Nesci Promoted by Alcatel-Lucent

Vincenzo Nesci has been appointed as president of Alcatel-Lucent in Africa and the Middle East. In his new position, Nesci will be responsible for growing Alcatel-Lucent’s business in more than 62 countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Nesci brings a great deal of first-hand experience to this position, having served in the region for many years. His previous position was as president of Alcatel-Lucent’s Middle East Regional Unit. Prior to that, he served as Alcatel VP for the Middle East, a position he was named to in 1999. He joined Alcatel in 1980 and held several positions in Italy, East Africa and Belgium. Prior to joining Alcatel, Nesci was employed by General Electric in Libya and Nigeria, after working as a university lecturer for some years in Europe and several African countries.

“I am very proud to be appointed to this challenging position and am personally extremely happy to come back to Africa, where I worked for many years,” Nesci said. “The Middle East and Africa are among Alcatel-Lucent’s most promising markets, and we are committed to help our customers in this region grow their business by making it possible for them to offer useful new services to the people of this region. We have talented and dedicated teams in this region as well as an International Service Center in Egypt that is committed to serving our customers here and worldwide.”

Nesci, who will be located in the company’s regional office at The Smart Village in Cairo, said that Alcatel-Lucent will continue to leverage its strong positions in the fixed and mobile segment, applications and professional services, while entering industry and public sector markets outside the company’s traditional customer base, in particular in energy, transport, public sector, defense and security.

Saudi Oger Chooses Oracle

Oger Systems has signed an agreement with Saudi Oger (SO) to deploy the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions provided by Oracle Systems.

The implementation is part of a strategic move to improve efficiency and boost performance. The deal has been described as the biggest of its kind to be implemented in the Middle East.

“Implementing the ERP system is another example of our commitment to provide state-of-the-art technology and infrastructure services matching global standards,” said Fadi El Masri, CEO of Oger Systems. He pointed out that the ERP System project will have nine divisions serving more than 23,000 users.

Spelling out the advantages of the system, he said it will increase customer satisfaction by using improved procedures, processes and performance information. There will also be a reduction in administrative overhead, thereby allowing the staff to concentrate on value-added activities as against transactional activities like duplicate data entry. It will also help replace existing applications and processes, thereby reducing associated overhead and retaining the necessary functionality.

El-Masri added that the system will also help develop a world-class reporting framework, resulting from improved data collection, database and reporting tools in order to facilitate the aggregation/desegregation of divisions/business units into any desired hierarchies.

“Our company boasts a wealth of experience in deploying such international solutions for numerous big companies. No doubt, this will hugely contribute to the success of this project,” commented Abdulrahman Al-Thuhaiban, GM of Oracle Saudi Arabia.

FSC Appoints New Product Manager

In an effort to drive its regional volume products business, Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC) has appointed Haseeb Soleja as the new product manager for its volume products for the ME region. Soleja is based in Dubai and will focus on a number of key initiatives to promote the company’s volume products across the regions different market segments.

“Soleja brings on board solid product positioning skills, product knowledge and extensive experience in the IT industry and sales operations that are essential to the growth of Fujitsu Siemens Computers volume products in the region. His appointment is part of our continued investment and expansion in the region,” said Stephane Rejasse, managing director, Fujitsu Siemens Computers Middle East.

Soleja brings with him 13 years of extensive regional IT sales and marketing experience gained from the regions leading IT distributors such as Mindware, TechData and Al-Futtaim Technologies, among others.

Satyam’s ME Revenues Increase

Satyam Computer Services Ltd. has achieved over 100 percent growth in its year-on-year revenues and over 20 percent growth in its quarter-on-quarter numbers from the Middle East region for the third quarter of its fiscal year 2007-2008. This is the highest increase the company has seen in its 12 years in the region. The company also revealed that its regional operations have generated 11 percent of its rest of world earnings. The record revenues augur well for the global leader as it projects an estimate of $2.1 billion in global revenues for FY 08.

According to company officials, the overwhelming success of the company’s Middle East operations has been the result of nine new multi-year, multi-million dollar outsourcing contracts with leading regional companies, which it has closed in the last few months.

Additionally, the company has also expanded its roster of high profile clients by welcoming 38 new customers since the beginning of the fiscal year, and with plans to grow its consulting and outsourcing business by 100 percent over the next few years, Satyam is looking to further penetrate the booming Middle East region.