Higher Education Institutions Gather
SunGard SCT Inc., an operating unit of SunGard Data Systems, stated that the 4th Annual SCT Middle East User Group Conference (SMEUG) will be attended by delegates from 15 of the region’s leading universities and colleges including King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and Effat College. The two-day conference will take place on Dec. 13-14 at the Al-Bustan Rotana Hotel and live updates will also be available on the event website at www.sungardsct.com/smeug2005. The theme for this year’s SMEUG is “Experience the Unified Digital Campus.
The conference will feature client presentations focusing on various aspects of higher education technology, as well as consulting sessions led by SunGard SCT experts. Presentations will focus on administrative, academic, financial, human resource, student lifecycle, portal, integration and content management issues in higher education. Speakers include deans of admissions, finance directors and CIOs of the Middle East’s leading higher education institutions.
“Institutions in the region are seeing more and more, that strategic investments in higher education technology solutions can help improve services and streamline operational efficiencies,” said Mathew Boice, GM, SunGuard SCT, Middle East. “This conference is an annual opportunity for our users to share their best practices.”
Tech Revolutionizing Health Care Insurance
Waseel, the first medical applications service provider (ASP) serving the Saudi and Gulf region, is revolutionizing the transaction process in the regional health care insurance industry. The company is providing state-of-the-art technology solutions to health care and health care insurance companies in the region in an effort to enable them to reduce their paperwork and move toward electronic transaction.
“We are focused on promoting the concept of electronic services for all health care-related transactions, replacing traditional processes that involve time-consuming processing, high claims rejection rates and delay of payments for more than six months at some cases,” said Wassim Khashoggi, CEO, Waseel.
According to Khashoggi, the number of insured individuals will increase dramatically with the implementation of the new medical insurance regulations in Saudi Arabia. Problems of time-consuming processes, claims rejections and delay in payments will negatively affect the provider’s cash flow, operations and customer care. It is crucial for health care firms and hospitals to optimize and automate a very important part of their business processes related to payment cycle leading to higher productivity, profitability and better cash flow. The health care insurance market is expanding and both payers and providers have to work toward decreasing their operational costs and improve their customer service.
Using the latest technologies and Internet solutions, Waseel has successfully launched a wide range of advanced electronic interaction services (web services) that facilitate online exchange of financial information such as claims between insurance companies and health care providers. Waseel is committed to push the health care insurance industry to break free from paper transactions that slow the development of companies operating in such an aggressively growing vital sector.
Fujitsu Siemens Records Excellent Growth
Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC) has recorded a 73.9 percent year-on-year growth in combined Middle East and Africa (MEA) desktop and laptop sales in the third quarter of 2005 — outpacing average industry growth of 33.1 percent by more than double, according to IDC’s final figures released November 2005.
Mobility product sales were the biggest climber with a 114.4 percent increase from 19,594 units sold in Q3 2004, to 42,016 in the third quarter of this year — nearly 40 percent over the average market year-on-year growth — signaling the company’s continuing drive to strengthen its presence in the expansive regional markets.
“This across-the-board sales increase highlights our ongoing efforts to develop a clear cut channel strategy to deliver customer-centric, tailor-made IT solutions to the region,” said Habib Bouchrara, VP, International Sales Region, Fujitsu Siemens Computers. “The definition and refinement of a clear and strong channel strategy, coupled with a flexible supply channel, have created increased product supply efficiency and supported our channel partners.”
FSC’s MEA desktop sales also recorded above average growth with a 36.1 percent increase. Saudi Arabia saw the biggest escalation with a 110.6 percent rise, and the rest of the Middle East witnessed a combined 41.3 percent increase — the highest growth by the Top 5 manufacturers — and only one of four vendors not to witness a sales downturn in this sector.
“These figures fit with current product trends that are witnessing phenomenal growth in the mobility sector for the region. However, our strong showing in the desktop market illustrates the quality of our product and our relationship with the customer,” added Bouchrara.
Hotelsoftware Wins Big
InterContinental Hotels Group’s Express by Holiday Inn hotels have selected Brilliant Hotelsoftware to supply their portfolio management system (PMS) and point of sale (POS) products to 35 Express by Holiday Inn hotels in the GCC over the next five years. InterContinental Hotels Group has a long standing relationship with Brilliant Hotelsoftware currently being used in Holiday Inns and Express by Holiday Inn in the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Developed by InterContinental Hotels Group to meet the needs of the fastest growing market, Express by Holiday Inn is the world’s largest budget brand and is growing rapidly. In a market dominated with five-star resorts, they have found a niche full of potential. Their first hotel will be built in Saudi Arabia and is scheduled to open in 2006 closely followed by one in Qatar, one in Bahrain and another in Dubai in 2007. Of the new hotels, 12 will be in Saudi Arabia with the rest in select locations in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE and Oman. The company has plans to launch 25 to 30 of the properties in the next five years.
In preparation for these new clients, Brilliant Hotelsoftware has recently established an office in Dubai. This local presence will provide support, training, installation and sales services for the Middle East. European hotel software giant, Brilliant’s move into the Middle East has been applauded by local industry experts. They welcome an end to the near monopoly that the current hotel software companies have had in the region. Many hoteliers have long awaited a strong alternative choice for their hotel software products.
Epicor Aquires CRS Retail Systems Inc.
Epicor Software Corporation has acquired privately held CRS Retail Systems based in Newburgh, NY, in an all cash transaction for approximately $121 million. Epicor will finance the transaction utilizing existing credit facilities and cash-on-hand. CRS was purchased from Accel-KKR, a technology focused private investment firm. With this acquisition Epicor becomes the eighth largest enterprise software company globally.
“CRS will be operated as a separate division of Epicor led by Kathy Frommer, who will serve as general manager of the division and as a member of Epicor’s senior management team,” said Mark Duffell, president and COO of Epicor. “In addition, we are delighted that Kathy and her senior team at CRS have agreed to long term employment with the combined companies that should ensure a seamless transition for CRS customers and employees, alike.”
Epicor and CRS plan to leverage their significant combined experience with Microsoft .NET technology and service-oriented architecture (SOA) to provide retailers with more flexible enterprise integration, increased scalability and expanded analytics capabilities. The roll-out plans for CRS retail solutions for the Middle East and Africa region are being drawn out and will be available soon.
Adobe Completes Acquisition
Adobe Systems Incorporated announced the completion of its acquisition of Macromedia, Inc. As a result of the acquisition, Macromedia common stock is no longer being traded and shares of Macromedia common stock were converted into the right to receive 1.38 shares of Adobe common stock. The combination of Adobe and Macromedia creates one of the world’s largest and diversified software companies. The move also accelerates Adobe’s strategic initiative to advance a powerful software platform, based on PDF and Macromedia Flash technologies, that scales from mobile devices to high-end servers.