More Qatar companies now going for digital transformation: KPMG

Doha: Qatar’s oil and gas market have gone through some big changes in recent times. Given the current COVID-19 situation and the challenges it has brought to the oil and gas sector, companies have resorted to more optimised, cost effective solutions to manage their operations. 

More companies are now looking at ‘being digital’ which is now seen as an emerging trend for economies worldwide, including Qatar, experts who recently attended the KPMG hosted webinar on ‘Digital Transformation in the Oil and Gas Industry’ have said. 

During the event, participants explored the question of “How can being digital help revamp one of the biggest sectors of the Qatar economy”? The webinar featured an expert panel of speakers from KPMG including Qatar’s Partner and Head of Energy & Natural Resources for Middle East and South Asia Gopal Balasubramaniam, the Partner and Head of Digital Innovation and Advisory Nizar Hneini, the Manager of Digital Innovation Monica Sandhu and KPMG in the UK’s Head of Digital Innovation and Director of Business Analytics Institute Mazhar Hussain. 

Balasubramaniam opened the session by stating that “Covid-19 has accelerated the transformation journey for most of the sectors, especially the energy sector”. He explained that when the lockdown started, in most economies, fuel demand dropped significantly. He also discussed the effect of COVID-19 in the oil and gas industry across a timeline. 

In terms of the situation in Qatar, Balasubramaniam said: “Qatar maximised their gas reserves by investing wisely on energy”. Hneini added: “Data is the currency of digital and the important part is not the technology, it is how you manage your digital projects and build capabilities to utilise your technologies properly and achieve your digital goals by relating them to your business goals”. 

During the session, Sandhu introduced the five key recommendations for the industry which included the following: Make digital a priority for senior executives; drive a culture of innovation and technology; invest in human capital and development programmes that promote new digital thinking; put in place a methodical approach for developing and/ or industrialising new capabilities; and reform the company’s data architecture. 

“Data is the backbone for anything when it comes to going digital. It is something you need to control, organise and leverage”, said Sandhu, who proceeded to explain that in order to achieve this, companies should define their data management strategy and implementation blueprint, shortlist processes and operational parameters for functional excellence based on the areas they want to highlight and other relevant insights. 

Hussain went on to say that the Covid-19 pandemic has driven the urgency of the digital changes seen today and that “one of the biggest challenges was not about the investment in technology or leadership, it was the culture change and education in the business to start driving that change top-down and bottom-up”. 

KPMG in Qatar is a member firm of KPMG international. It was established in 1968 as the first national accounting and auditing firm in the country and it has since grown to become one of the largest professional services firms in Qatar. 

The firm provides Audit, Tax and Advisory services to a wide variety of clients operating in different sectors, utilising the in-depth technical and industry experience of its professional staff.

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