HP opens first SAP Competency Centre in Saudi Arabia
Posted: 22 December 2003
HP to provide training centre to develop local SAP Consultant
base
HP Middle East announced the opening of its first Saudi Arabian
SAP Competency Centre in Qabar. The facility is one of only 16 HP
SAP Competency Centres worldwide and will operate three streams,
HP SAP Training Programmes, an HP Solutions Centre and an HP Solutions
Lab.
The whole centre will be running at full capacity by March 2004.
The centre will provide training opportunities for Saudi graduate
nationals to certify as SAP Consultants creating a local pool of
SAP competent experts specifically for the Kingdom.
Currently students are offered ABAP programming skills at the HP
SAP Training Centre, the initial technical training standard for
all SAP consultants. And by January 2004, students will be able
to engage in a series of training courses varying from Workflow
Management, Finance, Materials Management and Industry Specific
SAP Solutions. When working at full capacity, the Centre will run
2 courses simultaneously for a maximum of 15 people each at any
one time. And depending on the training skill set, these courses
will last from between 25 days to 2 months, with local HP and worldwide
trainers.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a very important region to
HP. We see great potential for technological growth and realise
the need for local support from local consultants,” said Mike
Smith, General Manager HP Services Middle East. “We have been
looking at ways to help with the development of SAP skill sets for
IT consultants, and this Centre provides the specifics. This joint
initiative with ITM, an HP delivery partner, means that we will
see the local SAP consultant market burgeon and move from strength
to strength.”
The SAP Competency Centre will not only provide a training facility
for Saudi nationals, as both a Solutions Centre and a Solutions
Lab are on the same site. The Solutions Lab affords customers an
opportunity to see first hand, SAP’s latest solutions for
several industry verticals, and also the latest SAP ‘bolt-on’
technology inventions created by HP for specific industries. Some
of the more popular developments are mobility solutions for field
operatives using PDA’s and printing solutions for mobile administrators.
For this region many of the SAP ‘bolt-on’s’ are
predicted to be highly successful for both Aviation and Oil &
Gas, quickly becoming industry standards. The Solutions Centre demonstrates
the demand and the breadth of solutions provided by HP’s Services
Division from Business Critical solutions to Consulting and Integration.
“HP is at the driving edge for the development of new applications,
pushing the boundaries of with evolving technologies. The SAP Competency
Centre enables us to transfer these key developments to a market
place eager for growth. HPs Solutions Lab will bring a fresh approach
to the SAP market in Saudi Arabia,” Mohammad El Shanti, HP
Business Development Manager. Middle East.
About HP
HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and
institutions globally. The company’s offerings span IT infrastructure,
personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging
and printing. For the fiscal year ending on Oct. 31, 2003, HP revenue
totalled $73.1 billion.
For more information see www.hp.com.
About HP Middle East
HP is the largest IT company in the Middle East employing about
500 people in the region. HP has been present in the Middle East
since 1968, and opened its first regional office in 1994 and has
offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Jeddah and Khobar, Cairo and
Ramallah servicing the GCC, the Levant and Egypt.
For more information about HP Middle East see www.hp.com/me.
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
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