SAP Co-CEO and DUBAL CIO to deliver keynotes in Abu Dhabi next week

Bill McDermott – Co-CEO and executive board member of German IT giant SAP – has confirmed plans deliver a keynote speech on IT-driven innovation in the United Arab Emirates on 19 October.

Forming a key part of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) leg of the SAP World Tour 2011, the high-profile speech will be complemented by a keynote from DUBAL CIO Ahmad M. Al Mulla.

Entitled ‘Business in the Moment’, McDermott’s keynote will share insights on top IT trends – including mobility, cloud computing and analytics – that will drive long-term growth in the years to come, as well as the importance of analyzing massive data in real time to enable companies to move faster and have more choices than ever before.

The SAP® World Tour 2011 road show is an integral part of McDermott’s visit, a nuanced, multileveled initiative designed to enable dialog with influencers, customers along with members of the ecosystem interested in partnering with SAP. Through interactive formats, including industry- and product-specific breakout sessions, participants will learn how the SAP solution portfolio can deliver customer value, consistently executing on strategy and growing profitably and sustainably.

The MENA-leg of the SAP® World Tour 2011, which will also include keynotes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, comes at a time of notable success for SAP in the region.

In addition to consistently robust growth, SAP MENA has hired 100 new employees since August 2010 and recently opened new offices in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Qatar. In November 2010, SAP MENA announced it would double its resources within the next two years, with the majority of headcount focused on solution delivery. Today, the region hosts more than 2100 qualified consultants and 75+ partners.

The company’s work in the region is not all about the bottom line, however.

Last year, the knowledge and vocation-inspiring University Alliance program welcomed seven new members, bumping up the Middle Eastern membership total to 21, strengthening the company’s value among government entities and further cementing its ‘Employer of Choice’ credentials. Other recent initiatives to support regional industries include launching a Centre of Excellence to assist Saudi Arabian Chemical companies and an MoU with ictQatar to become an anchor tenant at the Digital Content Cluster, providing cloud computing services for start-ups and small and medium enterprises.