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PREPARING FOR A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD
PREPARING FOR A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD AHMED AUDA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, METNA, VMWARE ON HOW TO PLAN FOR RE-ENTRY INTO A CHANGED WORLD
Throughout history, great disruption has accelerated change. Look at what the pandemic has done for those of us fortunate to be able to work remotely – we have been able to carry on. What has changed is that those businesses that were once nervous about enabling remote workforces have been forced to shift the majority of their employees to a completely decentralised way of working.
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It’s been a dramatic change – in 2018, EU data showed that 15% of employees worked from home – either regularly or on the odd occasion. Now, those numbers have turned on its head. It’s been one of the most rapid changes to working practices in history. But as
businesses start to look further ahead, they will be faced with a new horizon.
Firstly, whatever happens after lockdowns are lifted, the switch back to ‘normal’ will not be a complete reset; and secondly, whether they want to stay fully remote, move as many people back to the office as possible, or have some sort of hybrid, they’re going to have to formalise the changes they’ve made to facilitate their re-entry into a permanently changed world. What’s certain is that the new equilibrium will not be in the same place as it was before – while employees may have found new benefits of remote working, there will be those still longing for the office.
With this in mind, what are the big-ticket items to enable this strategic change to happen successfully?
A shift in culture
In many ways, COVID-19 has forced the business case for digital transformation decisions that many organisations have been tentatively edging towards. From contactless and mobile payments, to the aforementioned remote working, the rapid development of sector-specific apps to the uptake in collaboration tools, the pandemic has mandated that businesses of all sizes are reliant on digital in today’s world – and possibly exposed or been a forcing function for those who have been late to adopt.
This is one of the primary reasons why there will be a new ‘normal’ after coronavirus. In a staged climb down of restrictions, why would consumers rush to go back to paying with cash? Why would workers readily accept the previous restrictions on home working? Not all industries are the same or have the luxury of working from home, but for those that can, the fact that a significant proportion of businesses have continued to operate successfully with remote workforces means that the old reasons and excuses for not permitting out of office working are going to have much less credence than before.
Of course, even though many have continued operating, that doesn’t mean they’ve had the chance to prepare, plan and execute cleanly. Indeed, in the early weeks, the mantra was: it doesn’t have to be perfect, it just needs to work. Now, as we enter a period where lockdowns look likely to be lifted on a staggered basis, those businesses have the opportunity to think more strategically about their transition to a post lockdown world, and beyond.
This is an opportunity to recalibrate how organisations work: for example, the speed of decision making. Decisions that would have taken months, even years of debate before, have been made and executed on in days and weeks. This is not to suggest that
vital, strategic roadmaps should be set aside for ‘shoot from the hip’ decision making, but it does shine a light on some of the more timid approaches to new technologies and cultural change that might have hindered progress in the past.
Double down on digital transformation
In a sense, the response to the crisis has resulted in one of the largest mass proof of concept exercises for digital transformation ever undertaken. Different tools, applications, technologies and modes of working have been deployed at breath-taking speed to facilitate the decentralisation of businesses.
However, post-lockdown life requires a level of mid-term decision making that’s probably been absent during the last couple of months when any DIY approach that has allowed business to continue has been tried. Many of those pragmatic short term actions may well have resulted in good outcomes but they haven’t necessarily created solid foundations for the mid to longer term. This might mean investing in secure communications channels and a quick move away from freemium offerings; or rethinking security strategies to allow for greater confidence in the viability of remote working; it might mean putting in place a more formal strategy to continue the work started with the quick deployment of public clouds for resource agility; and the transition to software-defined networks to improve security and flexibility.
Whatever short term decisions have been made in response to the emergency, businesses now need to apply longer term strategic thinking – influenced by the events and insights of the past few weeks – to their clouds, networks, security and digital workspaces, providing the solid digital foundation required to build apps and deliver digital services in what is likely to be a world changed for ever.
Many companies that were initially reticent to use public clouds are now engaging with them to unlock rapid scalability and flexibility. Cloud offers organisations a major opportunity – with the rate of adoption accelerating, businesses will find they have a variety of service providers to choose from, all with the scale and in-built security they need. These providers have
also demonstrated how to cope with the surge in demand, serving as a global proof of concept and validation of the approach
However, it is vital that organisations implement a proper strategy that takes into account all their requirements, and then deploys secure environments accordingly. That means that while many may have jumped to public cloud, as the dust settles, they may come to realise that it’s not suitable for long term use with some of their applications from a security or cost perspective. This is where hybrid cloud, with its consistent operations and management, ability to move workloads between public, private and on-premises environments, and intrinsic security, would be an ideal solution to consider.
In networking, companies that need to rapidly expand their network capacity have turned to software-defined networking , due to its accelerated speed of deployment, built-in automation and security, and frankly, because of the many restrictions and inflexibilities that make physical implementations hard to live with. As they look to the future, continuing that SDN migration is a logical step for companies that want to increase capacity, offer more fluidity to the business in terms of developing apps, using multiple clouds, and getting information into the hands of users, without continuing to investing in dead-end legacy physical networking.
From a security perspective, the paradigm shift in how businesses are working has put security front and centre, with an acknowledgement that breaches continue, and bad actors thrive in times of such uncertainty. Business resiliency has become even more essential than before.
Remote workforces, using a vast array of corporate and own devices, are pushing IT to rapidly secure endpoints and applications. They are being asked to build-in security from the ground up, to all elements of the infrastructure, so that everything can remain secure, wherever it is located. Companies need to be implementing measures to continue the move to a more agile, innovative organisation, even if a majority of the workforce move back to working in offices, at least a part-time basis.
With the move to digital workspaces, the focus will need to be on consolidating the changes that have already been made, whether that’s ensuring hastily procured collaboration tools are fully secure or constantly reinforcing company culture in virtual settings. It’s an opportunity to continue to create agility that supports productive workers, while ensuring that they feel safe and supported in a chaotic, uncertain time.
Getting ready for life after COVID-19
No one can predict what will happen as lockdowns are lifted. While we all hope for a degree of normality, there is every likelihood that further waves of infection will force new lockdowns over the next year or so. That means that organisations need to be building resilience into their operations now, whilst at the same time, continuing to keep an eye on the mid-term so that investments made now still remain valid for whatever may be around the corner. For many organizations, this might even be a great competitive opportunity.
Ultimately, we can all only speculate as to what might be ahead and to prepare accordingly. For organisations big and small, commercial or public, that means learning from the actions they took in during the early stages of the pandemic, retaining, formalising and building on those that worked, and failing fast and abandoning those that didn’t. Ultimately, as is always the case, those that can do this successfully will be several steps forward along the path of transformation into a truly digital, agile and flexible organisation.
AT THE FOREFRONT OF INNOVATION MOHAMED ROUSHDY, HEAD OF BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY, INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY, DUBAI ASSET MANAGEMENT, TAKES US THROUGH HOW THE COMPANY IMPLEMENTED TRANSFORMATIVE PROPTECH TO EMERGE AS A DIGITAL LEADER IN THE UAE.
Imagine being able to review apartments for renting or leasing, choosing the one you like, confirming it with an agent, signing the lease or agreement, making the payments – all effortlessly through a mobile app without leaving the comfort of your couch. It may sound futuristic, but today this is now poised to become the new norm. Most property apps allow you to have a virtual image of the apartments, read about the facilities and schedule a viewing. However, Dubai Asset Management (Dubai AM) is the only property development and management company that offers an end-to-end and seamless digital lease contract lifecycle in the UAE.
The need to digitally transform is permeating into every facet of life and is becoming intrinsic to everything we do, especially in business. Proptech or property technology is no exception and is witnessing the biggest push for digital transformation innovations.
Dubai AM set out to transform the build-to-lease (BTL) real estate sector in the emirate and become a digital leader in this vertical. The company has demonstrated digital leadership in the real estate sector where digital adoption is still at a nascent stage through the deployment of cuttingedge features such as the integration of UAE Pass, the National Digital Identity and Digital Signature.
As part of the firm’s overarching digital transformation strategy, Dubai AM initiated measures to enhance the customer experience by revolutionising its leasing, services and marketing functions using the Artificial Intelligence lead scoring algorithm.
In 2018, keen to build its own digital asset footprint, the company became an independent entity as part of Dubai Holding Group. This led to the setup of an independent Information Technology department where Mohamed Roushdy joined the company to lead and establish its digital identity in the market.
“We were successfully able to pioneer our digital transformation initiative and enhance the customer experience by many folds. Two years ago, we only had a simple website and a call center. Today, we boast a full-fledged website featuring all our communities and have bidirectional channel with people looking to rent a home in Dubai and an innovative digital experience platform for our tenants ,” says Mohamed Roushdy, Head of Business Technology, Dubai Asset Management. “This was the first time the country was seeing such an innovation in proptech.”
Transforming the property market
The complete customer journey experience was overhauled through engagement platforms including web portal, native mobile apps, and a Nature Language Understanding
INDIVIDUAL CUSTOMERS
For individual customers, the following digital initiatives enabled the delivery of the desired customer experience: • Simplified customer on boarding using just e-mail and mobile number • Signing a lease contract using digital signature and online payment • Seamless move-in with online document submission and communication of guidelines • Comfortable stay in the community with fully online service request feature, personalized updates and entertainment events • Fully online digital lease renewal with digital signing using UAE PASS and online payment using credit/ debit cards and direct debit. • Hassle free move out process with transparent communication on the progress of deposit refund Additionally, both corporate and individual customers could enquire information, request for any maintenance services, upload images to convey the issues and schedule service appointments simply by logging on to mobile apps created by the firm or through a Chatbot over WhatsApp.
(NLU) Chatbot over WhatsApp. Dubai AM caters to two sets of customers – individuals and corporates who take units in bulk for employee accommodations. Usually the corporates maintain these units’ service requests by themselves through the call centre. To make it easier, Dubai AM was able to create a digital corporate platform with different features depending on the users, which include corporate managers, accommodation managers and occupants, to help them carry out all their activities digitally.
Managers have complete visibility of the dashboard from the platform and can view the status of requests at any given point. This way, customers didn’t have to deal with any call queues at the call centre and had full visibility of all their contracts, payments, events, announcements and occupants’ requests.
Additionally, both corporate and individual customers could enquire information, request for any maintenance services, upload images to convey the issues and schedule service appointments simply by logging on to mobile apps created by the firm or through a Chatbot over WhatsApp.
“We are the only property management company to have done these services over WhatsApp chat, explains Roushdy. “We have incorporated a chatbot with the help of AI, which is entirely automated. The WhatsApp chat can be effortlessly used by tenants as well as non-tenants looking to rent a property in our ten communities.”
He adds that tenants could also use the voice note feature of WhatsApp to communicate their issues and service requests. “Through our AI-driven WhatsApp chat or the app, customers could now schedule service technicians for specific timings based on real time technician availability.”
The company went about implementing a comprehensive omnichannel experience across both online and offline channels, incorporating the features for customers to begin the journey offline or online and be able to resume it through the mobile app or offline.
“For example, now with our omnichannel offering, in the lease renewal process, customers could visit the front office to submit their documents and choose to make an online payment later using the mobile app,” says Roushdy.
A true seamless omnichannel platform would have not been possible without digital signatures and payments.
“We have integrated UAE PASS digital ID and digital signature service provided by Smart Dubai government into our application for our individual customers. If a customer needs to send the contract for signing, he can do so through the app by using the digital signature option. We were the first mover in the market to integrate with this innovation in the UAE as of today.”
UAE Pass is the only national digital signature in the country, allowing customers to enroll themselves using Emirates ID and sign contracts digitally.
Another key priority for Dubai AM was the Salesforce Transformation with the objective of improving lead conversion across channels such as brokers, online, front-office and backoffice. The company expanded from the existing traditional channels such as call centre, Walk-in and Website to new channels such as social media,
third party real estate aggregators and so on.
Brokers and front office were equipped with customer 360 views through the implementation of CRM that improved conversion prospects. Lead scoring was carried out to identify leads with high likelihood of conversion who were assigned a score for prioritising the marketing response. Data from leads originating from various channels was leveraged to build marketing campaigns and target leads effectively with the help of digital platforms – Oracle Data Management Platform (Bluekai) and marketing automation platform (Eloqua).
Roushdy adds, “Customer adoption has been great, especially during COVID-19. We witnessed increased adoption for the digital platform from 14% in January to 44% in May, our online lease renewals jumped to 64% in just a few months while WhatsApp
Chatbot managed 87% of customer inquiries without the need to be transferred to an agent.
The entire program was completed in less than 18 months.
Spearheading digital innovation
According to Roushdy, Dubai AM’s management was keen to create its digital presence in the market, and he was brought in to lead the program, based on his years of experience doing similar initiatives in other sectors. He played a critical role in crafting a digital customer engagement platform under one program.
Roushdy and his team began liaising with Smart Dubai and attended several meetings to be a part of its blockchain project as well as of UAE Pass. Roushdy notes that he started the journey with them when the UAE Pass initiative was only a concept. “We were the only property company in the meetings, whereas, most of the other firms involved were from the finance sector. When they said the innovation was available and ready, we immediately became a part of it.
“We were able to gain Smart Dubai’s and Dubai Land Department’s (DLD) trust to be the first property company in the city to integrate digital signature, promote UAE Pass and work with them as a part of its Dubai Now initiative,” he explains.
From the very beginning, Roushdy was convinced that this was the right solution to undertake.
“I could see that it was the future. You cannot do any real work without having the ability to do digital signing and digital payments,” he says. “This is the best time to be a part of this transformation and I convinced our stakeholders on this way forward.”
This wasn’t as difficult as the Dubai AM CEO and top management was
CORPORATE CUSTOMER PORTAL
After building a good understanding of the corporate segment, Dubai AM implemented the following features in the corporate customer portal • Multiple user profiles / roles based on tasks executed – corporate manager, accommodation manager, corporate occupant • Dashboard for viewing multi-unit contracts • Managing unit occupancy • Assigning occupants to a unit, transfer occupants across units • Managing service requests for multiple units
WHATSAPP CHATBOT
EXISTING CUSTOMERS
• Raise and track maintenance requests • Explore my communities / other communities • Offers More Convenient Technician appointment booking for Customers • Major FAQ answered by the BOT
POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS
• Exploring communities • New channel to promote Dubai AM communities • Leads capture to CRM (Salesforce) • Major FAQ answered by the BOT
very supportive and clear on their objectives of becoming a digital leader. “Digital is the future. Dubai AM’s leadership team recognised the need to transform customer experience and improve internal efficiencies in their operations in order to set the company on a high growth trajectory. It also aspired to contribute to Dubai’s vision of becoming the happiest city on earth through use of smart technologies and processes,” concludes Roushdy.
