Page 66 - SAMENA Trends - February 2020

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Middle East and Africa Firms to Spend US$30 Billion on Digital Transfor-

mation this Year

Organizations in the Middle East and Africa are expected to “But we still need to do more and the industry is facing a talent
spend $30 billion (Dh110.1bn) on digital transformation this year, shortage,” said Mr. Malik. Currently, more than 25,000 people are
driven largely by industries such as banking and energy. “Total IT working at DIC and the authorities expect this number to reach
[information technology] spend in the MEA will be $90bn in 2020 40,000 in the next six to seven years. Korn Ferry, a Los Angeles-
and one-third of this will directly go towards digital transformation based management consulting firm, predicted that there will be a
initiatives,” Jyoti Lalchandani, group Vice President and Managing global tech talent shortage of more than 85 million people, which
Director for MEA and Turkey at International Data Corporation, is roughly equivalent to the population of Germany, over the next
told The National. The Massachusetts-based research company ten years. This could result in $8.5tn in unrealized revenues, it
is expecting significant growth in technology investment in the added. A talent shortage will impact the region in two ways, said
coming years and projected that spending will grow at a compound Mr. Lalchandani. “It will slow down the investment and force the
annual rate of 18 per cent in the region over the next four years. companies to automate more. I won’t say that with automation
With more number of industries, such as banking and energy, there will be job cuts … rather, it will lead to job rationalization as
leveraging new technologies to transform their operations, “there new kinds of jobs will be created and companies will be required
would be a significant rise in digital transformation spending” to up skill their current staff,” he said. Technology firms agree
said Mr. Lalchandani. The banking and finance industry will there is a skills gap in the region that is pushing back the speed of
spend $13.23bn on technology this year but IDC forecasts this digitization. “Our regional customers face a lot of skill shortage …
figure will reach $15.4bn by 2023, growing at a compound rate of especially in the fields of performance-oriented jobs that involve
4.7 per cent. Resource industries - including oil and gas mining quick trouble-shooting, analysing huge data and predicting future
- will spend $5.33bn on technology this year. This is predicted trends,” Charbel Khneisser, Europe, Middle East and Africa director
to grow to $5.79bn over the next three years. Dubai Internet City, at Riverbed Technology, said. “This is slowing the pace of digital
one of the investment zones in the emirates, foresees lack of transformation efforts,” he added. California-Headquartered
good talent as a hindrance in the ongoing digital transformation Riverbed has more than 1,000 clients in the Middle East, with
drive. “Our government is pushing digital transformation in a big Saudi Arabia and the UAE – the Gulf’s largest economies – its
way and positive results are before everyone… Dubai Internet biggest markets. “To minimize the impact of talent shortage on
City is also playing a crucial role in attracting new talent and the companies’ bottom line, we provide them monitoring tools or
technologies,” said Ammar Al Malik, Managing Director of DIC. software to perform various tasks,” added Mr. Khneisser.

Inmarsat Launches Services in Saudi Arabia

Inmarsat has announced that it will bring merchant and offshore vessels operating has also signed a separate installation
its maritime, aviation and enterprise in Saudi waters, providing full access agreement with service company Master
connectivity solutions to customers based to Inmarsat’s Fleet Xpress services. It Systems.
in Saudi Arabia through new partner
agreements. The company additionally
announced that it has secured new
spectrum licenses to deliver both its
narrow-band (L-band) and high-capacity
broadband (Ka-band), Global Xpress (GX),
services in Saudi Arabia, enabling Saudi-
based businesses to deploy these services
for the first time. Fixed and mobile satellite
telecommunications distributor Sada
Al Ammah and Global Beam Telecom
have been appointed as Inmarsat’s first
distribution partners in Saudi Arabia
and the region and they will work closely
with Inmarsat’s Maritime, Aviation and
Enterprise businesses to roll-out services
in the region. Inmarsat’s Maritime
business will partner with Sada Al Ammah
to distribute connectivity services for

66 FEBRUARY 2020