Ali & Sons Holding

As chief information and digital officer at Ali & Sons Holding, Shumon A Zaman leads a digital transformation and create new value using the latest cutting-edge digital technologies. Shumon brings an entrepreneurial mindset to delivering value, having developed digital start-ups and led global transformation projects across Europe, the US, and the MENA region. Additionally, he has experience working with different industries, including automotive, oil & gas, construction, marine engineering, retail, manufacturing and healthcare. He is a digital native with over 20 years of experience in digital and business optimization transformations.

What are the current trends that you are witnessing in the technology space?

With Covid, people have become more reliable of what Technology can do, and they are pushing their limits ahead with digital transformation. While the pandemic has shown us its dark side, it has also brought exciting opportunities for businesses to evolve and meet their current need. The businesses that quickly digitized were rewarded since they were able to seize the opportunity, and those that didn't make significant investments suffered the most.

I observe Metaverse is slowly coming into a way that people can actually start to interact with. It is quite challenging to predict how businesses will fully utilize the power of the Metaverse. If we consider digital twins in the coming three to five years, I will have a digital twin of myself soon. Companies are preparing themselves by creating digital twins of their infrastructure to explore what can be achieved in virtual reality. It gathers information about health and welfare, comparing it to that of persons my age, from a similar background, with a similar demanding profession, or for any other reason, and forecasting what I must do to avoid or overcome a potentially life-threatening situation. This is where I see the future going.

"To lead and execute a successful digital transformation project, I believe all the top people in the company should collaborate and share all the necessary information to ensure that everyone is aware of the objectives and the process"

What are some of the key aspects of key processes that entrepreneurs or business leaders need to keep in mind to ensure an efficient digital transformation process?

To lead and execute a successful digital transformation project, I believe all the top people in the company should collaborate and share all the necessary information to ensure that everyone is aware of the objectives and the process. It cannot be a bottom-up approach. A sense of urgency is necessary. It must be completed on schedule time and with the appropriate investment. The most important thing is to understand who your clients will be and how they will connect with you over the next three years. Getting customers will become tougher if you continue to use pen and paper rather than Technology. My responsibility is to always consider how my customer will change over a period of time and what they will need. Generation Z or G are the people who were born with Smartphones. They strive to interact very less as they only want to communicate via social media on online platforms. They aim to complete tasks swiftly and effectively. You will eventually lose market share if you don't have those kinds of mechanisms in place to be able to communicate and collaborate with the client.

How have technologies like iot, and digital twins, helped you in your day-to-day activities?

There are three key changes that have made all of this possible. One is that we are now able to collect data for the first time because of the processing power of CPUs, the price of storage, and 5g super fast networks. Sensors on everything allow us to collect data, and the more clean data you can get, the more machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms you can utilize to analyze and derive new insights into your goods and services.

This is the power of data in terms of the Technology that allows businesses to obtain all of this information and data. We fundamentally operate in more than six industries that, include oil and gas, retail, and real estate. By using more advanced Technology, we can rethink how to conduct business on an operational level. Additionally, we are receiving unparalleled visibility. Therefore, I believe that every organization should seriously consider this and develop use cases.

What would be your single piece of advice?

I think a cloud-first strategy is a must. The cloud is the only option that makes sense if we want to expand, be more nimble, and have access to superhuman computing. The majority of our business procedures have now moved to the cloud. I think that's a key enabler to digital transformation. Additionally, building an agile data center on-site would be more expensive than beneficial. The price to secure it is absurd. Therefore, everyone's to-do list should include putting the cloud first in terms of growth, agility, and security. 

The other important thing is that as IT executives, sometimes we put too much emphasis on Technology and not enough on people. That made me realizes that individuals have the power to make or destroy you. Therefore, you must pay close attention to the change you're implementing in a company, manage it effectively, and get everyone on board with the plan you're trying to implement.

Additionally, I believe that tech leaders are often uncomfortable looking at investment results. This is important. The board needs to know that any expenditure will result in a profit and add value before authorizing them. In order to secure support for the investment and establish realistic expectations for success, it is important to make sure they can communicate in that manner at the board level.