FEATURE
Modernisation can mean many things – it could mean upgrades and better engineering controls. In other cases, it means removing old generations, consolidating customisation or properly transforming parts of the system. AI has added urgency and exposed how little some organisations understand the systems and data they want AI to use,” said Godonoga.
From efficiency to agility
This change is particularly visible across the Middle East and Africa, where substantial investment in cloud and digital transformation has already taken place.
Prasanna Rajendran, Vice President – EMEA at Kissflow, said:“ Application modernisation is no longer primarily a cloud or cost-efficiency exercise. It is increasingly about business agility and AI readiness. We’ re seeing this across the MEA, and particularly in the GCC, where organisations have invested heavily in cloud and digital transformation. The question now is whether their applications, processes and data can adapt quickly enough to capture the value of AI.”
Prasanna Rajendran, Vice President – EMEA at Kissflow
For Rajendran, that requires organisations to rethink processes rather than simply insert AI into existing workflows.
“ That demands a change in mindset. Enterprises should not simply ask where AI can be added to an existing process, but what could work fundamentally differently now that AI exists. Modernisation is therefore shifting from improving yesterday’ s applications to redesigning processes and experiences around business outcomes, AI and intelligent agents.”
Bassel Khachfeh, Digital Solutions Manager at Omnix International, sees a similar shift in the UAE, where national digital and AI initiatives are raising expectations around digital services.
“ Modernization is now driven by outcomes rather than infrastructure. National agendas in the UAE, such as We the UAE 2031, the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031 and the Zero Government Bureaucracy program, have raised expectations. Services must be proactive, seamless and progressively based on AI.”
He adds that CIO priorities have consequently changed.
“ Three years ago, CIOs had discussions on cost reduction and data-centre exits. Today, CIOs ask different questions around data being ready for AI, how services can be launched quickly, as well as talks about resilience, security and sovereignty. Modernization has shifted from an IT efficiency exercise to a strategic enabler of national competitiveness, and application architecture now directs the way organisations can adopt AI quickly and gain value.”
The weight of technical debt
Yet ambitions to modernise can quickly collide with the reality of mission-critical legacy applications.
Bassel Khachfeh, Digital Solutions Manager at Omnix International www. intelligentcio. com
INTELLIGENT CIO MIDDLE EAST
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