Established in 1984, Berkeley is a member of the Klüh Group International Germany and offers an extensive gamut of services to esteemed clients across a spectrum of industries. Berkeley maintains a significant number of properties and provides a wide array of services to prominent local and international companies in the UAE. As they continue to make substantial progress, Berkeley has established valuable partnerships and is committed to driving positive change for the benefit of all its stakeholders. The year was challenging, however, the gradual opening of the market in Q3 of 2021 led to rising business sentiment. “The Expo 2020 has generated considerable interest and opened up the hospitality sector in a big way. This has benefited the FM industry and increased demand for the blue-collared workforce. I believe with this momentum the industry should bounce back to its pre-COVID status in a few months,” says Jiji Francis, Sr.Director UAE Operations, Berkeley UAE.

The 2022 impact!

 Berkeley’s digital transformation journey began in late 2019, and the pandemic acted as an accelerator pushing them to launch their “work from anywhere platform” with their employees. “This enabled “on the go” mobile online meetings with our customers and partners using the latest collaboration apps along with the ability to carry out essential business operations from anywhere. We also rolled out responsive web Apps which function on any web-enabled device allowing any time, anywhere ability to schedule works and monitor performance,” he adds.

 Having actionable data and the ability to generate reports with near real-time data continues to provide them with deeper insights into their business. Being able to quickly log new issues, identify and register the cause of an issue, & measure the performance of the response team; capture the reasons for success, etc. has led to a considerable improvement in the team’s response time. “The pandemic has taught us the importance of creating a culture of working within the framework of proper HSE guidelines. Increased HSE audits at all locations will bring new levels of safety at work and places of residences,” explains Jiji.

 The vision

Based on current positive market sentiments Jiji says that Berkeley has set ambitious targets for the year 2022. “The Hospitality sector is in our sights, as a part of our expansion plan. We believe that this industry is set to BERKELEY UAE grow considerably in the UAE. We will be increasing our presence in the Abu Dhabi market where demand is increasing at a good rate,” he adds.

 Moving forward to Automation & IoT will be Berkeley’s top priority and they aim to be leaders in this area. “Finally we are increasing investment into our Organisation to efficiently manage our operating costs. Berkeley is a major player in this industry, and we aim to enhance our reputation through innovation, staff welfare, constant training, and embracing change management,” sums up Jiji.