are looking for people to solve the problem with the skills that they have, regardless of what they look like or what gender they are. So, it is about quality, it is about skill, and it is about contribution.

“If you experience any pushback in

KOOV: The coding and robotics kit for the next generation of young innovators

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June 2018

We’ve got a long way to go, but I’ll say, again, the key theme is that this is an industry issue.

This is a business issue.

Gender equality impacts the bottom line. It impacts our return on investment, and we will continue to support this moving forward as long as I can imagine” CHERYL GOODMAN Head of Corporate Communications for Sony Electronics

your career, I would challenge you to find mentors. Find successful women in your realm to partner with and help navigate your path. I would also recommend joining an organisation, whether it’s an organisation for your industry at large, or a women’s organisation in your local chapter.”

Goodman’s final piece of advice is to find a mentor in a top leadership position, which in many cases, she says, will be male. “Find someone in leadership that you trust to ask what the key issues for the organisation at large are, and make sure that your contributions are in line with these needs.”

And what of Sony Electronics?

How can it improve on three years of perfect scoring from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index?

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Goodman says, “but I’ll say, again, the key theme is that this is an industry issue. This is a business issue. Gender equality impacts the bottom line. It impacts our return on investment, and we will continue to support this moving forward as long as I can imagine.

“Is it complete? Is our work done?

No.” 55

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HOW MORE CAN BE DONE TO MAKE THE MOST OF VALUE CHAINS Business Chief looks at how some of the traditional theories about value chains align with modern business realities Written by STUART HODGE

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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y THE CONCEPT OF a value chain was first introduced to the public consciousness by American business strategist and economic theorist Michael Porter more than 30 years ago in his best-selling book Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance.

Porter was talking about these ideas as early as the late 1970s, so the concept has existed for a long time, but the way that companies create and exploit maximum value has changed immeasurably in the intervening

three or four decades. This is largely given the huge societal changes and the exponential acceleration and increased prevalence of technology in our daily lives.

Veteran Harvard academic Porter showed he hasn’t missed a beat either when he appeared at the World Business Forum in New York City last year. Porter spoke about how smarter, connected products are changing the market landscape by increasing ability to monitor, control and optimise systems.

This still ties in with his original

P O R T E R ’ S G E N E R I C VA L U E C H A I N

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Te c h n o l o g y Proc u rement

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Ma rketi ng & Sales

PR I M A RY ACT I V I T I ES

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Service

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Support Activ ities

Fi rm I n frastruc tu re

“ You must understand your customers or consumers and what they see as value.

It’s then about making sure that each of the different supply points, or nodes of our supply chain, understand which part of that value they need to deliver” LOYD SNOWDEN L Business Transformation Specialist, Oliver Wight EAME

value chain concept, which is comprised of both primary and supporting business activities and how they can affect the margin.

Generally speaking, the ideas and ideals of the generic value chain model still hold true, but as well as the world around us, what has also changed is the way that companies do business and the way that different suppliers engage with one another.

There is less of an emphasis now on interpersonal relationships and it’s more about leveraging technology to extract maximum value at the various points in the supply chain.

Lloyd Snowden is a business transformation specialist for UK-based consultancy Oliver Wight EAME, and he feels that value chains are becoming even more important to businesses as they become more savvy and aware.

“You must understand your customers or consumers and what they see as value. It’s then about making sure that each of the different supply points, or nodes of our supply chain, understand which part of that value they need to deliver,” explains Snowden. “You then take, with this understanding of the value to be delivered, and push it right the way back through your supply chain, so that each node of the supply chain then delivers that same value back to the customer.

“The value chain is something that is starting to grow a lot more, because I think more and more companies today are also embracing strategic planning. Those kind of integrated, strategic plans didn’t exist in the same way 10 years ago. Because 61

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y people are starting to understand those strategic directions and when possible the strategies of their customers, the ability to understand the anticipated value, I believe, has grown. Therefore, there’s a greater interest in people and companies talking about the value chain today than there has been in the past.”

So, businesses are more aware of where value can be extracted and how supply chains can be turned into value chains, but how is it done? Obviously, the plethora of technological aids available to companies makes it easier to pinpoint where value can be created or extracted, but given that businesses in the same supply chain are sometimes competing for the same customer base, how can you engender the necessary level of trust for a value chain to function as it should?

According to Snowden, it comes back to the ideals of being transparent and exhibiting best business practice wherever possible and, once again, knowing your customers. “Excellent delivery in a mature business is enabled through transparency,” Snowden says. “Ensuring visibility of performance and improvement 62

June 2018

activity, along with a good, accurate, clear and relevant communication.

One set of numbers, accurate data, sharing information and slinging strategy between supply points, or nodes, that would possibly, traditionally, be at arms-length from each other. What you need to try and to do is get this to be a much more open relationship, to enable that value to be understood and delivered.

“I guess it all depends where you sit in the supply chain, to some extent. But say we’re a company in the middle of the supply chain, with the customers and the consumers at one end and our suppliers at the other – we’re the manufacturing warehouse, or logistics element. I would need a clear understanding of who my key customers are, their key requirements, and what they value from those requirements.

“You need to have some real, open, collaborative dialogue with them. Not just vendor, managed inventory level of collaboration, but where we might be sharing strategies, where we have real trust between our organisations.

Could I align my strategies of business to that customer direction? That would be delivering better value.

“ W hen companies are much better at performing, they change their focus from the management of the short term and firefighting to ‘eyes up and look out’, so they’re able to better understand the marketplace” LOYD SNOWDEN L Business Transformation Specialist, Oliver Wight EAME

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“If I then look back through the supply chain to the key suppliers that I have, can I get the relationship between me and my key suppliers to the point where they want their strategy to align with mine? If we’ve got all of that kind of strategic alignment and those different thought processes going on, then the ability for people to deliver value is going to be much higher than if it was independent businesses with their own strategies trying to supply things for you.”

Teamwork makes the dream work – or as legendary luxury hotelier and entrepreneur Horst H. Schulze once stated: “In life and business, relationships are important – but they are empty unless they are established and based upon trust.” When it comes to the creation of value chains, that has never been truer. It requires all parties to be honest and transparent and operate fairly and ethically, with the benefits of the customer at the forefront of their thinking.

Obviously creating value impacts positively on margins and that can only be a good thing, but it requires the buy-in of all stakeholders. Snowden reckons it’s right for companies to be wary of trust potentially backfiring but he also says it’s an area where businesses often lack maturity. “If companies don’t actually understand the market place and they’re firefighting, then there’s no time for them to lift their head up and say, ‘what are we doing wrong? And what can we do to put it right?

And how do we align that to what we’ve got in the marketplace?’ That is very often part of the problem.

When companies are much better at performing, 64

June 2018

“ In life and business, relationships are important – but they are empty unless they are established and based upon trust” ORST H. SCHULZE H Luxury hotelier and entrepreneur

S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y they change their focus from the management of the short term and firefighting to ‘eyes up and look out’, so they’re able to better understand the marketplace. Why? Because they’re in control, have stopped firefighting and therefore can spend more time understanding their markets, customers, consumers and competition.”

Snowden goes on to explain that this is phase one of business maturity on the Oliver Wight Maturity Model. Essentially what that means is having a managed environment.

Phase two is a led

environment, where a company is moving more towards percentile perfection. Snowden estimates that around nine out of 10 businesses find themselves mired somewhere

between phase one and phase two, and estimates that more than half of those are still in phase one.

If that’s the case, there is more to be done with regards to maximising the opportunities to create value and build a value chain. Whether increasing numbers can successfully achieve this remains to be seen.

For a final thought, we’ll

go back to the original critical thinker, Porter. Speaking at an event at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, in the Netherlands a couple of years ago, he said: “Creating shared value means addressing societal needs and challenges through business itself, with a business model – and making a profit. In fact, some of the greatest opportunities for business are meeting the unmet needs of society.” Therein lies the challenge in the months and years to come..

65

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AMM CIT Y FOCUS

Headline

Seque rest volorum aute velestio intem illibus es qui ut alit et, sita iuntur?

Writ ten by AUTHOR

MAN AMMAN, THE CAPITAL OF JORDAN, IS NOT ONLY THE CENTRE FOR BANKING AND POLITICS IN THE COUNTRY, BUT ALSO HOSTS SOME INTERESTING STARTUPS HOPING TO EXPAND ACROSS THE MIDDLE EAST

EDITED BY

OLIVIA MINNOCK

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June 2018

CITY FOCUS

Jordan’s financial centre Located in north-central Jordan, Amman is the country’s most populous city. Home to more than 4mn people and sprawled over nearly 650 square miles, Amman is Jordan’s capital and its centre of administration. Widely considered to be one of the most westernised and liberal of the Arab cities, Amman is home to the bulk of Jordan’s political, cultural and economic activities.

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CITY FOCUS

Amman’s economy Not surprisingly, Amman has a thriving economy. One of the largest sectors of because is tourism with nearly 2mn tourists – primarily from Europe and other Arab countries – each year. Those visitors spent more than $1.3bn while in the city.

In fact, Amman is the fourth mostvisited city in the region. The Queen Alia International Airport’s recent

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expansion is evidence of the Amman government’s commitment to the boosting the city’s infrastructure.

Medical tourism is also a growing sector in Jordan as a whole and Amman in particular. On average, the city attracts about 250,000 patients from foreign countries each year. These visitors pour about $1bn into the city’s economy.

Development in Amman Abdali is a newly-conceived hub of mixed developments in the downtown area of Amman. The $5bn project features luxury living accommodations, a central business district, a world-class shopping destination and a top-tier hub for

medical innovations. Located on one of Amman’s most strategic locations, Abdali serves as a bridge for those to the west and east while providing easy access to the King Abdullah mosque, parliament and the palace of justice.

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Home of Jordan’s banking sector In spite of the economic difficulties and unrest that the Middle East region experiences on a regular basis, Jordan’s economy – buoyed by its banking sector – has remained relatively stable.

Comprised of about 25 banks with the majority of them listed on the Amman Stock Exchange, this industry is led by Arab Bank.

ARAB BANK is one of the Middle East’s largest financial institutions with branches numbering over 600 situated on five continents and in 30 countries.

Amman serves as the company’s base and Arab Bank represents 28% of the city’s stock exchange.

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CITY FOCUS

King Hussein Business Park Located in West Amman, King Hussein Business Park is a business compound containing office buildings, a sports complex, an auditorium and support areas.

Equipped with extensive ICT infrastructure, King Hussein Business Park is the home of more than 40 major businesses including Rubicon, Hewlett-Packard, LG and numerous others. The yearly events, Zain Innovative Campus (ZINC) and New Think Festival are also held at the site. In 2017, it was announced that the business park had reached 95% capacity and would be expanding to accommodate further growth.Â

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CITY FOCUS

Home to diverse startups

Amman is where startups hoping to capture their share of the region's consumer often make their home. The following companies demonstrate the extensive diversity that can be supported in the city:Â 76

June 2018

HyperPay provides a range of services focused on payment processing for businesses – both online and off. The company is seen as the region’s most quickly growing gateway for businesses.

Arabia Weather serves millions of Middle Eastern consumers as the leading provider of weather solutions, products and services. It offers regular weather forecasts as well as notifications. Founded in 2006, Arabia Weather is headquartered in Amman

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Aumet is based in San Francisco and has its office for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in Amman. The company, tapping into Amman’s growing medical tourism sector, focuses on helping medical distributors and manufacturers increase their sales by connecting them directly with hospitals and other medical providers who are searching for clients and/or products.

Based in Amman, Tamatem Games is the MENA region’s leading mobile games publisher. Founded by Hussam Hammo in 2013 after he noticed a distinct lack of Arabic-based mobile games, Tamatem Games had released 40 games with a total of 45mn downloads.

Liwwa is a 2016 startup that uses data and technology in order to increase access to capital for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UAE as well as Jordan. Based online, this marketplace lender pairs investors with businesses who need funds.

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CITY FOCUS

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TOP 10 INVESTMENT COMPANIES IN THE MIDDLE EAS WE TOOK A LOOK AT FORBES MIDDLE EAST’S “TOP 100 COMPANIES IN THE ARAB WORLD 2017” AND COMPILED A LIST OF THE TOP 10 INVESTMENT COMPANIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST BY REVENUE W R I T T E N BY S H A N N O N L E W IS

N ST

TOP 10

TOP 10

SAMBA FINANCIAL GROUP $2.4BN

10 SAUDI BRITISH BANK $2.2BN Headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Saudi British Bank operates under segments including retail, corporate and treasury. Founded in 1978, it brings in $2.2bn in revenue, placing it 17th on Forbes Middle East’s overall list. With 4,079 employees at its disposal, according to Forbes, the company’s personal banking sector provides investment services for the consumer. It places 923rd on Forbes’ ‘World’s Biggest Public Companies’ list and holds $49.6bn in assets, according to Forbes Middle East.

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Samba Financial Group is a Saudi Arabia-based banking and financial services company. Pulling in $2.4bn in revenue, it places 12th on Forbes Middle East’s overall list of Arab companies and 777th on Forbes’ ‘World’s Biggest Public Companies’.

Samba is one of the world’s biggest and best reputed financial service groups, with $61.7bn worth of assets in its care. Founded in 1955, it currently oversees 3,360 employees, 73 branches in Saudi Arabia, one branch in Dubai, 37 branches in Pakistan, and two branches in London and Qatar. Bloomberg states that in total, the company has 596 ATMs all over the world.

9

ABU DHABI COMMERCIAL BANK $3BN

8 RIYAD BANK $2.6BN Founded in 1957, Riyad Bank provides banking products and financial services across its 340 branches in Saudi Arabia. It places 15th on Forbes Middle East’s list. Pulling in $2.6bn in revenue, it also holds $58bn in assets, according to Forbes Middle East.

With 5,891 employees, according to Bloomberg, its reach stretches into the international, with a branch in London, a branch in Texas, and a representative office in Singapore.

With 48 branches across the United Arab Emirates, and headquarters in Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank provides banking and financial services on both a national and international level. With $3bn in revenue and $70.3bn in assets, it places 11th on Forbes Middle East’s ‘Top 100 Companies in the Arab World 2017’ and 834th on Forbes’ ‘World’s Biggest Public Companies’. Founded in 1985, it currently employs 12,924 people.

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TOP 10

AL RAJHI BANK $4.2BN

6 NATIONAL BANK OF KUWAIT $3.2BN The National Bank of Kuwait was first founded in 1952 in Kuwait City, now providing financial and investing services across the country. It places 10th on Forbes Middle East’s ‘Top 100 Companies in the Arab World 2017’ and 758th on Forbes’ ‘World’s Biggest Public Companies’, bringing in $3.2bn in revenue. With 6,196 employees, it oversees $79.4bn in assets, equating to a market value of $13.4bn.

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Headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Al Rajhi Bank has been open to the public since 1957. Its investment activities have both a national and international reach, with 590 branches open and 4,800 ATMs available, according to Bloomberg. With $4.2bn in revenue, according to Forbes Middle East, it places 6th on Forbes Middle East’s ‘Top 100 Companies in the Arab World 2017’, and 167th on Forbes’ ‘World’s Biggest Public Companies’. It oversees $90.6bn in assets, and 13,684 employees, according to Forbes.

5

NATIONAL COMMERCIAL BANK $6.1BN

4 EMIRATES NBD $5.6BN Emirates NBD provides financial services for the United Arab Emirates as well as internationally, with headquarters operating out of Dubai.

Placing 7th on Forbes Middle East’s ‘Top 100 Companies in the Arab World 2017’ and 82nd on Forbes’ ‘World’s Biggest Public Companies’, it brings in $5.6bn in revenue and holds $122bn in assets. Founded in 2007, Emirates NBD now employs 7,000 people.

With 220 branches and 940 ATMs, according to Bloomberg, it operates not only in the UAE, but also in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the UK, with offices in India, China, and Indonesia.

Headquartered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, National Commercial Bank has been providing banking products and services since its foundation in 1953.

With $6.1bn in revenue, it’s no surprise the company places 4th on Forbes Middle East’s ‘Top 100 Companies in the Arab World 2017’. It oversees 12,310 employees, $117.7bn in assets and 400 branches in Saudi Arabia, according to Bloomberg.

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2

FIRST ABU DHABI BANK $6.9BN Founded in 1968, First Abu Dhabi Bank operates out of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, but also has networks in Singapore, Qatar, India, Hong Kong, Seoul, and London, which places it as the third biggest company overall in the region and 660th biggest in the world. This is in part due to the impressive $6.9bn the bank brings in in revenue. According to Forbes, the company oversees 10,849 employees, and $182.5bn in assets.

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1 QNB $11.7BN

Originally founded in 1964 as Qatar National Bank S.A.Q., QNB changed its name to Qatar National Bank (Q.P.S.C.) in 2016. First on our list of top investing companies in the Middle East, it brings in $11.7bn in revenue, placing 2nd on Forbes’ overall list for the Middle East and 96th on Forbes’ ‘World’s Biggest Public Companies’.

The investment giant holds $197.7bn in assets and oversees 25,424 employees. Currently its headquarters is located in Doha, Qatar.

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BRINGING FIVE

TO THE MIDDLE E

E-STAR LUXURY

EASTERN MARKET Written by DALE BENTON | Produced by ALAIN RIZK 89

G R A N D H YAT T H O T E L

As HYATT HOTEL continues to go above and beyond expectation to provide the ultimate five-star experience, the customer has and will always be the key component in defining the direction of the company

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H O S P I TA L I T Y

T

HE MODERN WORLD of luxury hotels has changed.

Gone are the days where a hotel can be defined by its star rating alone. The luxury hotel guest and the investor into luxury hotels has very different expectations. To succeed in this space, a company must look at providing additional services.

In the Middle East, a key driver of this changing landscape occurred around 15 years ago as a number of countries across the Gulf changed their visa regulations, thus opening its doors to international tourism.

Running alongside this was a significant growth in the airline industry. Major global players such as Gulf Air, Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways have contributed immensely to the growth of travel and tourism across the region.

For Christoph K Franzen, Area Vice President for the State of Qatar and the Sultanate of Oman for Hyatt Hotels, the influx of different cultures and nationalities over the last decade has created a more active market than ever before.

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H O S P I TA L I T Y

Spa lobby “It’s a very active market when it comes to opening hotels,” he says.

“And there has been a notable shift in terms of what people and investors are looking for. Whereas before it would be a five-star hotel, now people are looking at hotels with select-service plans. Investors are looking for a vehicle that they can invest their money into.”

The company’s Middle Eastern footprint encompasses the GCC, of which Franzen is General Manager at the Grand Hyatt Doha Hotel & Villas, but also oversees operations of the hotels in Qatar and Oman where the

company continues to grow and seek out further opportunities to operate.

“There are a lot of things happening in the pipeline at the moment,” he says. “It’s a large company, so we are looking to add properties in primary and secondary cities in various GCC countries. As I said before, it’s a very active market right now.”

Franzen was born into the industry, growing up in Zermatt, Switzerland, a town defined by its tourism market in the Swiss Alps at the foot of mount Matterhorn.

Fast forward to 2018, by way of working as a chef for freestanding

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hotels and restaurants as well as for Hilton Hotels and then joining Hyatt Hotels just over 20 years ago, Franzen has seen first-hand this change towards additional services and how the Hyatt Group can stand tall against other hotel operators.

“Anyone can open a hotel with the same marble, same furniture and the same look and feel,” he says. “But for me, the difference has always been in the personalised service that we extend to guests.”

“Every hotel can offer a clean room, quick internet and a good breakfast. So, it’s about what you do after that, that makes a difference.”

In the quest to go above and beyond expectation and provide the ultimate experience for guests, so that they ultimately continue to use the Hyatt Group as the preferred hotel group of choice, the customer has and will always be the key component in defining the direction of the company.

Franzen notes that, as the industry has changed, it has created a different kind of guest than the one of five years ago.

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“People travel much more these days and in turn their expectations are completely different,” he says.

“And the biggest game changers behind this are technology and not wanting to break routine.”

Franzen believes that as technology has transformed the demands and expectations of the guest, Hyatt Hotels has had to change its room design to fit around this new level of expectation.

“When people travel, each traveller has at least three things he or she has to plug in. Hotel room designs have to consider this. It may be an obvious example, but it’s an example none the less as to how the room design must change as guests change, in order to provide the service that they expect and demand.”

As Franzen noted, travellers are also heavily influenced by routine and not wanting to break that routine.

From technology habits to healthy eating, hotel providers must be in tune with what makes up the modern guest’s routine.

Hyatt Hotels offer state of the art fitness and recreation centres as well

FOOD & DRINK

“There has been a notable shift in terms of what people and investors are looking for. Whereas before it would be a five-star hotel, now people are looking at hotels with experiences; be it in a full service hotel or in a select-service operation.

Investors are looking for a vehicle that they can invest their money into�

CHRISTOPH K FRANZEN, Area Vice President for the State of Qatar and the Sultanate of Oman

Grand Executive Suite Terrace

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Grand Club

as a much more defined healthier food selection, which Franzen believes ties into the wider service offering that the hotel can provide.

“It’s about looking at your offering and understanding what it is to be innovative,” he says. “Innovation doesn’t just have to be technology oriented, it extends into what you offer to your guest as a whole.”

In order to provide a unique guest experience like no other company

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can provide, Franzen is all too aware of the importance of listening to guests and understanding what it is they look for in a hotel service.

To this end, Franzen recognises that as a company such as Hyatt achieves success, it is easy to fall into a trap of believing that you should not fix what isn’t broken.

“In this industry there is a habit of thinking that we know better than anyone else, including guests,” says

H O S P I TA L I T Y

Franzen. “But the truth is there is only ever one way to find out and that is by sitting down and talking to guests, listening and taking on board what they have to say.”

Franzen adopts a technical, analytical approach to capturing this information, but stresses the importance of remembering the human element to this approach. In speaking to the guests and gathering as much personal feedback as

possible, this allows him and the company to use that information to seek out new opportunities to grow and become better.

It also allows the company to take more risks.

“The next step is of course, test it,” he says. “It won’t always be a roaring success, but you take on the feedback and you re-engineer what you’ve done through that feedback. That’s how you achieve

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Employees participating in beach clean up

success, because success is defined by what your guests want.”

A hotel and a service provider can only succeed and deliver on its promise through the people it employees. The staff represent the face of the organisation and are the connective tissue between talking the talk and walking it.

Recruitment is just another facet of the changing scope of the hotel and hospitality industry,

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and Franzen recognises that as the industry has boomed, so too has the competition for staff.

“In the good old days, it was very easy to recruit a lot of our colleagues through one or two source markets, with one or two nationalities,” he says. “Now, because there are so many hotels operating in our region there’s a much higher demand for employees. We have over 52 nationalities in our hotel alone.”

H O S P I TA L I T Y

“We believe in people and so we make a strong effort to nurture them, talk to them and provide the tools to better develop their skills. We want them to grow and to be successful and it shows in the way they approach their day to day work” CHRISTOPH K FRANZEN, Area Vice President for the State of Qatar and the Sultanate of Oman

Employees planting trees as part of the company’s green initiatives

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Royal suite bedroom

“What that means is that we have to reach out much further to find the right talent to fill the positions but also to cater to the wide variety of nationalities that work at our hotels.”

Much like the way in which the company speaks to and listens to its guests, Hyatt works closely with its employees and invests significant amounts of time on training and developing them.

Not only does this prove to be a cheaper option, in some cases grooming talent in house to become the next wave of management, it creates a culture throughout the organisation that the employees and staff feel valued.

“We believe in people and so we make a strong effort to nurture them, talk to them and provide the tools to better develop their skills.

We want them to grow and to be successful and it shows in the way they approach their day to day work.”

As Franzen noted previously, the hotel industry is booming in a way that is unlike anything that’s come before it. With a large focus on the

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select-service space in addition to the full-service brands, this will continue to define the future direction for Hyatt and its expansion plans.

While Hyatt will continue to build four-star and five-star luxury hotels, Franzen recognises that it’s

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about understanding the market dynamic first and foremost.

“The big key gateway cities already have plenty of five-star hotels so, when you look towards those secondary cities you will see that there just isn’t a market for all brands there to operate,” he says.

“If you want to expand then you have to have a healthy mix; with the right product and brand fitting the location, be it full service or select service.

But whatever way we look to expand we want to be the preferred brand of choice, for investors, travellers and colleagues who work in the industry.”

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Powering ‘SMART’ DIGITISATION in the banking sector

Written by Laura Mullan Produced by Stuart Shirra

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Embarking on a root-and-branch transformation to use technology more smartly, United Arab Bank is focused on what matters – its customers

D

igital transformation and digitisation are just some of the buzzwords which have saturated the banking space in recent years.

For United Arab Bank (UAB), the company’s digital strategy isn’t about following trends or excessive expenditure on new technology, it’s about taking pragmatic, informed steps to ensure that the focus is on what matters the most – the customer.

With this focus in mind, UAB is using up-to-date technology to realise true potential of digital transformation so that the customer receives the world-class service they expect.

UAB’s Chief Operating Officer Izzidin Abusalameh says, “I do believe that behind each service or transaction we do for our customers, there is either a human story or a commercial interest and, in both cases, we cannot miss out on these.

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Therefore, customer service is, and will remain, one of our top priorities.”

“Digital transformation is a prime focus for any bank or financial institution, but UAB is keen to achieve this objective through ‘smart digitisation’ by adopting latest technologies and utilising the power of data.”

For Abusalameh, UAB’s digital transformation strategy is straightforward – apply the latest technologies in simple, smart and proactive ways while keeping the bank’s customer in mind.

“By applying technology in an appropriate way, we aspire to be proactive,” he explains. “This allows us to reach out to our customers who may need help before they even raise their hand to ask for assistance. This proactive approach is the cornerstone of our philosophy on which our digital transformation is based.”

TECHNOLOGY

“I do believe that behind each service or transaction we do for our customers, there is either a human story or a commercial aspect and, in both cases, we cannot miss out on these�

IZZIDIN ABUSALAMEH Chief Operating Officer

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UAB has a strong reputation in the UAE’s banking industry since it was established in Sharjah about 43 years back. While in 2017, the bank made an annual net profit of AED 17 million, it has clocked an impressive AED 36 million profit in Q1 2018 demonstrating the strength of its ‘core’ business.

Smart digitisation To deliver ‘smart digitisation’, Abusalameh says that the bank is working on a plan to consolidate the number of systems it has. In doing so, it is also creating a robust IT structure, using powerful state-of-the-art tools from the tech industry to ensure operational efficiency, productivity

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36

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The United Arab Bank’s profit in Q1 (AED)

TECHNOLOGY

and sustainable growth.

“It entails careful selection of technologies and only working with the industry leaders in that specific market,” Abusalameh says.

“We use industry leading market research rankings and look into certain areas of technology to see who the market leaders are. We deep dive into their functional capabilities and evaluate their technical components according to the bank’s current and future requirements in order to arrive

at an optimal technology stack in sync with the bank’s overall IT architecture.

“Working alongside tier one technology providers to implement their “specialised” version with minimum customisations in line with industry best practices has become a guiding principle,” he elaborated.

By undertaking a deep level of planning and understanding, the UAEbased firm is getting the maximum potential from its technologies.

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Unlocking the potential of technologies Abusalameh says that this pragmatic approach is helping the bank connect its different technological tools so that it can create one streamlined digital strategy.

“UAB is also investing in new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Human Capital Management (HCM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems from SAP to eliminate non-value added tasks so that staff can focus on their core activities while enhancing productivity.

“When you acquire a new global HR system you will also acquire new best practices which,

1975

YR

The year that the United Arab Bank’s was founded

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TECHNOLOGY

of course, increases efficiency,” he says. “This is also applicable to our other systems such as ERP.” The power of data Today, data is often described as the ‘new oil’ – valuable to have, even more so if it’s refined and used efficiently.

UAB recognises the importance of data and is fully committed to utilise data & analytics to drive business growth. “Today, data science is what everyone’s talking about by far,” Abusalameh adds. “Data hasn’t become valuable overnight, it’s always been important but what has significantly changed is the computing power, data storage capability & the means of organising it.

“That’s why I always encourage the bank’s head of digital and head of data to work closely together more than ever before. With changing times, our impetus is more towards using statistics and data science to help the bank leverage the power of predictive analytics in real time.”

In this way, data ensures that continuous improvement is at the

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cornerstone of UAB’s strategy.

The company’s commitment towards being a data driven bank can also be evidenced by the confidence placed in it by Informatica (a leading data management platform) through an award for innovative usage of its data management platform and products last year.

In-depth understanding Yet, with ever-more data, this is not only driving efficiency and operational excellence internally, it is also transforming the customer’s experience.

“In every bank today, data helps companies gain a 360-degree view of their customers but if you gain even more data, you will be able to predict their behaviour, improve your service, and provide a 3D view of your customers whereby you understand them a bit deeper,” Abusalameh explains.

“This can make much a difference if you can then reach out to a customer.

The company’s digital transformation has been a huge task but it hasn’t

“We want to be recognised as a bank to stand by, a bank which puts the customer first” IZZIDIN ABUSALAMEH Chief Operating Officer

gone unnoticed by the international tech community, apparent as the bank collected the Genesys Award for Best Use of Technology in the Banking sector last year.

A mindset shift Referring to the biggest challenge for the bank, Abusalameh said that the mindset shift that took place to bring digital transformation was a daunting task, but it was successfully implemented by the management.

“For any transformation journey, changing the mindset of the company is usually one of the top challenges,” he says. “It basically requires openmindedness and commitment from everyone in the team starting

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UNITED ARAB BANK

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from the top management.”

In addition, Abusalameh considers rigid technology software another challenge to implement smart digitisation process.

“Many of the world’s major technology suppliers need to do more to make their products more flexible and easy to implement & upgrade,” he notes. “The more flexible your platform is, the quicker you can adapt it and take it to market.”

United Arab Bank will always remain known for – its continuous commitment to its customers.

“We’re aspiring to give the best customer service in the UAE,” Abusalameh concludes. “We want to be recognised as a bank to stand by, a bank which puts the customer first.”

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Bringing the five-star treatment to hotel IT

Written by Laura Mullan Produced by Craig Daniels

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AT L A N T I S , T H E PA L M

Set on the iconic Palm Jumeirah island, Atlantis, The Palm has come to characterise the ultimate Dubai experience. With whimsical and luxurious amenities and pragmatic digital tools, the five-star hotel guarantees that you’ll be awe-struck from the moment you check in

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B

ringing the ethereal legend of Atlantis to life, Atlantis, The Palm is easily one of the most recognisable hotels in the Dubai skyline, if not in the world.

A record-breaking 15.8mn people visited the dynamic city of Dubai last year, but the hotel’s VP of IT Anthony Lynsdale believes that the five-star property is quickly becoming a destination in itself.

“A lot of people want to come here because they’re looking for a once-in-a-lifetime-style experience.

They want to take away a memory,” Lynsdale muses. “Many of our guests choose to book Atlantis because it’s a destination in itself; it’s a landmark property for Dubai.

“There’s lots of competition and there are lots of great hotels in the city,” he continues.

“So how do we differentiate ourselves? Our motto is to blow away the customer with amazing experiences – that’s what we live by and that’s what makes us unique.”

Located on the Palm Jumeirah,

one of the world’s most iconic holiday destinations, and nestled within 42 acres of lush greenery, the hotel overlooks the sparkling coastline of the Arabian Gulf and offers 1,539 rooms, 23 restaurants, cafes and lounges, a luxurious spa, immersive aquarium, and an awardwinning waterpark for its guests.

But with such a mammoth operation, how does Atlantis, The Palm ensure guests receive its acclaimed five-star standard treatment time and time again?

For Lynsdale, the answer is simple.

Not only does the hotel consistently go the extra mile for its guests, it is also tapping into cutting-edge technologies to ensure that the resort is well-equipped for the digital age.

Practical, pragmatic IT Digital transformation and disruption are just some of the many buzzwords that have saturated the tech sphere in recent years.

For Lynsdale, the hotel’s digital strategy is not about following trends, it’s about taking pragmatic, practical

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steps to support the business with the very best infrastructure, to help achieve its goals.

“Our digital strategy really revolves around partnering with the business and stakeholders, identifying what their pain points are, and prioritising where we can gain efficiencies,” Lynsdale explains.

“We really want to make sure that we’re fully utilising the systems that we have today. In IT, there’s often a tendency to shop around and buy

systems, instead of fully optimising the systems already in place. Are we getting the very best from the current vendor, from the system?

There’s definitely an aspect of making sure that the systems we have today are reaching their full potential and driving efficiencies.

“It’s also about making sure that our systems are future-proof and scalable to support our other property currently under construction, The Royal Atlantis Resort and Residencies,” he adds.

TECHNOLOGY

Connecting IT and marketing In our ever-connected world, where devices are endlessly at our fingertips, technology and marketing have become increasingly entwined.

The importance of this connection is something which Atlantis, The Palm doesn’t underestimate, and Lynsdale has therefore made significant efforts to elevate the business’ marketing division to bring it to new heights.

“Understanding the nature of the hotel business is key – with such a large resort, if you don’t get the marketing right, whether it’s digital or physical, you will miss opportunities to engage with guests,” Lynsdale comments.

“Nowadays, everything is at our

The year that Atlantis, The Palm was founded

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fingertips. We’re using mobile apps.

We’re using websites. We have access to a lot of information.

“We have certain traditional IT systems that need to be maintained, but I think where the real business transformation will come is our strong focus on digital marketing,” he continues. “That’s something I’m conscious of and the key reason I’ve built a strong relationship with our marketing and sales divisions,” concludes Lynsdale.

Information at your fingertips None of Atlantis, The Palm’s information points demonstrates this better than its interactive digital signs, which are strategically placed throughout the resort.

Brimming with world-class facilities, it could be easy for guests to miss out on some of the resort’s renowned amenities, but thanks to this marketing tool, navigating the resort can seem as easy as walking through your own home.

“Atlantis, the Palm has a huge footprint, so it was imperative for us to bring all of our information together by using a best-in-class, centralised content management system,” says Lynsdale.

“It’s about making sure we have the relevant information, at the relevant location, at the right time so that our guests can avail of our facilities,

“Our motto is to blow away the customer with amazing experiences – that’s what we live by and that’s what makes us unique” Anthony Lynsdale, VP, IT

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Number of staff working for Atlantis, The Palm

3,100 whether it’s new discounts, happy hours, or water park experiences.”

Social-media savvy In a similar vein, the Dubai-based hotel has also focused on boosting its social media presence. Last month, the beach-side resort reached a million Facebook fans.

To celebrate this, it created ‘Atlantis Fan Suite’ – a money-can’t-buy hotel experience whereby social media followers were given the chance to stay in one of the hotel’s brand-new rooms, decked out with unique

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social media-inspired innovations, at no cost.

Every element of the suite is linked to Facebook, whether it’s unlocking your door with your Facebook login, to ‘poking’ your personal butler if you need assistance.

“They furnished it with a little bit of technology, so for instance, it has an interactive mirror that shows your Facebook feed when you check in,” notes Lynsdale. “It’s something quirky, but again, it also shows our continuous innovation and our drive to blow away

TECHNOLOGY

the customer with every interaction.”

Mobile interactivity Mobile technology is quickly changing the hospitality game and this is something which Atlantis, The Palm has undoubtedly tapped into.

Recently, the luxury hotel resort partnered with Wi-Q to develop an intuitive web app that allows guests to order food and drink from the comfort of their sunbeds.

“We’re pushing the menu to them so that they can order items and get them delivered to where they’re located,” explains Lynsdale.

“Guests are using more devices, more frequently. Mobility on the guests’ side is increasing and so Atlantis is now working on attracting guests using mobile technology,” he continues.

“We want to begin their journey before they arrive by creating an app where they can engage and discuss

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opportunities and activities that they would like to do when they get here.

Mobile connectivity is definitely something that we’re keen on bringing to life.”

This snowballing effect of mobile technology isn’t just transforming the customer experience, it’s also helping to transform Atlantis, The Palm’s back of house operations.

By equipping housekeeping staff, bell service, and front desk staff with mobile devices, the luxury hotel ensures that employees can respond to requests at the touch of a button.

“With a resort of this size, we have a lot of staff that are using mobile technology, whether it’s to manage guest requests, or to help manage the hotel’s day-to-day tasks,” notes Lyndale.

“We use a system called HotSOS to do this, and housekeeping uses a module of this called REX to manage the rooms.

We’ve given our employees more than 200 smart devices, and now they’re operating pretty much in a paperless environment.”

Managing a 1,539-bedroom hotel is no easy task, especially when it comes to checking in.

Looking at simple ways to try and speed up the process, Atlantis, The Palm has also collaborated with Samsotech and Oracle Hospitality to create

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“Our motto is to blow away the customer with amazing experiences – that’s what we live by and that’s what makes us unique” Anthony Lynsdale, VP, IT

AT L A N T I S , T H E PA L M

“IT needs to be the centre of almost everything.

It’s about making sure that we’re continuously improving the guest experience”

Artwork copyright by Wi-Q Limited

Anthony Lynsdale, VP, IT

The web app designed and built by Wi-Q Limited

TECHNOLOGY

a passport check-in system that Lynsdale says is the “first system of its kind” in Dubai.

A solid IT foundation Yet not all of Atlantis, The Palm’s innovations are future-facing. Some integral digital initiatives have involved tirelessly tinkering away to update legacy systems and creating a hyper-converged infrastructure.

“What we’re doing with our infrastructure is a stepping stone for two reasons: one is the ability it gives us to have a disaster recovery site, and secondly it is building the platform for our yet-to-launch sister hotel in Dubai, The Royal Atlantis Resort and Residences,” notes Lynsdale.

“We will have a very scalable infrastructure platform going forward. Our team is always looking out for something new, and the business is demanding more from the IT function. They’re pushing us and always looking and searching for the next big thing.”

Imparting a lasting travel experience, Atlantis, The Palm has earned its stripes as a five-star hotel and a must-see destination in Dubai, but for Lynsdale, it is technology which has played an integral role in ensuring that guests always receive the bestin-class service it has become renowned for.

“IT needs to be the centre of almost everything,” he reflects. “It’s about making sure that we’re continuously improving the guest experience.

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Number of rooms at the Atlantis, The Palm

The area covered by Atlantis, The Palm property

1,539

29 hectares 17 hectares

June 2018

The area covered by the Aquaventure Waterpark

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“Technology has played a key role in the way we manage the business, whether it’s the data that we review, analyse and make decisions on, or how guests consume our services. For us, technology is paramount.”

Atlantis, The Palm has seen a root-and-branch transformation of its digital function and although technology has played a pivotal role, Lynsdale says that this is all thanks to his team’s hard work and perseverance. “Without a dedicated team of technology professionals all of this wouldn’t be possible,” he says, candidly. By all accounts, it seems that at Atlantis, The Palm, the company’s staff are its greatest assets.

It’s an exciting time for the Atlantis brand – the hotelier is opening a succession of new hotels including Atlantis Sanya in the South China Sea and is exploring expansion opportunities in tourist hotspots such as Hawaii.

Amidst this, Atlantis, The Palm hasn’t forgotten the fundamentals of a successful hotel digitisation strategy, and it is this pragmatic thinking which is helping the hotel provide a guest experience like no other.

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