A delegation of marketing professionals and senior management from Omantel together with New Metrics have met with the Department for International Trade staff at the British Embassy Muscat. The meeting marked the conclusion of the Omantel Marketing Innovation Trip which took five marketing professionals from the Company to the United Kingdom to visit some of London’s leading and most iconic organisations. During the meeting, the group reflected upon their experiences in London and how they are applying lessons learned back at Omantel.
The Omantel Marketing Innovation trip was carefully crafted by New Metrics to give the participants a birds-eye view of the latest trends in the marketing industry with a focus on telecoms, technology, customer experience, product innovation and workplace culture.
In the space of two weeks, the group visited over 15 companies including tech giants Google, Facebook and Huawei, national carrier British Telecom as well as the quintessential British retailer Selfridges. The group also visited New Metrics’ international partners including Qualtrics, the world’s leading experience management platform and other boutique consultancies working in innovation, design thinking and digital marketing. The British Embassy Muscat assisted New Metrics by coordinating visits to the House of Lords and Digital Greenwich, a UK smart city initiative.
Speaking about the program, New Metrics’ CEO Mohamed Debouk said “The Omantel Marketing Innovation Trip was a first-of-its-kind initiative that gave top performing marketing executives first-hand experience in one of the world’s leading business hubs. In addition to other consultancy and academy style programs we conduct at New Metrics, we are excited to spearhead experiential skills development that offers real-world learning from the world’s best brands. This type of hands-on learning is invaluable and cannot be found in any classroom or text book. We would like to thank the British Embassy Muscat for their support in this endeavour and hospitality in welcoming the delegation to the Embassy today to present their experiences and implementation plan.”
Heading the delegation was New Metrics Client Director Miriam Kugel, who previously enjoyed an extensive 10-year career in London. Commenting on the trip she said, “In designing the program, we selected companies from our extensive network to enable Omantel to gain a behind the scenes view of some of the trail blazers in the UK. We wanted not only to showcase the latest in telecoms and marketing innovation, but also reveal insights into cutting edge work cultures, agile work methods and customer experience approaches. As a business woman, it was a privilege to lead this group of all-female marketing executives to London and to hear how the trip has subsequently impacted the women’s careers in a positive way.”
Speaking about the visit, Gareth Stevens, Director of International Trade at the British Embassy noted, “The British Embassy Muscat was delighted to welcome the delegation of marketing professionals and senior management from Omantel along with representatives from New Metrics. We were pleased to learn that the trip was successful and the Omantel marketing executives had the opportunity to deepen their understanding and experience of innovation within the areas of telecoms and marketing. UK companies offer a wealth of experience, technology and products in these fields.”
The British Embassy Muscat visit was also attended by Dr. Ghalib Al Hosni, Chief People Officer at Omantel and key internal stakeholder for the Omantel Marketing Innovation Trip. He noted, “In recent years, our focus at Omantel Learning and Development has been to facilitate great customer and employee experience throughout all aspects of the business. In order to achieve this, we have designed specialised development academies and initiatives such as this trip to equip employees with skills and pathways to excel in their roles, today and in the future.”
“The Omantel Marketing Innovation Trip was a great opportunity for our marketing professionals to gain exposure to the latest international insights. The group have already floated ideas inspired by their experiences and we look forward to hearing more potential ideas and their practical application at Omantel,” added Dr. Ghalib Al Hosni.
Commenting on opportunities in the wake of the trip, attendee Nabila Al Lawati from the Omantel Product Development-Enterprise Unit said, “This experience was eye-opening as it gave me a unique insight into how businesses in other countries are managing their products and the best practice approaches that can be applied at work. The Omantel Marketing Innovation trip has built up my experience portfolio and has already enabled me to take part in several innovative projects in other departments at Omantel.”
The trip was awarded to the top performing learners from the Omantel Marketing School, a ground-breaking training academy delivered by New Metrics recently. Approximately 60 individuals holding marketing related roles within the Company took part in the customised program that focused on building marketing skills relevant to the rapidly evolving telecoms industry.
This story can also be found on Zawya.