Khaled Abou Samak

Serve as a Subject Matter Expert in the fields of AI and data governance for Devoteam clients. Provide technical leadership to the Data & AI team. Work as part of the Devoteam Data & AI leadership team to grow their practice and develop their offers. Design & implement the data management framework, operating model and roles & responsibilities. Design & implement all aspects of data management projects based on DAMA framework, including data governance, data quality, metadata management, data warehousing, data integration, data migration, business intelligence, master data management, and analytics. Develop AI and Data Strategy for clients. Work with Devoteam and clients to understand their challenges and create solutions by utilizing latest AI & Machine Learning technologies. Stay on top of AI trends.

Artificial Intelligence:
• Developed an Artificial Intelligence strategy with high ROI uses cases for government clients in KSA including Ministry of Ministry of Environment Water and Agriculture, Saline Water Conversion Corporation, and Ministry of Finance in alignment with SDAIA (Saudi Data and AI Authority) regulations.
• Managed and developed multi-disciplinary (technical and consulting) teams to deliver innovative projects exceeding client expectations.
• Led projects across the Data Science lifecycle from discovery to implementation and scaling to deliver benefits to KSA clients across many sectors.
• Led a team of data scientists, data engineer and machine learning engineers in developing and implementing AI strategy uses cases.
Data Management and Governance:
• Led data management team to deliver data management projects for government clients in KSA including Ministry of Ministry of Environment Water and Agriculture, Saline Water Conversion Corporation, and Ministry of Finance that include Data strategy development, data governance, data quality, master data management and metadata implementation.
• Supported the client’s in establishing Data Management Office (DMO) with roles and responsibilities as per NDMO requirements to lead and execute the data agenda in government entities.
• Developed data strategy, data management policies and procedures, KPIs, DM processes, data classifications, business glossary, and data lineage that are aligned with NDMO (National Data Management Office) and drive data monetization for clients.
• Developed data governance Operating model and conducted NDMO compliance exercise to measure how much the clients are aligned and comply with NDMO guidelines.
• Defined the long-term Data Strategy to ensure that data is managed and used as an asset

Deliver technical leadership in a team that design and develop AI and Data Science Solutions to extract meaning from large scale data. Drive the strategy and deliver descriptive and diagnostic analytics (reporting, dashboards, etc.) to support business performance monitoring and data-driven decision making. Build the data science and BI team from scratch, drive culture that inspires and motivates the team ensuring effective training and competency development, determining modern approaches, best practices and work standards. Research and stay up to date on latest AI and Data approaches and technologies in the market ensuring that, when relevant, these are appropriately leveraged within Data and Analytics function. Identify and review model evaluation metrics based on analytical requirements. Apply suitable techniques for model testing and tuning, to assess accuracy, fit, validity, and robustness
• Recognized with the Excellence Award in 2021 from Abu Dhabi Chamber for contribution in transforming and digitalizing 100% of services using technology and AI
• Developed an Artificial Intelligence strategy with 42 uses cases for Abu Dhabi Chamber including Chatbots, Sentiment Analysis, Members Clustering and Recommendation Engines.
• Led a team of 2 data scientists, 1 Data Architect, 1 Business Intelligence specialist, and 2 data analysts in developing and implementing AI strategy uses cases.
• Built recommender engine using deep learning and machine learning for matching the members with tailored investment opportunities which increased the members engagement by 26%.
• Developed recommender system using machine learning for business matchmaking which increased the partnership among Abu Dhabi Chambers members by 45%.
• Implemented Chatbots and sentiments analysis using NLP algorithms leading to an increase in customer satisfaction by 20% and a reduction in the service time and cost by 35%.
• Implemented NLP model to classify and categorize contact centre tickets for automatic assignments leading to a decrease in request time by 60%.
• Managed the implementation of the Business Intelligence (BI) project using Tableau and delivered 60+ dashboards for business units to support the decision making.

Built a strong relationship with internal business and technical stakeholders including presenting technical solutions while showing a strong understanding of business activities and objectives. Collaborated with business partners and engineering team to identify and analyse BI information needs and opportunities for improved data management and delivery. Managed and produced reports on the internal performance of the business against strategic KPIs. Designed and developed analysis methodology to ensure data quality, reporting dashboard, and visualization to propose innovative ideas for improving business and operation and eliminate hidden risks. Evaluate proposed business cases for projects and initiatives. Influence business stakeholder decision making. Translate business requirements into strategies, initiatives, and projects and align them to business strategy and objectives and drive the execution of deliverables.
• Received the Excellence Award from Musanada for transforming the facility management sector in the Abu Dhabi market using technology and AI
• Headed a team of Data Science and Business Intelligence specialists to deliver outcomes in alignment with the strategic roadmap for the facility management services in the Abu Dhabi market.
• Led development of clustering model using DBSCAN algorithm to pair and cluster 3, 600 governmental buildings in Abu Dhabi, which resulted in a reduction in the operational cost of Musanada buildings services by 1.15 billion (AED) (52%).
• Steered building of machine learning/ deep learning models to support FM predictive maintenance by analysing historical failure data for FM assets and forecasting future failures and repeated issues leading to a reduction of 32% in service and operating cost.
• Managed the implementation of the Business Intelligence (BI) project using PowerBI for Facility and Buildings sectors to support the decision making.
• Reported performance of the business against strategic KPIs.

Increased user adoption of CRM tools related to ongoing automation activities of communication. Served as a Gatekeeper of CRM tools, accounts, and data, managed functional day-to-day operations of CRM. Reviewed and managed change requests through CRM and partnered with technology teams on understanding and communicating fixes, case trending, and priorities. Developed statistical and predictive models for different marketing initiatives including Customer segmentation, Classification, RFM model, Market Basket Analysis, cross-sell, customer lifetime value, customer profitability and campaigns response rate. Identified requirements from multiple business partners and brought into consensus by simplifying workflows and processes. Analysed current workflows and structure within and provided recommendations on optimization.
• Delivered statistical and predictive data models for the Marketing Department to define and design strategies for customer retention, cross-selling and to support various marketing initiatives which enabled the sales growth for Mercedes in the Abu Dhabi market by 20%.
• Liaised with CRM Manager to develop a machine learning model to predict the customer churn likelihood based on historical customer & complaints data and designed a retention strategy which enabled the reduction in the churn rate of Mercedes customers to 8%.

 Reporting to the Sales Director, carried the following:
Predictive Analysis
• Provide business-ready data to the sales managers for development of sales opportunities and revenue.
• Provide specialist advice and guidance through reports on the interpretation and application of statistical analysis for various agreements' due dates and renewals.
• Develop and implement sales, agent, campaign and branch analyses utilizing statistical modeling and business intelligence techniques for all face-to-face distribution channels.
• Work with sales & distribution managers to analyze and design strategies for proactive sales management.
• Undertake the research, collation, interpretation and analysis of customer business data across the division and provide high levels of competency in data analytics.
• Improve on the cross-sell, up-sell strategy by using the statistical models which will help in more product penetration and increase the share of wallet.

CRM and Marketing
• Drive customer insight and analysis to assist and create customer Acquisition, Retention and Loyalty activities.
• Analyze migration behavior of customers and assist in the development of retention strategies.
• Manage and measure the performance and efficiency of the marketing campaigns.

Customer Data Quality and Profiling
• Ensure the reliability and validity of data.
• Coordinate with Profiling agencies and internal staff for acquiring, maintaining and special profiling projects for DB.
• Address data capture, usage, retention, destruction, compliance, edit precedence process issues.

Reporting to the CRM Director, carried the following:
Database Design and Administration
• Manage, design and implement the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) database systems for Jacobson’s clients (General Motors, Philip Morris and Nestle in the middle east).
• Collect, document and analyse the business requirements from the clients.
• Examine and assess CRM business processes, procedures and work practices and provide recommendation for improvement.
• Re-index and review database system performance and carry out appropriate tuning.
• Utilize database knowledge, programming skills and data manipulation / query tools to produce actionable report to meet client needs. (E.g. list counts, ad hoc queries, campaign summary reports, etc.)
• Develop SQL query, views, database triggers and stored procedures.
• Manage back-up and recovery systems and processes.
• Writing SQL and T-SQL, including queries, triggers and stored procedures
• Manage and configure the database security.

CRM and Direct Marketing Campaigns
• Create data files for mailing, telemarketing and eMarketing campaigns, segmentation, demographic and lifestyle data file overlays and analysis.
• Generate customer and prospect contact lists for monthly mail and email campaigns.
• Track & update all responses from different channels (Direct Mail, SMS, or Email).
• Perform analysis of campaign result to assist in overall evaluation of the campaign success.
• Responsible for data selection and segmentation.

Reporting and Analysis
• Provide reporting on the key CRM metrics driving cross sell, upsell, churn reduction and improved member engagement and ensure this is utilized by the business to drive change.
• Support the CRM Director with analytics to shape the direction and strategy of the targeting to drive best in class churn reduction.