Only 4% of UAE and Saudi firms are digital leaders

A visitor at the Abu Dhabi digital government pavilion during the 36th Gitex Technology Week Exhibition at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Companies that have barely started their digital transformation will soon find themselves facing a number of obstacles that can potentially lead them to shutting down, experts at Dell EMC have warned.
"We did a study on business transformation because we believe that those people who don't transform their business today will have lots of problems in the future. Before IT was an enabler in a business; the major change that happened today is that IT is the business," said Mohammed Amin, senior vice-president for Turkey, Eastern Europe, Africa and Middle East regions at Dell EMC.
Amin was speaking at roundtable at the ongoing Gitex Technology Week event, where he highlighted the findings from an independent survey by Vanson Bourne of 4,000 business leaders - from mid-size to large enterprises - across 16 countries and 12 industries, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
"Some surprising facts that we found in our study were that just four per cent of businesses in the UAE and Saudi Arabia can be classed as digital leaders, who are doing well on their transformation journey. Another eye opener for us was that 85 per cent of businesses consider digital start-ups as a threat, either now or in the future. In addition, 44 per cent of businesses don't know what their industry will look like in the next three years; they don't know if they will be making profits, if they will be in business, or even if they will be forced out of their business," Amin said.
The research also showed that 45 per cent of businesses surveyed fear that they may become obsolete in the next three to five years due to competition from digital-born start-ups. Some companies are feeling badly bruised by the pace of change. Around 54 per cent of business leaders have experienced significant disruption in their industries over the past three years as a result of digital technologies and the Internet of Everything.
Dells's research also showed that some companies have barely started their digital transformation, with many having taken a piecemeal approach. Only a small minority have almost completed their digital transformation; and only seven per cent of businesses surveyed are performing critical digital business attributes well. While only parts of many businesses are thinking and acting digitally, 71 per cent admit that digital transformation could be more widespread throughout their organisation.
"We're in the midst of the next industrial revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work and relate to one another. This shift will transform the way every business in every industry operates. We are already witnessing a transformation of business priorities as both public and private sector entities across this vast region continue to invest in advanced new technologies to better meet changing customer needs and expectations. In the near future, almost every business will have software development expertise at its core," Amin said.
"Many of these companies will be brand new; others - having not written a line of code in 20 years - will have been on a momentous journey. New digital products and services will drive the transformation of IT infrastructure as businesses struggle to manage a thousand times more users and a thousand times more data," he noted.
Amin also noted that Dubai is going to be the first city in the Middle East that is going to adopt Li-Fi on a large scale. Li-Fi, he said, is going to aid Dubai in achieving its vision to become a smart city. Unlike the more traditional Wi-Fi which uses radio waves, Light Fidelity, or Li-Fi as it is better known, transmits data through LED bulbs switching on and off too fast to be noticed by the human eye. Experts have noted that Li-Fi can be 100 times faster than standard Wi-Fi. Currently, du has partnered with Zero 1 to trial the service in various locations, including Dubai Silicon Oasis.
- rohma@khaleejtimes.com