A successful conclusion of Dialog Awards 2020 marks a key milestone for Dialog Axiata PLC of a decade long journey of this unique HR initiative which Dialog along with MTI Consulting, conceptualized in 2011. For the 10^th consecutive year MTI Consulting has been the independent judging partner and lead facilitator to enable Dialog to successfully conclude the event during this tough global situation.

Dialog Awards aims to identify, motivate and recognize the employees of Dialog who have been untiringly working to explore innovative technology solutions to empower and enrich Sri Lankan lives and enterprises. A ground breaking success in human resource management as the focus of the award programme was to recognize and reward, achievements and contributions of highly performing teams and individuals at Dialog, enabling and driving Dialog’s performance excellence towards the reinforcement of Dialog’s position in the highly competitive sectors that it operates. Over the years, MTI, in addition to providing an independent evaluation of nominated initiatives, has assisted Dialog in the annual review of the awards process through the assessment procedure to better recognize employees.

To mark the decade long journey of Dialog Awards, MTI’s digital team joined hands with Dialog to completely digitalize the award process, allowing judges and participants to join remotely from multiple locations, locally and internationally. This allowed MTI to not only be the Independent Judging Partner for the event, but also to assists Dialog in the annual review of the awards process through the assessment procedure to better recognize employees. Digitalization of the Awards also allowed both Dialog and MTI to reduce the carbon footprint of both the organizations and allowed both teams to embrace a paperless culture strongly believed by Dialog and MTI.

“Standing tall as Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider, we are what we are today because of our people. Dialog Awards has given us the opportunity to recognize and reward our team for the incredible value they add to take Dialog to even greater heights” stated Dialog Axiata PLC’s Group Chief Executive, Supun Weerasinghe. “Year on year, MTI Consulting has remained a vital partner for Dialog Awards, developing and continuously improving the awards process and serving as an independent judge” he further added.

Established in August of 1993, Dialog is Sri Lanka’s largest technology and connectivity service provider. As the leading mobile operator, Dialog places great emphasis on ensuring high levels of motivation, especially given the scale of its operations and large customer base. To hold the crown as the market leader and to ensure that the best service delivery to customers is maintained, Dialog continues to consistently introduce and improve technologies through its encouragement of top-tier innovation, in addition to constantly revamping its operations, coverage, products and services.

“We are very pleased to be a part of Dialog Awards serving as an independent external partner once again. Since its inception, Dialog and MTI have worked together to critically review and improve the process, making Dialog Awards one of the most relevant, comprehensive and scientifically measured organizational awards program covering all spheres and functions of the company. Despite the global pandemic, teams at Dialog have managed to implement hundreds of initiatives related to Dialog’s annual performance which were evaluated by MTI. The initiatives included some very insightful and game changing initiatives that will have immediate and long-term impact to Dialog’s overall performance” said MTI CEO Hilmy Cader.

Against the backdrop of the pandemic, the Dialog Awards 2020 event was successfully conducted as a grand, interactive virtual event, the first of its kind in the company’s history and the country. Over the past ten years, Dialog Awards held its awards ceremony at BMICH, Nelum Pokuna and Shangri-La Hotel, making it the perfect platform to recognize exceptional achievements of the organization’s employees in areas including cost minimization, revenue generation, service delivery, project execution, innovation, digitalization, sustainability and CSR. Members of Dialog Axiata’s Board of Directors and the Company’s Senior Management have consistently been present to handover the awards, congratulate and interact with the winners as well as those present.

Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, who led the organization as Group CEO from 1997 to 2016 and is now the Chief Executive Officer – Telecommunications Business & Group Executive Vice President of Axiata Group Berhad, commented, “MTI has remained a vital partner to the Dialog Awards, developing and continuously improving the awards process, and serving as a referral external evaluator. The Dialog Awards epitomizes several of Dialog’s core values including but not limited to Exceptional Performance, Uncompromising Integrity, Team Work and Service from the Heart. Dialog’s leadership in Sri Lanka’s Telecommunications industry is derived in no small measure from the excellence of our people. The Dialog Awards Celebrates the best of best with respect to individual as well as collective achievement.”

With a market value of LKR 103.8 billion and a Customer base of 16.2 million users, Dialog moved from the 4^th entrant to market leader in the telecom and technology domains, one of the most fiercely competitive industries in Sri Lanka. Staying true to its vision, Dialog excelled in introducing the latest innovative technologies in the country, enabling Sri Lankans to experience “The Future. Today”. 

“The reason why the Dialog Awards is a world-class initiative is because you have the entire Senior Management team, inclusive of those at the helm, taking part in a long and thorough process to evaluate projects put forward by employees from almost every level of the organization, including presentations by employees who are then analysed and challenged by the Senior Management on how much their initiatives influenced business performance for the previous year. Furthermore, the entire process is transparent so as to guarantee fairness in judgment.” stated MTI’s CEO, Hilmy Cader.

Photos:

Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya (Chief Executive Officer – Telecommunications Business & Group Executive Vice President of Axiata Group Berhad), Dialog Axiata PLC’s Group Chief Executive, Supun Weerasinghe, MTI Consulting CEO – Hilmy Cader