RIYADH — Sahara International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem) Wednesday announced its collaboration with IBM Services to virtualize its IT infrastructure, ensuring business continuity amid COVID-19. The outbreak of the pandemic led governments across the world to impose lockdowns and to mandate people to stay home, disrupting business operations regardless of industry and company size. For Sipchem, COVID-19 related government restrictions in Saudi Arabia required employees to access the company’s IT systems remotely to complete their tasks and meet critical deadlines. Recognizing the urgent need to protect employees" health and wellbeing while ensuring uninterrupted operations, Sipchem worked closely with IBM Services to improve remote access capabilities to the company’s IT systems, applications and resources. Today, Sipchem’s entire workforce in Saudi Arabia has the ability to achieve maximum efficiency to conduct business securely and in a remote capacity. “Sipchem’s No. 1 priority is the continued safety of our employees and the community as a whole,” said Eng. Saleh Bahamdan, CEO, Sipchem. “In such a fast-evolving situation, we also knew that we needed to figure out new ways to continue serving our customers and partners and persevere through the pandemic. As usual, IBM was up for the challenge and met our immediate needs, and as a result, we were able to achieve a smooth transition to remote working.” “To meet the global challenge of COVID-19, collaboration and speed play an essential role,” says Tarek Zarg Al Aioun, country general manager, IBM Saudi Arabia. “In the current circumstances, organizations not only need the ability to operate anywhere but also a partner that can lessen the burden of IT challenges while they are focusing on business critical operations. “That’s where IBM’s expertise came into play, enabling Sipchem’s workforce, in a matter of days, to continue business as usual from the safety of their own homes.” Sipchem and IBM maintain a longstanding relationship in various technology areas. In 2019, Saudi International Petrochemical Company and Sahara Petrochemicals Company completed their merger, worth more than $4 billion, to create Sahara International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem). IBM was selected as the post-merger technology integration partner and was responsible for consolidating and standardizing the different IT systems, harmonizing business processes and enabling the company to overcome technology barriers. — SG