RIYADH, 24 May 2004 — Saudi Arabia will host a conference on marketing and technology here on May 31-June 1 in a renewed effort to boost e-business and to introduce new management techniques in the region. Rapid growth in e-commerce on the global level has led to predictions that the Kingdom and the other Gulf states are likely to perform poorly, grabbing a 0.1 percent share out of the seven-trillion dollar global industry in 2005.
Barry Gray, publisher of Gulf Marketing Review, said this event, entitled “Successful Marketing in the Technology Age” will review many areas where technology is revolutionizing the way marketing is undertaken. “The technology which gave birth to e-business concepts has played an increasingly significant role over recent years in achieving local, regional and international business objectives,” Gray said.
The Gulf states spend $3 to $4 billion on their IT needs annually and are stepping up efforts to learn more about e-business and how to implement it. Saudi Arabia remains a net importer of IT products with its imports reported to be growing substantially. The Kingdom is one of 51 countries in the world to have introduced cyber laws.
Promoting new customer relationship management (CRM) with the help of online technology is required, said Gray. This CRM concept is a relatively new approach in the Gulf, and aims to create and develop business relationships with carefully targeted customers. The two-day conference, he said, “seeks to highlight the importance of developing a strategic approach to implementing CRM systems and also discuss new marketing communications technologies, use of telecom tools, developing a profitable e-business in Saudi Arabia and the essentials of e-marketing”.
