PM Network - August 2015

the development of a “smart electrical grid” that allows residents to sell surplus solar power to the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, and the installation of “smart meters” to foster more efficient use of electricity and water.

One ambitious goal Dubai’s government set for the Smart City effort calls attention to an especially dynamic part of UAE’s project landscape: IT. By 2017, at least 1,000 government services should be accessible via mobile devices. That’s indicative of the sector’s overarching shift in the country, says Mohmed Abbas Burmawala, PMP, system project lead, Dutech LLC, Dubai, UAE.

“More and more projects on leading-edge technologies like mobility, open
source and cloud are in full bloom,” Mr. Abbas Burmawala says. “The legacy
systems are being revamped to provide a mobile channel.”
That means project managers are expected to stay current with the latest
trends in the IT market and keep up with technology changes during long
projects, he says. The aggressive push for mobile can create tight deadlines, too.

“Given the government’s Smart City initiatives, we had a requirement from a large customer to offer their more than 100 e-services on a variety of mobile devices,” Mr. Abbas Burmawala says. “The project had to be executed in a short time frame and required knowledge of both state-of-the-art technologies and the customer’s legacy systems.”