Automation is helping Sudatel Group better manage enterprise resources and customer experience

Tarig Khalil, CIO of Sudatel Group, discusses the characteristics of a digital leader and his organization's focus on building a consolidated platform with automated processes to help save operational costs and manage enterprise resources and customer experience.

How would you describe your organization’s enterprise-wide digital transformation strategy? As a CSP we target to continue providing connectivity services and become a multi-play digital operator. Driving digital transformation starts by defining the overall objectives that serve our organization’s real and ambitious business targets. The focus is on adding new digitally competitive business models and portfolios, based on customer experience and new market demand, and also on exploiting all opportunities for new business and ideas. Which targets does your organization have to guide this strategy? To start with, adequate and well thought-out planning. In addition, managing cultural and market changes, focusing on people and leadership development, gaining successful partners and choosing the right platform technologies. What’s the biggest ‘win’ you’ve achieved so far? We worked on transforming our group-wide enterprise solution to be a consolidated, cloud-based platform that enables cross-operator reporting and controlling. This has helped in saving operational costs and assuring best-of-breed solutions to manage enterprise resources and customer experience. What are the biggest challenges you face in achieving your goals for digital transformation?

Achieving balance between working with agile business and governance processes to keep up with rapidly changing business and technology on one side, while controlling risks, legacy and costs on the other.

Leadership is clearly paramount, but what makes a good digital leader? A successful digital leader should be able to set ambitious targets and ideas that bring high value to the organization serving the digital transformation strategy, and have capabilities to achieve them by driving change. He understands the real challenges of the organization and knows how to handle them, and is up to the level of complicated missions in the transformation journey. He should also own the art of reaching balance between all ecosystem stakeholders and players and drive them to fulfill the strategy requirements. Digital transformation is not just about changing processes and technology; it also involves a shift in organizational culture. How is your teamwork changing and what’s your role as a team leader? Digital transformation involves fast changes in a lot of areas. The digital champions should show fast adaptation capabilities in addition to an agile mindset and high dedication to the assigned tasks. This enables the leader to empower the team and inject more creativity and constructive initiatives into the digital transformation journey. In terms of the wider societal impact of digitization, what are you looking forward to over the next decade? People depend more and more on digital technology. We continue working to assure the creation of real value to society with our products and services and utilize it to improve the quality of life in different areas in the world. What concerns you about the societal impact? Firstly, information security and privacy protection is a hot topic. Secondly, as a key player in this field we are aware of our responsibility to have this huge change under control and minimize any negative impact of digital technology on all segments of society. What is the next big idea you are working on?

Building an intelligent platform with automated processes based on cloud technology and including strong analytics to serve all the group operator’s customers and enable cross-group utilization to ensure healthy performance across the ecosystem.

Describe a typical day. In the morning I check reports or emails on critical updates and operations, as well as make sure all key systems are working properly. In addition, I have some meetings with staff. In the afternoon, I check on paperwork, requests, contracts or HR matters, and meet with partners and vendors. At the end of the day I do a final check on the operation status and close all urgent missions.