Wholesale-retail sector is the biggest spender of IT in Saudi Arabia's booming market

This booming sector spent around US$ 860 million on IT projects and solutions, against the total IT spending of US$ 3.70 billion across all sectors of the Saudi Arabian economy.

The figures, released by Dubai-based Madar Research Group, indicate that the wholesale and retail sectors drive towards IT is fueled primarily by the dominance of large international and regional chains stores. After trade, other big IT spenders are the manufacturing sector (14.86 per cent) and government institutions (10.8 per cent).

"Saudi Arabia is a classic case of rapid switchover from a conventional economy into a sophisticated IT-driven Knowledge Economy that needs advanced solutions to allow integration with global applications," says Diyaa Zebian, Regional Manager, Middle East and Egypt, for eSolutions BEA. BEA has helped the region's businesses deploy the highly regarded BEA Weblogic Platform that provides a unified, simplified and extensible application infrastructure for business transformation.
"Saudi Arabia's fast-track growth in IT is a tribute to the vibrancy of the Saudi Arabian economy and the foresight that is driving businesses to migrate to next generation technologies, as it continues its push towards the Digital Economy," said Zebian. "In such a scenario, applications like the BEA Weblogic platform are equipped to facilitate the migration towards fully integrated IT systems, as have been proved by the success of Weblogic at an international level."

The Saudi Arabian market, which accounts for nearly 50 per cent of the total IT spending in the GCC, is expected to undergo further IT deployments across businesses, a factor that has prompted top vendors and software solution providers to strengthen their marketing strategies.

Also driving the IT sector is the assertive national strategy driven by initiatives like the National Policy for Sciences and Technology which surveyed 48 government institutions and 271 private companies to assess their IT structure, potential and future plans.

"eSolutions BEA is ready for a dramatic growth in the region, particularly in the Saudi Arabian market, as several leading corporations are deploying the Weblogic platform to integrate their IT systems. Our strategy is to tap into the vast opportunities offered by the expanding IT markets and provide clients with leading edge solutions for which BEA has become famous across the globe," said Zebian.