Companies in the United Arab Emirates are eager to digitally transform to become more operationally efficient, more agile, to create new customer experiences, and to create new revenue streams. About a third of third-platform technology spending (social media, mobile, cloud, big data and analytics, and Internet of Things) in the UAE today is driven by digital transformation projects, said Jyoti Lalchandani. , vice president. and the Regional Managing Director of International Data Corporation (IDC), a research firm in TechRadar Middle East. "Some traditional IT sectors, such as edge and infrastructure, are slowing down and companies are using investments to promote the adoption of more disruptive technologies, such as artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, the Internet of Things, data analytics, etc. big data, blockchain and cloud to reduce costs and increase efficiency."
Lalchandani said that the investments made by the companies greatly affected the control panels and the sales and marketing teams.
The data is the new oil.
“We are seeing massive investments in data to generate new revenue streams. The focus is on data mining and organizations plan to monetize this data.” He sees data-driven business model opportunities in data quality and their interconnection. "Data is the new oil. If organizations can extract true value from structured and unstructured data (as well as data from other sources such as IoT devices and AI-based streams), it can be interpreted to identify them. and take advantage of opportunities to energize the business. We believe that around 70% of investment in new technologies will be spent on data," he said. The main use cases are in the retail sector, public sector, transport and public services, but there is a shortage of skills resources for this task.
Artificial intelligence
In the Middle East and Africa, investment in AI is expected to rise to €263 million this year, compared to €200 million last year. This investment is expected to increase between 25% and 30% per year. At least a quarter of the investment comes from the United Arab Emirates, Lalchandani said. Amnesty International's investment in the United Arab Emirates is expected to rise to €56.03 million this year, compared to €37.54 million last year, recording growth of more than 49%. Use cases include utilities, banks, fraud analysis, automated threat detection, Dubai Department of Economic Development, Department of Land, Transport and Public Sector. In addition, she said that interesting pilot projects were underway in the health sector. He thinks that AI will be one of the most disruptive technologies in a wide range of sectors, such as banking, retail, public sector, utilities and healthcare, among others. Over the next three to four years, as technology (AI) evolves, he said the government sectors, the public and private sectors, would be under increasing pressure to set rules and regulations. Compliance in the use of data and AI. "As a technology, there is a very fine line between ethics and exploiting this disruptive technology. We believe there will be more oversight and regulation, but unfortunately this technology is evolving faster than regulatory and compliance agencies cannot keep up." said. the said. By 2022, IDC expects about 65% of organizations to ask CIOs to modernize and transform AI policies.
Internet of Things
IoT investment in the UAE is expected to rise 17 percent to €672.75 million from €574.89 million a year ago. Use cases include transportation, smart grids, airlines, police using smart cameras, cargo monitoring, production management, manufacturing operations, connected oil exploration, digital signage, and smart home and wellness sectors. With the introduction of the 5G cellular network, more devices connected to the network must be connected.
Blockchain
Initially, IDC had seen strong blockchain adoption in areas such as banking and financial services, trade finance, etc. In recent years, Lalchandani has stated that public sector adoption of blockchain is gaining popularity and has been used in the education, property and property sectors. Public service sectors. “We are seeing high-value, low-volume deals, but in the next few years we will see blockchain technology become part of the IT business. Some sectors will quickly use blockchain technology. The public sector movement on blockchain will force many private sectors to follow. Dubai's paperless strategy will force everyone to adopt blockchain," he said. According to IDC, blockchain spending increased 110.9 percent in the Middle East and Africa to €189.32 million from €89.77 million.