{"id":706982,"date":"2024-10-29T19:59:41","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T02:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcnews&p=706982"},"modified":"2024-10-28T14:52:28","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T21:52:28","slug":"executive-briefing-for-uae-delegation-at-esri-spurs-ideas-and-brings-answers","status":"publish","type":"arcnews","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/executive-briefing-for-uae-delegation-at-esri-spurs-ideas-and-brings-answers","title":{"rendered":"Executive Briefing for UAE Delegation at Esri Spurs Ideas and Brings Answers"},"author":5752,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10862,10382,472991],"tags":[1631,30072,284902,176332,192792],"arcnews_issues":[490712],"class_list":["post-706982","arcnews","type-arcnews","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-esri","category-esri-technology","category-gis","tag-collaboration","tag-emergency-response","tag-executives","tag-gis-user-community","tag-relationship","arcnews_issues-fall-2024","arcnews_sections-news"],"acf":{"short_description":"Professionals from the United Arab Emirates visited Esri\u2019s Redlands campus for five days of learning and collaborating.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Professionals from United Arab Emirates Visited Esri\u2019s Redlands Campus for Five Days of Learning and Collaborating<\/h2>\r\nAs historic flooding drenched the United Arab Emirates (UAE) cities of Dubai and Sharjah on April 16, 2024, software engineer Mohammad Al Tayer was among those supporting response efforts by using GIS to gather critical information for the Dubai Municipality.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of making sure that the correct data is presented at the right time, and easily presented to the right people,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\nLess than a week later, Al Tayer was among a high-level delegation of UAE professionals sitting inside Esri\u2019s Redlands headquarters in Southern California. The group was gathered for an Esri Executive Briefing (which was arranged well before any flooding happened) to share and exchange information with one another and Esri developers and leaders."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":707012,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"The Esri Executive Briefing Program, which aims to foster and grow the company\u2019s relationships with its users, began several years ago and was revived following the pandemic under the direction of Linda Peters, Esri\u2019s executive program and Geo Experience Center (GeoXC) director. A team within Esri\u2019s GeoXC coordinates the visits, which can last anywhere from a few hours to several days.\r\n\r\nSince 2023, Esri has hosted more than 100 briefings across industries, including for national, state, and local government agencies; utilities; and education organizations. The rate of briefings is steadily increasing as well. Less than a week after the briefing for UAE professionals, for example, the team hosted a contingent from Indonesia focused on the development of the country\u2019s new capital city, Nusantara."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Listening to Customers\u2019 Needs and Wants<\/h2>\r\nBefore any briefing, Peters and her team work to understand the client\u2019s mission and the goals of the meeting. They then coordinate with the customer\u2019s account team to prepare tailored content to present. They also seek out subject matter experts who can educate participants, discuss application areas such as site suitability or supply chain location analysis, and help answer questions.\r\n\r\nThe priorities that each client brings to a briefing are unique. They can revolve around overcoming specific business challenges, modernizing GIS implementations, leveraging technology to come up with innovative solutions, saving time, or increasing efficiencies.\r\n\r\n\u201cThey want to know more about our issues, our problems, how they can solve [them],\u201d Al Tayer noted of the subject matter experts who presented during the visit. \u201cYou feel that we\u2019re working together to make this product beneficial for both sides,\u201d he said of Esri\u2019s technology.\r\n\r\nWhen Esri\u2019s experts did a presentation about ArcGIS Hub, for example, Al Tayer said he was interested in how the collaborative cloud platform would be compatible with his organization\u2019s technology.\r\n\r\n\u201cIs it easy to deploy? Are the any prerequisites that I need to keep in mind? And we got the answers like that here,\u201d he said, snapping his fingers. \u201cNow it\u2019s just a business decision if we\u2019re going to go ahead, if we\u2019re going to implement it, and how we\u2019re going to implement it.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Hearing Directly from Experts<\/h2>\r\nFor five days, the 21 GIS professionals, software engineers, urban planners, and utility managers from the UAE were afforded a unique view into the technology that provides them with vital location intelligence. Participants were able to meet with Esri leadership, each other, and other Esri users to learn from their experiences.\r\n\r\nSeveral participants noted how pleased they were to see Esri\u2019s advancements in AI during a session led by Ismael Chivite, Esri\u2019s senior principal product manager for AI assistants in ArcGIS. The small size of the groups hosted on campus allow for \u201ca level of interaction and discussion that is not possible through a webinar or conference,\u201d Chivite said. \u201cIt is obviously an investment of time for the customer and Esri, but it\u2019s a great opportunity for both to collaborate.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe delegation included participants from several UAE municipalities; utilities; governing agencies, including the country\u2019s space agency; and the UAE\u2019s largest telecommunications company. Two representatives from gistec\u2014Esri\u2019s official distributor in the UAE\u2014who spent several months organizing the briefing\u2019s logistics alongside the GeoXC team, also attended."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":707022,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Meeting in person made it easier to ask questions and get answers, said Khawla Al Fahim, director of the geospatial data management department for the UAE\u2019s Department of Government Enablement.\r\n\r\n\u201cYou meet the people who are involved in either developing the [GIS] tool or are experts in using [it],\u201d she said.\r\n\r\nAl Fahim\u2019s department uses GIS primarily as a communication tool to support solution-oriented decision-making among UAE agency leaders. She said she was pleased to see the development of Esri\u2019s AI-enabled assistant tools, given that her agency has been experimenting with new AI communication technology.\r\n\r\n\u201cComing here, I saw the different solutions that Esri has been coming up with, and I have a very, very long shopping list that I\u2019ll be discussing with the team,\u201d she said."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Seeing\u2014and Being Part of\u2014the Road Map<\/h2>\r\nDubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has used GIS to more clearly see the distribution of its network, which includes 4.5 million assets, as well as the areas that were impacted by the April flooding. Visualized in topographic layers, DEWA has been able to identify locations that may be prone to collecting water in the future.\r\n\r\nAdel Al Tamimi, director of digital products and solution management for DEWA, noted that he and his team have regular interactions with other UAE municipalities and agencies amid day-to-day business. Yet the visit to Esri\u2019s campus offered a valuable opportunity for them all to socialize and share knowledge in person.\r\n\r\nIn talking with Esri\u2019s leaders, he said, he was also able to \u201cfreely communicate our ambitions and our wishes to improve the products further in the future.\u201d He added, \u201cWe had the privilege to see the road map and what\u2019s under development currently in the pipeline and what will see light in the future. That also made us feel that we\u2019re part of this community of development and we are becoming part of the road map.\u201d\r\n\r\nIn addition to hearing from Esri developers and leaders, participants visited Orange County Public Works and the City of San Diego. They also met with officials from Riverside County and Southern California Gas to learn about how they\u2019re applying GIS in their organizations.\r\n\r\nAdnan Sharaf, who\u2019s with the Al Ain Municipality, appreciated the real-world examples of GIS technology in action. \u201cHere you can see the case study,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\nMohamed Abuziad, CEO of gistec, started organizing international GIS executive visits for UAE-based organizations in 2009 with a trip to Esri Canada in Toronto. April\u2019s trip was gistec\u2019s first organized Executive Briefing Program visit to Redlands.\r\n\r\n\u201cThere is discovery,\u201d he said of this event that exposes participants to new and additional ways to use GIS. He\u2019s witnessed how the participants start to share knowledge, and how friendships form. \u201cIt has a different flavor,\u201d he said of the visit.\r\n\r\nAs Abuziad talked, Esri president Jack Dangermond, who had spoken to the group earlier in the week, visited the Esri Caf\u00e9, where attendees were finishing lunch, and chatted with some members of the group.\r\n\r\nThe site visit was Al Tayer\u2019s first time meeting Dangermond, and he said he was surprised and reassured by how much the Esri founder understood each of the attendees\u2019 circumstances and needs.\r\n\r\n\u201cTo add to that, he\u2019s very knowledgeable in terms of what he wants, what is Esri\u2019s strategy, and where they want to go,\u201d he said. \u201cIt really aligns with what we\u2019re looking for.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Center","content":"To learn more about the Esri Executive Briefing Program, email experiences@esri.com<\/a> or watch the Esri Executive Briefing Program video<\/a>.","snippet":""}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"\nExecutive Briefing for UAE Delegation at Esri Spurs Ideas and Brings Answers | Fall 2024 | ArcNews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Professionals from the United Arab Emirates visited Esri\u2019s Redlands campus for five days of learning and collaborating.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/executive-briefing-for-uae-delegation-at-esri-spurs-ideas-and-brings-answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Executive Briefing for UAE Delegation at Esri Spurs Ideas and Brings Answers | Fall 2024 | ArcNews\" 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