MIDDLE EAST accesses OpenSooq , the post that they seek is in the right place under the right category and is clear and understandable ,” he says .
One of the biggest challenges with the fourth most spoken language in the digital space is text recognition . The Arabic language , when written , has more than one thousand rules and variations all while using the same letters .
For Alqrainy , this was the first hurdle that needed to be cleared and as the company serves all across the MENA region , it is a challenge that persists even now .
“ To put it simply , the characteristics of the Arabic language are very , very hard ,” he says . “ The way that Arabic is written , the same shape and word formation can be used but with only the slightest of alterations and suddenly it ’ s a completely different meaning or understanding all together .”
“ It continues to be our biggest challenge because , when you consider localisation and where we operate there are different dialects to factor in . Egypt has a different dialect to Jordan , which has a different dialect to Iraq , and Syria for example .”
To that end , Alqrainy can call upon his significant experience in dealing with this exact challenge , particularly his time working on the Apache Solr program . Apache Solr is a highly reliable , scalable and fault tolerant indexing and configuration tool that powers the search and navigation features of many of the world ’ s largest internet sites including eBay , Netflix and Disney . But Alqrainy couldn ’ t possibly be able to do this alone , especially with more than one and half billionpage views per month . In this regard , OpenSooq pools together the thought process of everyone , from management to customer service teams right through to the technology team and for Alqrainy , he feels this really is key to the success of the company . “ We all head into one room and we brainstorm together and we identify the challenges or the solutions collaboratively ,” says Alqrainy . “ OpenSooq ’ s technology
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