A leading lifestyle conglomerate in the Middle East, Majid Al Futtaim Ventures is about delighting customers, whether they’re shopping at the luxurious Mall of the Emirates in Dubai, watching movies at a VOX Cinemas theater or snowboarding at Ski Dubai, a 5-acre, indoor ski resort and snow park at the mall.
“We are in the business of creating great moments for everyone, every day,” says Ahmed Galal Ismail, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Ventures, which is based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
An essential factor to build on the company’s success is a digital strategy of cloud technologies, advanced analytics and artificial intelligence arranged into three pillars: reshaping customer experience, improving efficiency and creating a modern work culture.
Majid Al Futtaim does over half a billion interactions with customers a year, leading to powerful data that helps the business understand its customers, predict their needs, personalize experiences, develop new products and enhance the customer journey.
“We’re very lucky at Majid Al Futtaim that we have hundreds of touch points with every customer we serve,” Ismail says, adding that granular data ranges from “what type of cheese you buy to what type of movie you’re watching to where you park.”
The company uses Office 365 to shape its complex organization into a culture that enables employees to collaborate efficiently through instant messaging, video conferencing, screen-sharing and other contemporary communication methods.
“It’s really about creating a workplace that is modern and digital, and you interact with Majid Al Futtaim internally the same way you would interact with friends and family over social media,” says Ismail.
“We have a very successful relationship with Microsoft because both organizations share a similar mindset and a similar view of the future.”
