INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
With 2019 been a challenging and a transition year, how is 2020 going to be for the information and communications technology in the UAE and
what the top trends are that will shape the industry.Jyoti Lalchandani, vice-president and regional managing director for research firm
increase by 3.80% to $16.84b compared to $16.22b a year ago.The research firm has revised its forecast for this year from $16.7b due to a
slowdown in the telecommunications sector.He said that telecom services are feeling the impact of weak consumer confidence and a slowdown in
mobile data services.Even in 2020, the telecom sector is expected to grow the slowest at 1.01% while devices and infrastructure sectors are
expected to grow close to 6% and software and IT services (hardware and support services, consulting services, training, education, system
The consumer side is going to face pressure due to weak consumer confidence, uptake of trade between the countries, retail, real estate,
services, interesting movements on the systems and storage side.The shifting trends across the globe, he said is that enterprise customers
are taking a more cautious approach when investing and in expanding
There is a number of variables such as assumption around global trade, will oil prices be flat or is it going to fluctuate, regional
political uncertainty, cost of living index and economic growth.However, he said that organisations are investing in technology to drive
internet of things.(Image credit: Future)Top five trends in 20201
CloudPublic cloud services are seeing a big uptake
The public cloud market is expected to grow by 35% to $406m compared to $299m this year.Two-thirds of the organisations will approach the
cloud through a hybrid model
Organisations in public and government sectors, retail, utilities, transportation, wholesale distribution, hospitality are on the public
cloud.Due to some of the regulatory challenges, banking and financial services and some of the mission-critical applications rely on
building their private cloud infrastructure.The overall business environment is a strong driver for the uptake in cloud services
CFOs love it as it is opex-based and organisation line of business loves it because they get agility and speed
as a subscription-based model
Speed and agility are the key drivers for the cloud.There is going to be a consolidation in the public cloud space to key four or five
Digital transformation
Organisations are getting a bit more aggressive on digital transformation
A lot of pilot projects will enter the mainstream.A lot of projects and initiatives are around transforming the customer experience
Organisations are leveraging some of the technologies to enrich the customer experience.Some of the traditional IT areas such as devices and
infrastructure are slowing down and companies are using the investment to drive adoption of more disruptive technologies such as artificial
intelligence, robotic process automation, internet of things, big data analytics, blockchain and cloud to cut cost and drive more
efficiency.About 25% to 30% of large enterprises are currently in the process of digital transformation, investing in the third platform
customers and create new revenue streams
It is a five to eight-year journey.Initially, blockchain started off to facilitate a lot of trade financing deals between banks
A lot of the use cases happened in between banks to banks, Smart Dubai and Real Estate Regulatory Agency
The next phase is called the mature of a technology.The blockchain technology will be matured when you have high volume and low-value
Currently, a lot of the blockchain investments happen in low volume and high-value transactions.In the next three to four years, blockchain
will be embedded into the compute and that will open a significant amount of opportunities.3
CybersecuritySecurity investments continue to be a major driver for growth
One of the reasons for that is companies are one of the most challenging areas for CIOs and IT.Now, even CEOs have security as one of their
is becoming an important part of the agenda for banks and public sectors.4
AI and cognitive technologiesOrganisations are quite strongly investing in AI and cognitive technologies such as chatbots, analytics and
robotic process automation to cut cost, boost operational efficiencies by taking out some of the repetitive tasks humans do and automating
it.The cognitive AI spend is expected to grow by 25.63% to $73.66m compared to $58.63m this year.Banks, utilities, RTA, Dewa and public
sectors have deployed AI and cognitive in a big way.The AI and cognitive market in the UAE is set to grow between 25% and 30% year over year
in the next two to three years
The impact of AI, along with 5G and IoT, will be extremely powerful.IoT is already embedded into a lot of the technologies in manufacturing
and production, fleet management, etc
IoT has become a part of the ecosystem now.AI is going to automate several tasks and roles while creating new roles that are not yet defined
It will create more jobs than eliminating.To run AI and cognitive technologies, the industry needs a lot of data scientists and new skills
It will also force organisations to reskill some of their existing staff and resources
A lot of big organisations are already doing that and investing in training
In the autonomy phase, the machine decides, analyses and executes based on guiding principles that are set.The overall economic situation is
a key driver for that and due to lack of skills
So, these kinds of technologies play nicely into the story
It works 24/7 operation and lesser mistakes or risks compared to humans, so productivity and efficiency are a lot more at a lesser cost.A
lot of private and public sectors have leveraged some of these technologies to automate and cut costs
So, we are seeing an explosion in the digital workforce.5
RestructuringOrganisations are making fundamental changes in their organisational focus areas and priorities
Several companies are resetting their plans, given the overall economic environment across the region, in rightsizing in several areas,
especially in banking, retail, hospitality, banking and financial services.Organisations need to rightsize in the next two to three years as
it is going to be challenging
Organisations are holding back on investments and cutting staff to adapt to the business environment.Consolidation is taking place in the
banking sector and retail margins are under pressure, re-export from Dubai to other regions is down and there is an impact on financial
[insurance] services and education sectors.yJxZx8omHxNw2nmMT7yWfd.jpg?#
