Page 14 - SAMENA Trends - March-April 2022

FEATURED SAMENA TRENDS

We are at a moment in history when we Saudi and active participant in this change, combined, as technology reshapes
witness economies pulling ahead of but also as I have witnessed in both a per- health and materials sciences, energy,
others are rising fastest to this digital sonal and business perspective the impact transportation, and a wide range of other
transformation challenge enabled by the of this collaboration and partnership. industries and domains.
clearest and most ambitious governmental
digital strategy and regulations. The improved connectivity helped As quantum computing is increasingly
the Kingdom face the impact of the introduced its impact on the power of
In Saudi Arabia we are pandemic with confidence as it transferred data analysis and micromanagement of
blessed with a wise seamlessly to a digital world, moving multiple matters will exponentially rise.
business, education, healthcare, financial
The integrated power of technology fuels
leadership which has put services and many other sectors to the robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT),
digital transformation and digital world. We were put severely to logistics and 3-D or 4-D printing, amongst
many others to par back routine tasks,
the test and emerged stronger and more
sustainability at the heart digitally enabled than ever before. During improve operational efficiency, enable
of the transformation of that period, we set global standards for our remote decision -making and accelerate
response, something we are determined to
time to market.
our Kingdom’s society and double down on and deliver increasingly
economy through Vision of in the future as the true benefit of rapid For it is now proven beyond
2030. technological development was one of the question that increasing
few benefits of the pandemic.
digitization can not only
This requires strong leadership, both This to me also underlines the importance rapidly improve quality,
from the country leaders as well as from of the work, discussions and decision we
the industry. For example, in Saudi Arabia are making within SAMENA. As the world speed of delivery of goods
we are blessed with a wise leadership emerges from the pandemic and has been and services, but also
which has put digital transformation hit by additional geopolitical impacts to
and sustainability at the heart of the the world economy the ICT sector working do them in a more cost-
transformation of our Kingdom’s society closely with government needs to help effective manner with
and economy through Vision 2030. address the global impacts of accelerating
inflation and challenges to growth. For reduced energy and cost
Our leadership fully recognized the need it is now proven beyond question that input demands, helping
for a multiple approach to increasing increasing digitization can not only rapidly drive towards a long-term
connectivity to help deliver this through improve quality, speed of delivery of goods
delivering world leading wireless and services, but also do them in a more sustainable future.
connectivity, delivering fiber optics to cost-effective manner with reduced energy
homes and businesses throughout the and cost input demands, helping drive The challenges facing the ICT industry
Kingdom, delivering access to data towards a long-term sustainable future. are immense and highly complex with
centers and data analytics, delivering significant decisions and investments to
increased global access through cables But don’t just take my word for it. In the be made at pace. The opportunities and
for global connectivity and developing next decade according to entrepreneur and benefits are even greater. As we all know
platforms for people to improve their lives futurist Peter Diamandis, we’ll experience for all this to succeed there needs to be the
and businesses to enhance the efficiency more progress than in the last 100 years right kind of reliable and rapid connectivity
and effectiveness of their products and
services delivery.

This was backed up with clear policies
and regulations to define the nature and
focus of the government’s plan for digital
transformation and its role in Vision 2030.
This enabled the ICT sector to come
together in an unprecedented spirit of
collaboration to create a digital backbone
and ecosystem for government, business,
the economy and most importantly the
people using these services.
But why do I mention this? This is not only
driven by great personal pride in being a

14 MARCH-APRIL 2022