Dear IMA Members
Hereby we will start the series of the blogs reporting on the IMA Dubai-UAE Chapter events with all we learnt there and new knowledge and ideas we got.
The first one is the write up on the RTA government event held on Jan 25, 2016
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The January event on Innovation at Work Place - Government Forum was conducted in collaboration with Road Transport Authority at their headquarters in the beautiful Al WASEL auditorium. Government companies’ representatives attended this event, as well as IMA members from private sector.
The opening speech was done by the RTA Executive Finance Director Ahmad AL Kaabi, welcoming the participants. The next speaker – Ms Hanady Khalife, IMA Middle East & Africa Operations Director, - gave an overview of the IMA and CMA program development in Middle East and Worldwide emphasizing that this year IMA reached more than 80,000 members globally.
IMA President and CEO, Jeffrey Thompson, had presented the IMA View on Innovation, how to strategize it, galvanize it, and then implement and measure its effect. The newly published Advancing Innovation book, written by Patrick J. Stroh, CMA, was also presented to the audience. This book was indorsed by the famous accounting professor Robert Kaplan, who is the guru of new best practices in accounting industry, such as Business scorecard model, he also authored the forehead message to IMA Advancing Innovation book.
The
book provides key measurements in looking at the right balance of
innovation indicators, correlates those indicators to your business
strategy, and, most important, shows you how to take meaningful
action. It also explains the Innovation Value Score®, a proprietary
measurement system to calculate, compare, and improve innovation value
creation. Advancing Innovation not only guides you on “how to innovate” but also maps out “how to lead in innovation governance.”
The second speaker Mr Loay Al Nakhal presented all the innovations and smart phone applications of Dubai Government that were developed by Dubai Municipality for the Dubai residents and tourists following the initiative of His Highness Dubai Ruler Shaikh Mohammed Bin Rashed Al Maktoom vision to raise the happiness of people in Dubai and making it a smart city. The results of this initiative were quite impressive with several smart software packages developed for the Dubai residents to make their life in Dubai more convenient and enjoyable, e.g. iDubai, Aleef, Najm Sohail, and Makani. The Short video showing the rapid growth and development of UAE region is very impressive.
The third speaker – Mr. Sameer Chediaq introduced the RTA view on innovation strategies, and how RTA responded to the H.H. Shaikh Rashed’s initiative on making Dubai a smart city. Quite a few new applications were developed like Smart drive navigator or smart parking. RTA has 16 channels of communication with public, like web-site feedback, Twitter, Facebook, etc. The special team collects the suggestions, then evaluate them whether they are true innovation or whether they are just a complain, whether it is feasible to implement or not. As an example, instead of installing the credit card readers in every taxi, the easier solution was found just to use NOL cards in all types of transport – metro, bus, tram and taxis as well. That system does not require an internet connection, and does not incur any bank charges, as NOL system is set up as an internal RTA money transfer system. By listening to the suggestions of the customers, the new smart decisions are made. RTA shows that it really cares about its customers and works hard on improving things, to make the Dubai passengers enjoy their traveling or commuting experience in this city.
The event was positively evaluated by the attendees, and gave a good first start in the year on the productive collaboration of Dubai government bodies and IMA Dubai-UAE Chapter in educating finance professionals, introducing to the best new technologies in the profession and thus raising the quality standards of the IMA members by improving their professional skills.