Axiata appoints 2 senior executives to beef up digital transformation

Axiata Group (Axiata) has appointed of two key positions at its newest subsidiary and at group level, as part of its transformation effort into a "new generation digital champion".Asri Hassan Sabri (pictured left), Axiata’s group chief business operations officer has been appointed as chief executive officer (CEO) of Axiata Business Services, effective 1 January 2018.Operating under the brand Xpand, this new entity is tasked to drive the group’s enterprise and internet of things (IoT) business across all of Axiata’s footprint in ASEAN and south asia. The subsidiary was established in 2017 as a new area of focus for the group, one which is earmarked to achieve double-digit growth and holds great promise as a multi-billion dollar addressable market within the next few years, Axiata's spokesperson said.Asri Hassan Sabri has almost 30 years of experience in various management, consulting and entrepreneur engagements in the IT and telecom industries. Prior to joining Axiata, he was a strategic partner with Provident Capital Partners, a private equity firm. He was also the former country president for Motorola Malaysia, a position he held from 2006 till 2008. Besides Motorola, he has also held senior management and regional positions with other multinational corporations (MNCs) including Nokia.Meanwhile, Axiata has appointed Abid Abdul Adam (pictured right) as group chief information security officer. He will also assume the position of group head of privacy given the increasingly critical nature of data privacy and protection. His appointment, according to Axiata, is part of its effort to improve cyber security capabilities, amid the growing importance of information security.Abid Abdul Adam joins the group from South Africa where he was the chief information security officer and deputy information protection officer for a financial services organisation. He brings over 15 years of experience in developing, implementing, and leading an information security and technology risk management function.Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim, president and group CEO of Axiata said, the two appointments are in line with its hope to build a leading digital company, beyond its core mobile business."Asri’s role as CEO of Axiata Business Solutions is to scale up this addressable area of growth in the enterprise and IoT space and to ensure that the group aggressively capitalises on the opportunities in the ASEAN and South Asia market, to eventually bring a significant uplift in revenue," he said.“As the telecommunication industry is evolving at a rapid rate, we are also placing significant importance and operationally strengthening the two areas that impact our business; IT security and data protection. Abid’s two led functions work in tandem to help us to achieve cyber resilience and data privacy across the group,” he added.