- More than 90% of companies surveyed recognize that digital transformation is important to achieving their business objectives
- 91% of companies recognized value of sustainability as a business objective
CAIRO, Egypt — October 11, 2023 – The Egyptian government’s focus on sustainability and digital transformation, both key to the country’s Vision 2030, is having a positive impact on how companies operate across the country’s industries, based on survey results announced today by global technology company SAP SE (NYSE: SAP).
According to the results of the YouGov survey of IT decision-makers commissioned by SAP, Egyptian companies are closely aligned with Vision 2030’s Sustainable Development Strategy and its concurrent focus on digital transformation, as well as the vision of Digital Egypt laid out by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
With 91% of companies recognizing digital transformation as important for achieving their business objectives, 86% of respondents said they were planning further investment in digital transformation and cloud services within 18 months of the survey.
At the same time, more than 90% of companies surveyed recognized the value of sustainability as a business objective, and viewed technology and innovation as important to the success of their sustainability strategies. Almost all participants (94%) believed that their organization’s financial performance and sustainability strategy would be connected in the coming 12 months.
These results echo SAP’s view that the concepts of sustainability and digital transformation are intrinsically linked, according to Mohamed Samy, Managing Director, SAP Egypt. He explains, “Digital transformation is key to sustainability. Aside from cloud computing being more favorable than on-premise solutions in terms of lower carbon emissions and energy consumption, technology is indispensable in tracking and managing sustainability efforts. When designing SAP solutions, we build sustainability metrics into all business processes, and also create solutions dedicated solely to sustainability measurements and analysis.”
Many key SAP customers in Egypt have cited this focus on sustainability as a factor that led them to select SAP as their digital partner. According to Mostafa el Gabaly, Managing Director of Polyserve Fertilizers and Chemicals, “When we first initiated our digitalization program in 2019 one of our main goals was to operate in a more sustainable way. With SAP S/4HANA and the ARIBA platform, we succeeded in achieving this goal. We are always exploring and experimenting methods for reducing our carbon footprint.”
The SAP YouGov survey also asked respondents to rank what their chief sustainability goals were for the next 18 months. Reducing waste was the top priority, highlighted by 53%, followed closely by addressing sustainability in supply chains at 52%, while 34% saw reducing emissions and decarbonization as a priority.
Broad transformation benefits
Aside from supporting their sustainability objectives, companies in Egypt are embracing digital transformation to enhance various aspects of their operations and services. Chief among these, according to the SAP-commissioned survey, are customer service, identified as a target by 60% of respondents, followed by finance (45%) and human resources (45%), and supply chains (25%).
Similarly, in terms of measuring the success of their digital transformation, respondents said they would be considering factors such as increases in efficiency (59%), improvements customer service (52%), cost savings (39%) and enhanced competitiveness (20%).
Commenting on the strong support for digital transformation in Egypt, SAP’s Samy concluded, “Egypt’s adoption of new technologies, and its vision to create a robust digital infrastructure supported by skilled workers, have inspired organizations to embrace the benefits of cloud computing. In doing so, they benefit from advances in areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, data science, blockchain, and cyber security. Ultimately, embracing digital transformation supports sustainable national development and the positioning of Egypt as a regional innovation hub as outlined in the Digital Egypt vision.”
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