SAP continues to lead Middle East enterprise software market

In its report, entitled "Arab Middle East and North Africa Software Solutions 2006 - 2010 Forecast and 2005 Vendor Shares", IDC found that in 2005, SAP Arabia increased its market share from 30.2 per cent in 2004 to 33.1 per cent in 2005 while its nearest competitor has a market share of 23.3 per cent. Total spending on software solutions in the MENA region reached $187.35 million in 2005, representing an increase of 16 per cent year-on-year and is expected to be worth around $ 371.08 million in 2010. Saudi Arabia was the largest market with 43.9 per cent share and the UAE second with 26.8 per cent share of the regional market in 2005.

"2005 was another outstanding year for us as we registered another year of growth and leadership in the region," said Essam Enany, president, SAP Arabia. "We enjoyed strong demand for Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and ERP applications and penetrated five new key industries in 2005, including banking, logistics, media, construction and utilities."

"To extend our market leadership, we are launching a new initiative in the region for the small and midsize enterprise [SME] market during GITEX 2006. This new offering will allow SMEs across the board to take advantage of SAP's best of breed ERP software that is affordable and has a short cycle of implementation. We will continue to demonstrate leadership by making business software even more powerful, flexible and accessible to organisations of all sizes,"

Enany added.

At GITEX, visitors can explore the several ways in which SAP technology, applications and industry solutions power best-run businesses. Companies can learn about SAP's product road map and opportunities arising from SAP's strategy of co-innovation with a growing ecosystem of partners.

The SAP stand will offer interactive demonstrations of key SAP solutions and products such as mySAP ERP™, mySAP™ Customer Relationship Management; mySAP™ Supply Chain Management, mySAP™ Supplier Relationship Management. The solutions are specific to key verticals and cater to companies of all sizes, including small and midsize enterprises, in diverse industries such as oil & gas, retail, automotive, engineering, construction & operations, manufacturing, financial services and the public sector.

SAP Arabia can be found @ Gitex 2006 in the Sheikh Rashid Hall.