Game Changing And Empowering Technology

KUWAIT CITY, May 22

SAP announced its core Business Suite applications are ready to run on the HANA in-memory database platform with officials describing the technology as being game changing and empowering for real time business.  At a press conference held at Missoni Hotel, it was stressed that this was not just a new product or upgrade on a previous technology but a truly revolutionary one.  Rapidly gaining in popularity across MENA, the technology has enabled many customers worldwide to speed up business processes. It was pointed out that Business Suite on HANA (BSoH) accelerates core processes end-to-end - human resources, finance, marketing, sales, maintenance, service, manufacturing, procurement and supply chain - to make business truly data-driven and faster than ever before. It also enables a user-driven experience that offers a unified view of real-time information at any level of granularity, as well as a platform for real-time interaction and data access of every type, on any device.

"More than ever before, Kuwaiti businesses are demanding to move at incredible speed, greater flexibility and more informed precision. BSoH is a massive calling card for SAP in this respect. It is the very definition of a disruptive technology and can radically change users' expectations, application design principles and products architecture", affirmed Gergi Abboud, Managing Director of SAP Gulf. 
He expressed that the announcement was as big as the inception of the company itself as it reinvention of business applications that was technically not possible three years ago. He said, "We have reinvented the way we store data and look at data with that we are no longer concerned about speed but business enabled by s[ace, it is no longer about keeping pace with the competition but outpacing the competition.

It is no longer about having information but rather the right information and right context to make the right decision at the right time." SoH is configured for continuous incremental change, and operates on a flexible, open architecture that gives customers choice of hardware, database, implementation partners, and solution providers.

Benefits 
Steven Simon, Real Time Data Specialist explained the benefits and influence of BSoH with the example of Burberry's use of the technology to extract customer's past choices and preferences from a wide pool of data within seconds to make recommendations. 

Omar Draghmeh of HP Kuwait said, Managing Director of HP Kuwait, stressed that Businesses today need to react at market speed and need employees that are empowered to make the right decisions for which they need to be consistently unlocking new opportunities for both innovation and profit. "BSoH has the potential to deliver on all these fronts in Kuwait and it is exactly the type of innovative technology HP is proud to be associated with", he remarked. 

Hussein Keilani, SAP Technology Specialist at Fujitsu, remarked on the alliance between the companies as being exemplary for the business solutions that were delivered. He further stated, "On behalf of Fujitsu, we are totally committed to SAP and HANA. We are empowered by SAP to provide business solutions to the customers. We are committed to deliver such industrial solutions in the market and this is what we are working on."

SAP posted double-digit growth for the 13th quarter in succession. Non-IFRS software and software-related service (SSRS) revenue increased 12% to €2.94 billion (14% at constant currencies) in the first quarter of 2013. Innovations continue to be the major growth engines: SAP HANA software revenue tripled year-over-year, contributing €86 million to software revenue this quarter. The company also continues to expand its market leadership with strong double-digit growth in its mobile business, and enjoys continued strong growth in the cloud.

Speaking of SAP in the Mena Region, Abboud commented, "We grew our team by tenfold since we opened our office here in 2007. In Kuwait, we opened our office three or four months ago. We have 1400 specialized consultants in the regions and we intend to grow that number aggressively so our clients can realise more value from our applications in the market. For this we have opened our fist institute of training and development and the aim of that institute is to train 2000 additional consultants in the coming four years."

© Arab Times 2013