Kingdom has a rich partnership landscape across different domains, says top IT executive RIYADH: Impressed by the “out-of-the-box” approach of the Saudi government to drive innovation and growth, a top official of an IT firm said his company is keen on partnering with the Kingdom to become part of its success story. In an interview with Arab News, Alain Carpentier, senior vice president of worldwide sales at HPE Aruba Networking, said his company has made significant investments in the Kingdom in the last two years. “HPE Aruba has been investing in Saudi (Arabia) to support giga-projects and understand how digitalization can contribute to them. We believe that digitalization can greatly support the population in line with Vision 2030,” Carpentier said. Commenting on the magnitude of the projects in Saudi Arabia, he admitted that “the scale in Saudi Arabia is enormous” when compared to other countries in the region and outside even in the West. “Saudi Arabia is like a laboratory for future lifestyle and new trends that can be seen worldwide,” the top official said. When asked about his company’s strategy for growth in the Kingdom, Carpentier said it wants to “develop the best digital experience” for the ongoing projects. “We fully recognize the importance of localization when entering a new market. We aim to understand how we can customize our solutions for the Saudi market. The first step we have taken is to establish a team dedicated to these projects to provide support and understand their strategies. The second phase focused on digitization, data integrity, and security. The third step involved the deployment of plans and execution of these projects. We also aim to collaborate with local partners and support them with technology to manage relevant departments.” Highlighting the sectors in which HPE Aruba is working in the Kingdom, he said his company is focused on “education, healthcare, retail, hospitality, industrial internet of things, and the financial sector.” Carpentier said the Kingdom’s hospitality industry is also a major domain and a key focus of his company. “We also aim to provide solutions for industrial projects that are transforming their models through IoT, automation, and digitalization. We believe that we have the best-in-class solutions to deliver exceptional experiences and a comprehensive portfolio to support the Saudi market,” he added. HIGHLIGHTS The Kingdom’s hospitality industry is also a major domain and a key focus of his company, the official said. According to him, the IT firm is working on different projects in the Kingdom in collaboration with different local entities including those in the government sector. According to Carpentier, the IT firm is also working on different projects in the Kingdom in collaboration with different local entities including those in the government sector. “Our success depends on our local partners, and we believe that Saudi Arabia has a rich partnership landscape across different domains.” He said HPE Aruba recognizes Saudi Arabia as a key market due to the magnitude of projects currently underway and the size of the market. “Saudi Arabia is recognized as one of the top countries to focus on in the coming 20 years,” the top executive said. When asked about the ongoing localization drive in the Kingdom to achieve Vision 2030 employment goals, Carpentier said: “Saudization is not an issue for us.” He said the only challenge is the huge demand for Saudi talent due to the number of development projects underway. “This is a challenge we also experience in Western countries, where finding suitable talent is difficult. We are fully open to hiring local leadership… Our focus is on ensuring access to the Saudi market and the best people to support us. The topic of Saudization was debated five years ago but it is no longer a matter of debate.”