INDUSTRY WATCH
TECHNOLOGY HAS
BEEN A KEY ENABLER
IN OUR GROWTH BY
DEPLOYING THE LATEST
TECHNOLOGIES, OUR
ENDEAVOUR IS TO ENHANCE
CUSTOMER SERVICE.
E
stablished in the 1940s in Baghdad,
Iraq, the Al Handal International
Group (HIG) was founded by Haji
Noori Ayyed Al Handal, who can be
credited with its continued success.
Over the last seven decades, HIG has
grown and expanded into a diversified
group with businesses in banking, travel
and tourism, construction, oil, real
estate, security services, retail, fashion
and perfumes. Other than banking and
finance, the rest of HIG’s businesses are
managed from its headquarters in Dubai.
At present, HIG is developing three
large real-estate projects in Iraq, with
one of them involving as many as 1,800
flats and villa units. The company’s
employees primarily manage its
development projects.
Some of the group companies include:
Eber Almodun for construction projects;
Ishtar for security and protection services;
Abr Almasafat for travel and airline
ticketing; Ashur International Bank for
investments; Al Rased for trading in
foreign exchange; Trust Islamic Bank for
banking; and Bayariq Al Fursan for retail
franchise operations. The complex materials and subcontractor
activity for construction projects led
the company to implement an ERP
application. However, to keep track of
customer activity and inquiries on the
real-estate projects, namely the front end
of the business, HIG was looking for an
innovative CRM solution and Centra CRM
was their preferred choice.
Both Ashur International Bank, and
Trust Islamic Bank operate only in Iraq
with around 10 branches. HIG, recently
entered the agriculture sector and also
operates in other countries including UAE,
Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Cyprus. “As a developer of large construction
projects, it is important for us to keep
proper records for each customer. After
Centra made a presentation to us, we
felt its CRM solution would be a perfect
match as it is simple, easy to use and
cost effective. We also chose Centra CRM
because it could be easily integrated with
our accounting and ERP system,” said
Hardan Al Handal, Vice Chairman of Al
Handal Group.
Mohammed Al Handal, CEO of Al
Handal International Group, said:
“HIG’s mission is to play a leading role
in the reconstruction, rehabilitation,
modernisation and development
programmes in the Middle East.
“We are committed to the highest quality
standards and distinguished customer
www.intelligentcio.com
service and believe our strength is the
quality and experience of our people.
Technology has been a key enabler
in our growth and by deploying the
latest technologies, our endeavour is to
enhance customer service and experience
even further.”
Centra CRM is used to manage and
automate the front-end operations with
prospective and purchasing customers.
The solution is used to enter the customer
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