“We are very lucky to have Cloudia with us as a partner”

CPOstrategy magazine interviewed The Higher Colleges of Technology to discuss their partnership with Cloudia to accelerate digital procurement and transformation.

The Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) is the largest applied higher education institution in the UAE. HCT has completely streamlined and re-engineered the whole procurement process, down from two weeks to being able to complete and close a process within one day.

“We told Cloudia what our requirements were and they were more than excellent with us in implementing the system. Within two weeks, to a month, we had the system live with the basic functions that we needed,” says Mahmoud Al Alawi, Director of Procurement & Contracts at Higher Colleges of Technology.

“We are very lucky to have Cloudia with us as a partner. After we finished with the sourcing, we expanded with them. So, now we have the Annual Procurement Plan completed on the system and instead of planning annually, now we have a three year plan,” Al Alawi says.

HCT has not only witnessed a revolution in its procurement relationships with external vendors, but also in its relationships with internal stakeholders. Procurement, as a function, is evolving all over the world and, at HCT, the Procurement Department has grown significantly, developing and maturing exponentially to where it is recognised as a vital strategic function.

“Procurement process automation, and utilizing obtained data for further analysis, will provide a competitive edge and additional value for HCT to provide to their stakeholders and suppliers’ ecosystem,” says Jaana Niukkala, Sales Director at Cloudia.

“HCT is in the forefront of digitalisation in the Middle East and we are proud to be part of that transformation and take additional leaps with them to provide better service,” Niukkala continues.

Download the HCT customer case or read more success stories. You can read the full story of the partnership in CPOstrategy magazine.