HHA
Ford Middle East recognized Jeddah-based Haji Husein Alireza (HHA), the Mercury importer-dealer in Saudi Arabia, for achieving 100 percent Ford certification across its customer service operations for all its service advisors, technicians, and parts counterpersons and managers. The achievement enhances Ford and HHA’s ongoing effort to provide the highest levels of customer satisfaction. “This is a great accomplishment that we can all be proud of as it pays off our relentless efforts toward delivering some of the best vehicle ownership experiences in the Kingdom,” said Ali Husein Alireza, HHA’s MD. “With the support of Ford Motor Company (FMC) and through internationally recognized training programs, we are working to bring the highest levels of customer satisfaction and quality in our processes, products and services.” Besides their certification efforts, HHA has also been very active on bringing FMC’s service excellence standards to their service networks. Currently, the ‘Ford Service Excellence’ is applied at the HHA Jeddah branches of Al-Bayan and Kilo 11, as well as their main branch in Riyadh. “We commend HHA for their dedication to the Mercury brand and their persistent drive for offering a better service experience and generating high customer satisfaction levels in a consistent manner,” said Chris Noel, Ford Middle East’s regional customer services director. “Their efforts don’t stop here, as they have been active on expanding their parts distribution network and increasing the availability of genuine Ford and MotorCraft parts across the Kingdom.”
DLA PIPER
DLA Piper’s commitment to sustainability in the region was recognized at the facilities management Middle East Awards, where the leading international legal practice was given the “Sustainable Initiative Award” for its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint across the Middle East. The award was given in recognition of DLA Piper’s efforts to reduce its environmental impacts across each of its offices in the region. DLA Piper has a global commitment to sustainability across all its offices which includes programs designed to reduce business travel and offset emissions, purchase items manufactured from sustainable sources, and recycle plastic, paper, glass and cartridges. In addition, DLA Piper is the first international legal practice to achieve certification in the globally recognized environmental standard ISO 14001 across all its offices worldwide. Accepting the award on behalf of DLA Piper, Elaine Kelly, DLA Piper Regional Facilities Manager in Dubai, said: “DLA Piper’s corporate responsibility program focuses on creating sustainable, empowering initiatives throughout the Middle East. We are committed to reduce our environmental impact and conduct our business in a responsible manner.” The Sustainable Initiative Award win follows a week-long internal campaign — EnergySMART — to reduce energy output in all regional offices at DLA Piper. The campaign concluded in early May.
SAHARA NET
Sahara Net, a major Internet service provider in Saudi Arabia, recently organized a gala dinner to honor more than 100 businessmen and others who are interested in technology and communications sector. Organized in Riyadh, the occasion was attended by Haitham Abu Aisha, Sahara Net’s executive director, and other department managers of the company. Abu Aisha welcomed the gathering. The meeting discussed the latest international and local economic developments and the effects of the global slowdown of markets. They also discussed the technological and telecommunication revolution in the world. Qais Al-Issa, general manager of operations and technical services at Sahara Net, spoke about the role played by Sahara Net at corporate and individual levels. He said the company was continuously seeking to offer top and costly technology for the sake of upgrading this highly important sector. Al-Issa briefed the gathering on the most important achievements and developments in the area of services provided by Sahara Net. He highlighted the Label Switching Multi-Protocol (MPLS) service launched by Sahara Net during Gitex 2008. MPLS is the latest technology utilized in building WAN networks. The service enables subscribers to link their branches and offers unprecedented services, such as VoIP, Video conferencing applications, special software, desktop applications through the network, and the ability to control quality of the applications.
CANON
Canon Middle East, one of the world-leading innovators and providers of imaging and IT solutions, demonstrated its commitment to supporting local photographic talent with a nationwide photography competition held in partnership with Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research. The nationwide competition was open for all students of higher educational institutes in the UAE and provided a unique platform for students to showcase their digital photography skills. Grand prizewinner, Abdulla Khameis Kaabi, from UAE University won a state-of-the-art DSLR Canon camera, the EOS 450 D. Other winners received a range of digital cameras and photo printers such as the Ixus 110, Ixus 990, PowerShot SX200, MX 330 printer and much more from Canon’s recently launched ‘Spring’ collection. “Canon Middle East is committed to supporting photography in the region and aims to be instrumental in empowering creativity and innovation in the art of digital photography. This competition provided a platform for developing talent to showcase their skills in digital photography,” said Hendrik Verbrugghe, CCI marketing manager, Canon Middle East. Through Gulf Photo Plus, Canon Middle East also hosted two photography seminars on “Introduction to Digital Photography” for students at both the Abu Dhabi and Sharjah campuses. Students received professional guidance and gained valuable insights on digital photography from experts such as Mohamed Somji and Hala Salhi of GPP. Topics ranging from introduction to photography, techniques in optimizing digital images with best use of camera settings, tips on how to use light and aperture in photography and much more were discussed in depth with the students.