Home-grown technology advisory empowers GCC companies to adopt analytics for effective decision making

Making the right decisions in business is crucial. But how do you know which decisions are the right ones? Fortunately, science has the answer. And it lies in the past. Combining the power of raw data with software and expertise can provide a powerful analysis of past events, occurrences and behaviours to make accurate predictions of future outcomes. But where to start?

Fortunately, help is on hand to provide expertise and bespoke solutions.

Dubai-headquartered Qarar, aptly meaning ‘decision’ in Arabic, is an advanced decision analytics company specialising in the development of predictive modeling, software and advisory services. Predictive analytics explains what is likely to happen and in today’s shifting, highly competitive landscape, any business sector requires foresight.

These models can forecast developments from the likelihood a customer will default, product uptake, the price a customer will pay, how many items each will buy in a lifetime, what triggers will make people buy more, potential future profitability and more.

Towering Titan

At the corporate helm is Zaid Kamhawi, CEO, an experienced industry visionary tasked with overseeing growth and strategy at this specialist company that promises to make people’s experineces fuller and simpler while making businesses profitable and competitive.

“As a specialist consultancy offering the finest technological solutions in data analytics, we offer end-to-end services to develop and deploy, adaptable both on premises and in the cloud. Our close professional association with the largest regional credit bureau and access to vast sources of external data makes us uniquely placed,” explains Kamhawi.

“Our pool of experts proficient in data science, financial and related subject matters coupled with local and regional know-how puts us in pole position,” he continues.

Big data explosion

The amount of data available nowadays is staggering. Companies constantly capture trillions of bytes of information about their customers created as a by-product of other activities.

“That data is captured, aggregated, stored, and analysed. Organisations now compete on analytics not just because they can but also because they should. Those who don’t will be left behind,” observes Kamhawi.

According to Kamhawi, applying analytics goes beyond churning through data and producing highly accurate predictive models. To this end, Qarar has developed the Qarar Modelling Services Framework (QMS) that helps clients through the entire process of the model development lifecycle.

Channeling the SIMAH Connection

“Qarar began as the data analytics arm of the Saudi Credit Bureau—SIMAH. This gave us deep knowledge in working with credit behaviours and applying our expertise in helping banks and financial services develop corresponding behavioural scorecards that can help them in decisions across the credit lifecycle of customers,” Kamhawi elaborates

“Our key focus is forwarding the analytics industry in the Middle East and GCC markets. We see strong growth and interest from the UAE and Saudi Arabian markets as the maturity level on the value of data is high in both countries,” he observes.

Qarar also has offices in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, serving the Kingdom across multiple industry verticals, offering an entire suite of services.

Kamhawi closes with an analogy. “Think of advanced analytics as you would a Formula 1 race car, which performs best when its support team has a real-time view of the vehicle’s health as it zips around the track,” he quips. With him in the driving seat, Qarar is well on the fast track to expansion.

 

**As published in The 2020 Publication, Gulf News Supplement