AL AIN : Al Ain Zoo has established a solid foundation for digitization, and remote working standards in line with the highest standards of cyber security and guaranteeing business continuity, all while ensuring staff health and safety, amidst the ongoing challenges presented by Covid-19.
Commenting on this, Hazza Mohammed Al Houqani, Senior Engineer IT Support at Al Ain Zoo said: “After government directive came to implement precautionary measures and advising organizations to start working from home, we took immediate action to ensure staff could continue with seamlessly working remotely, while also implementing internal security systems within a cyber ecosystem that maintains the privacy and confidentiality of our digital assets.”
Aysha Ahmed Al Baloushi, Senior System Engineer at Al Ain Zoo, discussed the implemented measures: “As part of our continues efforts to enhance the users experience to work remotely, we are lunching Microsoft Office 365 which utilizes cloud computing, allowing users to upload, store, and send documents from any computer or smart phone from anywhere in the world. This enables employees to download up to 15 copies of software and applications they require on any device, in line with the cyber security prerequisites within the country.”
“Almost 70% of the cloud storage project is complete, offering each member of staff one terabyte of cloud storage to use for storing files and applications which they can access using any smart device.”
These systems allow staff members to set conditions and apply special confidentiality and privacy settings for their documents. In addition, Al Ain Zoo has also launched an advanced digital system to set and track goals and KPIs. This recently implemented system ensures quick and accurate evaluation, with data presented directly to higher management and strategic planning department instead of traditional manual methods.
In order to maintain the availability of old emails, Al Ain Zoo has introduced an archiving feature with limitless capability, and increased emails storage capacity up to 99 Gigabytes for every staff member.
The first implementation of remote working systems at Al Ain Zoo was with Tarasol and Microsoft Teams programs, with both systems allowing staff to stay in touch and communicate efficiently, offering a number of features to facilitate calls and video conferencing, as well as uploading and sharing files. In the near future to further support digitalization, almost 50% of staff will be able to make local and international phone calls using Microsoft teams, providing them with all communications tools on one device.
Al Ain Zoo tickets are available for booking online or using the official app for Al Ain Zoo which includes a wide range of features such as planning ahead of their visit by setting exhibits and experiences they want to visit, as well as utilizing Internet of Things technologies through to providing a beacon to help locate guests in case of an emergency or even to provide transport services.
To continue technology growth, Al Ain Zoo has also implemented tests using artificial intelligence to identify each animal individually, using skin or face scan by replacing traditional methods with advanced smart systems, in order to track and look after its collection of almost 4000 animals.