READY FOR THE FUTUREThe 24th annual Business Excellence Awards celebrate the best-in-class companies in the UAE

DUBAI QUALITY AWARDDUBAI SERVICE EXCELLENCE SCHEME DUBAI HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AWARD

CONTENTS

6 Committed to excellence Shaikha Ahmad Abdulrahman Al Bishri,

Director of the Business Excellence Department, on the past, present and future of the awards

8 Winners take to stage Top-class companies in the UAE come together

to celebrate excellence

12 Ready for the smart revolution H.E. Sami Al Qamzi, Director General,

Department of Economic Development (DED), Dubai, talks about the role of quality and excellence in the Emirate’s march to become the smartest city in the world

14 24 years of excellence The key milestones that helped the Business Excellence

Awards put UAE businesses on the global map

17 The competitive edge for business By benchmarking excellence, Dubai Quality Award helps

firms gain strategic advantage in the global economy

20 Investing in employees The Dubai Human Development Award journey shows that

employee-centricity is the way to customer-centricity

22 Excellence in customer service The Dubai Service Excellence Scheme promotes

exceptional customer service standards in the UAE

28 The backbone of the awards DED’s army of assessors who worked to help make

the awards possible

PUBLISHER, GN COMMERCIAL PUBLISHING Anshuman Joshi

EDITOR, GN COMMERCIAL PUBLISHING David George

DEPUTY CHIEF SUBEDITOR Priya Mathew

SUBEDITORS Krita Coelho; Riaz Naqvi

ART EDITOR: Nicholas K. D’Souza

17

8 28

To reach the Business Excellence Awards, please call 04-4455833, email bec@dubaided.gov.ae or visit www.dubaided.gov.ae.

Published and printed by Al Nisr Publishing LLC | A Gulf News sponsored supplement

PRODUCTION EDITOR Sankar Pillai

PRE-PRESS OPERATOR Shirantha Mendis

SENIOR ACCOUNT GROUP MANAGER Shahida Khan

• Tel: 04 406 7645 | Mobile: 056 113 6877

• Email: skhan@gulfnews.com

4

The 24th cycle of the Business Excellence Awards embodies our ambitions, as well as our determination to continue the process of development and work in a spirit of initiative and creativity to be a distinguished excellence model across all sectors.

Today, the Business Excellence Awards are acknowledged both regionally and glob-ally as a reliable benchmark for quality, human resource development and service ex-cellence. Throughout its historic journey, the Business Excellence Awards have con-tinued to enjoy the patronage and support of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

More than being recognised as a symbol of quality and excellence, the Business Excellence Awards is a critical component of the past, present and future of the UAE. Four years ago, Sheikh Mohammed launched his vision to transform Dubai into a smart city, and make the Emirate one of the most technologically-advanced cities in the world.

Dubai has thus deployed various initiatives and projects to achieve Sheikh Moham-med’s vision and transform the whole emirate and not just any specific industry, into a smart city. The Department of Economic Development (DED) in Dubai, on its part, has developed a strategy to harness the ongoing digital transformation in Dubai and further boost economic growth, productivity and global competitiveness.

The DED sees the awards as an integral part of its efforts to enhance quality and business excellence across the Emirate in line with the goals to become a smart city.

Today, we are constantly working on developing new standards for the Business Ex-cellence Awards to promote competition among businesses and organisations across various fields and vital sectors. The next phase of the awards will see many qualitative developments and additions, which will make it further important for businesses to participate and win.

I congratulate everyone who has contributed to the Business Excellence Awards as this landmark initiative moves past its 24th year. This special supplement will provide you with an overview of the vision and efforts guiding the Business Excellence Awards and the broad acceptance it has gained during the past 24 years.

Shaikha Ahmad Abdulrahman Al BishriDirector, Business Excellence Department, Department of Economic Development (DED), Dubai

WELCOME NOTE

CULTURE OF QUALITY AND EXCELLENCE

6

8

Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Moham-med Bin Rashid Al Mak-toum, Vice-President and

Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Maktoum Bin Moham-med Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, and Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foun-dation, the Department of Economic Development (DED) in Dubai hon-oured the winners of Business Excel-lence Awards 2017 at a glittering cere-mony at Dubai Opera. The event was a moment of pride for the 40 winners of

Dubai Quality Award (DQA), Dubai Human Development Award (DHDA) and Dubai Service Excellence Scheme (DSES) brought by their outstanding pursuit of excellence in the past year.

Sheikh Maktoum and Sheikh Ahmed attended the ceremony and honoured the winners at the 24th An-nual Awards. The ceremony reflected growth, aspiration and trust as the top companies came together to celebrate a moment of excellence.

“The winners of the Business Ex-cellence Awards represent a measure of organisational performance and a catalyst in the race towards excellence, further development and prosperity,”

says H.E. Sami Al Qamzi, Director General, Department of Economic Development (DED), Dubai, adding that the success of the Emirate’s qual-ity and excellence journey depends on productive public and private sectors.

Emirates Gas (from the Manufac-turing — Oil and Gas sector) and Trans-guard Cash (Service sector) received the coveted Dubai Quality Award 2017 from Sheikh Maktoum, while Fujairah Police General Headquarters (Govern-ment sector), National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah (Finance), Aster Hospi-tal — Mankhool branch (Healthcare), Deyaar Owners Association Manage-ment (Service), Gulf Medical University

Supplied

OVERVIEW

WINNERS TAKE THE STAGE

Top-class companies in the UAE come together to celebrate a moment of excellence at the annual Business Excellence Awards

BY RUQYA KHAN

9

(Education) and Global Green Bridge Contracting (Construction) received the Dubai Quality Appreciation Award highest score by sector. His Highness also honoured French Business Coun-cil (Dubai and Northern Emirates) for winning the Dubai Quality Apprecia-tion Award for Representative Entities by highest score.

Dubai Courts (Government), AW Rostamani Group (Trade), Union Na-tional Bank (Finance), Al Ain Hospi-tal and Corniche Hospital (Health-care), received the Dubai Human Development Award, while Network International (Finance), Al Gharbia Hospitals (Healthcare — Hospitals), Aster Pharmacy Group (Healthcare — Pharmacies), British Orchard Nursery — Dubai Silicon Oasis Branch (Edu-cation) and Thumbay Group (Service) received the Dubai Human Devel-opment Appreciation Award highest score by sector from Sheikh Maktoum.

Sheikh Ahmed honoured the 18 Best Service Performance Brands from the participants in the Dubai Service Excellence Scheme in 2017. The awards, currently celebrating its 24th year, is part of the Dubai Economy’s efforts to establish quality and excellence as a catalyst for stronger growth and further consoli-date Dubai’s status as a preferred destination for foreign investment.

“Creating and fos-tering a culture of continuous improve-ment and business excellence has been key to Transguard’s success,” says Dr Ab-dulla Al Hashimi, CEO of Transguard Cash,

which won the Dubai Quality Award 2017. “Training and developing our people to understand the principles and practice of business excellence has been the hallmark of our oper-ation and underpins our successful journey towards business excellence.

“The Dubai Quality Award further underscores our commitment to excel-lence by providing operational servic-es of the highest quality for more than 1,300 customers,” he adds.

For Emirates National Oil Com-pany (ENOC), the holding company of Emirates Gas (EMGAS), the other big winner, the awards were a culmi-nation of the company’s mission and vision. “Winning the Dubai Quali-ty Award is a testament to EMGAS’s commitment towards business excel-lence and best-in-class customer ser-vice,” says His Excellency Saif Humaid Al Falasi, Group CEO, ENOC.

“This award comes as a recognition of our journey of excellence that we are committed to, and we will continue to strive towards adopting industry best practices across all our operations.” n

H.E. SAIF HUMAID AL FALASI, Group CEO, ENOC

DR ABDULLA AL HASHIMI, CEO, Transguard Cash

Supplied

The Business Excellence team at DED that makes the awards happen every year

“The winners of the Business Excellence Awards represent a

measure of organisational performance and a catalyst in the race towards excellence,

further development and prosperity.”

H.E. SAMI AL QAMZI, Director General, Department of Economic

Development (DED), Dubai

10

WINNERS SPEAK

“Achieving a prestigious award like this one is an inspiration for the organisation internally. It benchmarks our reputation externally. The process from application to achievement has been all about assessment and reassessment of standards to improve quality.”

HUMAID AHMI AL MANSOURI, Chief Executive Office, Al Ain Hospital

“Our intention as we submitted our application first and foremost was to evaluate our organisation and performance objectively, identify areas of improvement and taking actions accordingly. This is a prestigious award and we are honoured by this distinction.”

AGNES LOPEZ CRUZ, Managing Director, French Business Council, Dubai and Northern Emirates

“ We are extremely proud and delighted to have received four awards today within the education sector. These awards are a true testament of our vision and I’d like to dedicate this to my entire team for their hard work.”

DR VANDANA GANDHI, CEO and Founder of British Orchard Nursery

“The DSES programme initiated by the DED has been the benchmark for the retail industry to aspire and achieve. It’s truly an honour to be receiving such a prestigious recognition for the third time. Such awards are encouraging and only drive us to perform better.”

NIRANJAN GIDWANI, CEO, Eros Group

“ I believe excellence is a continuous commitment. It is not an event that happens, it is an unfolding process. In the case of Global Village, excellence begins to come about when our entire team comes together to deliver on our vision.”

BADER ANWAHI, Chief Executive Officer, Global Village

“The Dubai Human Development Award is a prestigious accolade and means a lot in terms of recognition, continual improvement and adoption of good practices. The compilation of the submission document has further enhanced employee engagement and cohesiveness.”

ALI KHALED AL HASHMI, Senior Vice-President and Head of Human Resources and Centre of Excellence Group, Union National Bank

READY FOR THE SMART REVOLUTION

? DED has been at the forefront of economic development in Dubai. Today, the city is the most diversified economy in region — how has the journey been so far?

Our visionary leadership has defined clear roadmaps and targets through successive strate-gic plans, the most recent being Dubai Plan 2021. It provides an in-depth look of where we, public and private sectors, want to be next year and the years that will follow. This is the result of con-tinuous engagement and discussions with all the stakeholders. The journey has been smooth due to the inclusive approach in developing strategic plans, and the clarity, predictability and credibil-ity of the policy environment.

Looking ahead, we are well on our way to meeting the targets set out in Dubai 2021 Plan that takes into account the changes we are seeing in the global economy. Today, we are on the cusp of a new revolution, this time around technology that is transforming everything around us. Smart homes, smart factories, smart farms, smart peo-ple, and of course, smart cities are transforming the businesses of governments, corporations and individuals. We are adapting to this new environ-ment as envisioned in the Dubai 2021 Plan.

? How have the Business Excellence Awards played a key role in economic growth in Dubai?

Adopting and integrating the concepts of qual-ity and excellence into every aspect of business and public life is taking us closer to realising the vision of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice-President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, to make Du-

The focus on quality and excellence supports Dubai’s vision to transform itself into the smartest city in the world, says H.E. Sami Al Qamzi,

Director General, Department of Economic Development (DED), Dubai

bai the preferred place to live, work and visit, as well as a smart and sustainable city, and a pivotal hub of the global economy by 2021.

The Business Excellence Awards are pioneers in adopting various government and private in-itiatives and blending them into the business excellence framework including the Happiness Meter, Emirates Business Rating Scheme, People of Determination, Year of Giving, and the Retail Employees’ Day. We have been promoting region-al and international awards like ASQ Awards, IBX Awards, and RetailME Forum & Awards. There is a strong emphasis on benchmarking through the EBM Benchmark Programme, which has club meetings, site visits and the Best Practices and Benchmarking conferences which promote themes the government strongly endorses, such as innovation and creativity, growth and sustaina-bility, leadership, strategy and CSR.

? How has the leadership of the emirate supported DED in its march to be a pioneer in the culture of quality in Dubai?

The leadership, vision, continued patronage and support of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoumi has set the foundation upon which our evolving culture of excellence stands. His Highness has shared his vision, effort and time in supporting DED’s drive towards insti-tuting and rewarding the culture of quality in all its aspects. Our starting point has been His High-ness’ wise direction, which highlighted the impor-tance of regular performance assessments as an essential tool that serves to improve our vision, develops our efficiency and gives us a sustained impetus for development. These directions give

THE INTERVIEW

12

us the motivation to exert more efforts to improve quality and excellence in all aspects of our work and lives. The Awards have seen a steady year-on-year increase in the number of applicants from the government and private sectors. In the 2017 cycle, the number of applicants increased by 35 per cent, which demonstrates the consolidation of the concepts of quality and excellence in the wider economy.

? How do the awards help companies in generate value in today’s business landscape?

The feedback from our key stakeholders is the best reflection of our contribution. Everyone had a lot to gain from the Awards — it helped or-ganisations benchmark and adopt best practices, while gaining recognition for outstanding work. The exposure to international standards, develop-ment of leadership, strategy, human capital and resource management is invaluable. In the auto-mobiles sector, our excellence model frameworks enabled firms to deliver robust results by tripling revenues over the past eight years. In the utili-ties sector, the Awards helped firms benchmark against global standards. For others, it helped them revisit processes to enhance existing service offerings and performance.

? What are the new initiatives that DED is planning for the Awards in the future?

This year, our focus includes bringing the mod-el of excellence to small and medium-sized enter-prises (SMEs). Putting the SMEs at the forefront of our goals is essential, considering they form 95 per cent of business establishments in Dubai and contribute to 40 per cent of GDP. They also constitute 42 per cent of the total employment. In line with the digital transformation taking place in Dubai, we will be migrating the Awards into a digital platform using an online document man-agement control system and online assessment hub. Elsewhere, the Emirates Business Rating Scheme (EBRS) is a new rating scheme for the private sector that was launched recently.

? What are your expectations for Dubai’s economy in the run-up to Expo 2020?

Expo 2020 Dubai will be the biggest stage by far for the emirate to showcase its success stories before the world. Demand will be boosted by the Dh15 billion expected to be spent on roads and transport for Expo 2020. Moreover, Dubai has al-located Dh5 billion as part of its 2018 budget, in addition to a similar allocation for 2019. We ex-pect growth to accelerate to 3.5 per cent this year, 3.7 per cent in 2019 and 4.9 per cent in 2020.

With the vision of Dubai and the UAE now extending beyond 2021 to the Centennial plan, DED will be implementing several initiatives to enhance productivity, happiness and prosperi-ty. Our emphasis will be on pursuing excellence and positioning Dubai as the smartest city in the world, as well as the place to do business and en-joy quality living. n

We are well on our way to meeting the targets set out in

Dubai 2021 Plan that takes into account the changes in the global economy.”

H.E. SAMI AL QAMZI Director General,

Department of Economic Development, Dubai

Supplied

13

THE LAUNCH: DQA

DHDA WIDENS SCOPE

THE LAUNCH: DHDA, DSES

1994

20002002 2004

The criteria for judging the DQA changed from the American Malcolm Baldrige Model to the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model

The launch of Dubai Quality Award (DQA) as an excellence model that provided organisations with a tool to benchmark performance and promote organisational excellence

Launch of Dubai Service Excellence Scheme (DSES)promoting excellence in customer service standards in the retail sector

Launch of Dubai Human Development Award (DHDA) recognising HR initiatives by businesses for developing employees’ abilities

10TH

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS

24 YEARS OF MAKING EXCELLENCE COUNTSince 1994, the BEAs have been fostering the spirit of leadership, innovation and improvement

The Business Excellence Awards (BEAs) are the result of good intentions, sincere efforts and intel-ligent direction. They represent the choices made

by organisations investing in excellence. The awards were launched to provide a valuable framework for companies, which enabled them to measure their business performance and achieve greater growth. Since 1994, the BEAs have been fostering the spirit of leadership, innovation and improve-ment, which have helped organisations forge ahead. We identify the milestones that marked this 24-year journey.

Nic

hola

s K

.D’so

uza

EXPANSION

OF CRITERIA & SECTORS

NEW AWARD CATEGORIES

INTRODUCED

DHDA WIDENS SCOPE

SMART ASSESSMENT

2014

2012

2013

20162017

Online system for reporting introduced for DSES. Self-assessment made mandatory for applicants of DQA along with action-taken reports from previous applicants

The scope was widened from Emiratisation to become the first government-led HR award in the region for private as well as public sectors in the UAE

• Criteria Happiness Meter and People of Determination criteria added to all DSES business categories, as well as DHDA and DQA

• New sector Hypermarket, leisure and entertainment sectors (cinema, game zones, parks, malls) introduced

• Dubai Quality Global Award (DQGA) launched for multinationals

• Dubai Quality Appreciation Award introduced for representative entities

• Emirates Business Rating Scheme (EBRS) launched in partnership with Prime Minister’s Office, to upgrade business services in line with UAE Vision 2021

20TH

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS

24 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE, IN NUMBERS

TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT

3,000+ organisations

DQA, DHDA, DSES

2,500+ Assessors DQA/DHDA

300+ mystery shoppers

DSES

25% Increase in the number

of UAE national assessors trained

APPLICATIONS

1,000+ applicants

for DQA/DHDA

2,000+ DSES

outlets

100+ DSES

companies

200+ DSES

brands

FEEDBACK REPORTS

100,000+ mystery shopping

reports DSES

1,000+ annual feedback

reports DQA/DHDA

WINNERS

550+ winner organisations

DQA/DHDA/DSES

18 gold winners

DQA

3 gold winners

DHDA

VISIONTo become a centre for facilitating UAE’s

drive for excellence and productivity.

MISSIONTo improve

quality, productivity and competitiveness

of UAE-based businesses.

AIMTo promote quality

and service excellence among the business

community in the region.

17

THE COMPETITIVE EDGE FOR BUSINESSBy benchmarking excellence, the Dubai Quality Award helps companies gain strategic advantage in the global economy

FEATURE

Shut

ters

tock

Today the UAE is a global leader in business and commerce. Clear poli-cies of excellence and innovation have strengthened the country’s position,

a fact supported by various global competitive-ness indexes.

The Department of Economic Development (DED) is proud to be the pioneer among govern-ment bodies in spreading the culture of quality and excellence among organisations and private sector companies, thereby improving the posi-tion of Dubai internationally.

Initiated in 1994, the DED’s Dubai Quality Award (DQA) is a valuable framework for com-panies to implement a quality-based strategy enabling effectiveness by employing resources to meet corporate objectives and achieve customer satisfaction at optimal costs.

The Award works as a catalyst for stronger growth and further consolidates Dubai’s status as a preferred destination for foreign investment.

Based on the excellence model by the Eu-ropean Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), the Award provides a framework for organisations to determine their current ‘level of excellence’ and where they need to im-prove efforts. By focusing on nine criteria, sepa-rated into five enablers (leadership, people, strat-egy, partnerships and resources, and processes, products and services) and four results (people, customer, society, and business), the model func-tions as a single holistic system where low per-formance in one area will affect overall scores.

The Business Excellence Department furnish-es the training, assessment tools and recognition necessary to help organisations implement the EFQM model. DQA encourages all organisations operating in UAE, both public or private to pro-mote and sustain quality as a strategic advantage in doing business.

A sense of continuous and sustained improve-ment within applicant organisation is marked as the winning strategy to get the coveted award at the end of the cycle. n

DUBAI QUALITY AWARD The DQA winners are honoured in three categories — the Dubai Quality Gold Award (DQGA), the Dubai Quality Award (DQA), and the Dubai Quality Appreciation Award (DQAA). The awards are distributed in key sectors — manufacturing, finance, professional, tourism, services, trade, construction, higher education, healthcare, free zones, transportation, logistics and entertainment.

BY RUQYA KHAN

DQA CRITERIA

Leadership

ENABLERS RESULTS

People People Results

Learning, Creativity and Innovation© EFQM 2012

Business Results

Strategy Customer Results

Partnerships & Resources

Society Results

Processes, Products &

Services

100100

100 100

150100 150

100 100

500 points 500 points

1

3 4 5

18

DUBAI QUALITY APPRECIATION AWARD 2017 CYCLE

3 Aster Hospital — Mankhool Branch Healthcare

4 Deyaar Owners Association Management

Service

5 Fujairah Police General Headquarter

Government

6 Global Green Bridge Contracting Construction

7 Gulf Medical University Education

8 National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah

Finance

• Department of Planning & Development — Trakhees*

Semi Government

• Thumbay Pharmacy* Healthcare

• Body and Soul Health Club & Spa* Service

• British Orchard Nursery — Dubai Media City Branch*

Education

• British Orchard Nursery — Dubai Silicon Oasis Branch*

Education

DUBAI QUALITY AWARD 2017 CYCLE1 Emirates Gas Manufacturing — Oil & Gas

2 Transguard Cash Service

DUBAI QUALITY APPRECIATION AWARD 2017 CYCLE

• Australian Business Council Dubai

• CEO Clubs Network —Trademark of CEOC Network

• Textile Merchants Group (TEXMAS)

• National Association of Freight and Logistics — NAFL

• International Live Events Association — Middle East Chapter (ILEA)

FOR REPRESENTATIVE ENTITIES

* not pictured

6 7 8

2

• French Business Council (Dubai & Northern Emirates)

19

Human Development

motivation

recruitment

strategy

opportunity

creativityresource

Skills

training

goalsideas

team

social valuey

Skkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkikikiiiiiilllllllllllllllslsllsllssssssssssssssssss

The Dubai Human Development Award (DHDA) journey shows that promoting employee-centricity is the way to customer-centricity

INVESTING IN EMPLOYEESFEATURE

One of the most popular phrases in customer service today is customer centricity. The idea is to place the customer at the heart of everything a

business does. Today as competition rises and a new generation of younger millennials enter the workforce, career experts say that employee en-gagement is foundational to a company’s long-term success. Hence, before an organisation can fully realise customer centricity, it must first be-come employee-centric. Companies that are rat-ed highest in employee satisfaction are at the top of the rankings in customer service.

Launched in 2002, the Dubai Human De-velopment Award (DHDA) recognises the long-term commitment of the government and the private sector in the development of employees. It acknowledges and rewards efforts of organi-sations that invest in the development of their human resources.

The aim is to develop employee capabilities and emphasise their role in the future of the UAE through intensive training and guidance. Committed employee focus ensures the inclusive development of Dubai’s multicultural environ-ment, with an emphasis on nurturing a dynamic UAE national workforce, which will play a lead-ing role in the future of the nation.

BY RUQYA KHAN

Shutterstock

20

DUBAI HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AWARDDHDA is given in three categories: Dubai Human Development Gold Award (DHDGA), the Dubai Human Development Award (DHDA) and the Dubai Human Development Appreciation Award (DHDAA). The award covers the trade, manufacturing, construction, tourism, higher education, healthcare, financial services, free zones, transportation, professional, services, logistics and government sectors. To earn the prestige and recognition associated with winning the award, the participating organisations have to excel in employee management.

DHDA CRITERIA

Learning, Creativity and Innovation

ENABLERS(50%)

Leadership(20%)

People(30%)

RESULTS(50%)

People Results(35%)

Society results(15%)

Shutterstock

When a business applies and meets the var-ious criteria of the award, they are assessed on various counts. Further to the detailed reports furnished by the assessors, the mentors and jury of the DHDA decide the credibility of the organ-isation and their right to take the trophy home. DHDA believes in the concept of forward growth not just for its stakeholders, but also for it-self. Over the years, it has partnered and teamed up with international organisations and award bodies to develop key initiatives to take its learnings and best practices to a glob-al platform. One such award body is the UAE Professionals Award with the American Society for Quality (ASQ), a not-for-profit organisation of quality professionals with a global presence in 150 countries.

The award — the first of its kind in the coun-try — is based on the principles of fairness, transparency, objectivity, independence with high standards, and performance. All interest-ed quality professionals get the chance to apply or nominate peers or colleagues on the award’s website where they will need to fill in an e-ap-plication detailing experience and academic background in addition to special initiatives or improvement projects carried out.

Every year, the DHDA Secretariat selects an additional group of assessors to bring fresh skills and experiences to the assessment process. Award assessors are normally senior and opera-tional managers drawn from private companies and the public sector in the UAE. They are invit-ed to apply to become potential assessors and if accepted they are trained to successfully qualify as award assessors.

Winners of the Dubai Human Development Appreciation Award (DHDAA) or DHDA can ap-ply for the next category of the award after two years, from the time they receive their previous feedback report. Nonetheless, while organisa-tions are encouraged to reapply every two years, subsequent submissions must focus on recent approaches and improvement activities, rather than a revised version of an old submission. n

21

6 7

1

3 4

22

9 108

DUBAI HUMAN DEVELOPMENT APPRECIATION AWARD 2017 CYCLE

6 Network International Finance

7 Al Gharbia Hospitals Healthcare

8 Aster Pharmacy Group Healthcare

9 British Orchard Nursery — Dubai Silicon Oasis Branch

Education

10 Thumbay Group Service

• Tawam Hospital * Healthcare

• Sheikh Khalifa Medical City * Healthcare

• Al Rahba Hospital * Healthcare

• Mafraq Hospital * Healthcare

• Ambulatory Healthcare Service * Healthcare

• British Orchard Nursery — Dubai Media City Branch *

Education

DUBAI HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AWARD 2017 CYCLE

1 Dubai Courts Government

2 Al Ain Hospital Healthcare

3 AW Rostamani Group Trade

4 Union National Bank Finance

5 Corniche Hospital Healthcare 5

2

* not pictured

23

EXCELLENCE IN CUSTOMER SERVICEThe Dubai Service Excellence Scheme promotes exceptional customer service standards in the public and private sector, and recognises firms that excel in meeting customer expectations

FEATURE

The Dubai Service Excellence Scheme (DSES) is a one-of-a-kind initiative launched in 2002 that aims to gain customer con-

fidence and make the retail experience in Dubai a pleasurable one. The scheme en-courages, recognises and rewards busi-nesses that keep Dubai at the cutting edge of best service practice. DSES seeks to maintain Dubai’s reputation for adopting exceptional service standards by ensuring that its members adhere to a code of ethics that ensures customer confidence.

It is the first service quality stamp of its kind in the region with the scheme designed to complement Dubai Quality Award and Dubai Human Development Award.

The scheme is designed to differentiate businesses through a reputation of service excellence based on customer-focused and quality-driven culture.

This is underpinned by a commitment to the highest ethical staff behaviour cou-pled with providing and supporting prod-ucts and services of value and integrity. The scheme binds all participating busi-nesses to a common code of business eth-ics and core criteria for customer service excellence.

Emphasis is laid on the importance of a conducive, clean, orderly and well-main-tained business environment. The abili-BY RUQYA KHAN

Shutterstock

People of Determination

Outlet Appearance

Comfort, Health

& Safety

Policy & Criteria

Employees

Service Delivery

Cashier Observations

Happiness Meter

DSES CRITERIA

24

DUBAI SERVICE EXCELLENCE SCHEMEThe DSES award is given in two categories: the Best Service Performance Brand and Best Service Performance Outlet. The scheme has more than 180 members. The scheme is suited to all businesses, especially those from the service sector where customer service is the single-most differentiating factor between business competitors. In all, there are 18 DSES categories under which businesses are assessed — automobile showroom, banking services, café, clothing, electronics, general retail, footwear, furniture, jewellery, money exchange services, optical, pharmacies, restaurant, services, travel services, contact centre, hypermarket, and leisure and entertainment.

ty to provide excellent customer service is largely dependent upon the attitude, knowledge and competence of front-line and back-office staff, which in turn is de-pendent upon their skills and commitment to training and development.

The winners are selected from 2,400 member outlets in DSES. These numbers reflect the growing appeal of the pro-gramme among the business community and DED’s efforts to advance the level of quality and excellence across various sec-tors. Being on the scheme has benefits for members. Registered firms get constant customer service feedback and updates.

DSES plays a role in promoting the con-cept of sustainable development and com-petitiveness in the provision of services. n

Hidden soldiersMore than 400 mystery shoppers have been involved in the Dubai Service Excellence Scheme. The purpose of the mystery shopper is to help members understand customer expectations and enhance employees’ customer service awareness. It is impossible for managers of a business to be available at all outlets in order to supervise the shop floor staff and to know customers’ service expectations, which are vital for building a brand.

Mystery shoppers provide owners and managers the information to help them see their business from the customers’ viewpoint in order to design a memorable and happy shopping experience, which in turn impacts the reputation of the business. All DSES reports are designed to suit the business being assessed. Member outlets are entitled to four mystery shopper reports a year. But DSES members may choose to order additional mystery shopper visits per outlet per month/fortnight at a nominal additional cost.

Shutterstock

25

1

5

12

16

4

8

2

6

9

13

17

10

14

18

26

DSES CUSTOMER HAPPINESS AWARDS19 Arab Bank for Investment &

Foreign Trade (Al Masraf) The highest overall

happiness index

20 aafaq Islamic Finance The highest number of

happiness meter votes received from customers

21 Dubai Islamic Bank Widest implementation

of happiness meter

BEST SERVICE PERFORMANCE BRAND 2017 CYCLE

1 Arabian Automobiles — Nissan Automobile Showroom

2 EROS ELECTRICALS Electronics

3 The Bagel Bar Coffee House Cafe

4 Pure Gold Jewellers Jewellery

5 National Bonds Corporation Contact Centre

6 National Bank Of Ras Al Khaimah Banking Services

7 Al Fardan Exchange Money Exchange Services

8 Dnata Travel Services Travel Services

9 aafaq Islamic Finance Services

10 DANUBE HOME Furniture

11 AL JABER OPTICAL Opticals

12 Life Pharmacy Pharmacies

13 India Palace Restaurant Restaurant

14 Springfield Clothing

15 Nine West Footwear

16 The Face Shop General Retail

17 Global Village Leisure & Entertainment

18 aswaaq Hypermarket

11

15

3

19

20

21

7

27

28

THE BACKBONE OF THE AWARDS

Their intrinsic knowledge of how businesses work and understanding of the Business Excellence Awards criteria make the assessors a critical part of choosing the winners

BEHIND THE SCENES

BY RUQYA KHAN

29

Behind all the excitement of the winners claiming their awards and the celebrations that follow are the silent sol-

diers who have worked through the months to help make the awards ceremo-ny possible — the assessors. In essence the backbone of the Business Excellence Awards, the assessors share their knowl-edge and expertise with peers, all the while learning and imbuing best practices of the assessed organisations.

Year after year, the assessors weigh standards, measure possibilities and learn and grow together to further enhance their observation skills and excellence standards for the region.

Nawar Belshalat, one of the first fe-male Emirati team leaders for the Dubai

Quality Award (DQA), takes pride in her long-standing association with the awards programme. “Being a European Foun-dation for Quality Management (EFQM) excellence model assessor with the DQA is both a privilege and a huge responsi-bility,” says Belshalat. “You are privileged to be welcomed in organisations and get to learn how they work, what are their best practices and their success stories. On the other hand, there is the diligent work of assessing a business against the EFQM criteria with the aim of providing valuable insights on its key strengths and area for improvements, insights that can potentially fuel an organisation’s journey towards excellence.

“In my circle, I’ve encouraged my friends and colleagues to join the DQA pro-

The Business Excellence Awards office selects the assessors with due diligence, provides comprehensive training and assigns a mentor to guide the assessment teams.

gramme, confident that it potentially will add a great value to them, as it did to me.”

PERSONAL GROWTHAnother assessor who has been long associated with the Awards is Dr Khurram

Nawaz, Managing Director of Alpha Con-sulting and Training Services, UAE, and Director of the Canadian Institute of Or-ganisational Excellence, Canada. “To be a good assessor, one needs to learn three critical factors: how organisations and businesses work (holistic view), in-depth understanding of the excellence award criteria and its application (both theory and practice) plus in-depth understand-ing of the assessment process, what to look for and what to look at,” he says.

Being an assessor also helped in his professional growth, says Dr Khurram. “Learning about the excellence model by EFQM led to my doctorate in the UK. I wrote and presented more than 20 papers in various magazines and conferences worldwide,” he adds.

The Business Excellence Awards office selects the assessors with due diligence, provides comprehensive training to asses-sors and assigns a mentor for the assess-ment teams to guide them right from the desktop assessment to site visits to writ-ing feedback reports. As an award ambas-sador, an assessor is not only responsible for assessing applicant organisations, but also adds value through meaningful feed-back and insights.

ENCOURAGING PEERSHeena Sunil Bulchandani, Senior Specialist at Training and Development at Dubai

Electricity and Water Authority, has been progressively involved with the awards for six years now. She is now a team lead-er for the Dubai Human Development Award. “The entire process is so designed that it teaches you various skills such as planning, organising, time management, coordinating, providing feedback, manag-ing resources, leading and directing the assessment stages,” she says.

“I am proud to have been associated with such a prestigious award. Personally, it has helped in other assessments as well. I have encouraged my colleagues at my workplace to be a part of this award and they are really doing well.”

WINNING AWARDSThe skill sets acquired through the assessor train-ing has been rewarding not

30

WANT TO BE AN

ASSESSOR?

just at the personal level. Many of as-sessors have taken this training and put best practices in perspective at their own workplaces. Dr Sangeeth Ibrahim is the Vice-President, Head of Learning Devel-opment and Business Excellence at Shar-jah Islamic Bank. Being associated with the awards, he says, “It has been a great journey of learning. The model has helped me improve my professional and personal life. I have gained good friends and have enjoyed the company of subject matter ex-perts. To be a good assessor you have to be a good learner, a good listener and flexible to apply the generic model in the context of the applicant organisation.

“Thanks to the competence gained by being an assessor, I have been able to help my organisation win every reputed award in the region. The RADAR concept and the EFQM framework has made me objectively look at organisations and pro-cesses, quickly assess them and suggest areas for improvement, which will im-pact critical business results.”

Another example is Tariq Hamdi, who helped his previous company (IACAD.gov.ae) win the DHDA award four years ago. Now employed as Corporate Excellence Expert at Dubai Media Inc., a state-owned media conglomerate, he has moved up the ladder from being a new assessor to a team leader. “It is a great opportunity to meet and work with peers from different firms, which leads to shared experiences and best practices implemented in Dubai and the UAE, in the government and pri-vate sector, besides professional recogni-tion as member of the quality and excel-lence society,” he says.

“The good assessor is committed to the success of the assessment process on time and with quality and objectivity, and this is the main concern of awards

office team in DED. They implement a structured process to select, train and communicate with assessors at all stag-es of the assessment cycle to assure the quality of deliverables of all parties: the candidate organisation, the assessors and the awards office,” he added.

APPLYING TRAININGMohan Dharmarajan, Busi-ness Management Consult-ant at Alpha Training and

Consulting Services, who has been with the awards for 11 years, agrees. He has used the assessor training tools to initi-ate business excellence initiatives within his organisation, followed by training the process owners, influencing a gradual culture change towards transparency, ca-maraderie, knowledge sharing, account-ability and adoption of key metrics to quantify the gains and impact achieved against targets and benchmarks.

“A key part of DQA training has been to lead a new team each year to a success-ful assessment cycle that includes diligent desktop assessment, achieve consensus, enable knowledge sharing within the team and deliver a fair value-added feed-back to the applicant organisation within a short span of four months after which the team is disbanded,” he says. “This ex-perience was useful in my company where we formed cross-functional teams to solve problems to enhance our products/service levels to delight our stakeholders.”

His advice for people who want to be future assessors is this: “Look for the best in your team members and the applicant organisation as there’s a lot to learn. It also widens your horizons and you observe new approaches, pro-cesses and technologies in a variety of industrial segments.” n

MOHAN DHARMARAJAN

TARIQ HAMDI

HEENA SUNIL BULCHANDANI

DR SANGEETH IBRAHIM

DR KHURRAM NAWAZ

F For DHDA assessors one must have adequate experience in human resources management, in a managerial or supervisory capacity with not less than five years of work experience. A graduate (with a BSc degree as minimum).

F For DQA assessors one must have adequate experience in either quality management, information technology, finance, human resources or general management, in a managerial or supervisory capacity with not less than eight years of work experience. A graduate (with a BSc degree as minimum).

F Strong command of the English/Arabic language in reading, writing and spoken English/Arabic, (assessor has to read and understand a 50-page document either in English or Arabic to discuss with colleagues and conduct a site visit).

F Be enthusiastic and open minded. Participate for the sake of learning and understanding — not just to collect qualification certificates.

F Be available to contribute to the assessments for over more than one cycle, (two to three consecutive cycles as possible). This is a place to grow.

F Have sufficient time after work to spare, for the assessment process.

F Have an easy schedule from November to February, this is the time for training, consensus meetings and/or site visits.

F In addition to the above, integrity, professionalism and the ability to complete the assessment process in a timely and confidential manner are essential qualities.

F Preference is given to candidates who represent companies, which are likely to implement the award criteria in their own organisations.

F Special preference is also given to UAE Nationals, bilingual assessors and EFQM Certified Assessors (for DQA).

ASSESSORS IN THE MIX

31

Arabian Automobiles Com-pany (AAC) is the flagship company of AW Rostama-

ni Group and is the exclusive dis-tributor for Nissan, Infiniti and Renault in Dubai and the Northern Emirates. The passion and drive for excellence in our operations has empowered AAC to deliver custom-er experience excellence.

A clear testimony of this being presented awards of excellence such as Dubai Quality Gold Award in 2017, Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award in 2015 along with the Dubai Service Excellence Scheme Award consecutively for the last four years, which has strengthened AAC’s posi-tion as the most awarded automotive distributor in the region for deliver-ing quality. AAC was also the first private UAE Company to be induct-ed into the prestigious Palladium Balanced ScoreCard Hall of Fame for strategy execution in 2013.

Danube Home is a one-stop retail destination for home furnishings and im-

provements, with over 30,000 products. We have created a niche in the furnishings industry by pro-viding exemplary customer service standards, with free home interior designing services for each and every customer to make the entire journey of shopping easy.

Danube Home’s vision is to grow into a leading retailer in the home furnishings and improve-ments sector, offering exemplary service standards, affordable prices and quality that is world class. As

AWR maintains the highest levels of quality

Danube Home receives DSES award UNB wins Dubai Human Development Award

ENRICHING THE LIVES OF CUSTOMERS

AAC’s mission is to enrich the lives of our customers through our people, products and ser-vices by setting best practices in everything we do.

its mission Danube Home hopes to emerge as the best retailer in the Middle East while remaining among the most motivating envi-ronments to work in. Adel Sajan, Director Danube Group is elated about having won the DSES award this year. “I specially thank His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum for this award and helping every retailer set new standards of customer service. Our achievements not only showcase the reputation and leading position of Danube Home in the furnishings industry, but also our commitment towards society and our patrons.”

“It is an honour for AAC-Nissan to receive the DSES award for the Best Service Performance Brand in the 2017 cycle,” says Michel Ayat, CEO, AWR Automotive. “We are proud to be associated with Nissan for 50 years and the achievement of this award is a testament to our efforts in maintaining the highest level of quality and in providing customers with a fantastic, memo-rable and enjoyable experience.”

Ayat is also delighted about the fact that AAC achieved the DSES award consecutively for four years since 2015. “I would like to thank our customers for their loyalty and continued support in helping us reach new heights of achievement. We remain fully committed to en-rich the lives of our customers in the future by enhancing our ser-vice offerings and aim to contin-uously raise the bar in customer service and performance.”

MICHEL AYATCEO, AWR Automotive

KEY INITIATIVESl The Balanced Scorecard

implementation is a key initiative that has continuously evolved over the last 24 years and strengthened across the organisation. Today the Balanced Scorecard is more than just a measurement system and AAC utilises BSC as a central strategy execution framework for implementing our long term strategy in line with the vision of the organisation.

l In order to digitise the Sales and Service operations, AAC implemented iPad tablets to automate current operations while delivering a unique experience to customers. The implementation of iPads avoided the tedious paperwork and time lag in retrieving information while interacting with customers, providing them a seamless and delightful experience.

AW ROSTAMANI

DANUBE HOME UNION NATIONAL BANK

ADVERTOR IAL

As a leading bank in the UAE, with shareholding from both the Govern-

ments of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, Un-ion National Bank (UNB) is proud to receive the coveted Dubai Hu-man Development Award (DHDA) from Dubai Economy. UNB firmly believes that its people are key con-

tributors to its continued success. Over the years, the bank has under-taken various employee engage-ment and enablement initiatives towards its stated goal of becoming an employer of choice. Winning DHDA is a testimony of UNB lead-ership’s commitment towards an employee-centric culture.

mirates Gas, part of the ENOC group, is the lead-ing supplier of LPG and

related gases in the UAE. It was established in 1974 — the first LPG bottling company in the region — to realise the vision of the late Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, then Ruler of Dubai.

With its commitment to qual-ity, safety, sustainability and cus-tomer focus, EMGAS has been a pioneer in offering many innova-tive and eco-friendly products and has maintained its market lead-ership. EMGAS has contributed immensely towards meeting the increasing energy demand as well as the economic and sustainable development of UAE.

EMGAS launched several val-ue-added services for its custom-

RAKBANK has been recog-nised for the much covet-ed Dubai Quality Appreci-

ation Award (DQAA) for the cycle 2017-18 under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-Presi-dent and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Additionally, the bank has been awarded with the Dubai Service Excellence Scheme (DSES) — Best Service Performance Brand for Banking Services Business for the second year in a row.

Both the awards concede and reflect the efforts, dedication, and high professional standards of all the teams at RAKBANK that came together to drive and deliver high levels of performance.

A trophy of appreciation was pre-sented at the prestigious Business Excellence Awards ceremony held by the Department of Economic De-velopment (DED) in Dubai, on April 24 this year at the Dubai Opera.

With the mission of providing a ‘Simply Better’ customer jour-ney across its various products

Commitment to quality and safety helps Emirates Gas win DQA award

RAKBANK bags Dubai Quality Appreciation Award and Dubai Service Excellence Scheme Award for 2017

ers including state-of-the-art web enabled services, a mobile app, in-tegrated maintenance and supply services and customised solutions for special projects such as the re-cent one for the Al Khail Gate com-munity, wherein a unique safety solution was provided through use of composite cylinders and a com-prehensive gas detection system in a domestic kitchen.

EMGAS has adopted the EFQM business excellence model along with various international standards and best practices since 2009, and has realised substantial value addi-tion. EMGAS has been recognised with the DQA in 2013 and the CSR Label by Dubai Chamber of Com-merce since 2011 to date, as well as the Dubai Award for Sustainable Transport in 2011, 2013 and 2016.

and services, RAKBANK regularly works on new initiatives to main-tain its reputation for exceeding customers’ expectations.

These initiatives give our cus-tomers confidence that their inter-ests are our highest priority, and provide a vehicle for us to serve our most important stakeholders to the

It was recently awarded the Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Gold Award and DQA for the 2017 award cycle.

The commitment of EMGAS to-

HIS EXCELLENCY SAIF HUMAID AL FALASIGroup CEO, ENOC

E

ENOC

RAKBANK

very best of our ability. Being mem-bers of DSES under DED Business Excellence Department, RAKBANK receives regular feedback on its business performance that we take very seriously and act upon.

And now with the win of Dubai Quality Appreciation Award, we will also be receiving a roadmap from DED to continue our journey of excellence, which will help de-termine the action that the Bank plans on implementing to stay on par with best global practices. Likewise, acknowledging RAK-BANK as an exemplary organisa-tion has driven a culture of excel-lence through the adoption of best practices and approaches that are systematically deployed, continu-ously monitored and reviewed.

wards the realisation of its strate-gic goal in maximising happiness and value delivered to customers and partners is well demonstrat-ed by the present DQA award. EMGAS leadership is further en-couraged and motivated to pursue business excellence with greater vigour by this recognition.

His Excellency Saif Humaid Al Falasi, Group CEO, ENOC, said: “Winning the Dubai Quality Award is a testament to EMGAS’s commitment towards business excellence and best-in-class cus-tomer service. This award comes as a recognition of our journey of excellence that we are committed to, and we will continue to strive towards adopting industry best practices across all aspects of our operations.”

32

ADVERTOR IAL

Committed to enriching lives through exceptional services

AW Rostamani is a con-glomerate of 14 compa-nies in seven diverse disci-

plines, committed to enriching lives through its exceptional prod-ucts and services. As a family owned business that was set up in Dubai in the early 1950s, AWR has grown to become one of the most progressive and innovative busi-ness houses in the region and a beacon for excellence in the Mid-dle East under the leadership of our Late Chairman, Abdul Wahid Rostamani.

Our portfolio of companies includes leading multinational brands in seven diverse sectors: au-tomotive, real estate and construc-tion, retail, logistics, information technology, travel and consultancy. At the centre of our team of over 4000 professionals is a culture that celebrates our diversity and core values of Passion, Integrity and Commitment that defines AWR as a group. AWR has set various milestones over its journey with a strong commitment to enriching lives through its exceptional prod-ucts and services.

MISSION STATEMENTThe mission at AW Rostamani is

to enrich the lives of our customers through our people, products and services by setting best practices in everything we do. “Applying and winning the Dubai Human Devel-opment Award has been a very interesting journey,” says Anil Lam-ba, Chief Human Resources Officer, AW Rostamani Group. “This award ratifies our management’s philoso-phy of giving highest priority and value to our people.

This is reflected in our HR policies focused on growing and developing our people and providing them a nurturing work environment. The award process has helped us assess our policies and procedures and the

AW ROSTAMANI

DHDA feedback report will help us focus on areas where we can improve further.” Participating in the DHDA award cycle and utilis-ing the excellence framework has proved to be an effective tool for enhancing and adding value to achieve excellence in human re-sources management.

For adding value to our em-ployees, GHRD is now exposed to various qualitative insights of best in class HR practices and industry benchmarks.

The company sees various ben-efits from applying for the award. This includes fostering cross func-tional teamwork aligned to a com-mon goal, leading to more effective communication and implementa-tion. It also helped provide a struc-tured framework against which organisational HR practices are

assessed and reviewed for effective-ness. Participating in the awards also helped encourage a culture of continuous and on-going improve-ments within the organisation.

“We strongly urge future aspir-ants and HR leaders to adopt the EFQM model in their respective organisations and enroll in the Du-bai Human Development Award programme,” urges Lamba. “This has provided an enormous oppor-tunity for us as an organisation to learn and ensure that our HR policies and practices best support our employees. This provides in-sights to identify our strong areas and the areas of improvement. We are confident that this will pro-vide a qualitative future roadmap to bring in excellence for HR and employee related aspects across the organisation.”

KEY INITIATIVESl Culture building by taking our

core values and breaking them into constituent behaviours that help or hinder in achieving them. These were cascaded to the entire organisation through various communication channels including workshops, digital and visual media.

l Adopted latest HR systems covering the entire lifecycle of employment starting from talent acquisition, development, and retention.

l Focusing heavily on the employee health and wellness area through the Layaka programme, an initiative that covered a wide spectrum including sports and games, weight loss contests, yoga and meditation, fitness programmes, health talks and screening, financial guidance, etc.

ANIL LAMBA, Chief Human Resources Officer, AW Rostamani Group

ADVERTOR IAL ADVERTOR IAL

33

eyaar Owners’ Asso-ciation Management (DOAM) is mandated to

ensure the well-being of commu-nities by serving them as a valued management partner. DOAM also aims to protect and enhance the value of assets within managed communities through professional administration, diligent contract supervision and cost control. In addition to the certification at-tained, the DOAM team is certified by the US-based Community Asso-ciations Institute, while certain key team members hold accredita-tions extended by the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA).

The highly-skilled personnel hold prestigious credentials award-ed by the internationally-recognised Certified Manager of Associations certification programme. Managing more than 1,000 service provider staff members, DOAM currently manages a portfolio of 5,500 units

Al Fardan Exchange is one of the oldest and most estab-lished names in the UAE

remittance market, and an industry pioneer in the UAE. We have been serving our communities with re-mittances, currency exchange and financial services for over 46 years.

Today is a proud moment for all of us at Al Fardan Exchange as we won the Dubai Business Excellence Award for the category of Best Ser-vice Performance Brand under the Dubai Service Excellence Scheme (for Money Exchange Services).

This award compliments the sto-ry of excellence of the service pro-vided by Al Fardan Exchange since its inception and encourages us as a brand to enhance our sense of com-mitment and dedication towards our valued customers.

We are proud to get such a dis-tinguished award, which sets higher objectives to us to maintain and to exceed our quality of service and

Providing quality association management services

Pioneering remittances Sustainable building solutions

across 25 communities, overseeing all technical, environmental, secu-rity, financial, administrative and customer service tasks.

VISION AND MISSION The company’s vision is to be-

come the region’s leading owners’ association manager of choice in enhancing reputed communities.

be closer to our clients. The culture of a customer-centric organisation encourages its employees to have a clear mandate to provide the cus-tomer with the highest levels of ser-vice. Participation in the DSES pro-gramme has provided us with clear insights and real measurable tools to evaluate our service from an in-dependent standpoint.

Deployment of technology and strategic plans to transform digital-ly and being part of the latest ser-vice and products.

Its mission is to provide quality association management services from trained professionals who fol-low internationally-recognized best practices to continually improve the community wellbeing and offer comprehensive customer service to achieve sustainable growth.

Srinivasan Krishnaswamy, VP Business Development of Deyaar Development is elated at the com-pany winning the Dubai Human Development Appreciation Award 2017. “This award was accom-plished through hosting a work environment that focuses on qual-ity, timeliness and compliance. The dedication of the division and the organisation in general to the core values of quality, environment awareness, health and safety re-quirements has led to the certifica-tion. The accreditations also place a greater responsibility on the organ-isation to ensure the highest stand-ards of compliance year on year.”

SRINIVASAN KRISHNASWAMY VP Business Development,

Deyaar Development

OSAMA AL RAHMACEO, Al Fardan Exchange

KEY INITIATIVESl Vision, mission and values were

introduced to unite people in sharing and achieving the organisation’s core objectives, and encouraging uniform corporate behaviour.

l Focus on shared leadership to improve the culture of the organisation and instil leadership behaviour.

l Balanced score card, KPIs, policies and procedures and clear job descriptions were implemented to provide strategic focus to employees to perform/attain set goals.

l Enterprise Risk Management Framework to manage the compliance, strategy, operational and financial risks of the organisation.

l Introduced improved technologies and innovative business models i.e. eRP, Customer Portal, Group Mail6 and SMS Country to ensure seamless interaction with external and internal parties.

D

DEYAAR OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT

AL FARDAN EXCHANGE GLOBAL GREEN BRIDGE

ADVERTOR IAL

Global Green Bridge is a leading construction firm offering green building

solutions and other manufacturing solutions of exemplary standards. Established in 2009, it provides the complete construction package to a range of clients, from design, execu-tion to project handover.

Global Green Bridge, holding a G+ unlimited license, is certified for ISO 9001, 14001 & 18001 and a winner of Taqdeer 5 star award in 2017. Since its founding, Global Green Bridge redefined the con-struction industry by executing some difficult projects in the UAE

and overseas across segments. They include schools, luxury residences, high-end villas, warehouses, labour accommodation, light industrial units, commercial buildings, etc.

Awards don’t just acknowledge success, they also recognise a firm’s commitment, abilities, its struggle, learning and excellence.

Global Green Bridge’s commit-ment to excellence resulted in the achievement of the Dubai Quality Appreciation Award, a great honour indeed. Presented on April 24 at the Dubai Opera, the award was received by our Chairman, Rihen Mehta, and Vice President, Anand Kolappa Pil-lai. The award is the result of rec-ognition for Global Green Bridge’s Business Excellence Model. We are indeed thankful and appreciate our employees, our founder Dr Harshad Mehta, the board of directors, valua-ble clients, consultants, bankers and vendor partners who supported us in continually improving ourselves.

34