Rami Haffar: ‘We’re bringing proven experience management to the UAE’

Last month, Medallia – a global provider of experience management solutions – named New Metrics as its exclusive partner for the UAE market. With the ink barely dry on the contract, we sat down with New Metrics partner Rami Haffar to discuss how the collaboration will support UAE organisations in redefining their customer and employee experience.

Congratulations on the exclusive partnership with Medallia. What does this milestone represent for New Metrics and the UAE?

This is a major milestone for New Metrics and a key step in realizing our vision of creating human value at scale.

We’ve been active in the UAE since 2019, and what stands out immediately is that experience is deeply embedded across the country’s operations. Government, telecom, financial services, and beyond – all touchpoints are designed, measured, and continuously improved.

The UAE is one of the most advanced and ambitious markets for experience transformation. Expanding our exclusive partnership with Medallia here is a natural step – it brings together best-in-class technology and local execution expertise.

This unlocks scale. It allows us to introduce advanced, AI-driven use cases, accelerate adoption across industries, and most importantly, help organizations move from insights to measurable impact. We’re not just enabling experience management – we’re helping define what good looks like in this market.

What drove the decision to extend this exclusivity into the UAE market specifically, and why at this point in time?

This expansion is a direct result of the impact we’ve already delivered in Saudi Arabia with Medallia. We’ve proven that when experience management is done right – combining technology, analytics, and execution – it drives tangible business outcomes. Extending this into the UAE is the logical next step.

The UAE is globally recognized for its forward-thinking approach to digital transformation and artificial intelligence. With initiatives like the UAE National AI Strategy 2031 and significant investments in the digital economy, AI and data-driven decision-making are foundational.

Experience is at the center of this transformation. Across sectors – government, finance, and telecom – there is a clear focus on delivering seamless, personalized, and high-quality interactions at scale.

Medallia, recognized by Gartner and Forrester as a leader, combined with our local expertise, bridges the gap between insight and action. This move isn’t just geographic expansion – it’s about aligning with a market already investing heavily in AI and experience, and bringing a proven model that accelerates that ambition.

You’ve emphasized localized data centers as part of this expansion. How critical is data residency in shaping client decisions in the UAE today?

Data residency and cybersecurity are absolutely critical – they sit at the core of organizational trust. Across government and regulated sectors like banking and telecom, organizations must meet strict requirements for governance, security, and localized hosting. They need to comply with both global standards and UAE-specific regulations.

Smaller players may offer basic capabilities, but they often fall short on enterprise-grade requirements such as scalability, reliability, advanced analytics, or secure AI adoption. They can support isolated use cases, but not large-scale, mission-critical experience programs.

Our localized Medallia offering addresses this gap. By combining a globally leading platform with full compliance to local regulations, we enable organizations to scale confidently – from targeted listening programs to enterprise-wide adoption across thousands of users.

Ultimately, localization is what unlocks scale. It allows experience management to be embedded at the core of operations, delivering clear ROI at every stage.

What makes the New Metrics and Medallia partnership uniquely positioned compared to other experience management players in the region?

Every player serves a different segment, and that’s important to recognize. Not every organization requires enterprise-level complexity, and not every vendor can deliver it.

Where we stand out is at the enterprise end of the spectrum – where scale, governance, security, and measurable impact are non-negotiable. We’re not a survey tool or a point solution. We focus on large-scale transformations, embedding CX and EX across the organization, from frontline teams to executive leadership, with clear return on investment.

What differentiates us is the combination of Medallia’s globally recognized, enterprise-grade platform – trusted by over 2,000 organizations – and our ability to operationalize it locally. We bring the advisory layer, industry expertise, and execution capabilities to turn insights into action at scale.

In practice, we become the backbone of experience management – connecting data across channels, enabling omnichannel listening, and ensuring business decisions are driven by real-time insights. We don’t compete on features – we compete on impact.

Many organizations have invested in experience platforms yet struggle to translate insights into action. Why does this gap exist, and how are you addressing it?

This is one of the biggest challenges in the market today. Many organizations collect feedback, but few operationalize it.

The gap exists because experience management is often treated as a reporting exercise rather than a transformation program. Dashboards exist, but there’s no ownership, governance, or structured path from insight to action.

At New Metrics, we start with the operating model, not the technology. We define use cases, link them to business outcomes, and establish accountability to ensure insights lead to action.

continuous omnichannel signal capture that turns every interaction into real-time operational insight. Issues are automatically routed to the right teams for fast, personalized follow-up. Advanced analytics and AI reveal root causes, actions, and recommendations that enable the business to resolve systemic issues across journeys, channels, and locations.    

Success comes from treating experience management as a core business capability – not just a tool. That’s exactly what we help organizations build.

How do you see AI reshaping the future of customer and employee experience in the region?

AI is fundamentally transforming how organizations understand and act on experience. Historically, experience management was reactive – feedback was collected, analyzed, and decisions were made later. AI changes that entirely.

In the UAE, where expectations for seamless, personalized interactions are high, AI enables predictive and prescriptive insights at scale. It can detect emerging patterns, flag friction before it impacts satisfaction, and recommend or trigger automated interventions.

This shifts experience from reactive to anticipatory – helping organizations act before issues arise, prioritize resources effectively, and deliver consistent, high-quality interactions across all touchpoints.

At New Metrics, AI is a force multiplier for human expertise. Combined with Medallia’s platform and our local execution capabilities, it enables organizations to operationalize experience at scale, drive measurable outcomes, and continuously improve both customer and employee journeys in ways that weren’t previously possible.