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IT partners in UAE see AI driving most of their revenues
Demand for AI-related technology investments likely to grow by more than 75%
- PUBLISHED: Mon 23 Dec 2024, 5:30 PM
More than a quarter (26 per cent) of IT partners in the UAE believe that 76-100 per cent of their revenue will come from artificial intelligence (AI) technologies over the next four to five years, a survey showed.
According to a new Cisco Global AI partners study, titled Bridging the Customer AI Readiness Gap – The opportunities ahead for partners, IT partners around the world are anticipating a transformative wave of AI technology demand that will drive the majority of their revenue over the next four to five years.
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The study highlights that 43 per cent of partners in the UAE believe the demand for AI-related technology investments will grow by more than 75 per cent in the next four to five years. The partners surveyed for the report highlighted infrastructure (26 per cent), cybersecurity (26 per cent), and sustainability management (11 per cent) as the top three drivers of AI technology demand in the coming years. As AI demand surges, partners in the UAE also foresee a significant shift in their revenue mix. In the short-term, 37 per cent anticipate AI will contribute to 26-50 per cent of their revenue a year from now, while in the long run that contribution is expected to become even higher.
“As AI becomes a cornerstone of business transformation in the UAE and broader region, it's essential for our partners to be equipped with the skills and tools needed to lead this shift,” said Ossama Eldeeb, regional director for the partner organisation in the Middle East and Africa, Cisco. “The study's findings reveal substantial opportunities for partners to drive AI adoption and support businesses in harnessing the full potential of AI. By investing in readiness and innovation, Cisco and our partners are prepared to deliver impactful solutions that align with the region's ambitions and technological advancements.”
The study, a double-blind survey of over 1,500 IT partners across 29 markets, assesses partners' capabilities in the age of AI. These findings align with the Cisco AI Readiness Index, which found that companies globally lack readiness for AI adoption, revealing gaps in infrastructure, data management, governance, and talent. Built on the insights from the Index, the Cisco Global AI Partners Study reinforces the crucial role partners play in helping customers achieve AI readiness.
The findings indicate a robust confidence among partners in their knowledge and understanding of various aspects related to AI technologies. The assessment focused on several specific solutions and capabilities for AI deployment across the four pillars of infrastructure, data, governance, and talent.
These capabilities include:
• Building scalable and adaptable AI-ready infrastructure;
• Ensuring sufficient GPU resources for ongoing projects;
• Assessing and maintaining latency and throughput of data centers;
• Understanding data sets, data sovereignty and privacy laws across different regions/countries.
While partners show strong confidence in their knowledge and understanding of deploying AI technologies, they also understand the challenges they need to address to maximise the opportunities ahead. The biggest ones are inexperience in deploying new technologies (69 per cent), lack of knowledge of systems and processes (51 per cent), and a lack of available technologies (46 per cent). To address these challenges, partners are already heavily investing in upskilling existing employees in AI-related competencies, with almost 74 per cent conducting either internal trainings or inviting external vendors to provide specialised training.
Associate Editor Somshankar Bandyopadhyay brings more than three decades of experience to the KT newsroom. Currently, he manages the news production of the business section, ensuring that the top economic and business news of the day reaches its readers.