The development of Saudi Arabia’s supply chain management

Saudi Arabia

Ahmed A. Sheikh, business development manager of Energy Info Saudi Arabia, talks to The Energy Year about the key variables affecting supply chain management companies in Saudi Arabia, the company’s value proposition and where it expects to see growth opportunities. Energy Info Saudi Arabia is a supply chain management specialist.

What are the key variables affecting supply chain management companies in Saudi Arabia?
The main challenges that affect the competitiveness and sustained growth of domestic supply chain management companies are the fluctuations in demand, the hurdles in managing a wide pool of international suppliers and the management of their costs. Costs are impacted by the inflation across international energy value chains. Other challenges include the visibility of one’s business and risk management.
The Saudi government’s local content programme has had a very positive impact over the last years, as it has enabled the participation of local businesses such as ours and citizens in the energy industry’s supply chain.

What is your value proposition as a supply chain management specialist, and where do you see more growth opportunities?
Energy Info’s value proposition, that is, our promise to our customers, is simply that our service offering gives them more value than those of the competition. We mostly work with massive Saudi companies or governmental and semi-governmental entities.
We see huge growth prospects in the oil and gas, renewable energy, power and manufacturing sectors.

What is the company’s strategy for capitalising on the growth of the Saudi market?
We are working to expand our service and product portfolio to serve an even larger pool of clients with a wider scope of products. Our strategy is to assure that our business is always in the process of incorporating new ideas and new customers.
We seek to innovate in our field by entering into international partnerships with multiple types of companies that seek to deliver their products in the Saudi market. We believe this is the way to achieve organic and accelerated growth for our company and its partners.

How can digital tools help you and your clients embrace operational efficiencies?
Digital tools can certainly help streamline operations and reduce costs. Digital tools are used to automate procurement processes, which reduces errors. They are also used to monitor inventory levels in real time, which helps optimise storage. Real-time information usually helps companies make better procurement decisions in general.

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