RIYADH, 6 March 2004 — The Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CSCCI) has started streamlining its operations to improve service to its 20 members and be an active participant in helping prop up the local economy, according to Dr. Fahd S. Al-Sultan, CSCCI secretary general.
“We have finished 70-75 percent of our goal in streamlining the operations under “Business Process Reengineering” or BPR. This is one of the most valuable approaches in restructuring the organization,” he told Arab News. He said that in any managerial improvement, BPR should be implemented first before automation.
This will enable managers to get rid of processes that are not adding value to the organization. “They then reengineer the processes in a way that should be cost-efficient, timely and result-oriented. Once you’ve done this, you can bring in automation - software and hardware - as a second layer in the improvement of the project,” he said.
He added that this is a long-term process. “First, we restructured the organigram and downsized the bureaucratic structure. We got rid of a number of departments that were not adding value to the organization as well as some rules and processes,” he said.
“We’ve not yet reached the final step,” he added. He said that what he has done is “restructure and reengineer our business in two major ways. One is in terms of internal management. Second is with regards to vision, which we have also restructured.”
“Our new vision is ‘a change is a means to an end and not an end in itself. It’s a tool to achieve our objectives.’ What I have done is not automation. I did not go directly and automate administrative process. What I have done is centralization,” he said.
Dr. Al-Sultan has also shifted CSCCI’s emphasis onto product promotion.
“I believe that Saudi products are ready for the international market. They are of high quality, have competitive prices and we can deliver quickly due to existing means of communication,” he said, adding that the Saudi private sector is ready to export in at least 3-4 major sectors.
In an attempt to sell local products overseas, he joined Saudi trade delegations on a tour to at least 15 countries last year. These included Japan, China, Russia, Britain, Germany, Ireland, India, Sudan, and several Gulf nations.
