Oracle is replicating its globally successful model with Oracle Middle East, creating more and more success stories to call upon in its quest to digitally transform the world.
THE WORLD’S TECH HUB
The power of cloud technologies and computing in particular is something which Oracle has harnessed and instilled into the world’s enterprises in recent years. Embracing enhanced speeds of data transmission, marketing requirements and internal technological efficiencies, never before has a Company such as Oracle been in as much demand, and – as a consequence – the global business is dedicating itself to meeting those needs on an increasingly large scale.
The broadness of Oracle’s cloud services bridges areas of customer management, marketing, ERP and much more under one seamless opportunity for Oracle’s partners and customers to cherry pick from, in accordance with their own bespoke requirements and the most pressing trends in their fields.
And perhaps in no other region in the world is such a turnkey offering more prevalent than in the rapidly evolving tech haven of the Middle East.
As recently as last year, its influence was showcased on a grand scale in San Francisco as the UAE further strengthened its reputation as a global hub for innovation; as leading local companies, Dubai Airports and Landmark Group, bagged top honours at Oracle OpenWorld for implementing next generation IT innovations.
“Oracle OpenWorld has been one of the industry’s most important business and technology conferences for the past 20 years,” said Arun Khehar, Senior Vice President, Business Applications, ECEMEA, Oracle. “Recognition on this global stage is testament to the UAE being at the forefront of implementing IT innovations to drive growth, develop world-class operations, and offer an exceptional customer experience.
“At Oracle, we are proud to support the digital transformation process of Dubai Airports and Landmark Group and we look forward to jointly achieving more milestones in the future.”
ENHANCE LOCAL CAPABILITIES
This is simply the tip of the iceberg for a Company that has become so renowned for enterprise enrichment over the years; capitalising on the most pressing and contemporary of tech challenges on an internal note before then delivering the most optimum solution to such challenges on behalf of companies of all sizes, and across all sectors.
To this end, 2017 has already witnessed the Company enhance capabilities in the UAE – the heart of the region’s technological growth – to support cloud progression.
Reinforcing its commitment to the Middle East, Oracle announced the opening of a state-of-the-art Oracle Digital Hub and its first data centre in the region, which was scheduled to go online later in the year. This followed the regional expansion news whereby Oracle outlined plans to continue its extensive infrastructure investments and expands its cloud footprint in the US, UK and Turkey.
Both capabilities are designed to advance rapid cloud growth and provide seamless support to Oracle customers and partners in the Middle East.
The Oracle Digital Hub, which is targeted to employ 400 cloud sales professionals, is located in Dubai’s Knowledge Village and equipped with future proof technology to deliver an exceptional customer experience. It will also deliver an unparalleled employee experience and has been designed specifically to align with the modern buying journey using future proof technology to better support our customers in their digital transformation. Features include virtual meeting labs, interactive customer meeting rooms, modern collaboration spaces, and Oracle’s first social media hub in the region. The social media hub will enable digitally native Oracle team members to engage with customers using the most modern communication tools and channels.
“The opening of the Oracle Digital Hub underscores our commitment to continuously enhance our local capabilities and service offerings in the UAE,” said Giovanna Sangiorgi, vice president, Oracle Digital EMEA at the time of its announcement. “The Hub was designed to support the remarkable demand for our complete cloud portfolio across the Middle East. We now have the ability to engage with our customers anytime, anywhere and on their terms.”
“The Oracle Digital Hub and the Abu Dhabi data centre are solid evidence of our commitment to the UAE and the wider Middle East region,” added Abdul Rahman Al Thehaiban, senior vice president, Middle East and Africa, Oracle. “Cloud adoption is on the rise, and with an unmatched portfolio of solutions and support infrastructure, Oracle is poised to lead the regions’ digital transformation movement.”
Oracle hosts a series of events in Dubai each year, including a Digital Economy Summit attended by more than 400 customers and partners in 2017. Todd Buchholz, former White House economic advisor and Harvard professor, delivered keynotes at the event. Key government and private sector leaders including Mir Dawar Ali, Head of IT, Acwa Power International; Manoj Nakra, Director Strategy, Apparel Group; Prateek Vahie, SVP and Head of Customer Lifecycle Management and Digital Marketing, Emirates NBD and Trevor McFarlan, CEO, Emir discussed digital transformation in the UAE on a panel.
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Emphatically epitomising the status of companies, organisations, associations and bodies currently benefiting from the services that Oracle provide; customer collaboration and ongoing feedback helps mould the business’s future portfolio.
Unparalleled from a market research and industry trend monitoring point of view, Oracle then benefits itself from the positive, long-term relationships formed as a consequence.
As an example, one such partnership has been fostered alongside leading Saudi Arabian retailer, Al Nahdi and in April, 2017 the pharmaceutical specialist was announced as the latest to benefit from the array of bespoke solutions in Oracle’s armoury.
Oracle announced that Nahdi Medical Company had deployed Oracle Retail Advanced Science Engine Cloud Service, Oracle Retail Merchandising Solutions, and Oracle Retail Category Management as part of this customised package. Nahdi is considered the largest pharmacy chain in Middle East and North Africa with a mission to exceed the expectations of 85 million guests across 125 cities by providing personalised high-quality health, wellness and beauty products and services through its expertise and extended reach.
Nahdi manages a huge and growing assortment of SKUs across 170 categories throughout its stores and the volume of data forced Nahdi to adopt a scalable and smart planning solution. With the deployment of Oracle Retail, Nahdi gains the ability to segment customers, cluster stores and understand the effects of demand transference without having to recruit a full team of scientists with transaction-level data experience. Powerful scientific insights are delivered in a digestible format for the business user through personal-based dashboards.
Prior to selecting Oracle, Nahdi planners spent time navigating a manual process using Excel spreadsheets and in-house databases. Today Nahdi is able to optimise the planning team’s productivity with standardised and automated planning processes.
“The implementation of Oracle Retail increased the accuracy of planning and forecasting the merchandising figures. We are able to plan and execute a better assortment of products across our stores to improve our guests’ satisfaction,” said Dr. Khalid Tadlaoui, Vice President of Information Technology, Nahdi Medical Company.
“The proliferation of data can be overwhelming, and it becomes increasingly important for retailers like Nahdi Medical Company to leverage and invest in solutions that understand how to drive insight through embedded science, business intelligence and analytics into solutions and processes,” added Ray Carlin, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Oracle Retail. “Oracle Retail is incredibly proud to provide this competitive advantage as cloud services, accelerating speed to market and driving productivity.”
SMOOTH CLOUD IMPLEMENTATION
Oracle PartnerNetwork Gold Level Partner, Logic Information Systems was another beneficiary of the ever-expanding Oracle reach via a solution which saw it accelerate a smooth cloud implementation and guide the customer through business process change. Logic developed a Retail Data Extractor to extract data correctly and cleanly from the installation of Oracle Retail Merchandising Systems for the cloud implementation; before also delivering training programmes to empower the business and technical teams.
“It is a privilege to work with a retailer like Nahdi who is using science to leverage the performance and availability of each individual product to satisfy their guests and who also places an importance that their employees have access to critical planning information without wasted time sifting through Excel and manual processes,” said Amber Naqvi, President, Logic Information Systems.
Moving forward, it’s inevitable that Oracle’s positive influence on both aspiring and established Middle Eastern industry heavyweights will grow, as advanced technologies become more complex and – concurrently – the pressure on businesses to become more streamlined – both independently and alongside their own business partners – gains stringency.
