A projected 21 per cent growth in GCC spending on IT is prompting a leading systems company to reinforce its resources and expand services.

Raqmiyat, a leading UAE-based systems integrator, has announced its plans to expand its GCC-based teams as it recognises extensive growth opportunities in the region due to the current economic downturn.

According to IDC, IT outsourcing spend in the GCC is projected to grow by 21 per cent, to reach a total of $503 million in 2009. In line with this, Raqmiyat has announced its aims to address the growing demand for IT outsourcing in the GCC region in 2009, as many regional industries identify IT outsourcing as a solution to current challenges such as shortage of qualified staff, inflation, cost per unit, and the telecommunications costs.

“In the midst of the current global recession, regional industries are faced with big challenges such as shortfall of qualified manpower, inflation, cost per unit, and telecommunications expenses,” said Navneet Tandon, vice president - ERP and services, Raqmiyat. “Our commitment during these challenging times is to help organisations reduce costs and maintain, if not improve, their service standards, efficiency and productivity through our IT outsourcing solutions. The success of our IT outsourcing division has been fuelled by this inevitable development, with more companies employing our services to stay ahead of their competition.”

Businesses in the Middle East are increasingly depending on outsourcing to remain competitive, due to the current economic crisis. Many companies have identified outsourcing as a remedy for increasing costs, a tool for flexible management of resources, achievement of customer satisfaction and reduction of cycle times.

The increase in outsourcing is an inevitable development, and as companies want to stay ahead of the competition, one of the most efficient ways to achieve this is to focus on quality internal resources and outsource non-core resources to a capable partner.

Given the success of its IT outsourcing division in the region during the previous year, company officials have also specified plans to invest into a UAE-wide expansion, with aims to leverage the country’s sizeable IT outsourcing spend, which is expected to top $225 million this year.

“We believe that the success of our IT outsourcing operations, especially among the region’s banking sector has been driven by our extensive knowledge of the regional business landscape - an expertise which we will also leverage as we undertake major expansion leaps. Further to our commitment to provide results-driven services to our clients, we are also making significant investments in the development of our own systems as well as in providing sufficient training to our staff, thereby enabling them to meet the evolving demands of our clients,” concluded Tandon.

Raqmiyat is also eyeing other GCC countries as key markets for 2009, as they make strong bids to develop their outsourcing industries. The company recently invested close to Dh10 million ($2.7 million) towards the set-up of its new state-of-the-art Software Development Centre at the DLF IT Park - Chennai. The systems integrator will train and deploy up to 100 IT personnel in its new development centre, serving as a major software and technological development and Outsourcing Centre for customers in the Middle East. – TradeArabia News Service