Ahmed AlFaifi

SAP plays a pivotal role in supporting Vision 2030 by serving as a strategic partner, launching an innovation center, upskilling local talent, and hosting the world’s largest Business Network in the country.

What role does SAP play in supporting Vision 2030?

SAP is an ally and strategic partner to Saudi Arabia’s digital and economy transformational plans and Vision 2030. In 2016, when the strategic objectives of Vision 2030 were announced, SAP sat down with the Minister of Planning as a strategic partner. We wanted to fully understand the main objectives and aspirations of Vision 2030 in order to formulate and align SAP strategic initiatives and plans and bring something valuable to the table. SAP currently leads in terms of Vision 2030 projects enablement and has been involved in all projects that are part of the vision. There have been three major highlights for SAP in the Kingdom. First, we decided to establish headquarters in Riyadh that will serve as the hub for 27 countries in the Middle East and Africa. Second, we announced the launch of our innovation center that is focused on cases out of this region. The third is substantial—Saudi Arabia will host the largest SAP Business Network on the planet, hosting global trade and commerce worth of USD5 trillion per year, which is larger than some countries’ economies, and 750 million transactions per day. SAP Business Network now is only hosted in the US and serves the globe, and SAP decided to have Saudi Arabia host the second node for the network serving the region and the globe. We plan to move it here with a high level of localization in line with the regulations of the Kingdom.

Which are the most promising segments in the country for SAP?

One of SAP’s core strengths is its deep and intrinsic knowledge and awareness of the key challenges that face different industries and hence its ability to tailor specific solutions that fit these industries and address these challenges. We provide solutions to 25 industries that are all present in Saudi Arabia. Oil and gas remains massive and will remain so for years to come. Tourism is also growing rapidly. 2023 saw other major announcements in terms of logistics and ports as well. These all comprise the physical aspects, though there is also the digital aspect in terms of trade. This is all happening on the Business Network, which includes the biggest shipping companies, and we are working to tie in the financing element to the Business Network this year so that it can become a full-fledged network that enables buying, fulfillment, shipping, and payments, all hosted here. That will expedite the government’s plans to position the Kingdom as a logistics hub. We are ready to capitalize and support the transformation of every sector of the country.

How are you working to support knowledge transfer to KSA?

Knowledge transfer is an area that we started investing in before other companies. We started to put programs in place in 2012/2013, because knowledge transfer is long term and must be continuous. We have four programs, including university alliance and dual study programs. All the 33 universities in Saudi Arabia are on this program to train the trainer. We connect universities with SAP Global at no cost, and they have access to all the educational materials and subsequently train their own students. We currently have 117 professors certified in SAP, with the figure growing every year. We also have more technical programs like the Young Professionals Program (YPP) that is targeted at fresh graduates. Recently, we launched a new program, the SAP Engineering Academy. It used to be only offered to SAP engineers, but in 2022 we signed an agreement with MCIT to tailor this program to serve Saudi top IT talents. This is our top-notch specialized training program hosting the best talent from the public and private sectors, and 55 engineers graduated from the first run of the program out of the academy in California. The second cohort has started, with more than 75 candidates due to graduate in December 2023.