EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
The enterprise IT market in the Middle East is showing steady growth over the past few years , mainly driven by governments being at the forefront of Digital Transformation projects as well as adoption of emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things ( IoT ) and Artificial Intelligence ( AI ).
Furthermore , initiatives such as Saudi Vision 2030 , Abu Dhabi Vision 2030 , and New Kuwait Vision 2035 are supporting the growth of cloud , Big Data , and IoT services in the market . With Amazon and Microsoft being the most-active cloud providers in the GCC region , the IT investments of SMEs and large enterprises have grown substantially thanks to Digital Transformation projects .
CIOs have the opportunity to play a pivotal role as technology plays an increasingly critical role in driving growth and innovation , and business line executives rely more heavily on their IT peers for insights and guidance .
The key for CIOs is to embrace FinTech partnerships and provide the right technology guidance that will empower the business . The business requirements should always drive technology choices , not the other way around . Also , maintaining a collaborative mindset rather than a competitive one will help CIOs stay abreast with all the technological advancements and advance a culture of innovation . We see further focus on creating customer-centric business models and infrastructures that enables that .
A good example of that would be the UAE government taking a lead in Digital Transformation by reimagining how to bring people , data and processes together to build a better world for its citizens . We can see that the UAE as a country is going through Digital Transformation , but also their free trade zones in Dubai and Abu Dhabi , which are , for example , pioneering financial services based on the cloud- and Blockchainrelated technologies .
As we continue to build data-driven societies and businesses , governments also need to provide and implement data protection laws , e . g . similar to EU ’ s General Data Protection Regulation ( GDPR ), as part of their Cybersecurity strategies .
Digital disruption essentially changes the nature of business models . In order to execute a Digital Transformation project , the concept of Digital Transformation should cut across every department in an organisation , as well as its ecosystem .
CIOs alone are not enough to change the direction of where the organisation is heading . Historically , CIOs have held responsibility for maintaining security and oversight of the organisation ’ s IT . Today , working with CTOs and CDOs , they jointly need to take an active role in : embracing agile culture and its core values in order to deliver fast time to market and harness the power of secure cloud-native technologies to be able to scale .
As competition between companies becomes more aggressive , there is a growing need for agile solutions that will allow them to quickly adapt and differentiate in the market . This is one of the important reasons why banks for example are increasingly partnering with FinTech companies that focus on the individual and specific needs of end-users . As a result , customers will for the first time have real choices – choices that will add value to their banking experience and also their lives and businesses . p
Maintaining a collaborative mindset rather than a competitive one will help CIOs stay abreast with all the technological advancements and advance a culture of innovation .
MILJAN STAMENKOVIC , REGIONAL DIRECTOR , MAMBU
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