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The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the digital transformation of the Saudi insurance market, aided in part by the Kingdom’s strong telecommunications and information technology infrastructure, the availability of 4G and 5G network services, and the widespread usage of smartphones. This launched a frantic race among insurance companies to develop their apps to serve millions of customers, meet their needs in ways they want, and at their convenience.
This competition among insurance companies to win the digital transformation race has resulted in major development of the sector, which is a key pillar of the national economy. The insurance sector grew by 8.4 percent during 2021, and the total written premiums reached SR42 billion ($11.2 billion), according to an annual report of the Saudi Central Bank.
Bupa Arabia has been at the forefront of Saudi insurance companies that adopted their operations to the evolving technological landscape and has played a leading role in the digital transformation of the insurance sector, pioneering the development of cutting-edge software solutions and apps.
Al-Shereef Hamideddin, director of marketing and customer experience design at Bupa Arabia, said the company has established a special department to lead its digitization efforts. This department has been instrumental in designing the company’s strategies, with the aim of improving the delivery of health services to its customers.
Moreover, Bupa Arabia has made significant investments to develop digital solutions, which in turn has contributed to enhancing the customer experience.
“The contribution of Bupa Arabia in advancing the development of this sector, includes the development of our app, which facilitates members to access many services from the comfort of their homes, such as booking appointments in hospitals, selecting clinics and specialties, choosing where to receive medication, receiving medical approvals, as well as booking virtual appointments with specialized doctors in less than a minute.”
These features, which previously took longer, are now available at the touch of a button,” Hamideddin said, adding that the app processes hundreds of thousands of approvals in an hour.
He pointed out that 22 million transactions have so far been carried out through the easy-to-use app, which has a rating of 4.5 on the App Store. Moreover, 98 percent of reimbursement claims have been processed digitally.
Courtyard by Marriott Riyadh Northern Ring Road, part of the brand of hotels owned by Marriott International, has been named the “Best Business Hotel” winner by the International Travel Awards 2022. The award, which honors hotels that offer key business solutions to travelers, was presented to the hotel on July 25.
Thousands of businesses from around the globe participate every year, but the prestigious International Travel Awards see only a few walking away holding the title of the best travel establishments in the world. The awards strive to recognize excellence and is one of the most reputable awards in the industry, rewarding businesses in travel, tourism and hospitality niches for their diligent efforts. The internationally accredited award ensures that travel locations that exceed expectations in every way are rewarded for their contributions to the travel industry.
Participants of the award program include tourism boards, attractions, luxury hotels, 5-star and 4-star hotels, boutique hotels, and travel agencies. This year’s awards saw a record-breaking participation, with more than 2,000 nominations from six regions — Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Oceania and the Americas — and 300+ winners.
Mahmood Omar, general manager of Courtyard by Marriott Riyadh Northern Ring Road, said: “This is a huge milestone for our hotel — we continue to strive for excellence in all aspects of our hotel, ensuring that only the best practices are met. It is an honor to have won this award, and we couldn’t have done it without our hardworking, reliable team that stayed by our side every step of the way. We are looking forward to a bright and successful future as the ‘Best Business Hotel’ globally.”
With more than 1,250 locations in 60 countries and territories, Courtyard by Marriott is passionate about empowering its guests and serving the needs of travelers everywhere, no matter the purpose of their trip. Its thoughtfully designed guestrooms provide an elevated experience to relax and recharge, complete with plush bedding and flexible workspaces. Guests can work, eat well, connect, and be at their best to keep moving forward to succeed.
AD Ports Group, a leading facilitator of global trade, logistics, and industry, has announced that KLP21, its new advanced warehousing and logistics hub in Abu Dhabi, will be available within Q3 2022.
KLP21 is situated in KIZAD, the group’s integrated trade, logistics and industrial zone located between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It leverages the UAE’s strategic position as a gateway to Asia, Africa and the MENA region, representing a combined marketplace of more than 4.5 billion consumers. KLP21 is strategically located next to the upcoming Regional Food Hub along the main E311 cargo corridor, ensuring direct connectivity to all major markets.
Comprising four warehouses with more than 80,000 square meter of capacity, KLP21 will be one of the largest and most advanced temperature-controlled logistics hubs in the region. Combined, the warehouses will be able to accommodate over 100,000 pallets across a network of chambers, which can be independently configured to a range of sizes and temperatures, including -26°C to 25°C.
The facility is tailor-made to support critical regional industries requiring cold and ambient storage, including healthcare, food and beverage, fast-moving consumer goods, and specialty chemicals sectors. Among the benefits for potential customers, the facility will offer a full suite of third-party logistics and fourth-party logistics services, regional logistics hub operations and value-added services including re-packing, specialty packing, labeling and others.
Backed by access to strategic multimodal transport capabilities, including direct access to two major world-class ports, five international airports within a 90-minute driving distance, congestion-free multi-lane highways and Etihad Rail’s future rail link, KLP21 will offer potential partners and customers with direct and efficient access to key local, regional and global markets. Additionally, the hub will be served by a fleet of more than 400 transport vehicles supporting both domestic and cross-border road movements.
Developed by KIZAD, the facility will have two of its four warehouses, spanning 40,000 square meters, operated by AD Ports Logistics. For AD Ports Logistics, this is in addition to over 350,000 square meters of logistics storage space, including its KIZAD-based 19,000-square-meter cold and ultra-cold storage facility that has been the cornerstone of Abu Dhabi’s global efforts against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abdullah Al-Hameli, chief executive, economic cities and free zones cluster, AD Ports Group, said: “The development of KLP21 builds upon our fully integrated offering under AD Ports Group’s Economic Cities and Free Zones portfolio that brings together the entire scope of services required for industrial businesses to thrive in today’s competitive market. The project responds to increasing customer demand for temperature-controlled storage solutions in the emirate to support the safe and efficient distribution of climate-sensitive goods in the UAE and across the wider region.
Robert Sutton, chief executive, logistics cluster, AD Ports Group, said: “KLP21 has been strategically designed to support the vision of Abu Dhabi’s leadership to establish the emirate as a major global hub for key industries such as life sciences and food sectors. This milestone facility significantly increases AD Ports Logistics’ current cold and ambient temperature storage capacity and provides international and domestic companies with outstanding opportunities to enter or expand their presence within a region that is primed for sustained growth.”
CyberOne, Xiaomi’s first humanoid robot, debuted at the company’s new product launch event in Beijing on Aug. 11, alongside other innovative products.
As the newest member of Xiaomi’s Cyber series, joining last year’s quadruped robot Cyberdog, CyberOne is fitted with advanced arms and legs, supports bipedal-motion posture balancing, and reaches a peak torque of up to 300 Nm. Also demonstrated was the ability to detect human emotion, advanced vision capabilities, and functionality allowing it to create three-dimensional virtual reconstructions of the real world, alongside a host of other advanced technologies.
“CyberOne’s AI and mechanical capabilities are all self-developed by Xiaomi Robotics Lab. We have invested heavily in R&D spanning various areas, including software, hardware, and algorithms innovation,” said Lei Jun, founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Group.
“With AI at its core and a full-size humanoid frame as its vessel, this is an exploration of possibilities of Xiaomi’s future technological ecosystem and a new breakthrough for the company.”
CyberOne is a humanoid robot measuring 177 cm in height and 52 kg in weight, with an arm span of 168 cm. Compared to a quadruped robot, this humanoid robot is more mechanically complex, requiring more powerful motors, more degrees of freedom, and complex humanoid biped control algorithms. CyberOne supports up to 21 degrees of freedom in motion and achieves a real-time response speed of 0.5 ms for each degree of freedom, which allows it to fully simulate human movements.
A robot’s motion performance is dependent on the performance of each joint motor. The technological requirement for building such motors is extremely high as it is necessary to generate more kinetic energy without increasing the size of components. In order to ensure the flexibility of CyberOne’s upper limbs, Xiaomi has developed a high-efficiency motor weighing only 500 g with a rated output torque of up to 30 Nm for the upper limb joint motor. The hip joint motor is similarly capable of an instantaneous peak torque of up to 300 Nm.
Thanks to the self-developed humanoid bipedal control algorithm, CyberOne’s walking posture has been programmed to be both natural and stable. On top of that, CyberOne is capable of holding up to 1.5 kg in weight with a single hand.
Altogether, CyberOne is a humanoid robot with well-developed coordination and exceptional motion capabilities.
Humanoid robots rely on vision to process their surroundings. Equipped with a self-developed Mi-Sense depth vision module and combined with an AI interaction algorithm, CyberOne is capable of perceiving 3D space, as well as recognizing individuals, gestures and expressions, allowing it to not only see but to process its environment.
CyberOne is able to detect happiness, and even comfort the user in times of sadness. All of these features are integrated into CyberOne’s processing units, which are paired with a curved OLED module to display real-time interactive information.
“We think that intelligent robots will definitely be a part of people’s lives in the future,” added Lei Jun.
LuLu Hypermarket is hosting its colorful “India Utsav” festival to celebrate the 76th Indian Independence Day — Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. The festival was inaugurated by N. Ram Prasad, charge d’ affaires at the Indian Embassy in Riyadh, at LuLu Hypermarket Avenue Mall, Murabba. He was received by Shehim Mohammed, director of LuLu Hypermarkets Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, the festival was inaugurated in Jeddah by Indian Consul General Mohammed Shahid Alam.
India Utsav is a retail festival that brings alive the “3 Cs” of the Indian experience at LuLu: Culture, Commerce and Cuisine. It showcases the close commercial ties that the group enjoys with India. This year, the event presents a unique immersive shopping experience with regional food trails, celebrity visits, exclusive promotions and fashion wear in time for the festive season to follow.
The festival sees the launch of five new Indian brands in the Kingdom — Vadilal, Lazza, Agro Special, Everest, Govind and The Green Snack Co. — and special promotions on more than 7,500 Indian products across various categories including FMCG, health and beauty, fruit and vegetables, household and fashion.
Of special interest to shoppers will be the “Flavors of India” segment — a celebration of the regional cuisines of India, which will take centerstage at all LuLu Hypermarkets in the Kingdom.
To mark the occasion, LuLu baked and displayed a 75-meter cake representing the colors of the Indian tricolor. Saudi artist Khalid also delighted shoppers by creating art using spice powders and rice.
“The LuLu Group’s promotion of Indo-Saudi commerce and cultural links has brought pride and honor to India as well as to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and underscores the warm and friendly ties between both countries,” said Prasad.
“As a visionary businessman, Yusuf Ali has played a big role in expanding commercial relations between both countries and the region. He has put Indian exports through his chain on the 5,000 rupees ($629.5 million) crores trajectory. These include Indian fruit, vegetables, grain and non-food items for LuLu’s 235 hypermarkets around the world. In Saudi Arabia, the group has initiated several far-sighted expansion projects and created employment opportunities for all. All this positions it to play a leading role in the Kingdom’s bright future.”
LuLu, which has a strong Indian network of food processing and logistics centers for exporting bulk products to the Middle Eastern countries, has flown in many exclusive Indian products for the shopping festival. LuLu’s chefs have created a huge range of authentic Indian specialties, desserts and street food delicacies in the hot food section. To complete the Indian cultural experience, trendy high-street fashion as well as a curated collection of designer wear for festivals and weddings has been made available.
Speaking at the inauguration, Mohammed said: “We at LuLu, have pioneered the immersive and experiential shopping event, which adds value and an extra dimension to our shoppers’ retail outings. With a network of food sourcing and logistics centers across India, food processing units and LuLu’s own-label food products as well as a cohort of skilled fashion buyers who help our garments and clothing department to stay ahead of the trend,
we are well-prepared to treat our shoppers with truly festive ‘Utsav’ shopping.”
“India Utsav” will run until Aug. 20 across LuLu Hypermarkets in the Kingdom as well as on its website and app.
Alaan, a UAE-based corporate spend-management fintech, has announced the launch of an industry-first business cashback card. The startup previously had raised $2.5 million in seed funding and built a platform enabling businesses to spend through modern corporate cards and automated invoice payments. Business customers using Alaan cards will be rewarded with up to 2 percent of their spending in cashback.
Commenting on the launch, Parthi Duraisamy, chief executive and co-founder of Alaan, said: “It’s great to have launched an industry-first business cashback card. Consumers have long had access to such cards in the UAE, but that has not been the case for SMEs and corporates. When businesses across the world are trying to conserve cash and cut spending during a recession, we are happy to be supporting UAE businesses to save and take control of their business spending.”
Founded in 2021 by ex-McKinsey employees, Duraisamy and Karun Kurien, Alaan aims to transform the processing of business expenses through its platform that provides employees with business cards to make company purchases and automatically reconciles spending in real-time.
Additionally, Alaan instantly issues virtual cards for e-commerce transactions, SaaS subscriptions, vendor payments or in-store purchases. These cards can be set up with daily or monthly spend limits and can be merchant-locked to be used only with certain merchants such as fuel stations. The platform eliminates expense reports, need for petty cash, and automates bookkeeping tasks via seamless integration with various accounting solution providers.
Philip Johnston, co-chief executive of Opontia, and an early customer of Alaan, said: “Until now, we have had to rely on debit cards, which have high FX rates and no cashback options. We look forward to scaling with Alaan cards, both to save money and to save precious time for our finance teams, so they can focus on our business instead of month-end manual expense management.”
Alaan is headquartered in Dubai and is expanding its headcount and scale in multiple markets across the Middle East.
