DOHA, QATAR – Leaders in the banking sector gathered together for the first Carnegie Club roundtable discussion of 2010 titled “Software in the Enterprise” at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. The discussion focused on the important role that information technology and software play in an organization.
The Carnegie Club is a discussion forum between industry executives and university faculty with the goal to create a dialogue around new trends and challenges in management science and practice. The program is aimed at corporate executives and organizations in Qatar who are interested in pushing the boundaries of ‘best practices’ by leveraging the academic resources at Carnegie Mellon.
“The foundation of Carnegie Club is based on dialogue and conversation – Carnegie Mellon faculty from Doha and Pittsburgh, talking with leaders in industry and government about business trends and issues,” said Charles E. Thorpe, Dean of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. “Sometimes these conversations result in forming new partnerships; sometimes they result in new educational programs; always they result in shared understanding and greater sense of community. The topic ‘Software in the Enterprise’ prompts us to have a conversation about the fundamental ways that software changes how we do business, and to explore the role of software development, management and acquisition in a Qatari context.”
Professor William Scherlis, Director of the Institute for Software Research at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, led the roundtable discussion. The roundtable was moderated by Majd Sakr, Ph.D., coordinator of the Computer Science Program at Carnegie Mellon Qatar.
“Software technology continues to grow as a significant driver of value in sectors ranging from financial services and energy to health care and transportation,” said Scherlis. “Firms in these and other sectors increasingly rely on software not just in functional roles, but also as the fabric that ties together diverse elements within an enterprise and across its network of suppliers and customers.”
The discussion focused on the continued growth and dependence on the role of software in enterprises, with a focus on banking infrastructure. Professor Scherlis highlighted some of the significant patterns in the evolution of software technology. During the interactive two-hour session, roundtable participants discussed how information technology developers and users in Qatar could best position themselves to engage with the technology and with vendors to effectively exploit software capability to deliver value. The discussion also explored the opportunities and challenges of IT and software – including cyber-security and reliability – as well as the evolving IT supply chain and what this means to become an effective developer and user of information technology.
Guests who took part in the roundtable included Mr. Dmitri Giokas, Chief Operating Officer of HSBC Bank Middle East Limited; Mr. Gladston Pereira, Head of IT, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited; Ali Rashid Al-Mohannadi, GM, ITD, Qatar National Bank; and Mr. U.V.K. Kumar, Head of Information Technology, Doha Bank.
“We came to a good outcome. From the Carnegie Mellon perspective we had a good chance to share our knowledge with the industry experts who discussed their issues with us. We were able to talk about their expectations and how Carnegie Mellon can meet their needs through the several programs we offer, which will help them make good decisions in the future,” said Sakr.
The Carnegie Club hosts forums for in-depth discussion on relevant and significant business topics in Qatar and the wider region. It provides a forum for discussion that acts as a catalyst for Qatar’s progress as a global business leader. Events are scheduled throughout the academic year at Carnegie Mellon Qatar.
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With more than a century of academic excellence and distinguished research, Carnegie Mellon University is a leader in education with real-world applications. Consistently top ranked, the University has more than 11,000 students, 75,000 alumni and 4,000 faculty and staff globally. Core values of innovation, creativity, collaboration and problem solving provide the foundation for everything we do.
At the invitation of Qatar Foundation, Carnegie Mellon joined Education City in 2004. Here, Qatar Foundation created a unique center for scholarship and research that is the ideal complement to Carnegie Mellon’s mission and vision. Students from Qatar and 30 different countries enroll at our world-class facilities in Education City. Carnegie Mellon Qatar offers undergraduate programs in business administration, computer science and information systems. Learn more at qatar.cmu.edu.
