Cisco WebEx to Make Online Collaboration Part of Everyday Business for SAGIA and the Easy Way to Share Ideas and Strategy across the Organization

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, 13 December 2010:  Cisco announced today that the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) will be deploying Cisco ®WebEx® enterprise collaboration solutions to provide its stakeholders and employees with an easy way to exchange ideas and information with anyone, anywhere. Cisco WebEx combines real-time collaboration with phone conferencing, so everyone sees the same thing as they converse.

Cisco WebEx is available to businesses in Saudi Arabia through the Saudi Telecom Company (STC) which has an agreement with Cisco to supply Cisco WebEx communications technology to businesses throughout the Kingdom.

SAGIA is the official investment-promotion agency of the government of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, responsible for promoting direct investment into the kingdom.  

Highlights / Key Facts:

  • SAGIA will deploy a number of WebEx products including WebEx Meeting Center, WebEx Event Center, WebEx Training Center and WebEx Support Center.

  • Cisco WebEx is often referred to as either web conferencing because of the web + phone sharing or an online meeting because users can take care of business online like they do in in-person meetings. The solution also offers phone conferencing options that can maximize flexibility and minimize costs. Participants can either join meetings dialing a toll-free access number or set up a call-back feature by entering their phone number allowing WebEx to call them when the meeting starts. Calls are free for participants--whether they call in or choose call-back

  • Cisco WebEx is software- delivered- as- a- service (SaaS) - the user simply subscribes to the service and then can use it from any computer with an Internet connection, and even from most Smartphones such as i-phones, i-pads and blackberry's. Participants can be invited to attend a WebEx meeting over email, IM, or text and do not have to subscribe to WebEx. They simply click a link in the invitation to join online, where they'll get visual prompts to join the phone conference. Once a session is started the meeting organizer and participants can share documents, presentations, and applications or even open a blank document and start creating together.

  • To date, SAGIA has launched four economic cities in Saudi Arabia -- King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh; Prince Abdulaziz bin Musaid Economic City in Hail; Knowledge Economic City in Madinah, and the Jazen Economic City near Jizan City - with a total investment of more than $60 billion USD. Cisco is also providing advisory services for all these economic cities. 

Executive Quotes:

Hassan Al Duhaim, networks and operations manager at SAGIA

"SAGIA's objective is to create the best business strategy for achieving our vision of promoting direct investment into the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and we are always looking at ways to leverage economies of scale and synergies. Cisco WebEx will keep us ahead of the game by enabling us to offer us a cost effective meeting solution that will help save on travel costs allow our stakeholders and employees to meet online with customers, partners, and colleagues, wherever they are, as easily as if you were face-to-face." 

Yahya S.Almansour, general manager of Marketing at the STC

"With over 6 million people throughout the world now using Cisco WebEx every month, it is becoming an integral tool in day to day business operations and services. It is important that businesses in Saudi are able to utilize the latest collaborative technologies to enhance business growth and development - Cisco WebEx is helping them to achieve. As the leading provider of telecommunications services in Saudi Arabia, it is important that we are at the forefront of technology so that we can always offer our customers the latest enhancements in the market. Cisco's WebEx solution is enabling us to do this"
Mohammad Al Rehaili, WebEx channel manager Cisco, WebEx Technology Group, Saudi Arabia.

"This is a very strategic and important win for Cisco in Saudi Arabia, as SAGIA is a key player in the kingdom. SAGIA will now have access to a richer collaboration environment within WebEx, which will provide more of an "in-person" type of experience, which can lead to greater productivity in meetings. Business today requires organizations to navigate the complex cross-company networks of customers, colleagues and partners and only the companies quick to adapt in this collaborative work process will thrive in the new flat world and in a challenging economy." 

Links / URLs: 

  • Emerging Markets RSS Feed:

http://newsroom.cisco.com/data/syndication/rss2/EmergingMarkets.xml

  • Middle East News: 

http://newsroom.cisco.com/ME

For more details about Cisco WebEx visit: http://www.webex.com/how-it-works/index.html

-Ends-

About SAGIA:
SAGIA's vision is to act as a gateway to investment in Saudi Arabia. We seek to attract sufficient investment to achieve sustainable rapid economic growth while capitalizing on the Kingdom's competitive strengths as the global capital of energy, and as a major hub between East and West.

Our mission is to activate aspects of conception, development and management of new and existing programs within a policy and planning framework. This framework facilitates actions and measures aimed at improving the overall economic prosperity of the country. Towards this goal, we have the full support of the Kingdom's great leadership, including and especially HM King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. For more details about SAGIA visit: http://www.sagia.gov.sa/

About Cisco:
Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, this year celebrates 25 years of technology innovation, operational excellence and corporate social responsibility. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com.  For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.  Cisco equipment in emerging markets is supplied by Cisco Systems International BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc.

Cisco, the Cisco logo and Cisco Systems are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. This document is Cisco Public Information. 

Contact Information:
Wael Abdel Samad
Polaris PR
Riyadh
Tel: 2177250
w.asamad@polaris-me.com

© Press Release 2010