Saudi authorities have unveiled plans to ease the pilgrimage procedures, by optimizing the use of cutting-edge technology.
The annual Haj season rituals, which represents the fifth pillar of Islam, is one of the largest global migrations, as more than 2 million pilgrims converge on Mecca and the Medina to perform their rituals (2018 statistics).
Millions of Muslims from all over the world travel to Saudi Arabia throughout the year to perform the minor pilgrimage (Umrah).
The Saudi authorities signed two memoranda of understanding, on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative, to enhance Haj and Umrah digital capabilities.
An agreement was signed with German-based technology multinational SAP to develop innovative cloud technologies to transform the operations required to host millions of pilgrims every year.
Minister of Haj and Umrah Mohammad Saleh Benten signed the MoU with Steve Tzikakis, president EMEA South, SAP.
The minister signed another deal with Salman Faqeeh, managing director, Cisco Saudi Arabia, under which Cisco will help enhance the Ministry’s digital infrastructure and services.
Under the deals, a cloud-based digital platform will be developed to unify all pilgrim-related data.
By using technology in collaboration with hundreds of travel agencies worldwide, the ministry will gain real-time insights into the entire pilgrim travel experience.
This will allow it to improve crowd management, transportation and logistics while ensuring the health and safety of the pilgrims at all times.
It is anticipated that the potential government IT cost saving from moving operations to the cloud will be 25-50 per cent. This will be achieved by reducing hardware costs and exploiting synergies with existing cloud-based services.
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