DEWA participates in First UAE Strategy Execution Community

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has participated in the First UAE Strategy Execution Community, which was organised by Palladium Group and hosted by Emirates Strategic Planning Association (ESPA) at InterContinental Dubai Festival City hotel.

On behalf of HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD&CEO of DEWA, Dr. Abdulla Al Hammadi, Vice President of Strategy & Performance Management, delivered the keynote speech at the conference. The event was attended by VIPs, CEOs, and a number of directors from public and private organisations.

The conference, which was held for the first time, discussed successful and cutting-edge methods and mechanisms for implementing organisational strategy, and taking the right decisions in organisational performance and organisational risk management. The event was attended by Dr. David Norton, who developed the Balanced Scorecard model with Dr. Robert Kaplan.

The keynote speech highlighted the role of the UAE’s leadership and the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to create an ideal business climate and a solid base for success in the UAE and Dubai. He emphasised that the directives of His Highness have been the main driver for the success of government and private sectors.

“His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has created a vision that has driven the success of Dubai’s public and private sectors. This vision is for Dubai to become a global hub for trade, finance, tourism and green economy. This has shaped the Dubai Plan 2021, launched by HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council. Dubai has set an unmatchable benchmark in many ways and all phases of its development. Dubai has evolved as an example for growth, innovation and sustainability. This is due to our robust approach to strategic planning and implementation inspired by a positive vision that turns plans into reality,” said Al Tayer.

“Dubai Electricity and Water Authority has been long-recognised for its effectiveness in strategy planning and execution. This was realised in 2008 when it became the first organisation in the Middle East and North Africa to be inducted in the prestigious Hall of Fame. Today, seven years after this achievement, DEWA remains committed to its vision to be a sustainable innovative world-class utility, using the highest international standards, the best implemented research, and the latest studies and programmes in organisational development. This includes the balanced scorecard, our strategy map, the triple-bottom line, which includes the three key dimensions of sustainability: financial, environmental and social, achieving world-class results,” he added.

“As a result, DEWA has made remarkable achievements. In terms of operational efficiency, DEWA has achieved a very low 4.9 minutes lost per customer compared to a global average of around 15 minutes lost per customer. We have also achieved 3.26% in electricity line losses compared to a global average of 7%, with 9% for water losses compared to 15% in North America,” added Al Tayer.

“We believe in the need for our people to continuously learn, grow and innovate. In 2014, our average training hours were 53 hours per employee in middle management, with an incredibly-low employee turnover rate of 2.41% and an overall employee satisfaction of 79.68%. This demonstrates the efficiency of DEWA’s strategy to invest in its people, who are central to our strategy. DEWA won two major awards last year from the Dubai Government Excellence Program, for distinguished government department in financial results and customer satisfaction, the latter for the first time in DEWA’s history reaching a remarkable 94.3%,” he said.

“His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum honoured us earlier this year with a visit to our Creativity Lab, which he started two years ago to improve government services with a view to making Dubai a happier place to be. Since then, we have embraced this concept and consider it as a mechanism to drive inputs for our strategy planning and execution. DEWA’s strategy map is also aligned to the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030, to diversify Dubai’s energy mix and reduce energy demand by 30%. With the launch of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in 2012, we began to incorporate renewable energy. This strategy has been so successful that we recently increased our targets to 7% by 2020 and 15% by 2030. This shows that strategies can always be improved and upgraded according to available resources and market dynamics. DEWA is making considerable progress on its Smart Dubai strategy, which covers three key initiatives, including building an electric-vehicle charging station infrastructure, smart meters and applications for electricity and water networks, and installing photovoltaic solar panels on roofs and connecting them to DEWA’s grid,” concluded Al Tayer.