SAP SE has recently announced a five-year $200 million investment in the UAE, underpinning objectives outlined by the UAE Vision 2021 plan to create economic diversity and jobs for youth.
The investments plans were unveiled during the inauguration of the company’s new regional headquarters in Dubai Internet City.
Ammar Al Malik, Executive Director, Dubai Internet City (DIC), said, “We are delighted to be formally inaugurating the new SAP MENA Headquarters in Dubai Internet City. Throughout the years, DIC has witnessed SAP’s phenomenal growth in Dubai and the region, and the inauguration of their MENA Headquarters is another significant milestone in our shared history. Dubai today is an accelerator of innovation, digitalisation, and growth, and DIC is a key catalyst at the heart of the innovation mandate. SAP is one of the most innovative companies in ERP and Cloud solutions, and we look forward to enabling the growth and development of this industry.”
SAP also announced plans to establish its first SAP Cloud Data Center in the UAE in 2017. Through the data center, organisations will be able to benefit from SAP cloud solutions, harnessing the real-time capabilities of the powerful in-memory platform, SAP HANA. The SAP data center will accelerate innovative business models especially for the UAE’s government, banking and finance and healthcare sectors. A recent report from Gartner shows that the MENA public cloud services market is set to roughly double, from about USD 1 billion in 2016 to about USD 2 billion in 2020.
“Our UAE investment plan and our new Middle East and North Africa headquarters in Dubai affirm our commitment to this strategic market, with public-private partnerships fueling digital transformation, co-innovation, talent development and entrepreneurship,” said Luka Mucic, Chief Financial Officer and Member of the Executive Board, SAP SE. The first such investment plan (USD 450 million) had been announced in 2012.
SAP, which was recently announced as a Premier Partner for Expo 2020 Dubai, also launched its first Co-Innovation Lab (COIL) in the UAE, its 15th lab across the globe, facilitating project-based co-innovation with customers and partners. SAP Co-Innovation Labs, located in high-tech clusters around the globe, provide opportunities to foster innovations with local ecosystems.
The lab offers a hands-on development environment and a structured and guided global approach for companies to co-innovate with SAP. In the region, the Lab is focused on innovative services for banks and real estate companies to provide an immersive virtual and augmented reality experience for homebuyers. The lab will also act as an enabler and primary access point for SAP’s Internet of Things platform “SAP Leonardo” in the region.
The new SAP headquarters will serve as the hub for SAP’s Training and Development Institute (TDI). The TDI has upskilled thousands of students and young graduates, and successfully implemented programs to sponsor and empower entrepreneurs in the UAE and across the region. TDI is committed to develop local talent, hiring millennials, and supporting women in the workforce.
The opening event was attended by dozens of executives from the region’s most innovative public and private organizations. At SAP’s first immersive Customer Experience Center in the region, they were given insight into the latest digital innovations and future trends, including SAP Leonardo, the in-memory SAP HANA platform, and the real-time business suite, S/4HANA.
SAP has more than 345,000 customers in 190 countries and generated total revenue of 22 billion Euros for FY2016. Europe, the Middle East, and Africa account for 44 percent of total global revenue.
