Tell us about yourself. How did you reach where you are?
I spent my early childhood in Abu Dhabi, which is my birthplace. I studied at St. Paul’s School in Karachi and graduated from FAST National University in 2002. After a few initial years in Karachi, I continued my professional career in the Middle East, based out of Dubai. I have been working in the IT industry for more than 22 years. During this time, I have worked with various global organizations.
Currently based out of Toronto and heading up the global operations of a Canadian organization with key responsibilities to deliver several multi-million digital transformation projects executed with government clients in Nordic, Europe, and North America. My father was instrumental in giving me the confidence to achieve better out of me. What I strive for and my advice to young professionals also is to look at the big picture and continuously take the initiative to distinguish themselves among the crowd; the bolder initiatives one takes to achieve goals, the higher the chance of continuous success.
I have been a business mentor and community builder. In my leisure time, I try to polish my golf game. I can be reached via linkedin.com/in/nabeel-siddiqi
How do you see Startups in Pakistan?
The recent growth of startups demonstrates the potential of the Pakistani market, which features a concentration of the youth bulge, a substantial middle-class population, exponential growth in internet access, a large IT talent pool, and an emerging ecosystem. The outlook for Pakistani startups looks positive. However, achieving sustainable and scalable success is the next biggest challenge, requiring much work and continued focus.
I see Pakistan as a location of extreme ease of doing business despite the pitfalls of weak processes, governance, and enforcement. The opportunity from it is the cost of doing business is drastically low, which can be a strong tool in a competitive edge concerning the cost of goods. Though this ‘’jugaar’’ status quo is not advocated, at prima facie, this is the starting point to positively capitalize, though a sustainable model will be inevitable in the medium term.
While looking from within the country’s needs and demand lens, focusing on how the external viewers view our system would help fix the gaps. Data is a new oil and business fuel; hence, having credible ‘data laws’ and its enforcement aligned with endorsement from international bodies is one of the examples where the private and public sector needs to nail it down with the government to unlock doors for the growth of Pakistan’s IT sector to be one of the key global IT hubs for which the very potential is available and growing right in Pakistan.
What are the new dynamics of Customer Experience?
Nowadays use of technology is the new dynamic of customer experience. However, the root is to have a product that satisfies the customers while addressing a need for a segment. I have seen companies that provide high-quality and efficient customer service in the enterprise software industry still measure significant churn rates. People see customer experience as a package with several soft and hard pillars. Among all, product management plays the most pivotal role.
Customer leaves products when they feel that it is no longer fulfilling their business needs and or a better & faster alternative is available. One of the tactics that I experimented which resulted in being useful, was to introduce a ‘customer experience’ role within the support organization which was different from the sales function role and sales organization. This helped add another dimension of the feedback on customers’ views on their business and our products for the monthly product boards so that the product team could analyze & prioritize valuable elements. In summary, addressing customer inputs faster in product features will make the most difference in customer experience, whether intrinsically within the product or how a product is channeled.
Visit CxO Global FORUM or CxO News Live for all the latest updates.
