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Practical insights for business leaders.

Try this at your office

Short, practical steps for every solution: simple first moves anyone can take, and a line for leaders. Use them freely.

Plan: Strategy, Finance & Transformation

Strategy & Growth Roadmap

Turn goals into three priorities this month

  1. List every goal on the table, then keep only the three that would matter most if nothing else got done.
  2. Give each priority one owner and one number that shows progress.
  3. Stop or pause one current activity that serves none of the three, and say so openly.

For leaders: Ask each executive to name what they will stop doing for the strategy; a plan without trade-offs is a wish list.

Organisation Design & Operating Model

Speed up your decisions this month

  1. Pick five recent decisions and write down who proposed, who approved and how many days each took.
  2. Mark every step where approval was repeated or nobody was sure who decides.
  3. Agree a one-page list of who decides what, and use it for the next month.

For leaders: Measure spans of control and layers before adding headcount; fewer approval steps usually speed things up more than more people do.

Business Setup & Market Entry

Prepare the first conversation about entering the market

  1. Write one paragraph on what you will sell, to whom, and why a local buyer would switch to you.
  2. List the licences, registrations and local presence your activity needs, and confirm each with the official source or a licensed adviser.
  3. Name three local buyers or partners you could meet in the first month.

For leaders: Decide early whether the first year is about learning or about revenue; the structure, team and budget follow from that choice.

Restructuring & Turnaround

Know your cash runway this week

  1. Write down cash in hand and the fixed payments due over the next 13 weeks.
  2. List expected receipts conservatively, week by week, and see where the balance turns tight.
  3. Pick the two actions that move cash soonest: collecting overdue invoices and pausing non-critical spend.

For leaders: Run a 13-week cash view every week while you reshape the business; it shows what to act on before monthly reports do.

Financial Performance & Cost Optimisation

See where the money really goes

  1. Export the last 12 months of spend and group it by supplier and by category.
  2. Sort by size: the top 20 lines usually hold most of the money, so start there.
  3. For each top line ask: do we still need it, at this volume, at this price?

For leaders: Tie every saving to a change in how work is done; savings that only cut budgets tend to grow back within a year.

Governance, Risk & Policy Framework

Write down who may approve what

  1. List the ten decisions that carry the most money or risk in your organisation.
  2. For each, write who may approve it and up to what amount.
  3. Share the list with the people concerned and keep it where everyone can find it.

For leaders: A short delegation-of-authority table protects the board and the managers; review it whenever the structure changes.

PMO & Transformation Delivery

Get every initiative onto one page

  1. List every running initiative with its owner, finish date and status: on track, at risk or late.
  2. Remove or merge anything nobody can explain in one sentence.
  3. Review the page for 30 minutes every two weeks and decide, do not just report.

For leaders: Limit how many initiatives run at once; finishing fewer projects faster beats starting many.

Regulatory Compliance Assessment

Check one requirement before the regulator does

  1. Pick one regulation that applies to you and list its main requirements in a simple table.
  2. Next to each, write how you meet it today and where the evidence is kept: a policy, a report or a system record.
  3. Mark each line met, partly met or not met, and give every gap an owner and a date.

For leaders: Keep evidence ready all year, not only before inspections, and confirm how a rule applies with your legal adviser or the regulator's published guidance.

Build: Digital, AI & Platforms

AI Opportunity Sprint

Find one task where AI pays

  1. Ask each team to list tasks that are repetitive, text-heavy and done every week.
  2. Score each by hours spent and how easy it is to check the result.
  3. Try the top task for two weeks with an approved tool and measure the hours saved.

For leaders: Start with tasks that have an owner and a measure; an AI pilot with both is ready to reach production.

AI Agents & Automation

Map one process before you automate it

  1. Write the steps of one repetitive process on a single page, including who does what and how long each step waits.
  2. Remove steps that only exist to check other steps.
  3. Automate the remaining step that takes the most time, and keep a person approving the result.

For leaders: Simplify a process before you automate it; then automation multiplies the gain. Simplify, automate, measure.

Data Platforms & Dashboards

Agree what one number means

  1. Pick the number your management argues about most, such as revenue, headcount or customers.
  2. Write one definition, the source system and who owns it.
  3. Publish that definition with every report that shows the number.

For leaders: One trusted dashboard with ten agreed measures beats fifty reports; decide the measures before the tool.

Apps, Portals & Marketplaces

Test the app idea with real users first

  1. Write the three tasks a user must be able to do in the first minute.
  2. Sketch the screens on paper and watch five real users try them.
  3. Fix what confused them before writing any code.

For leaders: Measure adoption, not launch: set a target for weekly active users and plan the support that gets you there.

Business Systems (ERP & CRM)

List the spreadsheets that run the business

  1. Ask each department which spreadsheets they could not work without.
  2. For each, note who updates it, how often and which system the data comes from.
  3. Start any system project with the three spreadsheets that carry the most risk.

For leaders: Choose a system for the processes you want, not the ones you have, and keep customisation to a minimum.

Cloud, Hosting & Managed Platforms

Check what you pay for in the cloud

  1. Pull last month's cloud or hosting bill and list each service with its cost.
  2. Mark anything unused, oversized or running outside working hours that could be switched off.
  3. Confirm where each system and its data are hosted and whether that location meets your obligations.

For leaders: Set a monthly budget alert and an owner for every environment; cloud costs grow quietly without one.

Data Protection & AI Governance Programme

Start a simple record of personal data

  1. List the systems and files where you keep customer or employee personal data.
  2. For each, note why you keep it, who can see it and how long you keep it.
  3. Remove access that is no longer needed, and agree a rule for which AI tools may receive which data. Check legal questions with a licensed adviser.

For leaders: Name an owner for data protection and AI use, and make the approved-tools list public inside the company.

Digital Growth & Marketing Technology

Make the website bring enquiries

  1. Read your home page as a buyer: is it clear within five seconds what you do and for whom?
  2. Give every page one next step, such as a form, a call or a download.
  3. Each month, track how many enquiries came from the website and from which page.

For leaders: Measure leads and their quality, not followers or visits; cut channels that bring neither.

Operating Systems & Device Software

Write down what the device must do

  1. List what the device or kiosk must do every day, and what must never happen.
  2. Note the conditions it works in: heat, dust, connectivity and who uses it.
  3. Agree how it will be updated and monitored before choosing any hardware.

For leaders: Plan for remote updates and spare units from day one; field visits cost more than the device.

Discover: Research, Innovation & Space

Innovation & R&D Programme Design

Turn ideas into a pipeline

  1. Collect ideas in one shared list with the problem each one solves.
  2. Score them by value and by how quickly you can test them.
  3. Fund the top two for a small, time-boxed experiment with a clear go or stop decision.

For leaders: Treat R&D as a portfolio: expect most experiments to stop, and reward fast, well-documented stops.

Space Sector Advisory & Market Entry

Map the space opportunity before investing

  1. List what you could offer: data, services, components or training.
  2. Identify the likely buyers and the authority that regulates the activity, and read its published rules.
  3. Talk to two potential customers before committing budget.

For leaders: Partner where licences or heritage are needed; enter where you add value buyers already pay for.

Space Training & Technology Workshops

Run a one-hour AI learning session for your team

  1. Pick one real task your team does every week.
  2. Show how an approved AI tool helps with it, and where it gets things wrong.
  3. Ask everyone to try it on their own work for a week and share one example.

For leaders: Skills stick when training is tied to daily work; follow every workshop with a practical assignment.

Earth Observation & Space Data Analytics

Ask a question satellite images can answer

  1. Write the decision you need to make, such as where land use has changed.
  2. Define the area, the dates and the level of detail you need.
  3. Compare the result against what you can check on the ground at two or three sites.

For leaders: Use satellite evidence to track change over time, not single snapshots; trends are what support decisions.

Think Tank & Insight Reports

Check the evidence before the decision

  1. Write the decision and the three facts it depends on.
  2. For each fact, note the source and how recent it is.
  3. Where a fact is a guess, say so, and decide what would change your mind.

For leaders: Ask for the strongest argument against your preferred option before deciding; independent evidence protects the decision later.

Prototype to Pilot (Robotics, AI & Engineering)

Define what the prototype must prove

  1. Write the one question the prototype must answer, such as "Can it pick up this part reliably?".
  2. Set a success measure and a test you can run in a day.
  3. Build the cheapest version that answers that question, nothing more.

For leaders: Agree up front what happens if the prototype succeeds: who funds the pilot, where and when.

Research Partnerships & Grant Proposals

Prepare a grant application before the call opens

  1. Keep a one-page project summary: the problem, the method, the team and the expected impact.
  2. Line up partners and letters of support early; they take the longest.
  3. Read the funder's evaluation criteria and map every section of your proposal to them.

For leaders: Build a calendar of the funding calls that fit your work; the best proposals start months before the deadline.

Run: Managed Operations

Office & Administrative Operations

Run the office with a weekly checklist

  1. List the recurring office tasks: supplies, maintenance requests, visitors, mail and meeting rooms.
  2. Give each task an owner and a day of the week.
  3. Review the checklist every Thursday for five minutes and fix what slipped.

For leaders: Buy outcomes, not headcount: agree service levels with providers and review them monthly.

Compliance Evidence & Readiness Operations

Keep evidence ready before anyone asks

  1. List every recurring review or report you must answer, with its month and the person who owns it.
  2. For each one, write down the evidence it needs and where that evidence lives today.
  3. Keep one shared, dated folder per cycle, and check it a month before the deadline.

For leaders: Make evidence a routine with named owners, not a scramble before each review; the person who signs stays the person who checks.

Managed Applications & IT Support

Give every system an owner

  1. List the systems your team uses every day and who fixes each one when it breaks.
  2. Write a one-page guide for the five most common requests: what to send, to whom, and how fast to expect an answer.
  3. Log every request for a month, then fix the cause of the most frequent one.

For leaders: Give every system a named owner and an agreed response time before the next launch; both keep it running when it matters most.

Data & Reporting Operations

Stop rebuilding the same report by hand

  1. Pick the report that takes longest each month and note every manual step.
  2. Agree one source for each figure and the person who owns it.
  3. Automate one step at a time, starting with the copy-and-paste ones, and check the totals against last month.

For leaders: Ask for fewer, trusted reports on a fixed date rather than many late ones; decide what each report is for before asking for a new one.

Smart Operations & Robotics

Measure before you buy robots or sensors

  1. Choose one service, such as reception or meeting rooms, and record how it is measured today.
  2. Identify the task that is repetitive and easy to check.
  3. Pilot one device or sensor in one area for a month and compare the results.

For leaders: Buy technology for the measure it improves; a dashboard nobody acts on is a cost, not a saving.

Asset Disposal Support

Get value from idle equipment

  1. List idle equipment with its age, condition and location.
  2. Erase or remove data from every device before it leaves your hands, and keep a record.
  3. Group items into lots and decide which to reuse, sell or recycle.

For leaders: A yearly disposal cycle frees space and cash and reduces data risk; give it an owner.

Engage: Experience & Design

Experience & Service Design

Walk your own service as a customer

  1. Choose one service and go through it yourself, start to finish, as a customer or beneficiary would.
  2. Note every point where you waited, repeated information or did not know what happens next.
  3. Fix one of those points this month, and ask five customers whether it feels better.

For leaders: Look at the whole journey, not only your department's part; the customer experiences one organisation, whoever owns each step.

UI/UX & Design Systems

Watch five people use your app

  1. Ask five real users to complete one common task on your website or app while you watch without helping.
  2. Write down where they hesitate, tap the wrong place or give up.
  3. Fix the two biggest problems, check the Arabic and English versions behave the same, and test again.

For leaders: Judge a digital service by whether people finish their task, not by how it looks in a presentation; one shared design system keeps every screen consistent.

Private Occasions & Team Experiences

Plan a team day people remember

  1. Ask the team what they would value: learning, sport, volunteering or simply time together.
  2. Fix the date, numbers and budget, and keep the day within working hours where possible.
  3. Close with one shared outcome, such as a team agreement or a project idea, so the day leads somewhere.

For leaders: Judge team experiences by what changes afterwards, not by the photos; one well-designed day a year beats several routine ones.

Custom Specialised Design

Write the brief before the design

  1. Write in one page what the design must achieve, for whom, and what it must not do.
  2. List the limits: budget, deadline, approvals and any rules the result must meet.
  3. Agree how you will judge the result before you see any concept.

For leaders: A clear brief saves more time than any designer; approve the brief, then let the designers propose.

Working with people

Hard colleagues, bosses and clients are part of working life. These steps keep the focus on the work, protect what is fair, and help leaders see clearly.

For team members

When someone you don't report to pushes work on you

  1. Reply politely and ask for the request in writing (email or the team's task tool), with the deadline.
  2. Check with your own manager which priority comes first: "Happy to help once my manager confirms the priority."
  3. Keep your manager copied on anything that changes your workload, so the decision sits with the person who manages you.

Make your work visible so credit lands where it belongs

  1. Keep a short weekly log of what you delivered, with dates and links.
  2. Share progress in team updates or shared channels, not only in private messages.
  3. When you hand work over, send it with your name on the file and a short summary to everyone concerned.

Raise a concern without it becoming about you

  1. Write down what happened: dates, facts and the effect on the work, not opinions about the person.
  2. Ask for a private conversation and propose one specific change you need.
  3. If nothing changes, follow your organisation's written grievance or HR procedure, and keep copies of what you send.

Protect yourself while you work it through

  1. Know your contract, job description and company policies; ask HR for them in writing if you don't have them.
  2. Build allies outside the situation: a mentor, a trusted colleague in another team, your professional network.
  3. If internal routes fail, official channels exist. In Saudi Arabia a labour complaint starts with the Ministry of Human Resources' amicable-settlement stage. Speak to a qualified lawyer before you act.

When a client keeps moving the goalposts

  1. Confirm every agreed scope, date and decision in a short written note after the meeting.
  2. Log each change request with its effect on time and cost, and share the log at every review.
  3. Raise problems early with two or three options, so the client chooses rather than blames.

For leaders

Decide on evidence, not on who you know

  1. Before judging a complaint, hear each side separately and ask for examples with dates.
  2. Compare what each person delivered against agreed goals, not by who reports to you most often or most warmly.
  3. Tell the people involved what you decided and why, even when it is not what they hoped.

One manager per person, clear roles, shared credit

  1. Make sure everyone knows who assigns their work; requests from other seniors go through that manager.
  2. Name the people who did the work in updates and presentations, and stop anyone presenting others' work as their own.
  3. Do not let work be handed to juniors or people outside the team without their manager's agreement.

When someone stops delivering

  1. Talk early and privately: describe the gap with examples and ask what is getting in the way.
  2. Agree clear expectations, the support you will give and a review date, in writing.
  3. Follow through fairly: recognise improvement, and use the organisation's documented process if it does not come.

Make it safe to speak up

  1. Give everyone a turn in meetings, including quiet and junior members.
  2. Thank people who raise problems, and act visibly on at least one thing they said.
  3. Make clear that anyone who raises a concern in good faith will not be treated worse for it, and check that HR applies the same rule.

Longer reads

  • From AI pilot to production

    Most organisations in the Kingdom have tried AI. Far fewer run it every day. Here is what separates a pilot from a service that works every day, under Saudi rules, at a cost the business accepts.

  • Restructuring without breaking the organisation

    Budgets are tighter and boards want results, not reports. Restructuring can save money and still leave the organisation stronger, if it cuts work before people and protects what the future depends on.

  • When work relationships get hard: a fair way through for teams and leaders

    A boss who will not listen, a senior who pushes work on people they do not manage, a colleague who takes the credit. Most people stay silent for fear of their job or promotion. Here is what team members can do safely, and what leaders must do so it stops happening.

  • How companies and universities win research funding together

    National research funding rewards partnerships that solve real problems. Companies bring the problem and the route to market; universities bring the science. Here is how to build a partnership that funders and both partners can trust.

  • What your company documents must show under Saudi law

    Contracts, quotations, letters and invoices carry legal details that clients, banks and government buyers check. Getting them right once, in one set of templates, saves rework and builds trust.

  • Running business operations with smart tools and SLAs

    Facilities, IT support, front desks and back-office services work best when everyone knows what 'good' looks like. Clear service levels, simple tools and a monthly review turn daily operations into something leaders can see and improve.

  • Five finance habits that keep a small business healthy

    Most small businesses that struggle are not short of sales; they are short of cash at the wrong moment. Five simple habits give founders a clear view of money, margins and the months ahead.

  • Using AI in a small business without a big budget

    AI is no longer only for large companies. Small, focused tools can save hours every week, if you start with one task, protect your data and measure the result.