Al-Rawaf Contracting Company: Empowering Growth Through Digital Transformation with SAP Cloud ERP
How Al-Rawaf Reimagined Operations, Decisions, and Performance Through Enterprise-Wide Digital Change
Al-Rawaf Contracting Company is one of Saudi Arabia’s fast-growing construction leaders, contributing to the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 through sustainable infrastructure and innovation. By implementing SAP Cloud ERP solutions, Al-Rawaf established a scalable digital foundation that streamlines financial processes, optimizes IT operations, and positions the company for continuous, data-driven growth.
| Industry | Region | Company Size | Partner |
| Construction and real estate | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | >5,000 employees | Al-Watania Information Systems |
of paper processes digitalized.
reduction in monthly payroll cycle time.
of core financial processes transformed.
Director of Information and Technology, Al-Rawaf Contracting Company
Adopting a digital foundation that keeps pace with business
With a diversified portfolio spanning general contracting, construction, infrastructure, urban development, electricity, and integrated water and energy solutions, Al-Rawaf Contracting Company is a key enabler of Saudi Arabia’s “Vision 2030.” The company plays a pivotal role in advancing national priorities focused on sustainable infrastructure, efficient energy use, water security, and smart urbanization. Through its projects, Al-Rawaf contributes to the Kingdom’s drive toward economic diversification, environmental stewardship, and improved quality of life for a growing population.
Al-Rawaf’s portfolio of services has been expanding continuously in the last decade, meaning it needs a scalable digital foundation. However, legacy systems and processes could not support the company’s growth. This meant IT was occupied with operational fixes rather than innovation, while employees with diverse skill sets grappled with inconsistent cross-departmental data. On the finance side, teams had limited project visibility and spent too much time on manual approvals, paper-based workflows, and recording and reconciling transactions. As a result, monthly, quarterly, and annual financial closing took weeks; a monthly payroll cycle needed 15 days; and the accuracy of manual financial postings was below 80%.
Omar Maamoun, the company’s department director for information and technology, explains: “Our systems, processes, and daily operations couldn’t meet the requirements of clients, management, business departments, and new—or evolving—projects. We needed to transform from within, from restructuring our organization to acquiring new people to help us grow.”
Al-Rawaf knew that moving to the cloud was the next logical step, and it embarked on a project aptly named after the Arabic phrase for “keeping up.”
CEO, Al-Rawaf Contracting Company
Crafting an integrated backbone that fosters innovation and growth
As Al-Rawaf appraised the options available in a modern cloud platform, deploying SAP Cloud ERP emerged as the best choice. SAP Cloud ERP would let the company rapidly implement a scalable foundation on which to innovate and harness best practices.
It would also integrate smoothly with Al-Rawaf’s existing SAP software landscape. This includes SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Ariba, SAP Signavio, and SAP Analytics Cloud solutions as well as SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), SAP Build solutions, and SAP Integration Suite.
Maamoun says, “We chose SAP Cloud ERP because it’s a scalable solution that will help us grow. It supports industry best practice processes that save time and increase efficiency. Because we were trying to transform our way of doing business, we needed a solid platform on which to establish new best practices together with our subject matter experts. With industry best practices from SAP, we didn’t have to reinvent the wheel. And we could do all this on a clean core without the need for major customization.”
Al-Rawaf worked with Al-Watania Information Systems on the project, benefiting from the partner’s experience and skill in deploying SAP solutions during the 40-week project.
Vice President, Al-Rawaf Contracting Company
Optimizing best practices and embracing a forward-looking mindset
Having successfully deployed SAP Cloud ERP, Al-Rawaf has already seen a shift from merely recording transactions to analyzing, predicting, and planning.
On the finance side, the company has reduced paper processes, automated 80%–90% of core processes, and brought 95% of employee requests into system workflows. The monthly payroll cycle now takes just five days, with plans to reduce it to two. More than 85% of financial transactions are automated, leading to a posting accuracy rate of around 95%. Changes such as these, according to Maamoun, have “a huge impact on the business, on the quality of the work, and on the quality of life for our employees as well.”
These operations now run on a clean core, aiding stability and maintenance while allowing for extended applications that support the company’s needs and promote innovation. Maamoun says, “We can now access and adapt to new technologies more easily.”
Maamoun divides the benefits of implementing SAP Cloud ERP into two categories, the first being more-efficient day-to-day operations. He explains: “Automation, best practices, and streamlined processes mean it’s easier to do business in a faster and more accurate way. This increased efficiency was very obvious from day one, when we saw the number of automated processes happening all across the business.”
The second category relates to corporate strategy. Maamoun says, “Because we’re working smarter, we’re spending more time analyzing activities and processes and planning for the future rather than recording and looking backward. This will help us achieve our vision and get where we want to be.”
Director of Strategy & Governance, Al-Rawaf Contracting Company
Adopting new technology in a continuous journey toward SAP Business Suite
Al-Rawaf now has a three-year plan for leveraging the benefits of an integrated digital backbone based on SAP Cloud ERP.
For instance, on the procurement side, Al-Rawaf plans to use SAP Ariba solutions to strengthen sourcing, supplier management, and purchasing processes. In preconstruction, the focus is on integrating and digitalizing estimation, tendering, and bidding activities to create a more streamlined and transparent workflow across departments. Meanwhile, functional teams will leverage SAP Signavio solutions to analyze and optimize end-to-end processes, while IT will drive innovation using SAP BTP, SAP Build solutions, and custom extensions to support future digital initiatives.
Another initiative involves using the Joule copilot, as well as planning functionality and dashboards within SAP Analytics Cloud, to bolster planning and analytics. And when it comes to the people and organizational structure that will support its growth, Al-Rawaf plans to expand its use of SAP SuccessFactors solutions as the organization continues to evolve.
As Maamoun explains, these plans are constantly developing. “SAP continually introduces new capabilities and innovations, ensuring that our digital road map keeps progressing and expanding.”
Maamoun sums up his experience with SAP solutions as follows: “We look at SAP as a strategic partner that helps us grow, improve our business, and work in a more intelligent way. Transformation is not a target in itself; it’s a journey. If you embark on this journey with SAP, you need to understand that it’s not the end of the road: it’s an ongoing process.”
Due to the success and positive impact that SAP has had at Al-Rawaf Contracting, its holding company, Sakef, now plans to implement SAP in other sister companies within the group.
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Al-Watania Information Systems designs, realizes, and deploys solutions that create a competitive edge. Its consultants field more than 15 years of experience gained across over 100 projects for organizations across diverse industries. The firm’s philosophy is to look at clients’ individual technical and business needs from a different perspective to identify the right solution.