GEC NEWS WIRETell us about the year 2018. What changes/evolution did it bring to your thinking or mindset as a CIO/IT head?
2018 has been a challenging and exciting year. We, at AZIZI Developments, had clear vision and the IT department had aligned its strategy and roadmap with the organization’s vision. We focused on implementing technologies related to automation and digitalization that improved efficiency and productivity, reduced cost and human intervention, enforced paperless and increased customer engagement.
Were you able to stick to your New year resolutions? Did you achieve/over achieve/ under achieve?
Looking back at the IT strategy and roadmap setup, I am very pleased that, we as a team, have over accomplished the business goals and delivered solutions to multiple business requirements. Without our management’s cooperation and support, this would had been almost impossible to achieve.
In brief, which technology of 2018 attracted you the most? Have you planned to implement the same in your organization?
There are many emerging technologies available in the market, such as, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud Computing, Big Data and many more. We have already invested on some of them and will continue to invest more in order to fully transform the business through digitalization and automation.
In contrast, which technology of 2018 did you find futile/ non-relevant for the present and why?
I believe all technologies are important and serve their purposes. It is a matter of understanding your business needs and selecting the appropriate technology at the right time. However, I hope the use of wires and cords can be replaced in the near future with such technologies like, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi networking.
How active are you as a CIO/IT head on social media platforms? Do you find them a good platform to share knowledge or has it become too monotonous?
Social media platforms are powerful tools used by organizations for multiple purposes. Personally, I am active on social media to connect with people and share knowledge; however, from an organizational point of view, we showcase our products, news, projects updates and press releases with our customers and to the public using various types of social media platforms. Also, we have deployed an internal communication and collaboration tool, which fosters an open corporate culture, distributes information in real time, censors divisional and location-based boundaries among employees as well as encourages knowledge sharing.
What is your 2019 resolution? (if at all you are a ‘Resolution-making’ person) What goals do you have for your organization?
Throughout the 2018 journey, we have improved many areas and learned lots of lessons, which need to be addressed within the 2019 plan. However, 2019 is going to be interesting for the Real Estate and Construction industry. It provides us the opportunity to implement innovative solutions that will help organizational growth, increase profitability and differentiate us from other property developers. We plan to invest substantially on state-of-the-art technologies.
