SAS reinforces leadership for the Middle East, Africa, Turkey and Central Asia

SAS, the leader in analytics, present in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia for over 10 years, announced the appointment of Tayfun Topkoc as General Manager for the Middle East, Africa, Turkey, and Central Asia. This appointment comes in line with SAS’s strategy toward meeting the growing needs of the industry for advanced analytics, AI and cloud-based solutions, and most importantly the region’s new stage of sustainable data-led digital transformation and growth. 

Throughout his tenure at SAS, Tayfun has played a significant role in the development of SAS’s vision. Tayfun Topkoc brings over 22 years of industry experience. “I look forward to leading the regional business through a sustainable growth. I’m convinced this is SAS’s time, and 2022 looks very promising. SAS has proven its relevance and expertise in world-class digital transformation. Customer-centricity, deep sector knowledge, and a future-ready attitude – this is what the SAS team represents, and I am proud to be part of it.” said Tayfun Topkoc, SAS General Manager for the Middle East, Africa, Turkey, and Central Asia Region.

SAS will continue to help companies in the kingdom adopt cloud platforms to tap into the full potential of their capabilities and resources to accelerate innovation and higher operational efficiencies. The cloud-first strategy spearheaded by SAS supports companies to move to a cloud-driven environment to eliminate physical and financial barriers to align with evolving business goals and advance in their digital transformation journey – which is central to the Saudi Vision 2030 plan.   

SAS is committed to using analytics to build a sustainable future. Last year, the Kingdom announced its Net Zero by 2060 Strategic Initiative, Under Tayfun’s leadership, SAS will bolster the way it uses technology and expertise to help businesses in the country amplify their environmental, social and governance initiatives and contribute towards realizing the ambitious vision of the Kingdom.  With companies seeking innovative ways of navigating paradigm shifts in the economy brought by climate risks, SAS will lead the roadmap to discover new opportunities, become future-proof and overcome challenges in education, finance, healthcare, energy, agriculture, government, telco and retail sectors using Analytics and AI.

SAS will accelerate the work on empowering talents across the Kingdom. The company will reinforce focus on ensuring that the talent in the country is nurtured and shaped. Currently, SAS has existing partnerships with some of the most prominent universities in the Kingdom such as King Saud University, Umm Al Qura University and Majmaah University. The goal continues to be of ensuring a top-notch talent pool that is prepared and well equipped with sound knowledge on advanced technologies to rise to the economic and business challenges of tomorrow. Beyond cooperation with leading universities, SAS will also lead a well-defined roadmap to provide organizations with the toolkit and expertise to reskill and upskill their teams, to ensure a healthy and relevant talent pipeline.