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Kingdom's Growing Domestic Agribusiness Market to Reach Nearly USD 5 Billion in 2015: BMI Research
Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - The Ministry of Agriculture is innovating the Kingdom's agricultural sector by launching a host of new government e-services, supporting the country's nearly USD 5 billion domestic agribusiness market, industry experts announced today.
Supporting the agricultural sector's growth, the Ministry of Agriculture, Oracle, and Oracle Gold Partner Omnix International have deployed a new e-government platform based on Oracle Siebel Public Sector eService that supports more than 500,000 online visitors, and 65,000 registered citizen and business users. Users can access 22 e-services such as land registration, organic crop certification, fishing and hunting permits, and access to machinery.
Boosted by increasing agricultural production in greenhouses, poultry farms, and fisheries, the Kingdom's agribusiness market is set to reach USD 4.9 billion in 2015, and grow at a rate of 4.9 percent per year to 2018, according to BMI Research. With a rapidly growing population, the Kingdom's FY2015 budget calls for SAR 60 billion in spending on water and agriculture infrastructure.
Fahad Alomani, Director of Information Systems, Ministry of Agriculture, said: "The new e-government platform which the Ministry of Agriculture uses to offer online services to the public eliminates the need for companies and citizens to go to offices, stand in line, and fill in paper forms."
"It helped the ministry deliver an outstanding user experience while freeing specialized staff for field inspections. The average approval rate for applications submitted through the e-services portal is above 95 percent, which demonstrates its ease of use. Oracle has provided us with several reliable development platforms to scale for the future as we rapidly expand our public services," added Fahad Alomani.
By automating business processes, the Ministry has optimized service monitoring and delivery, while enhancing transparency and reducing delays. For example, processing for applications has dropped from months to days, while operational costs have been reduced by 75 percent.
Mahmoud Musbah, Senior Vice President - Head of Public Services Solutions (PSS), Omnix International, said: "The Ministry of Agriculture's secure, high-performance, and scalable portal is based on industry best practices with a wide range of easy-to-use plug-and-play tools. This deployment builds on our extensive public sector experience, especially for the Kingdom's government ministries, and demonstrates how the Kingdom is rapidly becoming a regional leader in government technology innovation."
In the coming months, the platform will expand to 28 e-services, and staff will be able to enhance content publishing with average processing times, documents, and wikis and blogs accessible on mobile devices. The portal has also been integrated with ministries such as the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, to reduce the time and effort to complete application prerequisites.
Thamer AL Harbi, Saudi Country Manager, Oracle, said: "Agriculture is often seen as a traditional field - but technology innovation is impacting everything from farming to raising poultry to exporting goods. With this online portal, the Ministry of Agriculture has the platform to scale for expanded services in line with increased government spending, and to demonstrate how government ministries can drive innovation."
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About Omnix
Omnix was founded in 1987 with the core objective to provide public and private sectors with best-in-class IT, Professional Audio Visual and Enterprise Software Solutions. It was one of the first companies in the UAE to do so. Today, Omnix employs over 800 professionals with offices in Dubai (HQ), Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia (Riyadh, Dammam), Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan.
Omnix has 5 core divisions which are:
Computer Aided Engineering (CAE)
Professional Audio Visual Integrated Systems (Promedia)
Enterprise Software Solutions (ESS)
Public Services Solutions (PSS)
Enterprise Networking Solutions (ENS).
Through these 5 divisions Omnix services public and private sectors across Government, Hospitality, Education, Energy, AEC (Architecture, Engineering & Construction), Healthcare, Financial Services and Telecommunication sectors. Omnix works closely with its global technology partners such as IBM, HP, Oracle, SAP, Cisco, Microsoft, AMX, Christie, InFocus, Adobe and Autodesk to deliver best-in-class solutions which are based on an 'open system' philosophy and easily integrated into existing infrastructures.
High profile clients include various government departments in the GCC and Iraq including various ministries, police, municipalities through to blue chip corporate giants such as Etisalat, Saudi Aramco, Qatar Foundation and high profile hospitality clients such as Burj Al Arab, Atlantis and Kempinski.
Omnix has a strong track record of profitable and well-executed organic growth since commencing operations over 27 years ago and is currently amongst the few regional IT solutions and services providers with a pan-GCC and Middle East customer base. Omnix is ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004 & ISO 18001:2007 Certified Company.
Media Contact:
Steve Baron
Wallis Marketing Consultants
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steve.baron@wallis-mc.com
© Press Release 2015
