Cloud Services Group (CSG) targets further expansion in the Gulf region over the coming period, as well as holding new partnerships in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Oman to increase its volume of business in foreign markets, according to the commercial manager of CSG Karim El-Dessouky. The company aims to make a profit of $1-1.5bn during the current year, based on their services provided in the Gulf markets.
El-Dessouky said in an interview with Daily News Egypt that his company aims to activate its partnership with Telecom Egypt in 2017, in order to provide solutions for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The market is currently going through a difficult period. It will either witness a sharp decline in the coming period, or unprecedented rapid growth rates.
The information technology market consists of several sectors. There is the infrastructure sector, which includes cables and communication networks; the telecommunications sector, which includes mobile and internet services; the hardware sector, which provides servers, data storage devices, and electronic security devices; the software sector, which provides mobile applications; and the electronics sector.
A sharp decline would come as a result of bad economic conditions currently plaguing the country, which has reduced the purchasing power of many customers as well as the budgets allocated by companies to develop their IT services. Therefore, the provision of IT services in a traditional manner will cause a sharp drop in the market’s size and growth rates.
The second scenario depends on changing the methodology of IT companies, based on two main axes: cloud computing and the Internet of Things. Cloud computing provides many storage solutions with high quality and lower cost.
The software companies have to develop their programmes to be able to work through cloud computing. Also, hardware companies have to change the way they provide their services; they have to stop participating in tenders that aim to provide storage devices, and start getting involved in partnerships with cloud computing companies to provide these companies with storage solutions, as well as establishing data centres. The slogan of the coming period has to be integration and partnership to work on upsizing the market and pushing it to grow. If the market grows, its contribution to Egypt’s GDP will increase to 6-7%.
As for Internet of Things, many countries have started to rely on its solutions; it relies on using sensors in providing many services, which save a lot of money. These devices are significantly used in lighting, surveillance cameras, and traffic lights.
Is the sector’s infrastructure able to provide advanced services based on Internet of Things?
The infrastructure needs to develop its services, but the launch of fourth generation services (4G) will be a milestone in the launch of services related to Internet of Things.