Alhokair, a major fashion retailer based in KSA, deploys cloud technology from Amazon Web Services to drive focus on customer requirements.
A major fashion retailer based in Saudi Arabia is deploying Amazon Web Services to complete its cloud transformation.
Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair & Company has announced it is moving the majority of its technology infrastructure to Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide it with advanced cloud technologies to better serve its customers.
One of the largest franchise retailers in KSA and the MENA region, Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair operates more than 1,700 stores in 12 countries.
This cloud transformation will observe the company moving its last on-premises data centre to the AWS Cloud by the end of the year to accelerate its overall Digital Transformation strategy.
Alhokair is working with AWS Advanced Consulting Partner, Computer World International, to support the migration and continued adoption of AWS services.
The company, which employs more than 10,000 people, boasts over 75 global brands covering a vast range starting from women and menswear to department stores, shoes and accessories to cosmetics, food and beverages and entertainment.
Earlier this year, Alhokair had developed a comprehensive IT infrastructure and cloud strategy.
CEO Marwan Makarzel said this was focused on helping the business adapt to the fast-changing retail industry that is now omni channel and catering to a digitally connected consumer base.
The company chose AWS as its preferred cloud provider because of its agility and breadth of services.
In its first phase of cloud adoption, Alhokair moved its core line-of-business applications to AWS, which have seen significant improvement in scalability, availability and performance, said Makarzel.
As Alhokair continues its cloud adoption, the company will be building its ecommerce and business intelligence (BI) platforms on AWS as it develops its omni channel strategy.
The ecommerce platforms will be supported by analytics, prediction and recommendation engines that leverage Machine Learning services such as Amazon Sagemaker and Amazon Forecast to provide a personalised shopping experience.
Alhokair is looking forward to taking advantage of its large retail data sets with data analytics services such as Amazon Redshift to acquire better business and customer insights.
The adoption of AWS will also enable the company to enhance warehouse management systems operations with the integration of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning solutions to reduce costs and bring greater efficiencies, added Makarzel.
On the AWS collaboration, CIO Mohammed Alenazi, said: “Cloud adoption is a significant step in our Digital Transformation journey and we are excited by the innovation opportunities we are building on AWS.
“We have been able to make this incredible shift within a 60-day timeframe only. In today’s fast changing retail landscape, we recognise the importance of being agile, scalability, speed and availability and the AWS Cloud is the perfect solution for us to do that.
“As a customer centric company, we are now in a position to pilot and innovate rapidly in order to satisfy our customers and bring them the best shopping experiences.”
Vinod Krishnan, AWS Head of Middle East, said: “The retail industry is going through significant changes with companies needing to adapt quickly to changing consumer behaviour who are increasingly shopping online.
“We are excited to work with Alhokair’s forward-thinking approach to Digital Transformation with cloud adoption, driven by its focus on catering to customer needs. Building its infrastructure on AWS will enable the company to be innovative in ways never possible before and we look forward to support in their continued growth.”
