MIDDLE EAST and globally where he led large digital transformation programs for major retailers in the US and GCC . At Al Ghurair he embarked on an ambitious digital strategy to turn the existing IT department into a business partner .

“ The most challenging part of the transformation journey was dealing with the diversification of Al Ghurair ,” he says . “ We are a conglomerate with many different industries ; Foods , Resources , Properties , Construction , Energy and many more . For a large and diversified group like that , it ’ s a challenge for an IT department to find the right balance between synergy and responsiveness and to be able to speak the business language of all these different businesses .”

“ The first task in the transformation was to revamp our systems , specifically ERP , which had little standardization . We embarked

on a large digitization initiative , implemented huge ERP program and created a supporting infrastructure providing value for the businesses . Beside the Administrative functions provided by the ERP system which includes Finance , HR , and Procurement , the solution extends to cover the

Operational activities for different industries such as Manufacturing ,

Projects , and Property

Management ”

Differentiating capabilities To deliver the new digital landscape for Al Ghurair , Mr Said divided the strategy into three different phases .

“ The first phase involved creating differentiating capabilities within the IT department . My immediate task was to create a strong linkage between the IT organization and the businesses . We moved from a centralized organization to a federated organization , where we

www . al-ghurair . com 187