Zain Group inks partnership pact with SAP

In a large telecommunications deal announced at GSMA Mobile World Congress 2015, Kuwaiti leading telecom operator Zain Group has selected the German leading software developer SAP to deliver big data and analytics solutions designed to enhance the experience for millions of customers across the Middle East.
"In our drive to become an integrated digital lifestyle operator, Zain needs to reduce complexity in its current IT setup, enhance its overall customer experience through an actionable real-time analytical platform and gain better market insight to open new revenue streams. This tie-up with SAP is intended to support our ambitions," CEO of Zain Group Scott Gegenheimer said in a press statement.
Meeting the broadband needs of customers, Zain Group, a leading telecommunications provider in the Middle East and Africa with over 44 million customers across eight countries, will deploy Big Data and analytic solutions from SAP across Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.
"Mobile devices continue to transform people's lives across the Middle East and around the world," said CEO of SAP Bill McDermott said.
"The more mobile people become, the greater their demand for personalized, context-aware, real-time solutions to stay connected. In collaborating with SAP, Zain Group will use advanced analytics to help them Run Simple and provide the next generation of mobile services for millions of customers in fast-growth markets." As part of the collaboration, Zain Group will deploy the SAP HANA platform - based on innovative, real-time analytics software and in-memory computing technology - as well as data mining, social networking, customer and business intelligence and predictive software solutions.
Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan are all labeled as "fast growth" markets according to GSMA Intelligence, with a combined 20.3 million mobile connections. Mobile broadband penetration is strong in all three, including 74 percent in Kuwait, 49 percent in Bahrain and 42 percent in Jordan.
Among Arab countries, Bahrain ranks third, Jordan sixth and Kuwait seventh in the World Economic Forum's Networked Readiness Index 2014, which measures the performance of information and communications technology in economies.
Worldwide, telecom solutions from SAP enable 17 million people to work from any location on any mobile device, while mobile services from SAP deliver 1.8 billion text messages every day.
Zain Group is a leading telecommunications operator across the Middle East and Africa providing mobile voice and data services to over 44.3 million active customers as of December 31, 2014. With a commercial presence in eight countries, Zain operates in Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and South Sudan.
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. SAP applications and services enable more than 282,000 customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously and grow sustainably.