GET TO KNOW...
On the lighter side of things, we ask the
industry experts what makes them tick. . . .
Mohammad Alotaibi,
Director of IT – Kuwait Direct Investment
Promotion Authority
W
What would you describe as your
most memorable achievement?
I have to admit that my strength comes
from my solid technical background. I
started my career as a UNIX administrator
but my thrust for technology knowledge
led me to explore most of the technology
sectors; therefore I have achieved a huge
technical background. But with this kind of
strength comes a great responsibility, the
responsibility of transferring this knowledge
to the right people who will eventually evolve
into the future technology leaders. After
achieving this I can say this is the most
memorable achievement; it overwrites any
infrastructure overhaul or implementations I
have done for any organisation.
What first made you think of a
career in technology?
a huge satisfaction; a
career in technology is
really meaningful. It involves a
lot of problem solving. It is a very
challenging career path and you will never
be bored. To be honest, the tech industry is
growing rapidly – that’s alone a huge factor
for thinking of a career in technology.
What style of management
philosophy do you employ with
your current position?
My style of management philosophy is a
combination of motivation and efficiency.
My approach is to inspire employees to
improve their overall performance by setting
high goals in their KPIs and giving them
the keys to achieve the goals. To increase
efficiency, I divide the responsibility between
employees to ensure getting the maximum
efficiency; bear in mind specifying a clear
Since my childhood I was a
geek, I loved to play with new
technologies and use them. I
remember when I was 7 years old,
I started learning MBASIC. Since
then I have found technology
is very innovative and gives
Language Processing. I think in terms
of cognitive computing effecting the
technology industry heavily, especially the
software sector, researchers project that
96% of enterprise software companies are
going to adopt cognitive computing in their
future software development. It’s crucial
now to pursue cognitive computing – most
of the chatbots in websites are using part of
cognitive computing. I think it’s the hottest
technology at the moment.
How do you deal with stress and
unwind outside the office?
The best way to unwind and relax is by
taking a short time off and travelling. I love
travelling, especially with my family this
usually helps me unwind work stress. While
time off sometimes is not an option, I have
managed to deal with stress by putting
my mind and body to work. I love building
models, specifically robot models, and I paint
them; it’s a hobby that makes me happy.
If you could go back and change one
career decision what would it be?
responsibility is a key factor for
maximum efficiency.
What do you think is the
current hot technology
talking point?
For me it’s cognitive computing, it’s
the core of all new hot technologies
like Machine Learning or Natural
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INTELLIGENTCIO
Well a decision is usually made based on
information, I don’t recall a specific decision
to be honest, but with every decision I make
I learn a lot. I can see the positives in what I
learned from any decision I took, sometimes
if I could turn back the clock I would have
changed it. Maybe it wasn’t the best decision
but it was the best decision I could have made
with the information I had at the time. n
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