Wipro leading IT service provider in Saudi Arabia

BANGALORE, INDIA: Global software major Wipro has emerged as a leading IT service provider in Saudi Arabia with a commanding position in the kingdom, the IT bellwether said Monday.

Entering the region a decade ago in partnership with Dal Al Riyadh in Al Khobar, the company consolidated its presence by forming a joint venture with the well-diversified group to form Wipro Arabia Ltd for serving a large number of clients across the kingdom.

"Our joint venture has emerged as a strategic IT partner in the region with 750 employees servicing over 60 customers. We have also set up a development centre in Al Khobar to support customers and nurture local talent," Wipro Arabia chairman prince Turki Bin Abdullah Bin Abdulrahaman said in a statement from Riyadh.

The company also contributed in building an IT base in the kingdom by hiring and training a large number of Saudi nationals, who account for 38 per cent of the joint venture's employees.

With the region seeing investments in the public sector, oil and gas and banking and telecom, the company plans to expand its operations by investing in technology and human resources.

"Given the scope of our engagements, we are looking to increase employment opportunities for both men and women in the region. Localisation is a key driver of our growth strategy," Wipro chairman Azim Premji said on the occasion of the joint venture commencing its 11th year of operations in the Arabian country.

Among the company's leading clients are Saudi Arabian Airlines, with which it has a five-year transformational deal to build and manage its entire IT infrastructure, including data centres.

The joint venture has implemented a turnkey enterprise resource planning-student life cycle management solution for King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.

The company also recently bagged a five-year deal to deploy an end-to-end IT solution to Atheeb Telecom, the leading state-run communication services provider in the kingdom.

"The kingdom has proved to be the growth engine for us among emerging markets. In the past four years, our revenue grew at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 80 percent. We are positive about the growth potential in the region," Wipro vice president for India, Middle East and Africa Anand Sankaran said.