Business & Money | Sunday 15 March, 2015 1:30 pm |

With Two-Thirds of Kingdom’s Population Under 29, SAP CEO’s Visit Underlines Commitment to Training Youth in Technology Skills

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a worldwide leader in supporting the Millennial workforce, SAP announced today following the visit by SAP CEO Bill McDermott.

As two-thirds of the Kingdom’s population is under 29 years old, there is a growing need for the Millennial workforce to be trained in next-generation technology skills, especially as the Kingdom’s IT market is set to grow by a CAGR of 8.9 percent to reach USD 14.2 billion by 2017, according to IDC.

Emphasizing the support for young people’s careers, the Kingdom’s record-high FY2015 budget of USD 229.3 billion, education is receiving the largest share at 25 percent, or USD 57.9 billion.

McDermott, CEO of the world’s largest enterprise software manufacturer, recently visited the Kingdom to meet with key public and private sector clients, and to address Prince Sultan University students.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s leaders in supporting Millennials in the workforce, and Bill McDermott’s visit underlines SAP’s commitment to training youth in the high-demand technology skills like cloud, mobility, Big Data, and social media. We’re dedicated to helping organizations to leverage the emerging generation of Millennial workers to drive business innovation,” said Ahmed Al Faifi, Managing Director, SAP Saudi Arabia.

Training the Kingdom’s Millennials

During his visit, Bill McDermott announced a partnership with SAP, Prince Sultan University, and Mobily for the SAP Education for Employment Program, which includes one year of training on cloud solutions to prepare university graduates for entering the workforce.

In Oxford Economics and SAP’s recent “Workforce 2020” survey of the Kingdom’s workforce, 60 percent said cloud skills and 44 percent said analytics skills would be vital in the next three years.

Meeting business needs, SAP’s Training and Development Institute provides a range of programs across the Middle East and North Africa, including the Young Professionals Program, which has graduated more than 500 students since 2013;, and. the University Alliances program, with 92 academic institution members, which has exposed more than 51,000 students to SAP solutions, and SAP’s Dual Study program with six universities. In the Kingdom, SAP has also opened a new Training Center in Al Khobar.

“With Millennials making up 75 percent of the global workforce by 2020, and with youth more than two-thirds of the Kingdom’s population, we’re helping organizations unleash Millennials’ potential for a brighter future and boost the Kingdom’s sustainable, and innovation-based economy,” said Ahmed Al Faifi.

Supporting Innovation in the Kingdom

Thanks to the their technology skills, Millennials will play a key role in the emerging global Networked Economy, in which the Internet of Things will drive 75 billion connected devices, apps, and objects.

In the Kingdom, SAP predicts three verticals will see the largest impact in 2015: Smart Cities; Connected Retail, and Sport,

Demonstrating the impact of technology on the Kingdom’s businesses, SAP is seeing strong demand for SAP S4/HANA, the next-generation business suite that helps customers to “run simple”.

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About SAP
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 258,000 customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

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