In an exclusive interview with Telecom Review, Jasim Al Awadi, chief ICT officer (acting), du, talked about how participating in MWC 2023 can help his company achieve growth. Al Awadi also detailed how du is enhancing the digital skillsets of employees and how it will continue its digital transformation journey in 2023.
What do you value most in participating in the MWC 2023 event? How can this help your company achieve growth and advancement in technology?
There’s a lot of value in coming to MWC, the biggest event where you can see most of the market players and most of the latest innovations gathered under one roof. And of course, this will rely on new innovation in our area and productizing a lot of new stuff that will drive growth.
How is du succeeding in enhancing the digital skillsets of its employees, and why is this important to further innovation?
Part of our innovation in elevating the skillsets of our employees is to provide them with training and expose them to the latest technologies in the market, giving them exposure to what is happening in the market. It’s really important to us because, at the end of the day, employees are the key to driving business success.
As a leading operator in the region, how will du continue its digital transformation journey in 2023 and beyond?
We are keen on continuing this digital transformation. We were one of the early adopters, defining ourselves as digital operators. As the work is continuing, we are really eager to move ahead in this journey, and today this is part of our daily work. It’s in our DNA, and whatever we address, it’s addressed in this digital transformation.
What do you think are the global ICT trends that will flourish in the UAE moving forward, and how will du respond to these?
UAE is for fronting all the innovation in the industry, and today the main things that will drive this year are sustainability and Industry 4.0.
UAE’s sustainability agenda was clearly defined, and we have a lot of things that we are addressing as a nation and as a country. As an organization, du plays a major role in sustainability and driving digital transformation — in how we can make things sustainable with all the AI capabilities that we can bring and have built throughout the years.
When it comes to Industry 4.0, recently we signed with the Ministry of Advanced Technology. We are one of the players in the market that is certified for Industry 4.0, and we are moving ahead and providing all the latest technologies in those two areas.
