As part of its hybrid cloud strategy, IBM, in partnership with its Saudi Arabian business partner Brmaja Commercial Company (Brmaja), has announced that Virgin Megastore KSA, a prominent entertainment retailer in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is transferring its SAP ERP application workloads to IBM Cloud with an aim of boosting its digital transformation. The move from on-premises to the cloud is intended to assist the store in improving operating efficiencies and providing a foundation for new digital services for their customers.
Consumer expectations for digital participation have risen as a result of habits acquired during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in service industries like retail. Retailers are being encouraged to alter their operations in order to provide a more efficient, secure, and seamless experience across front-end and back-end business processes. Now, retailers are modernising their operations, including mission-critical workloads like finance and inventory reporting, as well as customer-facing activities, in order to improve customer experiences while safeguarding their data.
Virgin Megastore KSA will attempt to enhance efficiency across business processes by transferring its ERP workloads to IBM Cloud, in order to satisfy the increasing needs of its growing network of shoppers. The company hopes to drastically cut administrative and reporting time with IBM’s secure and open hybrid cloud solution, allowing its sales teams to focus on driving client experiences.
“Modernizing our infrastructure willallow us to enhance our customer-facing and back-end performance, allowing our employees to focus on delivering world-class experiences for shoppers,” says Russel Bacha, Head of Technology and Loyalty, Virgin Megastore KSA. “Through working with IBM to accelerate our journey to the cloud in a way that helps ensure we’re able to protect client data, we can uncover new ways to reduce time-to-market and streamline operations – that will enhance the digital and real-life experiences of our customers.”
Virgin Megastore KSA plans to innovate and adapt swiftly to the digital era by embracing a safe and open hybrid cloud approach – discovering new methods to contact shoppers, despite the existing challenges that require some of its workers to work remotely.
“As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the challenges facing many retailers in the region are extensive. By adopting a secured and open hybrid cloud strategy with IBM, Virgin Megastore KSA can modernize applications and access an innovative infrastructure, designed to be agile and easily adaptable to the expanding needs of the company, while offering a more personalized and secured experience for shoppers,” says Fahad Alanazi, General Manager IBM Saudi Arabia.
“By working with Virgin Megastore KSA to accelerate their digital transformation, we are able to support their business vision and fuel their growth.”
Virgin Megastore is a global entertainment retailer with over 40 locations in nine Middle East and North African nations. The company has set an unrestricted goal of extending its regional presence. Virgin Megastore has continued to expand domestically since opening its first store in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 2008, presenting a one-stop shop for all entertainment needs, offering a wide range of lifestyle products across music, fashion, culture, technology, entertainment, beauty, and related services.
