Chief Information Officer (CIO / VP) & Digital Transformation Lead
Mohamed Abdulrahman Al-Bahar Machinery Group (Caterpillar Dealer)
Total years of experience :35 years, 8 Months
By heading the IT Department and leading the group digital transformation strategy, I’ve achieved a remarkable success story in business digital transformation and IT department makeover overcoming many challenges. This innovative transformation has been widely recognized, resulting in many tangible benefits across the enterprise including enhanced competitive advantages, advanced the digital maturity level, enhanced operational efficiency, and significant cost savings.
• Report to the group president, provide visionary insights to executive stakeholders on digital trends and emerging technologies for corporate advancement and deliver executive reports on IT Department performance (KPIs), ensuring alignment with the business strategy
• Revamped the legacy IT Department into advanced organization and reliable business partner including team restructuring (40 IT professionals), managing annual budget ($10M) and establishing IT governance
• Devised and executed "Tajdeed” digital transformation and innovation strategy fostering a digital culture that led to annual cost saving of over $5M and improved corporate efficiency by 90%.
• Created a strategy including compelling business case (ROI/TCO) for the ERP migration / enhancement project, which led to augmented ERP &$2M annual savings
• Deployed enterprise Business Intelligence & Data Warehouse solution (Snowflake & Tableau) used to migrate & visualize over 1000 reports to 50 insightful reports
• Implemented a customer-engagement platform leveraging Salesforce Cloud (CRM Sales, Service, Digital Marketing, CPQ, AI, Mobile Apps) enhancing customer experience and sales operations efficiency by 80%
• Drive business processes optimization through digitalization and automation leveraging Robot Process Automation (RPA) reducing the manual processes by 50%
• Established IT managed shared services model based on ITIL including robust IT helpdesk and cost allocation model that led to over 98% business user satisfaction
• Deployed centralized robust ICT infrastructure including data centers & disaster recovery site leveraging cloud technologies achieving over 99% system uptime, 100% business continuity and $3M annual cost saving
• Lead Caterpillar Digital Excellence Program for dealerships (IoT, DW, BI, e-Commerce, Digital Marketing) scoring year-on-year (GOLD or SILVER) globally
• Prioritized cybersecurity, regulation compliance & risk management involving user training (KonwBe4); resulted in ZERO security incidents or compliance issues
• Established a vendor and contract management model (RFPs, SLAs) including IT procurement and partnership with the market leaders (Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle, IDC, Accenture) reducing the IT cost by 40%
• Spearhead the PMO for project management & implementation achieving high quality, on- time project delivery with over 60% average cost saving
• Oversee the enterprise architecture including deployment middleware platform (Mulesoft & SOA) for seamless application integration
• Provided wide consultancy services and business development support for positioning Huawei enterprise ICT solutions across diverse industries (Banking, Utilities, Education, Health, Transport, Telco, Construction) which resulted in a $30M sales pipeline of projects & opportunities
• Oversaw a team of professional services responsible for solution architecture, project delivery and pre-sales support generated a revenue of over $5M projects
• Led the sales and marketing efforts for the innovative digital bank branch solution (Virtual Mini Branch), resulting in projects and opportunities exceeding $10M
• Establishing relationships with customer executives and strategic partnerships with key vendors for providing turn key solutions focusing on the Finance sector
• As a media spokesperson, I delivered many speeches at executive events to generate business opportunities and enhance market awareness of Huawei solutions
• Head the group IT operations & services team of 40 professionals across all LOBs MENA region in charge of supporting ICT Infrastructure, data centers, cybersecurity, business applications and IT helpdesk
• Deeply involved in critical projects including solution evaluation, selection and implementation: Treasury system, ERP migration & BI of about $20M cost
• Led ICT infrastructure and cybersecurity projects, including those at new shopping malls, disaster recovery and business continuity planning of $15M total budget
• Responsible for the enterprise architecture including seamless application integration
• Restructured the IT operations organization according to ITIL with $20M annual budget, including IT outsourcing and developing & rollout IT policies & processes
• Established IT operation strategy & support model based on centralization and shared services with a service catalogue and cost allocation model (over 50 services)
• Heavily engaged in the implementation and launching Najm credit card involving outsourcing services and system integration
• Collaborated closely with the auditors to ensure cost control, secure services, regulation compliance and managed risks following COBIT
• Responsible for business development and sales of Tibco integration solutions focusing on the banking industry in MENA led to $3M opportunities & projects
• Led professional services team in charge of solution architecture, system development, projects implementation and post implementation support
• Initiated business themes and created solutions tailored for the banking industry based on SOA leveraging Tibco technology (STP, MDM, BPM, ePayment)
• Established strategic partnerships with key technology vendors for providing comprehensive solutions along with Tibco
• Head the enterprise architecture & integration team overseeing solutions selection & evaluation, application integration and business process management
• Developed and rolled out the Bank’s Information Resource Plan based on industry standards as enterprise architecture roadmap
• Led the large-scale project of takeover from the existing partner for insourcing IT services, operations and infrastructure resulted in annual cost saving of $5M
• Played a significant role in the selection and deployment of various banking solutions (Core Banking, Credit Card, ATM, Treasury, Risk Management, Brokerage)
• Deeply involved in the strategic project of converting the bank into Islamic banking involving applications migration and customization led to $10M cost saving
• Heavily participated in establishing the project management office based on Prince II & PMI led to improving project delivery success by 80%
• Established partnerships with key banking solutions providers ensuring effective SLA’s
• Worked closely with auditors and consultants (Central Bank, Ernest & Young, KPMG) addressing their concerns and recommendations
Project Manager & Senior Consultant 1995-2003
• Responsible for providing consultancy & professional services for sales support & delivery of Reuters solutions including executive presentations and handling RFPs
• As a project manager, delivered & supported 30 projects at key banks in MENA of F2B Treasury & Risk Management (Kondor+) & market data solutions worth $20M
• Responsible for providing 2nd level support to customers in the region including solution customization and enhancements
• Collaborated with technology partners for providing turn solution design and application integration
• Developed pocket watch solution for real-time market data for customers generating a big annual revenue
Technical Specialist 1988-1995
• Installed over 100 Reuters market data and transactional systems at banks in UAE
• Worked as a data center engineer delivering operation & maintenance services liaising with the Telco operators
• Provided round-the-clock technical support to the customers