Business Talks: Mohamed Tarek Fahmy, CA Executive Partner of Al Estisharion

What is the current forecast of your company, in terms of growth levels and exploring new markets?
In view of the changes in the business market during the current period and in conjunction with the general trend to encourage foreign investment and the private sector, we work on guiding investors - Foreigners or Egyptians – to promising activities that achieve the best returns for them, as well as activities that aim to increase employment, which serves the community. Therefore, we are working to communicate with financial and investment institutions in various countries that are looking for real and attractive investment opportunities and work with governmental and non-governmental agencies to dissolve all obstacles to investing. We work with our partners in various fields to provide advice and studies - whether financial, marketing, management, legal and technical - to create a clear vision for investors. Al Estisharion - DWT not only provide the ordinary accounting, auditing, and tax services but we work according to a bigger concept and vision:  Our role supporting investors and business owners to success. That’s why we provide a lot of consulting activities like business advisory services, outsourced / virtual CFO, technology consultants and more ove, help to open new markets, whether locally or abroad.

What are the most significant changes that you did after COVID 19 to face the challenges of digitalization in your company?
Covid-19 has become the talk of the hour since the beginning of 2020, as it has had and still has a strong impact on business in various fields and entities. For us, its impact was strong from day one, as the nature of our work includes a lot of contact with public places and people, but we were able to confront that. We began in the middle of 2019 to plan and implement how to work remotely and developed the use of technology to speed up our work without the need to make a lot of effort in moving from one place to another, as well as reducing the use of papers - although it still must be kept - and relying on modern technological means. That contributed greatly to our ability to deal with Covid-19, especially during quarantine period, noting it was tax season - preparation of tax returns for year 2019 – with a submission dead-linein March or April 2020. Providing technological means enabled employees to be more flexible in their work requirements during that difficult time and to be able to achieve the desired goals.

Where do you see Egypt in the future era of digitalization?
Digitalization is the order of the day worldwide due to the current conditions as some believe, but in our opinion, digitalization began before Covid-19. The current conditions helped to speed up the response of the business market to the fact that business stream needs to be digital by using new technologies to keep up with the general course. For example, Egyptian Tax Authority according to Egyptian digitalization vision - by virtue of working in field of tax - since the end of 2018, tax authorities started operating the electronic system for submitting various tax returns, which led to ease and flexibility of dealing between the tax authority and business. In addition, we all see the great efforts currently happening  and still in progress in the banking sector in the field of digitalization. Modern technologies are used to save time and add more comfortability, whether it is for workers in the sector or those who deal with it. In general, Egypt tends to keep pace with the era of digitalization, which will enable the country to deal with the world in a more professional manner as well as eliminate bureaucracy, which is the main reason for shrinking foreign investments in Egypt and the loss of many development opportunities which are needed to improve the infrastructure quality for  better living condition for citizens. We believe that good planning, implementation, and management of Egypt's digitalization vision will lead to Egypt  ranking high among the emerging countries, but also moving up from emerging  advanced countries.

 What role should technology play in the future workplace?
The goal of technology is to make human movement and work easier, more flexible, and accurate. Among the challenges facing the business market,the most priority is to move quickly and with high accuracy to avoid mistakes and missed opportunities. Hence, the role of technology of all kinds and forms is the main entrance to achieve the desired goals with almost zero percentage of deviation. Moreover, economic entities in various fields that will not keep pace with the use of various technology won´t be able to facilitate and accelerate their work  and to continue in the business market, which leads to their exit from competition, even if this entity continues, but without an economic benefit and returns. There is no doubt that the technological development in the work environment has become one of the main elements in the success of any project, whether industrial, agricultural, commercial, or service. Technology also contributes mainly to maximizing profitability and reducing costs, and this is a major goal for any person working in the business market, whether an employee or business owner, who works with a comprehensive development perspective to achieve economic benefits aimed at progress and prosperity of any country that seeks to be one of the countries that are not only developed, but countries with a future vision and with a stable business and economic ground.

In your opinion, what are the benefits and disadvantages of digitalizing in the workplace?
It is an established fact and this will not change: everything has advantages and disadvantages, and moderation in use is a testimony to the appreciation and success of the ability to use. Too little or too much use of utilities leads to deviations that tend to fail its user. Here we are talking about digitalization. It has advantages and disadvantages that affect the work environment. Therefore, despite the global trend towards it, the general structure of it must be determined so it does not become without restrictions. These restrictions are meant to protect users from the tendency to failure and collapse. The advantages of digitalization are many, to mention them requires a lot of talk and verification, the age of digitalization helps the work environments - with its different types, shapes, and sizes - to increase the efficiency of employees in achieving the required goals with extreme accuracy. It also helps to open new horizons such as new markets and products as time is saved for creativity and development. Digitalization has advantages, but there are also disadvantages, including that the rapid development of digitization may not suit the particular work environments. Each work environment has its characteristics and needs. Despite this, digitalization in general helps in all situations, sizes, and temperaments, but the speed of its development is faster than the development of human themselves to understanding the modern methods used.

Thinking about how to digitize the economic and non-economic environment to reach the best results, but  lacking coordination with the practical reality of the labor markets and studying the members of these markets and their ability to absorb and deal with highly developed changes, leads to weak output and into the maze of reform and restructuring. No one can say that they do not need to enter the era of digitalization and the use of technology in different work environments. This comes from the past. What is required is to subject that technology to work requirements and not the other way around, because the opposite leads to dispersal and deviation. The speed, ease and flexibility resulting from the digitalization of the economic environment provides an opportunity for business discipline and the implementation of a lot. Here the question arises: Will we depend on technology only? In our opinion, the answer is no. The development of human minds on how to think and create must remain without total dependence  on technology, as the engine for decision-making and implementation in the work environment should be based on human abilities and not soley on technology.

How will digitalization in the workplace affect our lives?
Digitalization has become influential in the work environment and a major and indispensable element in various business, and this impact extended to our lives greatly when remote work became a way of life for many business sectors, and therefore our lives became arranged accordingly, so it required  organizing and arranging our lives on this basis. Where it is necessary to provide an appropriate environment at home that serves the ability to work and achieve the desired goals, digitalization has helped in saving time and facilitating work from a distance, as well as helping to end our personal obligations. The digital link between the work environment and workers who work remotely is crucial to facilitate the completion of the required work and also made workers more comfortable, which made productivity increase and more effective.

What can we, as the German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce, do to turn possible disadvantages of digitalization in the workplace into advantages?
The role of institutions and bodies that work on developing and converging the business sector with the labor market and facilitating the procedures required for the economic development is to work on enhancing the digital capacity of the various work environments, developing, and providing them with all the information and data necessary of the technology used in that. As we mentioned earlier, one of the biggest disadvantages of digitalization is the rapid development of the technology used, and there are some business sectors that have a special nature that may not be compatible with the idea of digitalization. Here comes the role of institutions such as the German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce by studying and analyzing the obstacles facing the business regarding digitalization. Studying the reality of business in various sectors, communicating with regulators, and working on a consensus of views between digital service providers and users.

Also it is required to clarify what digitalization is and how to use it as well asdefine the extent of the impact of digitalization on the business process to achieve what is required, as there are some sectors in the economic system that are still afraid of this radical and rapid change.Here comes the role of organizations and institutions aimed at strengthening the capabilities of economic entities to clarify what is happening and what will happen in order to integrate and maximize the capabilities of those entities to compete and challenge in the market, both internal and external

In your opinion, what are current issues in connection with digitalizing the workplace?
One of the challenges companies and business owners face in digitalization is changing the work philosophy and workflow methods used and keep pace with digital development, with the stability of production at the same rates without change to the worst. Also, the change in the work method leads to fluctuation in the ability of workers to do what is required, which requires companies’ management to clarify how to work with digitalization of the work environment and use of modern means at work, which leads to the ease, speed, and accuracy to achieve all goals and economic return for those companies and institutions. Among the challenges is the infrastructure used in digitalization. With all the development happening, it still needs optimal use, knowledge of its ability, and development of its capabilities. As with the expansion of the use of digitalization means, the infrastructure, whether corporate or public, is in need for good management, organization, and development, to meet those changes. Failure to provide this in a desired manner leads to a weak ability to achieve what is desired from the digitalization of the work environment.

How can you change the negative effects of digitalization to a positive way?
Al Estisharion - DWT as a various services provider, with most of these services working within the digital system,  is always helping companies and institutions in different business sectors to find and implement solutions and ideas that contribute to creating and improving their digital environment. We work on dissolving the concerns of entities in  dealing with technology used and urge them to enjoy the spirit of competition by accepting the challenge and changing to what is better for economic entities. Also, those who are new in business – entrepreneurs – we provide with the required studies and data in order for them to understand the nature of the target markets and how to keep pace with the digital development and the use of modern technology in order to achieve goals and economic feasibility of the startup companies that are looking for success, competition and achieving their goals. It is possible to work on reducing disadvantages of digitalization by making more effort to deal with these defects and converting some, not all of them, into advantages because there are still some defects that will not be changed, as dealing with the digital system always highlights the advantages and disadvantages

What role do you see the government playing in facilitating the future of digitalization in the workplace?
One of the government’s goals is the digital transformation of all services provided, whether in the private or public sector, or services provided by the government and its affiliates. The role of the government in promoting this transformation is represented by the starting point, which is infrastructure on which the digital system depends, from means of communication and internet networks, as well as infrastructure operating systems and those working on it through their understanding and training in dealing with that system that aims to improve the economic environment and the economic system. At  the level of companies operating in the market, we believe that the government should support these companies  in theirdigital transformation by explaining and clarifying future plans to achieve digitalization. And working on the reactions resulting from the realistic and practical frictions  ofdealing with digitalization, requires that this transformation be carried out according to the capacity of the infrastructure and the understanding of its workers and users without rush, as the economic environment benefits from this transformation and does not become a burden.