FINAL WORD

It is important to point out that in a product-centric environment , technology alone is not necessarily the answer . Technology is a delivery mechanism . Strangely , this is even true of technology products .

To be successful at this , UAE organisations must build on their technological innovation to create a corporate structure where the very concept of product is front and centre in all decision making .

Having long-since grown their ambitions beyond merely emulating their Western counterparts , the UAE ’ s BFSI institutions today intend to set global benchmarks . While rumours of First Abu Dhabi Bank ’ s , FAB intention to buy British multinational Standard Chartered were short-lived , the fact that they even existed is a strong indicator of times to come .

The UAE BFSI sector is now populated by innovative trend-setters and digital acceleration is everywhere . In the past few years alone , we have seen the rise of BNPL , buy-now-pay-later platforms like Tabby , Postpay , and Spotii . And the UAE Central Bank is expected to soon launch its instantpayments platform .

These are two examples from opposite ends of the scale , agile startups at one , bedrock institutions at the other . The entire sector is in flux , with pioneers pushing boundaries on an almost daily basis . This means two main pressures on industry players . One : be original . Two : be quick .

Product leads

First , the chief product officer needs a seat at the executive table , on a par with , rather than reporting to the CTO or CFO . Product cannot be subservient to customer experience in the age of digital acceleration . It will be the backbone of the transformation journey . We should remember that since this is a journey that does not end , it needs a mindset that is equal to the perils of the road . It needs a leader , and that leader is the CPO , not the CTO or CIO .

Leading from the front , the product chief will guide technology and finance teams on where to focus their efforts . They will know the market to a greater degree than their colleagues . They will know that to import an idea like that of , say , Irish-US payments company Stripe , requires an understanding of how each microservice fits into the Middle East market .

As is probably evident by now , product-centricity is a departure from the age-old customer-first philosophy . Experiences for customers and employees are undeniably important , but they are , to a large extent , built on the product and cannot exist without it . Problems such as high costs and low revenues are product problems , so accountability for them should rest with the CPO who must therefore have full P & L responsibility for every product brought to market .

And since no competitive company can afford to have the product ’ s design side-lined by demands from domain-focused functions such as sales or technology , the CPO must report directly to the CEO . This will give them the authority to push back against sales

INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS 67