Al Ahli Holding Group, one of the Middle East’s largest conglomerates, went live today (April 18) on a digital core to transform the experience for tens of thousands of customers in 20 countries worldwide, as part of an innovative digital transformation partnership with SAP.

The Dubai-headquartered group counts 9,000 employees across 15 brands including the Dubai Outlet Mall, 117 Live for entertainment, manufacturers Al Ahli Aluminum and Al Ahli Plastic Industries, social media firm Audience, Gold’s Gym in the Middle East, and publishing comics.

As part of its digital transformation, Al Ahli Holding Group has gone live on the SAP S/4HANA real-time business suite, implemented by partner DXC Technology. SAP S/4HANA provides Al Ahli Group with easy-to-understand business dashboards, which can improve automation, efficiency, and agility.

On the new digital move, CEO Mohammmed Khammas said: "SAP solutions are designed in backing with partner DXC to provide Al Ahli Holding Group with leading business solutions such as improved sales forecasting and stock replenishment, effective customer service, to optimize supply chain, support daily operations and provide accurate analytics and reports that will support management when making important decisions."

"Showing the strong opportunity for digital transformation, the Middle East and North Africa’s software spend will grow by 13 percent to reach $6.2 billion in 2018, according to research firm Gartner," he stated.

“Including the Group Consolidation and Planning of Various Business Units and functions within Al Ahli Holding Group, these will also benefit from the new SAP system including finance, human resources, sales and distribution and stock management, creating a business environment that is properly governed, accurately monitored and thoroughly controlled,” added Mohammed Khammas.

In the near future, Al Ahli Holding Group will closely examine the potential for integrating emerging cloud-based innovations such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and blockchain to further transform the employee and customer experience.

Fujitsu's SAP S/4HANA expertise, infrastructure and reliable services enabled AHG. The potential of SAP S/4HANA platform. Based on dependable Fujitsu infrastructure. Fujitsu FlexFrame technology Improved the Application Availability, this being Significant Enabler for the AHG Group SAP journey.

"Al Ahli Holding Group needed full business visibility on complex processes – from connected malls and live mega-events, to supply chain on plastics and publishing," remarked George Riding, the interim managing director, SAP UAE and Oman.

“By undergoing digital transformation and co-innovating with SAP S/4HANA, Al Ahli Holding Group has real-time insights that are reducing complexity, optimizing costs, and enabling staff to focus on innovation. Al Ahli Holding Group is transforming their customer experience and supporting the UAE’s economic growth,” he added.

With Al Ahli Holding Group, SAP is exchanging best practices in digital transformation with more than 378,000 customers, with localized solutions for more than 25 lines of business.-TradeArabia News Service