Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 29 | Page 10

NEWS Cloudworks to expand in KSA Souphien Akhrif, Managing Director, cloudworks Avaya signs MoU with Jeddah’s University of Business and Technology Professor Osama A Jannadi (left), Rector of UBT, and Fadi Hani VP Avaya MEA and Turkey A vaya has announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Jeddah’s University of Business and Technology (UBT) to explore education initiatives in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. C loudworks, a cloud consulting company, is planning to expand in Saudi Arabia. The company, which is a Salesforce gold partner based in the UAE, has a representative office in Saudi Arabia and plans to expand its team and establish a larger footprint in the kingdom. This is in view of the country’s drive towards digital transformation and maturity of the market in terms of acceptance of cloud computing. The company is already working with a few customers in KSA like the Al Faisaliah Group and Abdul Latif Jameel and is making concerted efforts to position itself as a trusted partner to companies in Saudi. Souphien Akhrif, Managing Director, cloudworks, said: “Salesforce has 10 INTELLIGENTCIO evolved from being merely a customer relationship management centred company, to becoming the ‘backbone’ that supports a lot of businesses, with features for critical business processes like lead management, sales data and marketing automation, to name a few. “The problem, however, is in realising the full potential of Salesforce. “When organisations try implementing the platform on their own, it’s not just a time consuming and difficult task but also counter-productive. “This is why in 2015, we started cloudworks and since then we’ve been assembling a team of certified and highly skilled Salesforce experts with years of experience working on successful Salesforce projects with businesses in different industries across UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia.” The MoU was signed at the 7th Gulf Education Conference & Exhibition, on the UBT campus in Jeddah, by Fadi Hani, Vice President, Avaya, Middle East, Africa and Turkey, and HE Professor Osama A Jannadi, Rector of UBT. Avaya and UBT will share knowledge and expertise to form co-operation in the fields of higher education, corporate education and community service. The MoU covers internship and co-operative education programmes, and events, seminars and workshops, as well as exchange of information. Fadi Hani, VP, Avaya, Middle East, Africa and Turkey, said: “This strategic initiative is further demonstration of Avaya’s commitment to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and to its knowledge development. Avaya is also a strong supporter of education initiatives, having invested in our own Avaya Sales Academy programme, to create our corporate leaders of the future. Avaya is proud to have the opportunity to play our part in Saudi Arabia’s development, and look forward to working closely with the University of Business and Technology to explore areas of mutual co-operation.” www.intelligentcio.com