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Joining OSN permanently in February, vice president of IT Damian O’Gara is spearheading its digital transformation drive. Facing stiff competition from global players – and across media platforms – O’Gara is committed to ensuring OSN’s customer experience and delivery methods are unrivalled in the Middle East.

The concept of ‘digitally transforming’ the broadcast media industry may seem strange to some. By its very nature, television services are heavily dependent on technology, with a relatively low use of manual work and processes. However, Damian O’Gara, vice president of IT for the Middle East’s household name in TV, OSN, feels that he still has much to do. “Digital transformation means different things to different people, and to different industries,” he says. “In the case of media, it’s a question of improving and extending services, as well as the methodologies to deliver your  product. Digital transformation at OSN is multifaceted. We are already a digital company, as well as a traditional direct to home (DTH) satellite provider.”

Initially brought into OSN to work in a technology transformation advisory role in October 2016, four months of sterling work convinced the firm to hire O’Gara on a fulltime basis in February. He now finds himself in the firm’s top technology job, and is determined to broaden and sharpen the ways that OSN delivers 158 TV channels – featuring content from some of Hollywood's biggest studios, including  Warner Bros., Paramount, HBO,  Fox, Disney, Sony, MGM, Universal, ESPN and DreamWorks – to its viewers. “Three main aspects of technology motivate me to work every morning,” O’Gara says. “Technology stability comes first. Next, it’s how we can innovate to generate growth, and thirdly, how we can make cost savings. These are the metrics that I am always hungry to satisfy, and all initiatives that I work on fall into one of these categories.”