Call for digital transformation to ensure business continuity

TDT | Manama

Businessman Yaqoob Al Awadhi has stressed the importance of Bahraini businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to invest in creating and providing services, products, and solutions that keep pace with the next stage.

He pointed out the importance of realizing that the economy, business performance and market requirements before coronavirus (COVID-19) will not be the same post-pandemic and that the survival of businesses and strengthening Their competitiveness and increased profitability will depend on the extent of its ability to make a major and rapid shift in its strategy, vision and goals.

“The outbreak of the coronavirus imposed very profound changes on various aspects of life, including businesses, as large sectors were seriously affected, such as aviation and tourism, while other sectors such as e-commerce, the entertainment industry, and health products have recovered,” said Al Awadhi, who is the CEO of systems integrator and IT consultant NGN International.

“The nature of doing business within the company itself also changed, because of employees working remotely and adopting methods of measuring productivity and others. We must not wait for the end of the coronavirus to return to perform our work in the same way, but rather work from now on to envision a post-coronavirus world and its needs and raise our readiness accordingly.” Al Awadhi pointed out the importance of developing a business strategy in a manner that takes into account digital transformation and e-commerce and adopts modern information technology applications at work – one which benefits from the strong infrastructure provided by the Bahraini government in this field.

Al Awadhi called for the creation of a national program for digital transformation in SMEs that practice traditional commercial activities such as restaurants, retail stores, tourism offices, and others, as these activities represent the broader segment of economic activity.

“This coincides with the Kingdom of Bahrain’s adoption of international trends for digital transformation, the adoption of the latest smart technologies and the development of information and communication technology infrastructure,” he said.