< Previous10 C EO M I D D L E E A S T NOVEMBER 2020 BUSINESS THE BIGGER PICTURE NEWS INNOVATION MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP IN OUR PENULTIMATE EDITION OF THE YEAR, CANON’S MANAGING DIRECTOR ANURAG AGRAWAL LENDS HIS VOICE TO OUR ONGOING SERIES ON THE MOST PRESSING BUSINESS ISSUES ARISING FROM THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC resolve to work through the situation and find creative solutions to do so. “Agility and adaptability are the cornerstones of business continuity.” As any company will tell you, a priority during a crisis period is to focus on business continuity and for us, the challenge has been to meet our customer’s needs – through whichever channels necessary. In parallel, a primarly concern is the safety of our employees and since the onset of Covid-19, we have worked together to adapt and establish new operating systems that enable remote HE COVID - 19 PANDEMIC HAS affected businesses globally and every organisation is faced with the chal- lenge of responding to the crisis, recover- ing from it and reimagining their business. I believe that organisations that are suc- cessful in navigating these times have one thing in common: they are resilient in their T THE ART OF NAVIGATION: BUSINESS LESSONS AND THE WAY FORWARDNOVEMBER 2020 C EO M I D D L E E A S T 11 crisis response protocol and evaluate contingencies for immediate cost savings by focusing on streamlining our systems to optimise our digital transformation initiatives and launch several initiatives to prepare us for the future. We utilised the resources we have as a company, such as our IT infrastructure, to establish new operating systems to enable remote work and adopt a hybrid way of working after the situation stabilises post- Covid. This digital infrastructure enables us to connect with our existing customers and cater to new ones as well. As we adjust to ‘the new normal,’ we are urging all our stakeholders to be nimbler and more open to change in their approach. The pandemic has made us realise that we are all still vulnerable to the risks and uncertainties – but we must learn from these valuable lessons. Stay positive and focus on new growth strategies for the future Businesses must stay optimistic, innovative and focused on creative ways to sustain themselves through this pandemic and put in place strategies that are aggressive and seek to counter the damaging effects of the last few months. Looking ahead, we are implementing a matrix growth strategy of our core busi- ness to better serve new and existing cus- tomers. With this matrix we will address the geographical gaps and the addressable market gaps. We are also approaching the market with emerging categories and new propositions from the Canon ecosystem that fit with emerging trends. As countries such as the UAE transi- tion to the new normal, with the reopen- ing of the economy, companies must not revert to the ‘old ways’ of working and instead remain agile and flexible in meet- ing customer needs. “COMPANIES MUST NOT REVERT TO THE ‘OLD WAYS’ OF WORKING AND INSTEAD REMAIN AGILE AND FLEXIBLE IN MEETING CUSTOMER NEEDS.” Redefining systems. Canon’s managing director Anurag Agrawal takes stock of 2020 and beyond. has been a driving factor in our survival in these challenging times. For example, we have seen a notice- able increase in demand for certain prod- ucts, particularly our document scanners, home printers, ink toners and paper, aris- ing from the customers ‘need to stay con- nected and work seamlessly’ from home. That is why we have strengthened the next day delivery from our e-store, enabling us to meet this specific customer need. There has also been an increased demand for vlogging equipment, as many individuals communicated and docu- mented their experiences digitally while at home. They all need the right equip- ment to create the content and share it on the digital platforms. This is where we see great potential to add value as Canon, with our imaging products; there has never been a more captive audience to watch digital content as these times. Initiate cost-saving measures To achieve our business continuity goals, we adopted the Response, Recover and Reimagine model. This model has allowed us to embark on a well-structured access, as well as a flexible hybrid way of working. One of the biggest ways that we have been able to address business continuity has been through the accelerated transi- tion to e-commerce. Fortunately, we had developed and rolled out our e-commerce platform before the pandemic struck, which offered us an advantage and al- lowed us to be more agile in responding to customers’ requirements. It enabled us to provide consumers with multiple ways to connect with us and access our products with next day delivery options, through the Canon e-store. With a digital solu- tion in hand, we complemented this by increasing the number of engineers in our remote technical support team, who are equipped to deal with most issues our cus- tomers may be facing, over the phone and through Canon’s unique remote support system, that is inbuilt in the machines. There is no denying that e-commerce is here to stay and in line with digitisation trends, companies will need to adapt to new ways of working and figure out how to serve customers better in the future. Focus on the opportunities that exist now – not the ones that used to Innovation is key, especially in situations that are out of our control. Over the last few months, we have seen a disruption of business operations at a global scale, and the companies that have been able to weather this proverbial storm, are the ones that have introduced innovative ways to interact with customers. For us, this has meant identifying what our customers needed and delivering them, no matter what or how. From urging our customers to explore new ways of working using our technology, to servicing and maintaining our products, creativity 12 C EO M I D D L E E A S T NOVEMBER 2020 Dubai startup Hotel Data Cloud has won USD 200,000, awarded by the Lee School Prize for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The company was chosen for its achievements in helping hotels re-engage customers in COVID-19 recovery This award comes at the heels of The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) naming HDC as a “Healing Solutions for Tourism” and the most disruptive startup in the Middle East, working to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on tourism. The Lee Prize has also been awarded in recognition of HDC’s timely solution in helping restart the travel and tourism industry, by enabling hotels to communicate their safety standards, hygiene protocols and social distancing measures, in real time, to reassure travellers. “We are very grateful to the Lee NEWS UAE LEADERSHIP AWARD DUBAI FITNESS CHALLENGE HRH Princess Lamia Bint Majed Al Saud, Secretary General and Member of the Board of Trustees at Alwaleed Philanthropies – chaired by HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Al Saud – has been presented with the ‘People First Leader Award’, and named as an Honorary Advisory Board Member at the 8th Annual GCC GOV HR Summit 2020, the region’s biggest public sector human resources (HR) platform. HRH Princess Lamia bint Majed Al Saud was recognized for her exemplary work and leadership skills as part of Alwaleed Philanthropies; guided by the vision of His Royal Highness Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz AlSaud to contribute to a world of tolerance, acceptance, equality and opportunity for all. Corporates, schools and individuals are being encouraged to join in the Dubai Fitness Challenge this month, which seeks to encourage residents to move more during the month of November. There is an array of free classes and events throughout the city and participants can register online to discover more. www.dubaifitnesschallenge.com DUBAI START-UP WINS PRESTIGIOUS PRIZE FOR INNOVATIONS Business School and the Ted and Doris Lee Family Foundation for their generosity and belief that innovation is the cornerstone in prompting positive change. Travel and hospitality have been severely hit by this pandemic, but through our COVID-19 recovery focused solutions we are empowering hotels to get back in control. The support that we have received via the Lee prize will go a long way in helping us continue to push boundaries and offer new and dynamic ways that hotels can meet the client expectations of living in a post-COVID-19 reality,” said Kevin Czok, Co-founder and Managing Partner at HDC. HDC was founded in 2016, by Gregor Amon and Kevin Czok and currently has a portfolio of over 11,400 hotels in 153 countries. For additional information, please visit: www.hoteldata.cloud. Data innovators Gregor Amon and Kevin Czok have been awarded a prestigious global prize.NOVEMBER 2020 CEO MIDDLE E A ST 13 BRAND INSIGHT | PRIVATE BANKING How has 2020 been for your clients? Arnaud Leclercq: It’s not been the year we envisaged, but paradoxically it may have brought us closer to our clients. Crises focus the mind on what matters: our families and loved ones. Fundamen- tally, our role is to advise our clients and invest their life savings for the long term. Clients had more time to reflect during lockdowns. They spent more time talking to us. Video calls brought us into their homes, sometimes for the first time. At times, bankers were providing daily updates. At the peak of the crisis, we communicated our outlook: stay firm, there will be a short-term recov- ery. Our analysis proved to be right. In general, portfolios for the GCC have re- covered from March lows; most are now in positive territory. Lombard Odier has weathered more than 40 financial crises in its two-century history. We represent strength and stability, a fact highlighted when Fitch reaffirmed our Group’s AA- credit rating this past March. As one of the world’s strongest-capitalised banking groups, investors’ flight to safe havens has benefitted us, particularly in the Middle East. How has your Islamic finance approach fared during the pandemic? Soumaya Hissoussi: There is some evidence to suggest that our Shariah mandates are preserving clients’ capital in a superior way. Our balanced Shariah mandate saw a smaller drawdown in the mid-March lows than our conventional US dollar-based mandate, and has since recovered more robustly. It had returned 9.46% year-to-date at the end of August. I think that the symbiosis between Islamic finance and sustainability is also worth underlining. Islamic equities have had a strong year, reflecting in part the exclusion of financial services, but mainly the bias towards quality firms with strong fundamentals and solid balance sheets. Our broader sustainability analysis also looks beyond business practices to assess companies’ business models. How adaptable are companies? How prepared are they for challenges, whether that’s a sustainability challenge, or a pandemic and supply chain challenge? This year has shown how important that analysis is. What do you expect for the final months of 2020? Arnaud Leclercq: We expect an ongo- ing recovery, albeit at a slower pace than in May/June, as the ‘easy’ part of the process is behind us. Covid-19 cases are accelerating in the US and notably in Europe, where governments are increas- ing restrictions, implemented in a more targeted fashion than in the spring. This leaves Asia as a major demand driver for the global economy. The partial nature of the reopening means economies will not regain full capacity until the virus is eliminated. Within client portfolios, we have been adapting our strategic asset allocation to a post-pandemic future, with a new stan- dalone allocation to China; allocations to thematic trends including demographics, climate change and digitalisation; to real estate; and to gold. We believe these will help us capture the investment opportu- nities of tomorrow, without necessarily increasing risk. Arnaud Leclercq, Partner Holding Privé, and Soumaya Hissoussi, Senior Private Banker, Lombard Odier HOW DOES A SWISS PRIVATE BANK RELIANT ON PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS WEATHER A GLOBAL PANDEMIC? CEO ASKED LOMBARD ODIER’S PARTNER HOLDING PRIVÉ ARNAUD LECLERCQ AND SENIOR PRIVATE BANKER SOUMAYA HISSOUSSI GUIDING CLIENTS THROUGH A PANDEMIC14 C EO M I D D L E E A S T NOVEMBER 2020 FACED WITH COVID-19, COMPANIES NEED TO PUT THEIR BEST TALENT ON THEIR MOST CRITICAL PROJECTS. THIS IS CRUCIAL TO ENSURING SURVIVAL, AND TO RETAINING YOUR BEST STAFF By TOM DE WAELE, Managing Partner of Bain & Company Middle East, JOOST SPITS, Partner, Bain & Company Boston and DAN SCHWARTZ, Partner, Bain & Company Washington BRIGHT STARS COME OUT IN A CRISIS: DON’T LET THEM FADE BUSINESS | BAIN & COMPANYNOVEMBER 2020 CEO MIDDLE E A ST 15 ork has never changed this much, this fast. The severity and speed of Covid-19 forced a radi- cal change in the way businesses organise their workforces. With utmost urgency, businesses have had to get their best talent on their most critical tasks, from business survival to growth and innovation. In times of crisis, talent reveals itself, and Covid-19 is helping companies recognize those who create dispropor- tional value for the organization. Freeing up critical talent to combat a challenging situation, restaurant chains have galva- nized behind delivery services, consumer products companies have focused on getting key items to customers, and hotels have begun to reimagine what hospital- ity looks like—all while moving to virtual working. Now, the key will be to make sure that this critical talent, these difference makers, don’t, once again, get spread too thinly after the crisis has passed. While researching their book Time, Talent, Energy, our colleagues Michael Mankins and Eric Garton quantified the difference between an average performer and a top contributor. The best corporate attorneys, they found, perform 12 times better than average; the best software developers, nine times; the best cardiac surgeons, six times. They also found that top companies make the most of their best people, with top talent filling 95% of their business-critical roles, while other companies fail to focus their best people on their most important work, spreading their stars evenly across all roles. Not all talent is created equally— the best ones are often a lot better W “KNOW WHO YOUR TOP TALENT IS. WHO ARE THE BEST PEOPLE IN THE ORGANISATION?” Talent spotting. Identify and nurture your best performers, says Bain’s Tom de Waele. Performance is crucial. There is a huge gulf between a company’s average performers and its best talent.16 C EO M I D D L E E A S T NOVEMBER 2020 than the rest. Great performers are who you want when launching any critical assignment. Yet, how many frustrated managers have identified a rock star to lead a critical initiative only to struggle to break them free from the less essen- tial role they already occupy? One workaround is to position the new role as a “step up” opportunity that should only require 10% of the star’s time. But when it comes to human capital, those growth projects more often than not are denied the resources they need. Ten percent of the time of a star em- ployee who already has an important “run the business” job is not going to cut it. When push comes to shove, “running the business” always feels more urgent. No surprise then that these “change the business” efforts rarely do. Time management. Top talent needs to spend less time on their ‘day job’ if you want initiatives to have a real shot. Excited about the work and committed to results, the stars and their teams make great progress at first. But as time passes, progress slows, and energy and focus start to wane. Employees, piled with work, struggle to keep up and even burn out. What happened? Every company has to simultaneously run its business and change its business. BUSINESS | BAIN & COMPANYNOVEMBER 2020 CEO MIDDLE E A ST 17 Some companies have broken out of this pattern by focusing on four things: 1. Know your most important roles. Leaders must have a clear grasp of mission-critical positions across operations (“run the business”) and innovation (“change the business”) if they hope to ensure that the best people are filling the most important roles in both. 2. Know who your top talent is. Who are the best people in the organisation? 3. Know what your top talent is working on. You should have as clear a view of how and where your human capital is deployed as you do of your financial capital. Whether you have a fancy HR system or a simple spreadsheet, this can be tracked and used in a disci- plined way. Absent this holistic view, leadership simply can’t get the best people in the key roles. 4. Make tough trade-offs. Ten percent of someone’s time is rarely going to be adequate. Top talent will have to spend less time on their day job if you want growth initiatives to have a shot. A consumer products company deployed this approach successfully. The company generally keeps its centralized functions lean, believing that most work should be done in local markets. But when launching companywide innovation initiatives, management wanted to attract local high performers to lead them. To get them, managers ensured that the star’s next step after the innovation work would take them back to local operations but in positions of greater authority. So, once an innovation is successfully launched, its leaders begin to transfer responsibility for its further growth to the local market, in effect making their own job redundant. The results of this approach have been strong. The innovations launched so far have a strong record of success, and the company has forged a repeatable model for attracting top talentto run important initiatives without delaying their long- term career trajectory. With the rapid changes forced by Covid-19, many companies have a sense of momentum and a fresh understanding of what is possible. Challenges and op- portunities arise constantly in business. Swift and successful response depends on knowing who your most valuable play- ers are and being able to deploy them. Trade-offs will have to be made to get them where they are needed most. “TOP TALENT WILL HAVE TO SPEND LESS TIME ON THEIR DAY JOB IF YOU WANT GROWTH.” ABOUT BAIN & COMPANY Bain & Company is a global consultancy that helps the world’s most ambitious change mak- ers define the future. Across 59 offices in 37 countries, we work alongside our clients as one team with a shared ambition to achieve extraordinary results, outperform the competition and rede- fine industries. We complement our tailored, integrated expertise with a vibrant ecosystem of digital innovators to deliver better, faster and more enduring outcomes. Our 10-year commitment to invest over $1 billion in pro bono services brings our talent, expertise and insight to organizations tackling today’s urgent challenges in education, racial equity and social justice, economic development and the environment. Since our founding in 1973, we have measured our success by the success of our clients, and we proudly maintain the high- est level of client advocacy in the industry. STRUCTURED REWARDS. Incentivise your best talent to grow the business and retain key staff.WHILE ALL BUSINESSES ARE BEING IMPACTED BY THE SAME PANDEMIC, THE FALLOUT ACROSS DIFFERENT INDUSTRY GROUPS AND GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONS IS VARIED. HOWEVER, IT IS CLEAR THAT THE NATURE OF BUSINESS TRAVEL HAS CHANGED IRREVOCABLY By CIARÁN KELLY, Managing Director and Regional Leader of FCM Travel Solutions for the Middle East and Africa THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED “WITHOUT THE ABILITY TO READ BODY LANGUAGE, WE MISS IMPORTANT ELEMENTS TO CONVERSATIONS THAT CAN POSITIVELY OR NEGATIVELY IMPACT A BUSINESS.” 18 C EO M I D D L E E A S T NOVEMBER 2020 BUSINESS | INDUSTRY ANALYSIS: TRAVELNOVEMBER 2020 CEO MIDDLE E A ST 19 VEN NOW, AS POCKETS OF THE industry trend towards recovery, the business travel landscape continues to shift and evolve. In prepa- ration for a return to some normality, business and suppliers are reframing their priorities, processes and procedures. It is clear that uncertainty will remain for some time, however companies that can adapt more quickly to the new business models post COVID-19 will be well posi- tioned to get back to business sooner. Business models will be made up of a combination of the virtual world, more companies extending working from home policies, WFH, a reduction in spending on office space, coupled with the tradi- tional face to face world we have all been accustomed to pre-pandemic. Virtual meetings have certainly enabled business momentum over the last several months which have also brought various ben- efits; the realisation that companies can function with smaller office spaces, the positive environmental impact on carbon footprint right down to not having to think about finding a free meeting room. Nonetheless, there are various drawbacks also that can impact business engulfed in this virtual world momen- tum. Reliability on network connection can be a challenge in certain markets and personally speaking, engaging with numerous clients and suppliers across the MEA region is not always straightforward experience. Connectivity is slow, lost and intermittent, leading to several meetings having to be cancelled, rescheduled and content repeated. “As for ‘zoom fatigue’, JP Morgan Chase, American Airlines and Microsoft CEOs are all recently quoted highlight- ing the problems with virtual technology, “creative combustion”, “awful”, and “transactional”. There’s no real culture being felt on zoom calls and creativity is lacking, the clock is always being watched so as not to be late for the next call. While reports state that company productivity is not impacted, currently, as people are working longer hours, and ‘have to jump off now and go on another conference call’ many believe there will be a burn out from staff attending too many virtual meetings and glued to their screens having accepted an overload of virtual invites. There seems to be a trend for attend- ees switching their cameras to off mode than at the start of the pandemic. This trend is making the C-Suite and others question just how much attendees are actually concentrating or listening during these calls. Attendees in various forums have admitted to taking a shower, cook- ing lunch or dinner, talking to the delivery guy at the door as their online orders ar- rive while on a conference call and using the time to check emails. While there may be valid reasons at times for the above, they can also prevent audiences from really engaging, building relationships, trust, creating motivation and reading the usual body language indicators to asses engagement and un- derstanding key messages from partici- pants. All of which are critical elements to successful partnerships and business success. Without the ability to read body language, a crucial form of com- munication, we miss important elements to conversations that can positively or negatively impact a business. One FCM client recently quoted that while they are retaining a lot of their business with current vendors, they are struggling to win new clients. Many sup- pliers are not always ready to sign a new contract or as quick to sign, with a new company they have never actually met or had a chance to visit and experience their offering in a live environment. Thus, before we start to believe WFH and the virtual world is the ‘new norm’, we ought to remember the importance of face to face meetings that are facilitated through E “THERE’S NO REAL CULTURE BEING FELT ON ZOOM CALLS.” The longer term need to travel within the Middle East region and longer-haul is an important step to recovery.Next >