Studies predict Saudi portal software and services market worth at US$ 35.3 million by 2008 as market growth hits 30 per cent
BEA Systems, the world's leading application infrastructure software company providing the enterprise software foundation that allows thousands of companies to benefit from service-oriented architecture, has set its sights on the expanding web portal market in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
A recent study by the Dubai-based Madar Research Group predicts an overall 30 per cent growth in the Saudi portal market, with 20 to 30 new enterprise portals being deployed annually, and the software and services market gearing towards the US$ 35.3 million mark by 2008.
BEA is looking to position its applications and services to take advantage of projected market growth. Diyaa Zebian, General Manager, Middle East & North Africa, eSolutions BEA said, "As the world leader in enterprise infrastructure software and standards-based platforms, BEA's WebLogic, Tuxedo, JRockit and new AquaLogic family of service infrastructure are primed to facilitate Saudi clients in reducing IT complexity and successfully deploying Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) to improve business agility and increase efficiency."
Projected growth in the portal market is attributed to increased appreciation among Saudi business organisations of the benefits of creating information gateways and portals that provide virtual platforms for employees, customers, partners, suppliers and the public to obtain information or transact business with them. The trend is further strengthened by growing awareness of the impact of the Internet on sales and marketing in small and medium-size businesses.
Saudi Arabia's total portal market was valued at roughly US$ 12.5 million as of end 2004. Of this, portal software spending accounted for 40 per cent or about US$ 5 million of the market in 2004 while services such as consultancy, design and implementation and customisation accounted for 60 per cent, or US$ 7.5 million. Both segments are expected to grow over the next four years.
Annual spending for portal software covering a wide range of component applications and functionalities such as content management systems, collaboration, directory services, enterprise search and single sign-on programmes, is forecast to post a compound average growth rate (CAGR) of 24 per cent over the period 2004 to 2008 in Saudi markets, reaching expenditure of US$ 11.8 million. This software expenditure would account for about 33.4 per cent of the total market by end 2008 as compared to 40 per cent in end 2004.
The Madar study indicates that services spending is expected to grow at a rate of 33 per cent annually to reach US$ 23.5 million by end 2008 because of the increasing need to integrate portals with back-end applications as well as the gradual move towards multiple orientation portals.
"BEA's business interaction platform combines the right enabling technologies to help customers meet increasingly complex business challenges by changing work processes and transforming content into practical service-oriented business applications. As a result, enterprises in Saudi Arabia will be able to better meet changing business needs and further integrate existing systems and resources, ultimately improving business processes and increasing productivity," Zebian added.
The Mardar study revealed that an estimated 55 to 60 per cent of current portal deployments in Saudi were B2E (business to employee) while the rest were designed for B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to customer) functions. Multi-site businesses, particularly those involved in hydrocarbon, finance, manufacturing, travel, health management, diversified wholesale and retail, and government and semi-government entities are actively evaluating and developing content management systems (CMS) for establishing full-blown portals.
Government and semi-government organisations accounted for roughly 38 per cent of the Saudi portal market in 2004 followed by the finance sector with 19 per cent and the oil and gas industry with 17 per cent. The manufacturing sector ranked fourth in the portal market with a 14 per cent share while the travel and health care segments accounted for a lesser percentage of the market.
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About BEA
BEA Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: BEAS) is the world's leading application infrastructure software company, providing the enterprise software foundation for 14,000 customers around the world, including the majority of the Fortune Global 500. BEA and its WebLogic brand are among the most trusted names in business. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., BEA has 81 offices in 34 countries and is on the web at www.bea.com. For local inquiries, eSolutions BEA can be contacted on e-mail sales.info@bea.ae, Tel: +9714 391 2992 and Fax: +9714 391 2991 and further information can be obtained from its website www.bea.ae
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© Press Release 2006
