Axiata Group appoints heads for business service, info security

Axiata Group has made two key appointments for its business services and information security, as part of its transformation efforts into a “new generation digital champion.”

The Malaysia–based telecoms conglomerate has recently appointed Asri Hassan Sabri – Axiata’s group chief business operations officer since January 2016  –  as chief executive officer of its newest subsidiary, Axiata Business Services. His appointment is effective January 1, 2018.

Asri has 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, an established South Asia private equity company.

Operating under the brand Xpand, Axiata Business Services will 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, according to a company statement.

Axiata has also hired Abid Abdul Adam as group chief information security officer, as part of the operator’s continued focus and commitment to improving cyber security capabilities. Abid will also assume the position of group head of privacy given the increasingly critical nature of data privacy and protection.

Abid joins Axiata from South Africa where he was the chief information security officer and deputy information protection officer for a leading financial services organization. He brings to the table over 15 years of experience in developing, implementing, and leading an Information security and technology risk management function.

Commenting on the appointments, Axiata president and group CEO Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim said the move is in line with the group’s hope to build a leading digital company, beyond its core mobile business.

“Asri’s role as CEO of Axiata Business Services is to scale up this addressable area of growth in the enterprise and IoT space and to ensure that group aggressively capitalizes on the opportunities in the ASEAN and South Asia market, to eventually bring a significant uplift in revenue,” he said in a statement.

“Abid’s two led functions work in tandem to help us to achieve cyber resilience and data privacy across the group.”