RIYADH – Senior Saudi business executives have highlighted the increasing importance of mobile technology and real-time business solutions. According to a survey conducted at the recent SAP User Group Middle East & North Africa (SUG-MENA) Executive Exchange in Riyadh, 50 percent of respondents stated that ground-breaking in-memory computing business platform HANA was currently of strategic importance. Sixty six percent claimed they were thinking about adopting the technology within the next two years. Eighty three percent also viewed mobile technology to be of vital strategic importance. “Business leaders in Saudi Arabia continue to be extremely responsive to technologies that drive profit and innovation. This is good news for SAP as we continue to increase our investment in database and technology, mobile, analytics, applications, and the cloud. Decision-makers are demanding to run in smarter, simpler and faster ways, and we are at the forefront of making that happen,” said Ahmed Al-Faifi, Managing Director, SAP Saudi Arabia. Majed Mutairi, President, SUG-MENA, added: “We are working closely with SAP and our user group members to continue to influence a collective view on local and regional specific needs. As an independent voice for SAP users in the MENA region, we are committed to launching additional special interest groups to further support SAP's innovation roadmap and ensuring companies continue to exchange knowledge and provide feedback.” HANA, on which applications can be developed and deployed, has enabled scores of customers across the globe to cope with the rise of big data and run in smarter, simpler and faster ways. In-memory computing reduces complexity by many factors, and simplifies the logic by taking processing out of the database. Such is the technology's game-changing nature that some businesses have been able to speed up business processes by over 100,000 times. Earlier this year saw the launch of SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA (BSoH), a disruptive technology world first. BSoH made SAP the only company in the world to successfully combine transactional applications with analytics in-memory. The innovation dramatically simplifies IT architectures and processes, empowering businesses to achieve unprecedented speed and real-time predictive analysis. BSoH is also available via the SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud service. SUG-MENA is currently working closely with the SAP User Group Executive Network (SUGEN), which comprises of 16 user groups around the globe, on two programs in support of in-memory computing. The first program is the SAP International Focus Group (SAP IFG), a platform for collaboration for customers interested in learning more about SAP HANA. The group comprises SAP customers from all around the globe that have implemented or are interested in implementing SAP HANA. The second is the SAP HANA Spotlight, which is an online venue where SAP customers can access insight on user experiences, implementation challenges, and best practice. “The two programs aim to catalyze management-decision making and raise awareness,” added Mutairi. SAP is also an enterprise mobility market leader. The company currently holds an 85 percent share of Fortune 100 mobile enterprise activity and its solutions are trusted by over 60 million users worldwide. SAP Mobile Services helps businesses process 1.8 billion messages per day, reaching more than 980 operators and 5.8 billion subscribers across 210 countries. SAP and its partners currently offer 70 mobile applications to customers and there are more than 200 in the development pipeline. – SG
