Digital transformation missions gather speed in the United Arab Emirates

YouGov survey of IT decision-makers showed broadening app portfolio.

UAE has now became one of the world’s leading hubs for technological development. The YouGov‘s recent survey seeks awareness about 16 new technologies amongst UAE residents and throws spa spotlight on their opinions about the future and impact of the technologies on society.

According to new research by market insight specialists YouGov1, The UAE IT decision-makers are making twice the effort for their digital transformation.

Fadia Abi-Ayad, Regional Director for the UAE & Gulf at F5, said that Businesses in the UAE are boasting of their abilities to deliver fast, seamless digital experiences.

Navigated by consumer demand and broadening app portfolios, most decision-makers ranked 5G top of their trends chart (62%), followed by multi-cloud networking (42%). The integration of IT systems with operational technology (OT) claimed third place (38%).

 Thirty-six per cent also faded the importance of Web Application and API protection (WAAP) services, which encompass WAF, DDoS protection, bot management, and API protection, and 34% are keeping an eye on AIOps platforms (combining big data and machine learning functionality to support all primary IT operations functions).

Digital transformation gains

The main focus of this digital transformation goal aims on focusing on customers and operational efficiencies.

 44% of are employing Artificial Intelligence and machine learning to automate and optimize business processes for efficiency and/or effectiveness. Forty-four per cent are also automatic business processes by integrating applications.

40% are using AI and machine knowledge to enhance operations and 36% are employing APIs to create new or participate in third-party ecosystems.

In terms of specific digital transformation benefits, 46% hailed employee productivity improvements (improved collaboration and decision-making), followed by increased revenue (42%), operational IT efficiency (40%) and new business/market penetration opportunities (38%).

Renovating app portfolios

YouGov pointed out both growth and increased distribution of app portfolios; 31% of respondents work for organizations with between 100 and 500 applications in play. Nineteen per cent altered portfolios of between 500 and 1000 apps.

Moreover, application services are increasingly deployed in a variety of different environments, with a high percentage of organizations using a mix of models. Forty-four per cent use public cloud, 40% leverage managed services and 36% use on-premises solutions. The popularity of edge (32%), co-location (27%) and Software-as-a-Service (22%) deployments further underline a shift towards app heterogeneity. 

Driving multi-clouds

Seventy-one per cent of UAE respondents implied that cloud services spending was up in the last year. Also, 36% expect more than 50% of their app portfolio to be hosted in the cloud within the upcoming three years.

The most prominent emerging strategic cloud trends over the next three years include Security-as-a-Service (34%), SaaS (31%) and private cloud services (31%).