JEDDAH – IT investment in the region will reach $32 billion in 2013, with one of the largest market being Saudi Arabia, organizer of the annual IDC Saudi Arabia CIO Summit to be held on Sept. 17-18 at the InterContinental Hotel in Jeddah said. Moreover, the most recent Global Innovation Index 2013—which Huawei supported as a Knowledge Partner—further found that Saudi Arabia together with the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait lead the Middle East in overall innovation performance. “Huawei is committed to helping organizations in Saudi Arabia capitalize on opportunities brought about by ICT convergence without constraints of high costs and security challenges,” said Tony Shi, General Manager of Huawei Enterprise in Saudi Arabia. “During this year's Summit, we look forward to sharing our global expertise and our local-market experience in helping to digitize the Saudi workplace through smarter, more reliable, efficient and secure solutions.” As sustained investment in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector continues to spur Saudi Arabia's advancement as a knowledge economy, Huawei—a leading global ICT solutions provider—has announced that it will be joining decision-makers from across the private and public sector at the IDC Saudi Arabia CIO Summit 2013, highlighting the technology infrastructure poised to shape Saudi's business landscape over the coming years. Leading up to this year's Summit, Huawei will host a dedicated roundtable on the theme of enterprise mobility the day before the Summit officially opens, with representatives from Saudi's government healthcare and education sectors set to attend. As the race to embrace the Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) trend becomes more prevalent in KSA, Huawei will propose tangible solutions for how organizations can empower employees to use their personal mobile device on-the-go yet still keep their corporate information secure. Senior consultants and technical experts from Huawei—an official Summit Partner—will lead panel discussions reviewing Saudi Arabia's ongoing IT transformation journey and how CIOs can leverage recent innovations in enterprise mobility and big data analysis to positively impact their organizations' business performance. During the first day of the Summit, Huawei will also be hosting a keynote discussion titled “Cashing in on Big Data” with the company previewing new ICT tools which allow local businesses to make sense of their ever-increasing digital assets through more effective storage and analytical processes. “From click streams to videos and social media feeds, the creative use of this information can provide a real competitive advantage; allowing IT to inform business strategies and help organizations in Saudi Arabia to develop new products and services sooner than anybody else on the market,” Shi added. Huawei has been steadily increasing its presence in KSA's enterprise ICT industry over the past year through a host of new technology deployments and investments in providing the education and training necessary to grow the Kingdom's overall ICT ecosystem. — SG
