Previous deployments have reported a 33% jump in revenues

March 19, 2013, Dubai, UAE: The Dubai based cloud alliance partner in the Middle East of the cloud based CRM global leader Salesforce.com, Aphidas, is set to transform the regional CRM landscape by making the businesses open, social and mobile and therefore more responsive and proactive to the shifting patterns of customer expectations as displayed in the regional economy after recession.

At a well attended one day seminar titled  'Transforming Your Business with Cloud CRM', Ashraf Karayath CEO of the company unveiled the possibilities of cloud computing as a tool to enhance the customer experience and therefore the businesses to a gathering of corporate decision makers from diverse verticals of business and industry.

"Middle East is still in the early stages of adoption and we expect the market share to become nearly double of its current levels in the next three years. Recent trends indicate the CRM on-demand market in the Middle East and North Africa region was worth an estimated $52m and is experiencing a remarkable 47% growth rate year-on-year. While the rise in investment in the traditional retail, Government and financial sector continues, we have been witnessing an increased usage of software technology in governance, particularly in answerability and monitoring, and in healthcare sector through e-health and m-health introductions. These trends point to the need for such easy to deploy, manageable and scalable cloud based solutions," said Ashraf Karayath.

"Projections for the increased adoption of On-Demand CRM solutions in the region are extremely positive. UAE is in fact at the forefront of adopting such innovations and proactive approaches. The rising economy demands a more dynamic and easy to use solution. Salesforce.com is set to lead this transformation from traditional models of computing to cloud computing. So far the previous deployments have reported an increase in business revenue by 30%, greatly improved forecasting & visibility, 23% faster sales cycle, and an overall enhancement of customer experience as it gives a 360 degree view of the customer for better sales and customer service."

Salesforce.com recognized by Forbes as the most innovative company in the world for the last two consecutive years with its base of more than 130000 customers across the world has further revolutionized the CRM business practices with new tools enabling the organizations to reap the advantages of social media helping companies to be social and keep attuned to the changing times. The multi-tenant model cloud platform offered by the company ensures simple one source, one vendor accessibility, can be made operational simultaneously in multiple locations, reduces the implementation time and is scalable. It can be integrated seamlessly with other existing solutions at a lower cost and effort. The return on investment to the client is thus speedier than what is currently being experienced from other CRM solutions. Besides, the solution being a green computing model, mitigates the need for any high end hardware which further reduces the costs.

The multi-tenant cloud platform deployed to deliver these solutions ensure simple one source, one vendor accessibility, seamless scalability and takes away from the requirement of hefty hardware. Often time the operational time from inception to becoming fully functional is reduced to a month, depending on the scale of deployment with multiple locations becoming operational simultaneously, thus reducing delays and hence saving in resources wastage.

As companies in the UAE are showing higher level of interest in cloud computing due to the growing level of awareness of the benefits it offers in terms of operational efficiency, cost savings Aphidas is all set to tap the potential of the market by providing Salesforce .com products and related services to organizations in areas of sales, marketing, service and project management.

With more than 14 years of experience in IT and related industries Aphidas has restructured its operations in 2010 and became the sole partner of Salesforce.com dealing exclusively in the products and services offered by the company. It has acquired 95 customers across the region and Africa with more than 70 full scale sales force implementation projects. 

 "2013 looks very promising for all businesses; we are recovering from the multitude of crises we have experienced in the past. This is the best time to focus on innovation. Companies can no longer afford to not change. They have to adapt to the challenges of the times to ensure survival and eventual sustainability. Risks have to be minimized and cost effectiveness has to be the focus. We need systems to manage the business rather than managing the systems to do the business.  The only way to transform the business is to deploy affordable, simple and practical solutions as tools to overcome these demands," concludes Ashraf Karayath.

About the event
Transforming your business with cloud computing" was the second of its kind event conducted by Aphidas and Salesforce in Dubai and was well received. More than 100 executives from diverse segments of business attended the sessions which were offered by experts who spoke of their personal experience with cloud CRM and the available opportunities.

About Aphidas
Aphidas was established in 1994, and since it started its operations, the company has always relied on state-of-the-art technologies, continuous improvement to become the premier Software Training and Development Centre in Dubai. The company has developed and implemented software packages for several companies in Dubai.

Aphidas has always believed in new trends and changes, and the role they play in today's business. And now, it has undertaken the reinvention of its core structure, updating its vision and its fundamental approach to business, shifting ourselves from the domain of traditional on-premise model and to latest SAAS (Software As A Service) and PAAS (Platform As A Service).

About Salesforce.com
Salesforce.com is the market and technology leader in on-demand business services. The company's Salesforce suite of on-demand CRM applications allows customers to manage and share all of their sales, support, marketing and partner information on-demand. Apex, the world's first on-demand platform, enables customers, developers and partners to build powerful new on-demand applications that extend beyond CRM to deliver the benefits of multi-tenancy and The Business Web across the enterprise. All Apex components and applications can be easily shared, exchanged and installed via salesforce.com's AppExchange directory, available at www.salesforce.com/appexchange. Customers can also take advantage of Successforce, salesforce.com's world-class training, support, consulting and best practices offerings. 

As of January 31, 2007, Salesforce.com manages customer information for approximately 29,800 customers and approximately 646,000 paying subscribers including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), America Online (AOL), Avis Budget Group, Inc, Dow Jones Newswires, Nokia, Polycom and SunTrust Banks. Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase salesforce.com applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce.com has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRM". For more information please visit http://www.salesforce.com/, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.

Salesforce.com is a registered trademark of salesforce.com, and Apex, AppExchange, The Business Web, IdeaExchange and Successforce are trademarks of salesforce.com, Inc., San Francisco, California. Other names used may be trademarks of their respective owners. 

Web site: http://www.salesforce.com/ http://www.salesforce.com/appexchange

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© Press Release 2013