SACO is set to consolidate its position as one of Saudi Arabia's largest and most pioneering retail and wholesale businesses after agreeing to bolster key processes and decision-making with cutting-edge software solutions from SAP. The project will initially see SACO implement a complete suite of enterprise resource planning, customer relationship planning and business analytics solutions to dramatically enhance SACO's ability to make swift, impactful decisions in real-time while markedly slashing inefficiency across the company. This will include, among other things, greater alignment with its main supplier, US-based ACE Hardware, which already runs on SAP. "SACO's success over the years is entirely down to an unerring focus on what our customers want," said Samir Al-Hamidi, CEO, SACO. "As we expand our operations and seek to become ever more innovative, it is crucial that we embrace the latest IT technology and never, at any point, compromise on the customer experience. In this vital respect, SAP is the right company at the right time - an exceptional value-added proposition that will yield the full transparency and systemic integration needed to shepherd our company to the next level." With 20 stores, the 1,500-strong SACO is the largest total-solution home improvement superstore in Saudi Arabia, currently boasting retail outlets in twelve cities throughout the kingdom, more than 45,000 different products and 13 dedicated specialized departments. SAP's input will not only help the household name run better, but also lay the virtual foundations for an ambitious expansion drive across the GCC and the wider region. The latter is likely to prompt uptake of additional SAP solutions such as in-memory computing to handle increasingly large and complex data sets, as well as mobile platform capabilities for greater operational flexibility. "SACO is a true Saudi Arabian business success story and an exemplary game-changer in the Middle East's retail and whole-sale landscape," said Sam Alkharrat, Managing Director, SAP MENA. "SAP is honored to help play a role in the company's laudably progressive forward momentum and provide its leadership with the tools and confidence to act decisively when it matters most."
