Cognos wins key business at leading university in Saudi Arabia

The company has taken a lead role in implementing business intelligence solutions at the King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM) in Dhahran. KFUPM decided to adopt the Cognos 8 business intelligence solution to provide online periodic and ad-hoc analytical information to all decision makers at the University.

Cognos will work in tandem with the University to achieve its goals of formulating an effective and cost-effective strategy for BI, selecting the most suitable enterprise information platforms and building the capacity of end users to manage the system.

"The decision by KFUPM to utilise Cognos 8 comes as the University seeks to introduce a strategic performance management culture among its staff," said Iftikhar Nadeem, Advisor, Information Strategy, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Saudi Arabia.

"Cognos 8 will play an instrumental role in providing an enabling framework to make the University a strategy-focused organisation and implement performance measurement systems. Establishing a business intelligence (BI) competency center will also play a crucial role in our future IT plans," he added.

"Cognos 8 is easy to use, deploy and administer, and is highly versatile to assist a large number of different users," said Derek Morrison, regional general manager, Cognos Middle East.

"The University's investment in Cognos will deliver greater access to information at all levels of the organization, and by integrating with existing technologies, KFUPM is maximising value out of its technology investments."

"Saudi Arabia is a key market for Cognos. We have registered considerable growth in this market and will continue to enhance our operations in the country this year," Morrison added.

Cognos 8 BI is a groundbreaking product that provides decision makers at all levels of the enterprise with a consistent, accurate view of information to better manage performance.

As a single product that easily integrates into existing infrastructures with multiple systems and data sources, it is a robust technology foundation for BI standardization and corporate performance management.

BSG, the regional partner for Cognos, will lead the Cognos 8 BI deployment.

"We are delighted that KFUPM has reposed their trust in BSG and the Cognos products," said Nasser Tufail, managing director, BSG. "We look forward to forging a long-term, strategic partnership with the University and to supporting Cognos's expansion in Saudi Arabia."