Fahad’s Al Hadhrami Blog

Mena Telecom in Bahrain launched WiMax. Mobily launched a new WiFi-enabled WiMax. Algeria was the first Arab country to deploy WiMax. Five other arab countries followed Algeria and among the five three gulf countries which are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain. As I am a Product Manager in the Gulf I hear a lot about WiMax release, business case, feasibility study and Market Research and many do not know what is WiMax. What is WiMax? WiMax stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. It is a technology that provides operators worldwide to provide Broadband Wireless solution. It can cover an area for up to 50 KM providing Internet and the speed is upto 72 Mbps. Comparing to other technologies it can cover a bigger area and provide a faster speed. Comparing to WiFi it can cover a bigger area. Comparing to ADSL it can provide similar speed or a faster speed. WiMax can be a competitive of ADSL. Moreover, WiMax can provide more then ADSL as it can provide Mobile Broadband to o...

Information Technology Authority had launched Payment Gateway. This had opened new doors for Government Entities, Banking Industry, Private Sector, Entrepreneurs who are thinking of starting business and expatriates and citizens in the country. Payment Gateway will boost businesses, guarantee an open market, promote innovation and contribute to overall economic growth. It is An Exciting new way for paying. We are going Toward Digital World. A new way towards benefiting from Internet World. Before launching the Payment Gateway Information Technology Authority had made sure that there is a law which they called it E-Transactions Law which organize the online transactions. This is a good thing as it will organize the online transactions and people will be more confident because they know there is a law which protect their transactions. This will help citizens and expatriates pay online with confidentiality. The E-Transactions Law will let people trust, confident and do their transaction...

We here a lot from Presidents in the telecommunication industry in the middle east asking their senior managers, "Prepare for me a business case" or sometimes after hearing about a new Technology employees ask their self, "Why don't we do it in our Company? Does it worth developing a business case?". What is Business Case in the Telecommunication industry? Omantel, Qtel, Etisalat and Du and the other telecommunication operators always ask for a business case for new projects, services or ideas. Telecommunication and Information Technology Industries comparing to other industries changes a lot as every day we listen to new services and technologies around the world. We do listen to a new way to make money or safe money. Top managers and employees working in the Product Development do prepare lot of Business Cases. For me personally, I do prepare business cases a lot as I am a product manager and I do evaluate the new ideas and services. The initial way to evalua...

Product Development is an interesting field. I will tell you my own opinion of Product Development Process and method I feel will benefit you a lot. Product Development is developing a Product or a Service that you want to sell to customers. Building a Product that people really needs and there is demand for the Product or Service you want to develop. While Developing a product you need to consider that you product is technical and from commercial side you can develop. Below are the steps you need to follow to develop a successful Product or Service. Step I: Accept all ideas. Bring all ideas from different sources. Bring from customers, ideas from colleagues, customers, magazines, internet and from every where what you want to implement and develop. Everyone Dreams, bring all your ideas that you think you in your business. If you were in Real Estate Industry think of different options and put all of them in a piece of paper. Step 2: Evaluate ideas. Ask you self: Will customer buy what...

It is the last day of 2007 and I want to share my experience and opinion of Product Development in this year. Product Development is the most exciting part under Marketing. On one hand, turning an idea into reality is hard thing. On the other hand, it is very exciting and challenging. You need different skills from different fields. You need experience in Marketing, Finance, Accounting, Economics and Technical experience in the field you are working in. One of the challenges that I face are technical employees view the product only from the technical side. Also, non-technical employees looks at the product from the commercial side only. I had tried to bridge with the two sides and be in the middle. Dealing with partners and try to understand their needs is very important. In addition, trying to communicate with them and tell them about your needs and requirements had required from me to have business development skills. Also, developing strategic alliances is very important...