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Abdallah Saleme

PartnerNew Jersey

Helps organizations develop innovative strategies and transform technology capabilities to better serve stakeholders

Abdallah is a leader of our McKinsey Digital Practice and has extensive experience serving clients on driving large-scale technology and operations transformations, as well as developing innovative strategies to unlock the full potential of technology—particularly regarding the cloud and technology economics and technology sourcing.

Examples of his recent client work include the following:

  • helping a cloud-native video streaming group stand up its cloud financial-operations capabilities, including building a unit economics model and developing a demand-driven analytical forecast of cloud consumption
  • driving a comprehensive transformation of technology spending at a major telecom operator, including a new sourcing operating model, and the optimization of its more than $2 billion budget baseline
  • serving a public-sector institution in transforming its technology strategy in service of the organizational mission and standing up capabilities to unlock value from the cloud

In addition to his client work, Abdallah leads McKinsey’s knowledge and thought leadership efforts on the cloud and technology economics. Previously, he led McKinsey’s annual digital-sourcing survey, which canvasses the latest thinking by more than 250 C-suite executives and technology leaders on digital spending trends, especially for next-generation services such as the cloud, AI, edge, and big data.

PUBLISHED WORK

Lessons from a successful cloud journey: Empathy, community, and a smart approach to value,” McKinsey & Company, January 2024

The FinOps way: How to avoid the pitfalls to realizing cloud’s value,” McKinsey & Company, January 2023

More for less: Five ways to lower cloud costs without destroying value,” McKinsey & Company, November 2022

Cloud economics and the six most damaging mistakes to avoid,” McKinsey & Company, May 2022

Unlocking value: Four lessons in cloud sourcing and consumption,” McKinsey & Company, November 2020

CIOs are redefining what a successful relationship with their IT providers looks like,” McKinsey & Company, April 2020

EDUCATION

Columbia University
MBA, finance, strategy and operations

American University of Beirut
BE, electrical and computer engineering