MIDDLE EAST
“ It ’ s about cost ownership ,” he says . “ How much you ’ re spending on technology ? How much on security ? It ’ s important to show that while technology costs , it saves you money – technology is all about reducing those costs and saving money , not incurring more costs .” The banking industry in the UAE is changing at a rapid rate and this is driven by the customer . The banking customer of 2018 wants a digital experience . El Mourad himself points to a conversation he had with board members ; upon asking them when was the last time they visited a branch in person over the course of the last 12 months between a group of six , there was only three visits .
This is a perfect encapsulation of where banking stands right now in the USE and Xbank , along with all banks , must continue to innovate to continue to serve this growing demand .
This turn towards digital not only affects the bank ’ s external operations . Over the last few years Xbank has continued to invest more into machine learning , automation and AI wherever possible as it looks to streamline its internal operations to enable its external operations to grow .
“ I was involved in discussions about how the bank was moving towards digital ,” says El Mourad . “ They want to become more AI focused . It ’ s a trend in the UAE . More banks are moving to AI , instead of just automation . This helped me build my case and the added value that procurement can bring on this front .”
A key example that El Mourad notes is the implementation of an automated procurement system that will see what he describes as the end of emails . Through this one centralised system , the procurement
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