Copperleaf Hosts First AIP Forum in Abu Dhabi
After successful events in Copenhagen, Hamburg and Paris, Copperleaf® recently hosted our first Asset Investment Planning (AIP) forum in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Thought leaders from the water, energy, roads and ports sectors gathered to discuss best practices, explore innovative use cases, and gain a deeper understanding of how portfolio optimisation and value-based decision making helps businesses maximise capital efficiency, manage risk, and achieve strategic goals.
Getting Started with AIP
The Forum began with an introduction to asset investment planning and management, led by Qusai Kankazar, Director of Corporate Asset Management at AD Ports Group. Qusai outlined some of the challenges faced by his organisation, including managing rapid growth, balancing strategic goals, and overcoming some of their current business processes. AD Ports Group realised it needed a tried-and-tested out-of-the-box solution that could:
- Value financial and non-financial measures on a common scale
- Empower multi-year, multi-constraint portfolio optimisation
- Provide strong governance and auditability
- Align investments with corporate strategy
- Enable data-driven, consistent analysis
- Integrate with existing systems
Qusai detailed the rigorous selection process, emphasising key factors for choosing an AIP solution, such as alignment with AD Ports’ goals, the capacity to measure non-financial value drivers, and the team’s expertise and efficiency in delivering rapid time to value. AD Ports selected the Copperleaf solution to support the optimisation of its investment portfolio and embed a consistent, value-based methodology to assess all investments, allowing the organisation to compare different investment scenarios to identify the highest-value plan.
Qusai Kankazar, Director of Corporate Asset Management at AD Ports Group, outlined the importance of choosing the right AIP solution
Deep Dive into the Copperleaf Value Framework
Next on the agenda was a deep dive into the Copperleaf Value Framework with Stefan Sadnicki, Managing Director for Copperleaf in EMEA.
The Copperleaf Value Model Library offers an extensive collection of 260+ best practice value models, allowing organisations to measure all value drivers—both financial and non-financial—to help identify the projects which deliver the greatest return on investment.
Stefan highlighted some of the Value Frameworks used by the Copperleaf Community, demonstrating how the frameworks can help businesses juggle competing imperatives and challenges like asset performance and resilience, network expansion and modernisation, and ESG and net zero initiatives.
Delegates put this concept to the test in the popular Copperleaf Optimisation Game. Participants were tasked with analysing several projects and investments to build the most valuable and cost-effective portfolios, empowering them to better understand how value-based decision making can transform investment planning by making the process quicker, easier, and more cost-effective.
Participants enjoyed the challenge of the Copperleaf Optimisation Game
Bridging the gap between planning and execution with SAP
Copperleaf recently partnered with SAP to provide organisations with an end-to-end solution for investment planning, execution and continuous adaptation.
Rui de Sousa, Industry and Value Advisor at SAP, explained how Copperleaf and SAP work in partnership to provide a comprehensive experience, enabling businesses to identify what work to do and when, and ensure that work is carried out effectively. The Copperleaf solution offers a flexible value framework, portfolio optimisation, multi-scenario analysis and more to ensure users can select the right work, while SAP manages budgets, resource planning, actuals and re-forecasts to keep the project on track.
Use Cases from the Copperleaf Community
The AIP Forum ended with one of our most popular sessions—a look at some of the use cases from the Copperleaf Community. Covering case studies from Copenhagen Metro, Anglian Water and Enexis, Rashad Samadzada, Regional Sales Manager for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Stefan showcased how Copperleaf clients have leveraged the solution to overcome critical business challenges and realise a range of significant benefits, including:
- Increased transparency with executives, regulators and shareholders
- A consistent, data-driven approach to investment planning
- Capability for multi-scenario and ‘what-if’ analysis
- 5% greater investment portfolio value
- Reduced workload and planning time
We would like to extend our thanks to all our speakers, delegates and organisers for contributing to the success of this event, and we look forward to seeing you at the next one!
Sign up for our next events or find out more about the Copperleaf Community here.