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Digital transformation spending in Meta seen to top $25B in 2019
IT spending in wider Emea projected to total $973B this year
- PUBLISHED: Wed 23 Jan 2019, 7:23 PM UPDATED: Wed 23 Jan 2019, 9:24 PM
Spending on information and communication technology in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (Meta) is estimated to grow 2.5 per cent year-on-year in 2019 to reach $213 billion, according to the latest insights presented by International Data Corporation (IDC) on Wednesday.
IDC's group vice-president and regional managing director for the Meta region, Jyoti Lalchandani, said digital transformation (DX)initiatives will play a critical role in driving ICT investment across the region.
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Addressing a conference, Lalchandani said IDC expects DX spending across the Meta region to cross the $25 billion mark in 2019. "That figure is only going to increase over the coming years as more and more organisations experiment with transformative technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things in a bid to spur innovation and revolutionise their customer experience," he added.
The latest forecast by Gartner has said IT spending in Emea is projected to total $973 billion in 2019, an increase of 2 per cent from the estimated spending of $954 billion in 2018. Saudi Arabia is leading the overall IT spending growth rate in Emea in 2019, and is set to achieve a 4.2 per cent rise. Saudi Arabia's growth is driven by spend on IT services, including cloud computing and storage.
The event, 'IDC Directions', was attended by 200 of the region's most influential technology vendors, telecommunications operators, and IT service providers.
Running under the theme 'Multiplied Innovation: Scaling a Technology Revolution in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa', the event explored the emerging trends and priorities that will shape ICT investment in 2019 and beyond.
"Developing an effective digital transformation platform that can sustain, advance and scale business operations may be the most important task facing the region's decision-makers," said Lalchandani.
Frank Gens, IDC's senior vice-president and chief analyst, highlighted the radical changes that can be expected as organisations strive to broaden the scale of their innovation and accelerate the responsiveness of their operations.
"In the next two years, the proportion of digitally determined organisations with a fully-integrated enterprise-wide technology architecture will grow from 34 per cent to nearly 90 per cent," Gens said.
He said by 2022, 25 per cent of endpoint devices and systems worldwide will be executing AI algorithms, and between 2018 and 2023, more than 500 million new apps will be created, equalling the total that was built during the preceding 40 years.
The event also featured a session hosted by Nenad Pacek, founder and president of the MEA Business Group, that explored the region's economic outlook, while a panel of senior IDC country heads dissected and contextualised the technology-led innovation and entrepreneurship that is taking root in a variety of different geographies across the region. This was complemented by a series of individually themed technology tracks that enabled attendees to further tailor the agenda to meet their specific areas of interest.
An executive panel session was also hosted, featuring insights from Abdulaziz Alfalahi, CEO of corporate technology support services at Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority, and Khaled Khamis Al Mansori, CISO of Abu Dhabi's Department of Energy.
- issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com
