IFS is conducting their Middle East regional customer and partner event, IFS Connect, in Riyadh. Mehmood Khan, Managing Director for Middle East and North Africa at IFS offered his insights into the company and the event. Q: Can you elaborate on IFS, including your offerings and clientele in this region? A: IFS is a global company that provides tailored AI driven cloud enterprise software solutions for specific industries. We remain focused on solutions for Aerospace and Defence, Energy Utilities and Resources, Construction and Engineering, Manufacturing, Service industries and Telecommunications. Our solutions enhance user efficiency, and help build and maintain assets, and manage service operations for our customers. Q: What strategic initiatives does IFS have planned for Saudi Arabia? What are your regional expansion plans? A: Saudi Arabia is a key market for IFS and we are committed to strengthening our ties here. This is evident with the opening of our regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia. We understand the Vision 2030 pillars and are eager to participate in the support system to achieve the goals by helping organizations sharpen their digital transformation objectives. Q: I understand IFS is organizing IFS Connect in Riyadh. Could you outline the purpose of this event and what attendees can anticipate? A: We are looking forward to IFS Connect in Riyadh, where we anticipate over 250 customers and partners will attend the event. IFS Connect is a series of global conferences across all of our key markets with the sole focus of fostering engagement with our customers and partners. It is a showcase of our growth trajectory, technology innovation and customer value at a regional level. The event will highlight IFS’s commitment to helping organizations resolve their productivity, predictability, and agility issues and ‘unlock business value with Cloud and AI’. While we showcase our new offerings, we also come together to share experiences, best practices and insights. It also helps us promote networking and collaboration within the IFS ecosystem. One of the key takeaways from IFS Connect is the phenomenal amount of feedback from customers regarding challenges, priorities, and opportunities and this helps us develop our product roadmap decisions. The platform reinforces IFS’s commitment to customer success, innovation and continuous improvement, ultimately driving value and empowering customers to achieve their business objectives effectively. Attendees can explore the exhibition stands where they can get first-hand experience of IFS solutions such as IFS Cloud, IFS.ai, IFS ERP, IFS EAM, IFS assyst and interact with industry experts. Q: Which sectors and market segments does IFS engage with in Saudi Arabia? How do IFS Cloud and IFS.ai empower customers to achieve ‘productivity, predictability, and agility’ as highlighted in this year’s theme? A: IFS Cloud and IFS.ai are transforming operations in core industries by leveraging AI and unified platforms to enhance productivity, predictivity, and agility. The focus on tailored AI solutions and efficient resource management underscores IFS"s commitment to driving innovation and delivering value to customers. IFS Cloud helps customers to plan, manage and optimize critical asset availability, service delivery and workforce productivity. This has a huge impact on the way customers can reduce complexity, costs and risks. With AI being a crucial part of the transformative journey, IFS.ai is the core of IFS’s ERP, Enterprise Asset Management, Field Service Management, and IT Service Management solutions. With the central focus on unlocking business value with IFS Cloud and IFS.ai the event theme highlights how customers can increase productivity, predictability, and agility. Productivity and cost efficiency go hand in hand across the entire organization, from people and assets to services in all our industries. Q: Sustainability is paramount across various industries. How is IFS collaborating with customers to support their sustainability and Net Zero objectives? A: Our vision is very deeply rooted in creating long-terms sustainable value for our customers while driving transformation and outcomes through our technology. We have three key pillars around our ESG focus, these are, firstly, excellence in business by reacting proactively to regulations and industry standards and demonstrating our commitment to business practices. Secondly, we support our customers by providing them with tailored industry solutions. And lastly, we also believe in making a positive contribution across not just businesses but also in society. Our commitment is further highlighted by the appointment of a Chief Sustainability Officer and this decision underscores the importance of sustainability within the organization and signals the prominence to customers and stakeholders. We also celebrate our customer through the IFS Change for Good Awards where we recognise and support them for the significant impact they make through sustainable practices.