Haresh Ahuja of RSM emphasises relationship between tech integration and business success

He highlights the importance of integrating new technologies and managing client relationships to stay ahead in the Middle East tech industry.

In the past years, the tech industry has experienced a dynamic evolution, marked by rapid advancements and shifting trends that have reshaped organisations. As startups and established companies alike steer through this fast-paced landscape, they are increasingly turning to innovative technologies and strategic approaches to enhance client relationships. 

Offering to share his expertise is Haresh Ahuja, Partner, Leader MENA IT Champions Committee at RSM AE Technology, a distinguished leader overseeing the IT consulting and professional services of RSM in UAE as a dedicated Business Unit.

With nearly five decades of industry experience, Haresh has made significant contributions and leading technological ventures throughout his 26-year tenure in the MENA region. He currently leads the Technology Council for the MENA chapter of RSM Global and is a founding member of the Middle East Oracle User Group (MEOUG), besides being part of RSM MENA’s ESG practice.

His expertise extends to fostering strong relationships with principal vendors and adeptly navigating modern technologies to deliver best-fitted solutions. Haresh has also played a pivotal role in various start-ups through investments and joint ventures, demonstrating a remarkable track record of success.

As a judge at the Middle East Technology Excellence Awards 2024, Haresh offers valuable insights on how companies should manage their business by utilising technologies and enhancing client relationships. He advised companies, particularly startups to be open to the adoption of new technology, especially if it aids business and not just align with vendors due to brand popularity. 

“There is no stopping the pace of technology growth. IT professionals — both customers and vendors — should keep themselves aware of the technological advances, keep on assessing the functionalities that will help optimise business processes without major disruptions to business, assessing that the selected vendors remain in business for a minimum of seven years,” Haresh said. Ultimately, the aim is to gain singularity for IT and business, leading to convergence that will provide improved efficiency for business operations.

This is the essence of digital transformation.

With your extensive background in IT operations, how would you assess the performance of the Middle East tech industry for the past year?

With business functionalities moving to digital, tech growth is inevitable. We could consider email as the first step towards digital transformation — not to forget the early environment of mainframe systems primarily focussed on financial applications, followed by the advent of the personal computers and accessibility to internet that provided access to digital applications and these were within easy reach of enterprises as well as SMEs. As the success of this transformation gained traction, MIS reporting platforms, followed by analytics, gained popularity. There was soon a realisation that mundane tasks could be automated as the tools became available. RPA were introduced to automate simple processes and later on, complex processes were next in line. In some cases, RPA tools with specific functionality and automation applications were introduced.

The majority of the ME population is expat which means escalated labour costs as compared to their salaries in their country of domicile. Tech growth thus becomes more necessary to contain attrition, costs, and improved business efficiencies. Analysts predict ME tech will grow at a steady pace.
The UAE, being the business hub of the ME region, spearheads tech initiatives. This is evident by the UAE prioritising artificial intelligence (AI) for improved data-based decision processes by setting up a hub for AI.

In such business scenarios, innovation then becomes a key to the growth of technology that aids business growth by providing critical data at the right time for optimal business decisions adapted with the current technologies.

Quoting IDC, “As META's digital economy increasingly takes shape, IDC forecasts that digital transformation spending in the region will top $59b in 2024 and accelerate at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15% over the coming years to cross the $88b mark in 2027." 

This is the growth potential of the region.

Can you share what your experience has been like being involved in startups? What are the common problems that they encounter when establishing their business?

We have come through the age of moving from monolithic computer rooms to cloud computing, which enables the provisioning of resources at the snap of fingers. As technology advances have been exponential, it has become difficult for enterprises to adapt themselves to the pace of technological changes. This is where startups gained popularity. Startups led by tech gurus offering improved business functionalities — that may or may not be replacing FTEs — delivering goods and services as per their committed mission and vision statements are the ones those have grown. Ultimately, the entire digital transformation is based on startups. Except for IBM, the oldest digital company on the planet, the rest of the enterprises have begun as startups with a majority of them being less than 50 years old.

For a startup, this is a huge competition canvas where you need to prove that your offerings are better than the current ones and that they provide businesses with improved functionality and the offerings are adapted to the current technologies aiding business optimisation. Trust is the next priority area for startups and this can only be gained by delivering what has been committed. Customers expect handholding during their critical business cycles. A failure to align with customer requirements is where the issue starts. Freebies is a secondary option but ensuring customers receive a higher quality of service is where trust is built. Success and growth then follows.

Amidst the growing integration of technology in business operations, what are some modern technologies that companies should adopt in order to meet their business requirements?

It has been noticed that organisations amass multiple technologies that operate in silos creating challenges to integrate them for holistic business benefits. Technology advances will continue but being prepared to adapt those technologies that get integrated seamlessly with the business are the ones that should be looked at first. We have seen a buzz of AI – where the startups claim their solution is based on AI but that process does not have a utility for AI. 

Technologies should be well integrated with the business to optimise business processes.

Generative AI based solutions that integrate well with current applications without creating an additional FTE workload will help businesses optimise.

There is, however, another side of technology that is generally not prioritised, and that is cybersecurity. A very small population of organisations is cyber-ready today.

With the increase in the number of data breaches and infiltration, this area should be attended to with due priority, as this can hamper the growth of businesses, not only on account of downtime and data losses but also causing bad reputation. This also leads to fortifying overall risk management for business continuity. As technology advances, hackers’ adaptation also advances. As application tools become more sophisticated, so do the hacking tools. Enterprises need to take note of being cyber ready and this is a continuous process to ward off hackers from breaching.

Organisations could consider a hybrid model—cloud + on-premises—to leverage the advantages of both. Whilst cloud offers scalability, issues like vendor lock-in, internet connectivity, data sovereignty, and customisation needs have to be considered carefully. A hybrid model will provide better risk management as it will divide the risk between the two models. Applications could be chosen based on these parameters.

A simple and easy-to-use user interface is what is desired for improved adaptation of applications. Mobile-based applications are preferred as they allow users flexibility with due coverage of cybersecurity.

Sustainability and ESG reporting are the current global requirements that organisations should consider, as these regulations will become stricter as we approach the target dates set by each country.

How can companies better manage relationships with their clients? What technologies and skills are essential for them to be successful?

Honouring commitments, meeting deliverables, ensuring the quality of services, and understanding customer pain points to offer a solution rather than pushing “boxes” need to be key areas to address. Another point that has been observed is the sudden change in prices of products and services.
Creating a singularity of IT and business is the key for startups to address whilst offering their products and services and this, if created rightly for the business, would be welcome.

Looking ahead, how do you see the role of IT consulting evolving in the face of rapid technological advancements?

The goal should be to understand customer pain points and address them with optimal solutions. Ensure that the solutions offered integrate well into the customer IT landscape and that the architecture is “open” to modify components as the business needs. Some changes may become mandatory on account of the vendor sunsetting certain product or service lines. Adapting technology without assessing the need is always an issue.

As a judge at the Middle East Technology Excellence Awards, what qualities are you going to look for in the entries this year in terms of technological innovations?

A trustworthy organisation delivering goods and services that have been promised, adhering to the commercial proposal. A solution that solves customer issues without bringing in complicated processes to adapt and not pushed to customers without a valid customer’s need.