It is safe to say by now that 2020 wasn’t like any other year, it was a year where those who lived through its many unusual events will remember for the rest of their lives. The covid-19 virus spread being the main event of this year and the many changes, challenges, and difficulties this event had imposed on both individuals and organizations.

UAEU being no exception, the virus spread imposed a new type of learning and working environment. As a result, distance working and learning technologies were the way to keep matters going efficiently without risking our staff and students' precious lives. Naturally, DoIT being the technology provider had to step up to the challenge and I am proud to say that our team certainly did. In DoIT, we made it a priority that no disturbance should be made to the learning process as well as enabling all staff to work from home with the same quality of working from offices.

We in DoIT made it essential to rise to the trust and confidence that was put in us by the university community to go through these difficult times. DoIT provided all up-to-date online and distance working and learning technologies, made sure all these technologies were exactly what the UAEU community needed, helped in so many levels to educate the community regarding such technologies, worked closely with the community to eliminate any challenges and difficulties that might come up with being in such a new environment and using relatively new technologies.

In the meantime, we extended our efforts when realizing the need of continuing with UAEU joyful and happy events especially in such times where the community is in desperate need of such feelings, with DoIT staff experience, technical skills, and the help of the new technologies we gave the students the joy of celebrating their graduation ceremony online along with streamlining many other UAEU events which were a huge success. Regardless of the challenges, in DoIT we have always regarded our customer service experience as the measurement of our success, the same vision was carried through 2020 to make it a successful year despite all difficulties.

As CIO, I am greatly proud of the level of professionalism, dedication, and commitment my team had shown and continue to show as we and the rest of the world are finding our way out of this pandemic.

Afra Al Shamsi Chief Information Officer ( CIO)