Dubai Electricity and Water Authority praised on Global Stage for IT Innovation

Buoyed by DEWA's IT-led transformation, the United Arab Emirates now ranked seventh in the world in terms of ease of getting electricity services according to World Bank's Doing Business 2013 report, which provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 185 economies. The World Bank also directly mentioned DEWA's implementation of SAP as a significant milestone in this achievement.

"In accordance with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to establish Dubai's lead in the region and strengthen its position as a global hub for trade, finance and tourism, DEWA provides world-class services with reliability and efficiency for its customers in the Emirate of Dubai," said HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of DEWA.

"We are delighted to receive the bronze Quality Award category from SAP for Europe, Middle East and Africa. This award reaffirms our leadership and our renewed drive toward more achievement and innovation," added Al Tayer.

DEWA, which had already triumphed in the Middle East and North Africa leg of the Quality Awards, earned its victory after being assessed by an expert judging panel comprising SAP partners, industry experts and former SAP Quality Awards winners.

The SAP MENA Quality Awards celebrate businesses using SAP Quality Principles that effectively manage software implementations marked by multifaceted technical and business process requirements, excel in execution and deliver significant benefits, and achieve fast, low-cost implementations.

The award ceremony took place in Madrid, Spain, at SAPPHIRE NOW, the premiere customer event from SAP AG.

DEWA, which delivers electricity to over 630,000 customers across the Emirate of Dubai, was hailed for its full cycle of the SAP Business Suite, including the industry solution for Utilities, CRM, SRM, BI, GRC, Strategy Management and the Sybase Unwired Platform for mobile access to SAP.

Implemented by Wipro Gulf, the project saw DEWA replace more than 10 legacy systems with integrated SAP solutions to facilitate business success and further improve customer service.

Notable highlights to date include reducing the monthly closure of accounting books from 20 to five days and reducing budget checking from three days to one minute. DEWA customers are also benefiting, with the time required to receive electricity supplies reduced from 55 to 28 days, while water supply time have been reduced from 30 to 20 days, by cutting the number of steps in the utility connection process from 9 to 1.

Furthermore, the time for purchase requisitions to purchase order cycle was cut from 60 to 15 days.

"DEWA exemplifies the UAE's determination to embrace the absolute cutting-edge, and exert industry influence on a global scale," said Sam Al Kharrat, Managing Director, SAP MENA.

"Providing water and electricity to sustain both life and business is more complex than ever before, but DEWA has risen to the challenge through visionary leadership and a determination to put IT solutions at the heart of its business plan. This is a company that demands excellence at every turn, and SAP is proud to help make this a day-to-day reality."