Abyat Megastore
Background
ABYAT is the largest retail store in the Middle East built over 22000 sqm and offering a
selection of more than 22000 products under one roof. The concept, idea, and trademark was
developed 100% locally. From inspiring assortments of tiles, wallpaper, lighting, bathrooms and
stylish kitchens, to tried and tested world-class plumbing and pipes, in addition to other
unique products from building & finishing materials.
ABYAT is a GCC closed shareholding company that started life in September 2005. Our key focal point
is - always - the customer, and all of our business, from the store layout down to our services, is
centered around the customer.
With an ambitious expansion plan, ABYAT's first store was opened in Kuwait in March 2008. With
Kuwait as the company's launch pad, ABYAT is actively pursuing starting operations in Saudi Arabia,
the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman over the coming 10 years. The first branch in the
GCC area opened in Dammam, KSA in 2012.
Business Needs & Challenges
While the business is expanding into new GCC countries and new markets, the number of employees
is also growing rapidly, introducing new challenges in maintaining accurate data about these
employees, tracking their demographics, etc.
Abyat Megastore needs means to accurately capture data about its employees and feed this data
into their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, which are based on SAP. With the number
of employees growing larger by the minute, HR employees are having a nightmare in making sure
that this data is accurate, consistent and up-to-date.
Characteristics of a viable solution
A viable solution needs to provide the following capabilities:
-
Capture Employee Demographics as accurately and efficiently as possible, without forcing
HR Personnel to enter too much detail.
- Make no compromises in terms of employee data quality.
Solution
Abyat Megastore teamed with Sharper Software to provide
Smart Civil ID
reader
for every HR Staff. Sharper Software delivered a suitable reader, installed it and
trained the end users on how to use the technology. All HR Staff have to do is insert an
employee's Smart Civil ID into the reader. The employee's demographics, including name in both
English and Arabic, Sex, Date of Birth, Blood Group, Nationality, Address, etc. are all captured
automatically off the Smart Civil ID and saved for Abyat Megastore's future use. This saves the
time required to have a no-compromise employee data accuracy. Since this information is
maintained by the Public Authority for Civil Information, all such data is according to the
official records. This serves as a good measure against repudiation.
