We live in a world of rapid transformation, a world where digital disruption and megatrends are affecting all industries. Successful family businesses are those that are willing to move away from traditional opportunities and react quickly and decisively to change.
The story of Obeikan’s success began in 1982 with a single commercial print shop in Riyadh.
Over the next 40 years, OIG diversified into new industries and markets and now has a diverse set of operations in manufacturing, packaging, education, and healthcare. It is one of the leading business groups in the Middle East and North Africa and one of Saudi Arabia’s top 100 largest companies, serving more than 80 markets globally.
Since 2017, the company has increased its focus on digital transformation, supported by more than 3,000 staff whose ways of working have been transformed by a digital environment and the solutions the group has adopted.
A business imperative
Al-Obeikan, who has been at the helm of the business since 2002, was quick to take advantage of the digital opportunities he saw evolving in the world around him.
“For me, harnessing the power of digital was not a choice – it was a business imperative. “Since our inception, a strategic enabler of this business has been to constantly seek out opportunities to drive growth and improve productivity,” he said.
Early on, Al-Obeikan recognized the role technology could play in creating more productive, precise, and responsive manufacturing operations.
“I was inspired by what I saw in the emerging B2C companies of the late 2000s, the likes of Uber and Airbnb,” he explained. “These are companies that have completely changed the world and I saw the potential that digital technologies could unlock in the B2B space.”
He notes that B2B companies face similar problems to those that innovative B2C companies set out to solve, such as waste, redundancy, or poor customer experience.
“With cost and competition increasing, I realized that digitization was not just a tool but a competitive advantage,” he added.
Al-Obeikan realized that a strategic focus on digitization was about more than improving productivity, it was also about meeting the growing expectations of OIG’s customers and employees. He realized they were experiencing a far more personalized and accessible experience as consumers and knew they would come to expect this in their working lives as well.
“If you order a pizza, you can now see exactly where it is every step of the way. But this was not the experience my customer was getting when waiting for a product, or my employee experienced while waiting for a spare part. I realized we needed to give them the same experience they were receiving as consumers by communicating with them regularly and on the platforms that they preferred – that is, on their mobile devices,” he said.
A digital transformation
In 2017, OIG embarked on a journey to create a digital enterprise. This involves data scientists working hand-in-hand with experts in the field to ensure that all processes are digitized, unlocking the knowledge within the business to create digital assets of the company’s physical assets.
Today, at OIG’s 20 factories, digital technologies provide end-to-end connectivity across all machines in the facility. Data from these machines is analyzed to contribute to the artificial intelligence and advanced analytics that drive continuous improvement in machine and production efficiencies. Smart equipment raises maintenance tickets automatically and there is real-time machine healthcheck reporting and production target tracking.