Egyptian rulers have always had close relationships with their engineers and city planners. Not only were they building for eternity, but they were adept at accommodating growing populations in the best possible locations in a harsh environment.
“What’s different today is the need for an infrastructure that can accommodate smart city technologies,” says Sherif Youssef, Chief Executive Officer of Hassan Allam Technologies. The company is a subsidiary of Egypt’s Hassan Allam Holding group which has interests in construction, building materials and utilities.
A family business
Hassan Allam started out as a small, family-run general contractor, but when King Farouk ordered a new hospital to be built on the site of an automobile accident he suffered in 1938, Hassan Allam landed its first major contract. Since then, it has been building Egypt’s roads, ports, power plants, and oil refineries.
Egypt’s General Authority for Roads and Bridges, for example, hired Hassan Allam Engineering & Construction to build the Cairo-Suez highway that serves the New Capital City and is part of the Egyptian National Roads and Bridges plan to enhance the transportation sector in Egypt with five thousand new roads.
“We are partnering with the government to help drive Egypt’s Sustainable Strategy Vision 2030,” says Youssef, who believes now is a critical time to influence key decision makers regarding emerging technologies. “The government is investing heavily in social, economic and environmental projects. Technology choices today will shape the country for decades to come.”
A golden opportunity
The company is currently building a utilities portfolio focusing on the power and water sectors and working on new business opportunities such as water desalination projects. But roadworks, power plants and water treatment facilities are complex projects that require major investment and experienced developers and operators.
“At Hassan Allam, we team up with industry leaders and top-tier technology providers to develop vital infrastructure across the country,” says Youssef who joined Hassan Allam Technologies after developing extensive experience in telecommunications with Nokia and later in the building technologies division at Siemens, integrating rail and traffic solutions.
Youssef knows that Hassan Allam’s customers have very high expectations and need partners that can deliver a complete portfolio under one umbrella. Clients don’t want to worry about the individual components; they want end to end integration between the bridges, the metro and the parking facilities. They want one company to handle the entire project.
Seamless integration
“We can only deliver that integration with the help of SAP, and we’re doing it in the Cloud,” says Youssef as he elaborates on the key trend of the future.
“At the end of the day, we must provide clients in Egypt with the full scope whether it’s data centers in the Cloud or on premise options. We have a unique go-to-market portfolio with SAP because the team understands the local pain points. Together we can offer a complete solution and act as trusted advisers.”
The company’s strategic partnerships and innovative application of technology are paying off. With 34,000 employees in the region, and an order backlog of more than $3 billion, Hassan Allam Technologies’ revenues have been growing rapidly, doubling to $120m over the past year in spite of the devaluation of the Egyptian currency.
“The government is investing heavily,” he explains. “The shift from poor infrastructure to smart city solution is costly, but the roads we build today are state of the art and already include safety specs in the design.”
Youssef is particularly confident that the public sector market in Egypt needs the right private sector technology advisers, and he believes that SAP is the right partner.
“Hassan Allam Technologies can provide the local knowledge while SAP is a global company. We can leverage the outcome of its massive R&D programs supporting its vision of integrated solutions. Investment will happen anyway, so it’s in our hands to influence decision makers to bring in foreign investments from abroad,” he concludes.
Hassan Allam Holding plans to leverage SAP Digital Boardroom to gain end-to-end business insights for informed decision making. Based on the SAP Cloud Platform, the tool includes planning and predictive capabilities and core services for auditing and compliance, security and data connectivity.
Tools like this are helping Youssef fulfill his dream of transferring know how to clients and partners. “Our role is to help Egyptian decision makers create effective business models using integrated solutions,” he says. “That’s how we can convince investors that our economy is stable and that we are ready for the future.”
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