Global Investment House signs enterprise agreement with Microsoft Kuwait

The agreement was jointly signed by Ramez Dandan, Country Manager, Microsoft Kuwait, Bader Al-Sumait, Executive Vice President, Global Investment House and Ahmad Al Athary, CEO of Arabesque, Microsoft's certified partner.

The leading Kuwaiti investment firm will deploy genuine Microsoft software and be able to improve management performance with improved visibility into software purchasing and deployment across the enterprise.

By signing an Enterprise Agreement, Global is now able to centralize their software purchases in Kuwait, covering their headquarters as well as branches in Bahrain, UAE and Jordan. In addition, the agreement also gives Global access to valuable benefits such as volume pricing and the rights to the latest Microsoft software products; amortized payments over a three-year term; a fixed, annual price per desktop for enterprise products based on the initial number of desktops enrolled; and a centralized purchasing and IT standardization across the entire organization.

Ramez Dandan Country Manager, Microsoft Kuwait, said, 'The Microsoft Enterprise Agreement gives Global Investment House access to the applications and tools they need to expand their technology environment as they grow, without incurring extra costs. Enterprise agreements are much more than licensing agreements - they give customers an assurance that they have the flexibility they need from their operating systems and they also help Microsoft build much closer relationships with our customers, which in turn helps us to offer more value to them.'

The organization also gets Software Assurance benefits, including new version upgrades, Home Use Program, 24x7 phone and web support, Desktop Deployment Planning Services, technical training, Windows Vista Enterprise and Extended Hotfix Support along with Microsoft's consulting services to deliver guidance and designs matching Global's business requirements.

Hakam Abu-Zarour, Chief Information Officer at Global, 'The agreement not only makes our software licensing more cost effective and easier to manage, but the extra benefits that Microsoft offers in terms of enhanced support and training help to make our staff much more productive when using Microsoft solutions. Global will be able to benefit from this partnership with Microsoft to expand geographically and develop our technology capabilities to provide an array of investment products and financial services which will attract customers.'

Adding to that, Ahmad Al Athary, CEO, Arabesque said, 'We are pleased to work with Global to address their technology requirements and drive additional value by increasing operational efficiency and flexibility. The new infrastructure will also provide desktop standardization and guaranteed access to Microsoft's latest technologies. This agreement builds on the long term and fruitful partnership that Arabesque has had with Microsoft.

The Microsoft Enterprise Agreement program enables organizations to improve workplace productivity by standardizing on your choice of Microsoft software for all desktops across the enterprise, which is available at discounted prices based on a three-year agreement term.