INDUSTRY WATCH
“CIOs MUST ALSO
PROVIDE THEIR
INPUT (EVEN IF
NOT SOLICITED)
REGARDING STRATEGY
FORMULATION AND
PROPOSE BUSINESS
INITIATIVES THAT ARE
EMPOWERED WITH
TECHNOLOGY.”
or negative). And obtaining public
perception and market response regarding
Gulf Air’s services from the Big Data
solution is instrumental in formulating
Commercial strategies.
Security Management System) for
the third year in a row along with ISO
14001 (Environmental Management
System) and ISO 50001 (Energy
Management System).
Can you describe the more
specific economic and
environmental performance
enhancements of this
project(s)?
Beside the cost saving mentioned above,
the environmental impact from this
project is high and very positive. The
avoidance of printing the huge amount
of papers have undoubtedly increased
Gulf Air’s ecological footprint. As a result
of this and several other green practices,
Gulf Air was awarded ISO 14001 and
ISO 50001 Certifications (Environmental
Management and Energy Management
Systems).
There is a general perception
among most CIOs that IT is not
adequately heard in top-level
executive management talks.
What do you think about this
school of thought?
The CIO is the ultimate responsible person
for how adequately IT is heard in their
organisation. When IT is not properly
aligned with the business strategy, and
when business benefits are not clearly
highlighted and considered for IT projects,
CIOs will always take a backseat to the rest
of the top-level executive management.
CIOs must use innovative ideas to create
and/or facilitate business opportunities
for their organisations by means of
proper technology deployment, especially
by mapping cutting-edge and latest
technological trends to direct business
benefits and achieve their customers’
outcomes. CIOs must also provide their
input (even if not solicited) regarding
strategy formulation and propose business
initiatives that are empowered with
technology.
How have recent projects
helped Gulf Air distinguish itself
from regional competitors in the
aviation industry?
This project has helped Gulf Air to
achieve high on time performance
and punctuality, and enabled Gulf Air
to serve their passengers in a unique
personal touch to make every passenger
feel like they are at home. Gulf Air is the
only airline in the world to be certified
against 5 different ISO standards: ISO
9001 (Quality Management System),
ISO 20000 (Service Management
System) and ISO 27001 (Information
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INTELLIGENTCIO
Further, CIOs can gather in forums to
discuss and brainstorm innovative ideas
and new business-driven solutions that
they can take back to their C-suite to
support the organisation’s objectives.
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