David Brierley

Business Objects has actually been working in the region for more than 12 years with a presence on the ground since 2000, in the process amassing some 600 clients drawn from the top names in the finance, oil and gas, telcos, government and healthcare sectors.

'About 18 months ago the market changed significantly,' explains Mr. Brierley. 'Clients started to request Enterprise end-to-end performance management'

'The demand increased at such a rate that it became apparent very early on that for vendors to survive, they had to change their strategy from sales centric to more consulting/support centric operations. Selling the solution is simple; however, having the right team to implement and support is another matter all together'

Mr. Brierley adds that clients are very keen to have technical expertise on the spot to supervise the implementation of such critical software applications.

'I was impressed with the level of investment Business Objects had made locally and even more impressed with the ongoing investment I am able to make. This is why Businessobjects is being selected by many of the leading GCC Organisations and this is why I was happy to join as GM. Many vendors talk of investment; however, very few deliver'

'We have evolved from being just a sales office in Dubai to becoming a full subsidiary with an equal division between sales and technical staff. This is the commitment the market demands'

'From a client's perspective, project success is simply based upon the correlation between project cost, time and realized business benefits'

'This is why we have been and continue to invest aggressively in building a 'Best Practice' consulting division that will complement our existing partners'

'I do believe that with CRM and ERP installations in place, Business Intelligence is capable of taking a quantum leap forward in this part of the world. Due to competitive pressures, Organizations are being forced to re-evaluate their processes, tactics and strategy and this is fueling the demand for Businessobjects'

'At last the technology has caught up with what management has been demanding for a long time. And we are seeing it rapidly deployed in the financial sector and telcos in particular. For example, a telco can examine whether a merger or license bid makes sense using a 'what if?' scenario.'

Mr. Brierley says Dubai was a logical choice for a regional base as Business Objects had been operating from this emirate for many years, and that the cost base, while rising, was far from excessive by international standards.

'Over the past four years working throughout the Middle East, I am happy to have the prospect of working for many more years in the region in this sector.

'Indeed, our best reference is the hundreds of successful Business Objects implementations, and part of my marketing strategy will be to ensure that more people get to hear about these success stories.'