Business AI for Kuwait’s oil and gas sector

Kuwait

Sundus Bushahri, managing director of SAP Kuwait, talks to The Energy Year about the company’s involvement with Kuwait’s oil and gas sector and its training programmes for Kuwaiti youth. SAP is a multinational software company specialising in enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations.

What are some of SAP’s recent investments and initiatives in Kuwait?
SAP is carrying out a combination of investments in Kuwait. We have multiple programmes to educate young professionals and students, such as the SAP University Alliance and the SAP Dual Study programmes, which give university students the opportunity to take major-specific SAP training and certification during academic years, thereby bridging the gap between the university and the workplace.
We also collaborate with various universities in Kuwait and the Public Authority for Manpower, raising awareness about the importance of embedding technologies within their programmes and curricula.
In the second half of 2024, we will launch a programme called The Next Generation, which targets younger students and youth, and we are sponsoring customers to train at the SAP Engineering Academy in San Francisco, which includes a month of virtual training before they travel.
We emphasise hiring Kuwaitis and creating job opportunities for nationals, such as through our SAP Academy for Customer Success, where participants receive nine months of extensive, paid training towards a sales career at SAP.

Which are the sectors in Kuwait that generate the most demand for SAP products and services?
Globally, the majority of companies in the energy sector run on SAP for its industry-leading business applications that work together spanning front-end and back-end systems, which only SAP can provide. In Kuwait, one of our largest customers is Equate.
Capturing new accounts in oil and gas is challenging because customisations built on legacy software over the years make it challenging for potential customers to switch to new platforms. However, the significant benefits of cloud computing and business AI make a compelling case for them to switch, so this is likely to change.

Does SAP have AI offerings for the oil and gas sector?
SAP helps oil, gas and energy companies provide the world’s energy needs securely, affordably and sustainably. We introduced the green ledger and Joule AI this year.
The beauty of SAP’s approach to business AI is that it is being embedded into the entire portfolio of solutions, making it accessible to all industries and users. In the context of oil and gas, SAP AI will revolutionise operations, from initial exploration activities all the way through to the end user, enabling new approaches to exploration, development, production, transportation, refining and sales.

How do you assess the appetite for new technologies among Kuwaiti companies and institutions?
New technologies such as AI will have an enormous impact on all industries, and I believe most companies in Kuwait recognise this and plan to modernise their technology. It is a process that requires an open mind towards new business models, processes and workflows, and an understanding of change management.
We have encountered many customers wanting to replicate old processes in new systems, which defeats the purpose of transformation. The teams that lead such initiatives must be carefully selected and have a clear roadmap, as overly complex strategies are difficult to execute.

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