SAP MENA Expands Mobility Unit, Signs Deals With STC, Etisalat

Enterprise solutions provider SAP is ramping up its mobile services unit in the MENA region and announced that it signed deals with Saudi operator STC and UAE-based Etisalat during the recent Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.

Under the deal with STC, SAP will provide solutions for network life-cycle management (NLM) to enable more cost-effective operations.

“This will enable the company to markedly improve customer service as a result of increased end-to-end visibility for capital projects and assets, as well as enhanced project oversight and collaboration,” SAP said.

SAP solutions will also maintain the quality of STC’s IT infrastructure and will particularly help in reducing costs related to build and repair, and increase the productivity of field workers, it added.

“With SAP solutions, we can create close links between the logistical and financial sides of our network operations, integrating the entire spectrum of planning and realising tasks — from demand and supply planning to investment and project management, inventory management and asset accounting,” said Khalid bin Hussain Al-Bayari, senior vice president for Technology and Operations, STC.

SAP, which earlier partnered with Etisalat to provide services for the UAE’s m-government initiative, also signed a deal with the UAE telco to deliver a range of enterprise mobility services to businesses in the country.

Under the partnership, Etisalat will build and offer cloud-based and on-premise mobility management solutions based on a mobility platform from SAP.

The solutions offer companies a lower entry cost, flexibility and scalability to any organisation, geography and usage model, said SAP.

The SAP platform is based on open standards and open source technologies, which makes it device and tools agnostic.

It offers solutions for various sectors including the government and asset intensive industries such as oil and gas, logistics and warehousing.

Sherif Hamoudah, the recently appointed head of SAP’s Telecommunications Industry in MEA, Turkey and Pakistan, said that the company was confident about greater opportunities in the region.

“We are investing heavily in the telecoms sector. We started a team a year ago, and we have already signed some big deals with regional telecom operators such as STC, Etisalat, Ooredoo and Mobily,” he said.

With increased competition within the industry, telecom operators are looking at changing models and are struggling to stay relevant, he said.

“Our mobility solutions can be of considerable value to businesses of all sizes.

“We want to help businesses exceed customer expectations, drive sales, boost loyalty and reduce operational costs,” he added.