The digital transformation journey

Kuwait

Qusai Ibrahim Al Shatti, chairman of Automated Systems, talks to The Energy Year about Kuwait's digital transformation journey and the sectors the company plans to focus on. Automated Systems is a Kuwaiti company that provides a diverse set of technology services and solutions to all industries.

In what sectors do you project Automated Systems will grow in the coming years?
Our experience as an IT company is in various sectors, but mainly in the aviation industry. We are looking forward, as part of our strategy, to focus on digital transformation, looking at trends like data analytics, AI, cloud services and infrastructure. Of course, we focus on security as well, but we’re not dealing with operational security, rather more advanced security issues like industrial operational security, which is a main concern to the oil and gas sector, as is infrastructure-related security.
In oil and gas, we look at digital transformation as a means of making the sector work more efficiently by reducing costs and better distributing the workforce. Being more efficient means being greener as well. We want IT to contribute in that area. There is so much potential for it. We want to approach oil and gas companies to provide them with a cloud where they can save costs in IT infrastructure and operations. We want to allow them to adopt digital trends related to data analytics and AI as well, with a focus on cyber security.
The oil and gas sector around the world is facing a lot of challenges. Sometimes there are constraints, like the supply chain and global logistics issues the world is facing. Prediction and forecasting play major roles when it comes to oil and gas, and AI and data analytics can play an even bigger role in the strategic operations of oil and gas companies. It is important for our solutions to be closely aligned with oil and gas companies’ requirements.

How ready is the oil and gas sector to drive innovation in Kuwait’s digital transformation goals?
The oil sector was always a leader in the IT sector. It was always a driving force to push the IT sector in Kuwait to be more modern and advanced. This demand is always a reason for us, as IT companies, to improve our capabilities and expand into new areas. Meeting the requirements of the oil sector is something that always keeps us on an evolutionary and continuous improvement cycle. It’s a demanding sector. It’s huge, they have their own targets to meet and the IT sector needs to fulfil those.

Which are the key challenges in developing a fruitful relationship with oil and gas clients?
If you are not advanced and on top of a lot of trends, or if you don’t have the capacity to fulfil the huge demand of the sector, there is no point in entering the oil and gas market. The oil and gas sector has a minimum level of requirement which is high compared to the general IT sector in Kuwait, and not everybody can get into that because of their size and the criticality of their operations.
In this respect, international partnerships can play an important role. In the oil and gas sector, there are many IT startups that have proven successful, and their innovative ideas happen to be in demand for the oil sector across the globe. Identifying them and partnering with them at an early stage is a critical factor to be ahead of the technological curve.

How far has Kuwait progressed in its digital transformation journey vis-à-vis the rest of the region?
I would say Kuwait is average; it could be doing better. We have leveraged newer technologies and newer trends, but our pace has not been fast enough compared to, for example, Saudi Arabia or the UAE. I think the leadership in Kuwait has realised that and realised the importance of digital transformation – not only in the work of the government, but in the competency of the country as a whole. This is why the government has made it a priority to move in the direction of digital transformation across not just the government sector, but countrywide.
We need to speed up our progress as a nation and move at a faster pace in terms of investments and projects to shorten the distance between us and our neighbours. Although we are fairly above average globally, compared to the region we are average. Our ambition is to be at the forefront, not in the middle.

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