Balubaid Signs With Oracle

Omar A. Balubaid Company Ltd. (OABC) has signed a deal for Oracle’s e-business suite and dealer management system (DMS) solutions.

“The main objective of the deal is to maintain our leadership position and enhance best practices,” said OABC’s Executive Vice President Khalid O. Balubaid. “Oracle will provide its complete e-business suite and DMS solutions including consultancy, implementation, training and support.”

In spite of the diversified nature of business activities and total independence in terms of structure, management and business plans of all OBAC’s different divisions, all its sectors operate through one vision and one set of objectives.

“Importantly, all these activities are geared up to focus and give priority to one factor all the time, which is the customer,” Balubaid added.

He emphasized that the company has selected Oracle in a bid to provide efficient and best services to its customers through technology and systems. Seeking to replace its software application due to growing technology and business needs, OABC was keen on acquiring the best of breed enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution.

“After a thorough review of the best of breed ERP solutions available, we found that the Oracle e-business suite was best suited to our diversified business nature,” said Balubaid. “We selected Oracle for its proven track record in the region and specifically within the Kingdom.”

Oracle’s availability of information analysis tools and best practice nature of its ERP, were also deciding factors in the choice. — K.S. Ramkumar

AEC to Work With HCL Technologies

Advanced Electronics Company (AEC), a Riyadh-based Economic Offset Program Company, and HCL Technologies, a global IT player based in India, have signed an agreement to implement IT projects in the Kingdom.

The signing ceremony was held with the attendance of the Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mohammed Jameel Mulla, and Azer Khan, commercial counselor at the Indian Embassy, on behalf of the Indian ambassador.

The agreement was signed on behalf of AEC by Dr. Ghassan Al-Shibl, president and CEO of AEC, and Kiran Bhagwanani, country manager — India and Middle East, HCL Technologies. The financial aspects of the agreement were not disclosed.

Under the agreement, AEC and HCL Technologies (through its wholly owned subsidiary) will jointly work to implement and execute integrated IT solutions and services for business transformation covering the IT spectrum from end-to-end including systems integration, package implementation, application development and maintenance, IT infrastructure management and BPO (Business Process Outsourcing).

“This agreement represents a milestone in AEC’s diversification strategy. Our association with HCL highlights AEC’s growing capabilities as an IT provider in the region which complements AEC’s existing strong capabilities in the area of Telecom,” said AEC’s CEO.

“By working with an IT leader like HCL, AEC can expand its services to address the needs of the customers in the Kingdom and provide local development and job opportunities to qualified Saudis in the IT field.”

The HCL-AEC alliance announcement coincided with the inauguration of HCL’s IT Management Center (IMC) at AEC headquarters in Riyadh, which brings HCL’s pioneering Remote IT Management delivery model to the Middle East. The IMC will enable delivery of strong, process-based IT service management with predictable and consistent end-user performance, covering the technology domains of data center, systems, storage, networks, security & end-user support.

According to Dr. Khaled H. Biyari, senior vice president of AEC, the partnership between AEC and HCL will facilitate cost-effective IT solutions for customers, especially from the banking, financial services, real estate, petrochemical, health care and industrial sectors.

Biyari believes that the new agreement will create a win-win situation for all parties. For the customers, they can benefit from IMC’s services at a fraction of the cost that they would incur were they to implement the solution on their own. This has been made possible due to the outsourcing of such services from India, provided through IMC. HCL has set up similar centers in various countries around the world.

Commenting on the new center Bhagwanani said, “Our IMC in Riyadh will introduce a world class IT Management delivery model to the region with its globally benchmarked processes and integrated service delivery framework‚ providing 24X7 proactive and predictable IT service management‚ which is truly reliable and scalable.”

Currently more than 80 percent of AEC employees are Saudi nationals working in a variety of technical and professional positions. The R & D division comprises 13 percent of the company’s work force.

This will be increased further as the Kingdom’s IT sector is expected to grow from SR10 billion currently to SR15 billion by 2010. AEC hopes to get a ten percent share of the market through this alliance.(Javid Hassan)

Serafini Visits Saudi Arabia

Francesco Serafini, senior VP & MD, Technology Solutions Group, HP Europe, Middle East and Africa, visited Saudi Arabia as part of HP’s strategy to increase activities in the region. During his visit, Serafini met with government and business leaders to discuss HP’s offerings for various sectors such as telecom, banking, postal services, as well as the new economic cities planned for the Kingdom.

Serafini stated that the key objective of HP is to meet its customers’ needs globally, while shifting more money for innovation in respective countries and cutting down operational costs.

HP is committed to work on this in three directions: innovation, technology, and software. With this in mind, HP has sent its experts to the Gulf region to share its experiences and develop new strategies aimed at fulfilling customers’ needs.

Serafini noted that 50 percent of HP’s corporate business was from Europe, the Middle East and Africa. HP is currently seeking to invest more in services and partnerships in the region. HP also intends to sustain growth by generating $5 to $6 billion in business revenue worldwide.

Regarding the Saudi telecommunication market, Serafini said that telecom companies today encounter many challenges from aggressive competition in the market. Thus, HP’s role is to help these companies face those challenges through its software and technology solutions. HP is expected to accelerate its growth in the telecom market as over 30 percent of its business comes directly from the telecom industry; telecom companies, telecom providers and operations.

Another objective of HP is strengthening the skills of Saudi citizens to be productive and contribute to the development of their nation. In that regard, most of the employees in HP’s Kingdomwide management team are Saudi nationals. This effort to develop local human resources comes as part of a global human resource development plan, with a special emphasis on emerging countries in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and India.