Saudi Telecom Company December 2019

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How STC is leading the digital revolution in MENA


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How STC is leading the digital revolution in MENA WRITTEN BY

MATT HIGH PRODUCED BY

GLEN WHITE


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STC

Haithem M. Alfaraj, Chief Technology Officer at STC, explains how its technology transformation has made it a digital leader

“ T

echnology transformation is a major enabler of our overarching strategy, which is to be a world-class regional digital leader

that provides innovative services and platforms that enable the digital revolution of the MENA region, and enrich people’s lives,” says Haithem M. Alfaraj, 04

Chief Technology Officer at STC Group. Alfaraj has considerable experience in implementing new technologies and driving innovative transformation programmes. He has been with STC since 2016, assuming his current role in the early part of last year. A key responsibility in this position is the developing and leading of transformation projects designed to improve the organisation-wide deployment of innovative IT and communications solutions. It has been, he explains, “an interesting and informative experience that required a high learning curve in terms of my leadership, both with regards to technology and the wider company’s ambition and transformation. It also creates an opportunity to develop new digital leadership that can take the company to the next level and support the national transformation of the country’s Vision 2030.”


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During Alfaraj’s tenure, STC has been no stranger to innovation. It has pioneered the use of 5G, for example, becoming the first operator to launch a live 5G network in May 2018. In June of 2019, it launched 5G services commercially. These developments, Alfaraj notes, as well as other wider initiatives and technology innovations, form part of the wider transformation he has overseen. “We focused on developing a strong technology strategy that would advance our capabilities and enable our business w w w.stc . com . s a


STC

“ Our customers’ experience and achieving true customer-centric operations have been fundamental principles in our transformation” 06

— Haithem M. Alfaraj, Technology & Operations SVP at STC

to be successful – we knew we always had to be at the advanced stages of development when it comes to technologies covering infrastructure, platforms, cloud, applications, AI and Big Data to maintain our leading position in MENA’s digital revolution. At the same time, we worked on our operating model to ensure it was both agile and collaborative.” A key focus for Alfaraj was to ensure that STC’s technology transformation supported the organisation’s wider DARE strategy. This outlines the key pillars under which the business looks to expand: Digitise by becoming a data driven, technologically agile organisation focused on enhanced experiences; Accelerate core asset performance through cultural and technological change, as well as growing both B2G and B2B market segments to lead the market; Reinvent the customer experience through the personalisation of interactions with technology to create new, attractive journeys; and Expand aggressively by pursuing all opportunities for growth related to services and applications, platforms


CLICK TO WATCH : ‘STC’ 07 and connectivity and infrastructure. Digital and technology are key

“In so doing, it was apparent that our legacy infrastructure wouldn’t have

aspects of realising DARE, he notes,

been able to meet the requirements

outlining how he focused on certain

of the new services we were looking

domains such as services and appli-

to introduce or meet the expecta-

cation, AI and analytics, platforms

tions of our customers in terms of

and connectivity, and infrastructure.

the quality standards we expect to

However, much of the overall devel-

deliver. As an example of our digital

opment was driven by the desire to

transformation, in the wholesale

reinvent STC’s customer experience.

domain, technology demands and

“Going through this transformation

gaps are covered by digitisation,

provided an opportunity to baseline

which is a result of agile partner-

our current operations and archi-

ships adapted during the innovation

tecture and better understand our

phase of the solution. These part-

business performance,” says Alfaraj.

nerships resulted in improvement of w w w.stc . com . s a


STC

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time-to-market, cost reduction and

company’s capabilities and create an

automation of processes.

evolution to customer satisfaction.

“If you look at technology and opera-

“Our objective,” he adds, “is to make

tions as a sector of the business, then

customer experience a competitive

our customers’ experience and achiev-

advantage and a true differentiator for

ing true customer-centric operations

us in the market – something we have

have been fundamental principles in

successfully managed to do over the

our transformation,” Alfaraj continues.

last few years.” Key aspects of that

He details how this has been achieved,

success include leading the region in

including through a focus on baselin-

investing in technologies that continu-

ing and reimagining customer journeys

ously measure customer experience,

and stories through in-depth customer

revamping assurance and operational

design thinking with our business

processes to make service and

units to ensure they are in line with the

customer experience the priority,


E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Haithem M. Alfaraj Engineer, Haitham M. Alfaraj joined STC in 2016 and currently serves as Senior Vice President of Technology and Operation. He is responsible for conceiving, planning, operating as well as leading the implementation of transformation projects to improve organisationwide deployment of information technology and communication services and solutions. Previously at STC, Haitham served as Vice President of Operation Sector, where he led challenging transformation programmes that excelled the technical operational performance of STC communication services. Haitham joined STC in 2016 from Etihad Etisalat, Mobily Company, where he was Chief Technology Operations Officer. He spent 11 years with Mobily in leadership positions for infrastructure and service management operations. Prior to that, he worked at Saudi Aramco for four years. He holds a Bachelor in Computer Engineering from King Fahad University in Dhahran, and enrolled in multiple executive leadership programmes from Harvard Business School, INSEAD, and other institutes. Haitham is currently on the board of STC Specialized, STC Solution. He is an experienced technology executive who possesses extensive technology knowledge, strong leadership skills and superb relationship management abilities. Haithem has a well-rounded business foundation with keen strategic insight that allows him to manage relationship building, talent development, and organisation turnaround and realignment activities. He has additional expertise in telecom and information technologies, quality management, infrastructure planning, performance improvement, partner alliances, operations excellence, vendor management, outsourcing strategy, and facility/data center and cloud services.

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STC

“ Technology transformation is a major enabler of our overarching strategy, which is to be a world-class digital leader that provides innovative services and platforms that enable the digital revolution of the MENA region”

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— Haithem M. Alfaraj, Technology & Operations SVP at STC

With regards to specific technologies, connectivity and speed of connection have been a large focus for Alfaraj and his team. STC already has the highest mobile speed and the most reliable network in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, yet it continues to improve this through investment in its ‘backbone’ – data centres, transportation networks and each individual layer of its overall network. “Our new MySTC app has also had a significant impact,” he notes. “This is entirely in line with our digitalisation vision, and facilitates the purchase of smart devices and SIM cards through the

establishing a dedicated service

app store, complete with free delivery.

performance and customer services

It also covers fixed services with intel-

unit, and creating new KPIs and KQIs

ligent customer support capabilities.”

that are aligned with a customer-

On 10 November it was announced

centric approach. To achieve these

that MySTC had received the ‘App

objectives, STC leveraged its data

of the Year’ Golden Award at the

and analytics capability it has built

Network PGs 2019 IT World Awards,

over the years to not only improve

an event organised annually in San

customer experience, but also to

Francisco to recognise excellence in

generate revenue and optimise cost.

technology worldwide.

This capability includes employing

To achieve such significant change

AI techniques such as machine-

requires effective relationships with

learning, NLP and RPA to introduce

key partners and vendors. Here,

efficiency into its operations.

Alfaraj explains that the business has


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collaborative platforms at every level

solutions to our customers. For more

of the organisation. “Going through

mature technologies and services, we

this transformation has actually

prefer an ‘off the shelf’ approach that

opened doors for us to have better

is efficient, cost-effective and allows

strategic dialogue with our partners

for faster delivery of products through

and to explore new technologies and

their lifecycle.”

solutions with them,” he says. “For all

STC works with many of the larg-

new or emerging technologies and

est tech and telco brands, including

services, such as 5G, telco-cloud, vir-

Accenture, for digital telco transforma-

tualisation or network transformations,

tion, Ericsson, Huawei and Nokai for

we adopt a collaborative development

5G development and IoT, Redhat for

ecosystem in which we work together

cloud technology developments, and

as partners to identify and deliver

Teradata and SAS for Big Data analyt-

optimal, agile, robust and high-quality

ics. Accordingly, says Alfaraj, STC w w w.stc . com . s a


STC

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has “vast experience� in managing successful collaboration. To do this, he explains, the business approaches each collaboration with firm guidelines in mind that cover such areas as joint planning and strategising, business alignment and planning, executive engagement, technical integration and field readiness, and more. Naturally, greater use of technology brings heightened risk, particularly in terms of cybersecurity. Being a digital leader, STC well understands the risks and how


1998

Year founded

51,963mn Revenue in Saudi Riyal

13,383 Number of employees

critical they are to a successful technology transformation, particularly with the adoption of cloud and IoT solutions. The company invests in three key areas: people, process and technology. “This includes hiring the best cybersecurity professionals and consultants and training a large pool of Saudi graduates in the latest preventative security technologies, all in line with our vision,� says Alfaraj. In addition, the company has established a strong cybersecurity governance, risk and compliance capability within its cybersecurity sector. This combines policies, standards and audits for use in the STC partner ecosystem to ensure consistency in all operations. In terms of technology and partnership, STC has invested in security technologies to complement the governance aspect of protection, deploying the largest Threat Intel programme and Anti-DDoS capability in the Kingdom. These two programmes, as well as several others, have protected STC and the Kingdom at large from major globally known cyberattacks, guaranteeing not only STC’s continued service, w w w.stc . com . s a

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STC

but business as usual for every STC client (Government, Enterprises and Consumers). High-level partnerships with giants like Saudi Aramco, Cybersecurity Center under the World Economic Forum and FIRST. org have been forged to solidify STC’s contribution to local and global Cybersecurity. With the continuous evolution of technology security risks, STC is mandated to sustain and ensure full command around risks mitigations and proper controls. 16

Looking more broadly, STC intends to continue leading the digital revolution in MENA in line with the

“ Once the leadership adopted the changes, the rest was a chain reaction right through the organisation” — Haithem M. Alfaraj, Technology & Operations SVP at STC

transformation Alfaraj describes. One example of this is the company’s contribution to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 programme, which includes objectives around digitalisation and extending high speed internet access to all citizens. Steps the business has already taken in this area include streamlining of its vision with that of Vision 2030, adopting a digitalisation framework to significantly lift the nation’s digital potential, improving infrastructure and technology, and upskilling its workforce.


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In the latter, Alfaraj is resolute in his

significantly into building our capabil-

belief of the importance of people.

ity across the company, and we were

“Any transformation is about people

fortunate to have a management team

and how we work – we knew from the

committed to driving that change.

start that this journey would be about

That has brought real innovation in

enhancing capabilities, increasing

the way we run our operations, and it

collaboration and developing new

was important to our overall success

ways of working,” he explains. “Our

– once the leadership adopted the

change management was built

changes, the rest was a chain reac-

around three themes; clarity, capabili-

tion right through the organisation.”

ties and commitment. We made sure everyone knew of all the changes every step of the way, we invested w w w.stc . com . s a


www.stc.com.sa


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