Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Set to Claim USD 9 Billion in Value with Cloud-Based Government Services: IDC

Cloud and Managed Services Present USD 8.9 Billion EMEA Opportunity: IDC;

TCC: SAP’s First Managed Cloud as a Service Partner in Saudi Arabia and MENA with Primary Focus on Public Sector

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - 27 October 2014 - The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will leverage cloud-based government services to claim a stake of the region’s nearly USD 9 billion value, Technology Control Company (TCC) and SAP announced today.

Managed Cloud as a Service (MCaaS) enables service providers to deliver a secure partner-owned private cloud, essential for the delivery of innovative e-government and mobile government services.

Cloud and managed services present an opportunity of USD 8.9 billion in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa for SAP partners, according to the IDC study “Cloud & Managed Services: Growth Opportunities for SAP Partners”.  SAP global partners can earn USD 33.6 billion in revenue in the next five years from SAP cloud and managed services.

“Managed cloud services will provide the secure platform for the next generation of government services for citizens, visitors, and businesses in the Kingdom’s Smart Cities,” said Tarik A. AlGain, CEO, TCC, one of the leading ICT companies in the Kingdom. “MCaaS will drive inter-department government collaboration, increase sharing of data, lower IT costs, and enhance employee productivity.”

As SAP’s first Managed Cloud as a Service (MCaaS) partner in Saudi Arabia and MENA with prime focus on the public sector, the Technology Control Company (TCC) will primarily provide the deployment, application, and management for the Kingdom’s government services, from smartphone apps to government business applications.

With the Kingdom ranked No. 6 in the world in government ICT usage, according to the World Economic Forum’s Networked Readiness Index 2014, government-led ICT investment in cloud-based e-services and infrastructure investment is fuelling Saudi Arabia’s knowledge-based economy and the four Economic Cities under development.

The Kingdom, the Middle East’s largest IT market, is set to grow 23 percent from USD 11.5 billion in 2014 to USD 14.2 billion in 2017, according to IDC, with government the fastest-growing vertical, with a CAGR of 12.9 percent.

“As the ‘third platform’ of computing ramps up in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, key software components such as cloud, Big Data, mobility, and social media will be essential for communication between government departments and users, and unlock a new era of service delivery and ROI,” said to Ahmed Jaber Al-Faifi, Managing Director, SAP Saudi Arabia.

IDC estimates that from 2013 to 2020, 25 trillion gigabytes of new data will be generated, with most of it “living” in the cloud. By 2016, approximately 25 percent of all software revenue will be subscription-based.

SAP’s cloud applications total subscribers now exceed 36 million, the most of any vendor in the industry.