Mubasher: The UAE and Saudi Arabia are two steps ahead of the rest of the world in the digital transformation domain, as shown by the results of the Digital Transformation Index 2020, released on Monday by Dell Technologies.
Data shows that 90% of organisations in UAE and Saudi Arabia have fast-tracked, at least some of their digital transformation programs this year, which led to accomplish in a few months, what would normally have taken years. The rate of progress also exceeds the global benchmark of 80%, which suggests that organizations across the region have shifted their digital transformation programs into high gear, Dell Technologies said in its report.
The disruption also led 85% of organizations in the UAE and Saudi Arabia to re-inventing their business model, which is 6% higher than the global score of 79%.
Moreover, the number of digital leaders in the UAE and Saudi Arabia increased by 6% compared with their level in 2018, while digital adopters grew from 27% in 2018 to 31% in 2020.
The study further showed that UAE and Saudi Arabia are keeping pace with global investment levels in newer technologies, including Edge and artificial intelligence (AI). In addition, organizations in the UAE and Saudi Arabia are 6% ahead of their global competitors in investing in 5G infrastructure.
Exploring the outlook, the study noted that looking beyond 2021, organizations in UAE and Saudi Arabia have high confidence in Edge computing’s capabilities, noting that Edge application investment is expected to be higher (51%) among organizations in UAE and Saudi Arabia compared to the global average of 28%.
“According to the 2020 Digital Transformation Index, organizations across the region are particularly confident that the Edge strategies being rolled out will future-proof their business,” the study indicated
“The 2020 Digital Transformation Index lists the top technology investments in UAE and Saudi Arabia over the next one to three years as follows: Real-time applications at the Edge, Artificial Intelligence algorithms, Cybersecurity solutions, Data management tools, 5G infrastructure.”
Although the pandemic may have catalyzed digital transformation across the globe, the continuous transformation is challenging. “Organizations are facing several barriers to transformation. The top three barriers to digital success cited by respondents in the UAE and Saudi Arabia include: Unable to extract insights from data and/or information overload, a jump of eleven places since 2016; Lack of economic growth due to pandemic related disruption, a new entrant for 2020; Data privacy and cybersecurity concerns, down one place since 2018.
