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The Small Things Great Workplaces Do That Nobody Talks About
The Small Things Great Workplaces Do That Nobody Talks About
ESG in the UAE — What It Means, Why It Cannot Wait, and What Each Pillar Actually Requires
ESG in the UAE — What It Means, Why It Cannot Wait, and What Each Pillar Actually Requires
UAE Interpreneur Report 2026
Interpreneur Report 2026 | Market insights: The view from United Arab Emirates
Five Business Lessons I Didn't Expect to Learn in My First Year of Consulting
Five Business Lessons I Didn't Expect to Learn in My First Year of Consulting
The Speed-Quality Trade-Off in Audit - A Myth
The Speed-Quality Trade-Off in Audit - A Myth
VAT Implementation in UAE : Top 3 FAQs
Kreston Menon

Yes, but this will depend mostly on the individual’s lifestyle and spending habit. While the cost of living is expected to go up a notch, don’t panic, it will be a very minimal adjustment as there will be limited taxable items in the market. In fact, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states already agreed to exempt about 94 food products. Similarly, medical and educational bills are not affected unless there’s a hike in prices.

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Functional Process Outsourcing – The Way Forward
Kreston Menon
Organizations, globally, have focused on outsourcing their non-core activities so as to invest further time on their core activities. One of the key processes which has seen a growing trend in outsourcing is Human Resource function. Outsourcing is a method where companies contract out a business process to an independent firm, which the firm provides as a service. In Outsourcing, the service provider is an expert in that area. This in turn gives an opportunity to the company to hire the best service provider and the organization can instead focus on other higher value-added and core activities. Studies have shown that HR Outsourcing has become a strategic decision which is taken to improve the bottom line of the company. As per Business Standards, 71% of CEOs believe human capital as their biggest contributor to sustained economic value, this statement signifies the importance of Human Resource, and hence it should be utilized to the maximum, resulting in the growth of the organization.

HR Outsourcing Trends

Human Resource Outsourcing is not a new phenomenon. Organizations have been outsourcing various components of human resource functions, such as payroll and benefits administration, for years. But off late it has become a point of discussion for one and all because, recently, giants like global Fortune 500 companies have chosen to outsource their entire HR function.

  • 50-60% of organizations view employee retention as a concern
  • Administrative duties & employee concerns take up as much as 70-80% of the time
  • Costs associated with employee turnover range from 30-150% of employee salary
  • In-house HR costs range from 20-30% higher than outsourcing
  • About 54-60% of all job applications contain inaccurate information
  • Analysts have forecasted the global HRO requirement to grow at a rate higher than 12%
Strategy for Outsourcing HR Functions

An organization can outsource its HR functions partially or completely. When it outsources partially, the company retains some control over the outsourced functions and may share access to information with the vendor. When the functions are outsourced completely, the organization relies upon the vendor to carry out the entire function. The strategy to outsource HR function completely or partially shall depend on the many parameters including, but not limited to, Employee strength.

Organizations with smaller employee strength (i.e. up to 150 employees) can completely outsource their HR function, since it shall reduce the cost for the organization to have HR experts of varied levels at a lower cost than hiring an FTE. On the other hand, organizations with huge employee strength, should focus on outsourcing part of the HR functions including strategic & operational HR like:

  • Background checks
  • Training & Management Development Programs
  • Executive Development & Coaching
  • Employee Benefits Administration
  • Payroll
  • Employee Re locations etc
Reasons for HR Outsourcing

Organizations are gradually migrating to HR Outsourcing as they have realized that if done so, there is a considerable reduction in operating costs which helps the company to save substantial money to invest in its core business. By outsourcing to service providers who have expertise in certain areas, companies are able to achieve improved legal compliance and control.

With HR functions in place, processes within the organization become more streamlined which helps the team to decide about allocation of employees to tasks. Once processes become organized, it helps to identify loopholes in resource planning and hence, reduce under utilization of resources and also develop a
suitable training plan for employees who require grooming and training. This automatically boosts the motivation of employees and increases team-work within the organization.

When there is a functional HR team in the organization, the employee performance management system is also designed appropriately for the employees. This includes proper succession plans, fair appraisal and feedback process and motivating rewards and recognition system. This motivates employees to strive harder and eventually increases the quality of work in the company.

Case In Point

One of our clients, who is a strong player in Warehouse & Logistics Management, UAE, with an employee strength of less than 100, decided to outsource its HR function, after the owners of the company were majorly involved in all the issues pertaining to employee management.

We, along with our team of experts, suggested the client to outsource its HR function to us so as to reduce their time involvement and enhance the overall HR management. In the process, we conducted a detailed HR Audit of the client to identify the areas of priorities to focus. We identified that the client did not have a proper structure for its HR functions. Functions like Payroll, Leave Management, Recruitment and Performance Management were taken care by the various divisions. For example, Payroll was managed by the Finance team, administration team took care of the Leave applications and approvals and there was no standard operating procedure followed for performance appraisals. The owners had to be involved in every decision, small or big, which took away their time to make strategic decisions.

Once we started as their HR advisors, we brought the focus on streamlining the process including implementing SOPs for leave management, financial assistance like loan and payroll, performance management, rewards and recognition process, and exit process. All these processes were performed following the UAE labor law. All HR functions included in the Employee Life Cycle were taken
care by our team; right from selecting the appropriate person for a role, on-boarding process, performance and leave management, succession plans and exit procedures. This proved beneficial for the company as when these functions were outsourced, it allowed the owners and senior management to focus on its core business and other strategic decisions. This also made up for the lack of in-house expertise.

As we took care of all HR functions within the organization, employees had a dedicated point of contact to communicate their issues. This helped employees to resolve their issues faster and better, which in turn helped them dedicate their time to their work and perform better and improve the company’s service delivery With

With this, the company could also save money on hiring a permanent full-time HR in the organization and hence, reduce operating expenses. Overall, the decision of outsourcing benefited the company to streamline its processes, to control legal risk and improve compliance and most importantly to reduce their operating cost associated with the hiring of full-time HR in the organization, to the tune of 25% of the budgeted cost were saved in the process.

Conclusion

A dysfunctional HR roadmap or ineffective HR management strategy has long-term consequences for an organization. It affects the performance of a business and the productivity levels of employees. Customer service on all fronts gets affected. The loss of customers and medium-term revenues is quite immediate.
Over a period of time, the free fall leads to an impact on the bottom line of an organization.

When human resource functions are outsourced to service providers with expertise, all processes in the organization become streamlined systematically. This automatically motivates employees to work and create a positive corporate ethos in the organization.
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What’s Audit Really Worth – Beyond a Legal Requirement?
Kreston Menon
As the aftermath of this rapacious age, where trust is at the rock bottom, investors are seeking for increased transparency and disclosure. In this context, quality audit derives a higher value, which is beyond just meeting legal and regulatory requirements. While financial statements remain as a linchpin of the prevailing reporting model, most of the information sources that investors are looking to discern an organization’s strategy, business risks and model, furthermore it’s medium as well as longer term prospects, are not captured in the present-day statements. The question here is – should it be? And in case, if more of this investor relevant information is encapsulated in the company’s annual report, the next question that arises is – should an auditor’s eye on this information be valuable to investors? In the frame of reference of audit upheaval, we will discuss here, how audits must evolve in a better way to serve investors.

Unveiling the Value of Audit

As we apparently head out to a period of global growth, auditors and audit firms are found to face a turbulent series of challenges and revises. With fingers pointed across the audit professionals for almost every issue – from the substandard anti competitive behavior – to excessively comfortable relationships with clients and regulators, it has become highly important for us to know the value of audit, and perceive how auditors form their opinions. In the auditing process, the auditor will scrutinize and verify the financial information provided by the organization, which may not necessarily depict a true and fair view of the company’s state of affairs. However, since scope of such an external audit does not cover each and every transactions of the company, the auditors use all the available information sources and subject it to a lot of inspection, analysis and judgment. They perform audit procedures and gather audit evidences to provide reasonable assurance whether such financial statements in question depicts a true and fair view altogether.

Yes, audits are obviously worthwhile – they are simply worth the paper they are printed on! But as we are in the period of global growth, it seems to be a sensible time to find how the limitations of audits can be vanquished, and how these processes and outcomes could be improved.

Enhancing Audit Quality

Improving the quality of audits has been, and continues to be the initial mission of all organizations. In order to accomplish this, it’s of paramount importance that audit regulatory bodies should engage more broadly with the whole investor community in order to explore what they actually expect from corporate reporting and assurance – whether inside or outside of the financial statements. Changes in the audit field are already in progress; however, along with any regulation, a better relationship is required between the audit committees, auditors, investors, and management, to ensure that audits dispense the most value. Apart from the discussions carried out between the audit committees, auditors, and management, there should involve more direct communications between investors and external auditors, because, this could allow to some extent, for better transparency on the audit process and corroborate that the key stakeholders and the audit reports readers comprehend the information that is been presented and ensure the corporate report meets their needs.

As we know, expanding new technological advancements are already impacting the way businesses are done. And of course, audit is of no exception from this! Hence, an additional area that demands consideration is innovation – new tools and technological advancements make data review and analysis more efficient and effective, assist auditors to identify risk areas and map potential exposure better, to rise with new insights and ultimately improve the audit quality.

The Future of Audits

The future of audits can be bright, if audit regulatory bodies take into account, the wider interest of investors and if auditors can successfully deploy innovation and communication into audit procedures. And, when it comes to evolving the audit, it is a fact that changes are essentially as valuable only in as much as they help, investors to make better and informed decisions, and organizations to adopt a more resilient business strategy.
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Khalifa Port Free Trade Zone: Defining the Future of Trade
Kreston Menon
Khalifa Port Free Trade Zone (Khalifa Port FTZ), part of Khalifa Industrial Zone (KIZAD), was introduced by Abu Dhabi Ports in November 2016 in a bid to meet the growing demand for free zones in Abu Dhabi – with the UAE capital emerging as one of the foremost industrial and trading destinations in the region.

Khalifa Port FTZ is located within KIZAD, the trade, logistics and industrial hub of Abu Dhabi, fully integrated with Khalifa Port, one of the world’s fastest-growing container ports and a leading hub for maritime trade in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia (MEASA) region. Together with Khalifa Port and KIZAD, Khalifa Port FTZ adds significant value to investors, while strengthening Abu Dhabi’s position as a thriving maritime hub in the Middle East.

Captain Mohamed Juma Al-Shamisi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Ports, said: “The introduction of Khalifa Port FTZ marks an important milestone in the Abu Dhabi government’s efforts to diversify the economy away from hydrocarbon resources as envisaged by the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030. At Abu Dhabi Ports, we seek to support Abu Dhabi in achieving its ambitious economic vision through enhancing its competitive advantages on a global scale. As part of this priority, we have built a world-class trade and industrial zone that is ably supported by state-of-the-art infrastructure.”

Mana Mohammed Saeed Al Mulla, CEO of KIZAD said: “Khalifa Port FTZ offers unprecedented value and convenience for investors given its unique location in the centre of the UAE, as well as the integrated services it offers, facilitating hassle-free licensing and approval procedures at government departments and licensing authorities.”

Leveraging the geographical benefits of Abu Dhabi’s central location at the cross roads of East and West, Khalifa Port FTZ offers importers and exporters convenient reach to more than 4.5 billion consumers within four of the world’s time zones. In addition, the free trade zone’s multimodal connectivity to roads, ports, air and future rail networks ensures easy accessibility to all of the region’s key logistics and trading destinations.

The free trade zone is served by the ultra-modern deep-water seaport of Khalifa Port that is being developed to accommodate the largest ships in order to ensure the easy import of bulk raw materials and export of finished goods. Shaping up in stages, Khalifa Port will eventually offer a capacity of 15 million TEUs (Twenty Foot Equivalent Units) and 35 million tonnes of bulk and breakbulk cargo per year.

Like KIZAD, Khalifa Port FTZ creates a wealth of opportunities for local, regional and international companies and investors. In addition to facilitating access to markets across the world, the free zone offers a competitive operating cost environment and a meticulously designed setting that makes doing business easier than ever before.
The ultra-modern facility also provides unparalleled advantages for businesses including competitive lease prices and some of the lowest utility costs in the world – all under a tax-free umbrella. Through doing business in the free zone, investors can enjoy 100 percent foreign ownership, 100 percent repatriation of capital and profits, competitively priced shipments and efficient customs procedures, among other value-added benefits.

Abu Dhabi’s strategic location as a business hub of choice offers Khalifa Port FTZ a unique opportunity to tap into huge regional and global markets. Furthermore, the emirate’s strong fiscal and monetary outlook, investor-friendly regulatory environment and openness to other cultures considerably benefit the free zone through attracting the world’s best talents and creating favourable conditions for foreign companies to thrive in. Importantly, Khalifa Port FTZ also supports the local Emirati workforce by providing them with sustainable job opportunities.

Within the gross area of 100 square kilometers (across Areas A and B), Khalifa Port FTZ now boasts a wide portfolio of investment sectors including aluminium, automotive, engineered metals, port logistics, food processing, pharmaceuticals, polymers, packaging and other industries that rely on Khalifa Port.

Poised to grow and compete on a global scale, 35 free zone warehouses will soon be available for lease. In addition, the nonfree zone Light Industrial Units (LIU) Cluster that comprises 75 units will also become a major attraction at KIZAD for the SME sector.
Occupying a prime location in KIZAD, non-free zone KIZAD Logistics Park offers a total of 105 units, many of which have already been leased to leading national and international logistics providers. Setting new benchmarks for trade hubs in the region, this hybrid model of free zone and non-free zone solutions lends KIZAD a unique proposition among regional logistics and warehousing centres.

With Abu Dhabi’s international trade continuing to register robust growth, Khalifa Port FTZ today provides the best destination for companies seeking to expand their business in one of the world’s most dynamic and high-potential markets
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Let’s Embrace the Digital Change…!
Kreston Menon

“I’m afraid!” – This is a widely heard phrase from the managers and CEOs who are completely new to ‘digital’. Are you one of those many people who are overwhelmed by the thought of ‘Digital Transformation’? Provided that this is true, take a peek at this article, and give yourself a way ahead that is achievable.

For those who might be pondering – what is digital transformation?

Most of you might have heard much about how you have to “carefully change” for digital transformation and other related popular expressions, and the thought of being a technology expert to keep up with that might have seemed like quite daunting, right? But in fact, an effective digital transformation is not just about adopting the new shiniest tech apparatuses and anticipating that they should work miracles for your business. Then, what is it? Well, in simple terms, it is the use of new advanced digital technologies in the workplace and ensuring that you have the right working culture in place to truly reap the benefits. This simply means that digital transformation is more about action; it will add value to your business only if it assists your people to do something different.

Identify the challenges…

The crux of the matter is that digital transformation has spread among the employees, the fear of mechanizing employments and a shake-up of regular workflows that can remove individuals from their usual comfort zones. Researches accomplished by Microsoft uncovered that 61% of employees admit the feeling of some kind of uneasiness when new innovation or another method of working is brought into the working environment, and 59% feel that automation debilitates their own job stability. So, just like the innumerable advantages digital transformation brings, it also creates stress, with limited time to adapt. As no industries can keep themselves away from digital transformation in this digital era, your success completely lies in the effective management of manifold challenges posed by digital transformation.

So, by what means would you get ahead of the curve..?

Digital transformation can be associated with a couple of authoritative activities – from client loyalty and supplier enablement – to – certain back office functions like finance, human capital, and accounting. We would like to guide you with certain key information that will help you simplify your digital transformation journey ahead. As of now, let’s take the example of ‘Consumer experience transformation’ with a purpose to create an enhanced environment for the interaction with the customer and the distributor.


Business process – The right place to start!


Yes, the business process is always a perfect place to start. So, most of the people want to go right to a brand new application that will help them resolve their business problems. However, the speed of the desired outcomes can be accelerated by having a clear business process with a proper 360-degree approach.


Let’s have a data architecture strategy


Businesses may have complicated sales distributions with multiple systems; so, we need to approach the journey of digital transformation differently, and that would be completely based on the organization. So, creating an ideal strategy or approach to data architecture is a very crucial consideration. Make sure that the approach is modern and use all the best available technologies that we have today.


Go for modern development approach


Unfortunately, most organizations keep on doing things in the same old way as they did years ago. They often continue to extend their existing processes by adding or changing customizations required for the business. Often, changes in the business process can cause system changes. So, following modern development processes is one of the best adaptable approaches which will allow you to effortlessly adjust in the future to changes happening in organizations and strategies.


Choose the right data integration tools


Data integration is a highly crucial factor to be considered with respect to digital transformation. Finding great tools and/or custom protocols for the system and data integration is an important step towards making everything work. Ensure that the tools work well with your current sales and marketing systems; also, keep in mind that those applications may change over time and require different approaches to fixing business changes.


No more application-wise tracking


We often talk about taking ownership of all aspects of a business; the same goes for the software environment. You should stop tracking each application and monitor the entire end-to-end life cycle and customer experiences. There are now specific applications available to help you monitor across applications, middleware and platforms, providing consistent feedback for fully feasible administrations.

    Likewise, if you break down digital transformation into specific initiatives and steps, it will become more manageable, and you will definitely feel that digital transformation is not another obstacle, but a new opportunity. And it goes without saying that, technology, when designed with action and impact in mind, is obviously a powerful thing!

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