CIO100 Awards celebrate those driving change in IT

The CIO100 Awards are one of the most prestigious events in the IT calendar, and we’ve spoken to a number of digital leaders to find out what differentiates the awards from others in the IT ecosystem.

HSBC has positioned itself as a pioneer in terms of how it has implemented technology to interact with its customers, and its CIO Ghinwa Baradhi has played a key role in that journey.

Baradhi said that the CIO100 Awards were important as they highlighted the key role CIOs are playing in Industry 4.0.

“In this era we now call the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the role of the CIO has evolved from being a support function to being a driver of business strategy and growth. The CIO100 Awards recognise the critical role of the CIO and the broadening expertise they must possess in this new environment. Being named as one of the top 100 CIOs in the Middle East, is a real testament to the hard work of my team in helping generate value for HSBC and its customers,” said Baradhi.

Khalid Jalal, Senior Group IT Manager at Gulf Aluminium Rolling Mill B.S.C. said that they use the CIO100 Awards as a KPI and metric to measure whether or not they’re meeting their objectives and targets.

“We use internal and external KPIs to measure our achievements and areas of improvements, hence the KPIs become a motivational factor for us for further improvements. CIO100 Awards is a KPI for us to measure our processes, and benchmark our planning and implementations against industry best players. CIO100 Awards means that we have challenged ourselves, our skills and our resources enough to maintain the high standards of professionalism, technical and business knowhow to take the technology and business to the next levels from the past period,” said Jalal.

Ali Abdul Ameer Al-Lawati, Director of Information Security Management at Omani-based telecommunications operator Ooredoo, stated that the awards provided CIO’s with the platform to showcase and illustrate how they are driving innovation in their respective industries.

“We believe the CIO100 awards present an opportunity to CIOs across industries to differentiate themselves as well as their organisations as leaders in innovation, whilst providing credibility to their initiatives. In addition, it provides the customers of these organisations with an assurance that they are associated with an industry leader in the use of technology to deliver reliable and efficient solutions,” said Al-Lawati.

Dr. Mustafa Qurban, Director of Information and Communications Technology at King Fahd Military Medical Complex, KSA, said that the awards recognise the value the contribution CIOs are making in terms of reshaping the IT industry.

“I’ve been attending the awards since 2009, and I believe recognition is key for any individual. However, I think it is much more valuable to people who work in stressful environments and in roles that forces you to be dynamic and visionary like IT. The CIO100 awards recognise the contribution and hard work of digital leaders in the IT sector.