Saudi Arabia’s utilities giant Marafiq has teamed up with SAP to further its digital transformation programme, in line with the goals of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 economic diversification mandate.
Marafiq delivers power and utility infrastructure to industrial cities in Saudi Arabia, including hydrocarbon conglomerates in Yanbu and Jubail. Its investors include high-profile Saudi Arabian organisations from the public and private sectors, including Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu; Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, also known as Sabic; Public Investment Fund, and Saudi Aramco.
The agreement with SAP makes Marafiq one of the first power and utility businesses in the kingdom to enter an enterprise digital transformation agreement with German technology company SAP.
General manager of information technology at Marafiq, Ahmed Al-Khars, said the company would continue to focus on digitisation, like other utilities in Saudi Arabia, to expand the kingdom’s energy mix.
“Saudi Arabian utilities, including Marafiq, must focus heavily on digitalising power generation, water production, and waste-water recycling to enable the kingdom’s ambitious economic plans, especially for the energy-intensive industrial cities,” he continued.
“Our digital transformation with SAP aims at preparing us for the changing future to be the provider-of-choice for the industrial sector in the kingdom and lead sustainable, reliable, and cost-effective power and utility services for them.”
Marafiq recently awarded a $133.3m (SAR500m) contract to Indian-listed water company VA Tech Wabag for the expansion of its sanitary wastewater treatment plant in Jubail. Meanwhile, SAP’s portfolio in Saudi Arabia includes various government entities, with which it is in discussions for the $500bn (SAR1.9tn) Neom mega city, as revealed to Construction Week by a top company official at Dubai’s Gitex 2018 exhibition held in October.
Digital transformation is rapidly creating jobs in Saudi Arabia, as is most notable through the development of the Qiddiya entertainment city, backed by Crown Prince HRH Mohammed Bin Salman-led Public Investment Fund.
Source: https://www.utilities-me.com/news/12265-sap-to-support-marafiq-digital-transformation