INTELLIGENT DATA CENTRES
A majority of leaders in the region 73%,
also identified the lack of a digital vision
and strategy as a prominent barrier. These
were followed by the barriers of technology
constraints 61%, time and money 47%, and
finally law and regulations 22%.
Leaders may be divided in their
view of the future and facing barriers to
change, but they are united in the need
to transform. In fact, the vast majority
of businesses believe they will be well
on their way to transforming within five
years, despite the challenges they face.
Likely to achieve within five years in
UAE and Saudi Arabia:
Mohammed Amin, Senior Vice President META,
Dell EMC.
Leaders may be divided in their view of the
future and facing barriers to change, but they
are united in the need to transform. The vast
majority of businesses believe they will be well
on their way to transforming within five years,
despite challenges they face.
However, regional opinions are also
split by whether the future represents an
opportunity or a threat, and torn by the
need to mitigate these risks. For instance:
50% say the more we depend upon
technology, the more we will have to
lose in the event of a cyber-attack; the
other half are not concerned
58% of business leaders are calling
for clear protocols in the event that
autonomous machines fail, while
42% abstained
51% say computers will need to
decipher between good and bad
commands; 49% do not see a need
Given the promise of monumental
change – fueled by exponentially
increasing data and the applications,
processing power and connectivity to
harness it – 63% in the region speculate
that schools will need to teach how to
learn rather than what to learn to prepare
students for jobs that do not yet exist.
85% of jobs
that will exist
globally in 2030
have not been
invented yet.
This thinking corroborates the previous
study’s forecast that 85% of jobs that
will exist globally in 2030 have not been
invented yet.
Furthermore, many businesses are
not moving fast enough, and going deep
enough, to overcome common barriers to
operating as a successful digital business.
Only 27% of regional businesses believe
they are leading the way, ingraining digital
in all they do. Nearly half 45% do not know
whether they will be able to compete over
the next decade, and the majority 68%, of
businesses are struggling to keep-up with
the pace of change.
The lack of workforce readiness
was identified as the leading barrier to
becoming a successful digital business
in 2030, further emphasising the need
for skill development among existing
employees and future generations.
Have effective cybersecurity defences
in place: 96%
Deliver their product offering as a
service: 96%
Complete their transition to a software-
defined business: 97%
R&D will drive their organisation
forward: 94%
Delivering hyper-connected customer
experiences with virtual reality: 92%
Using AI to pre-empt customer
demands: 93%
We are entering an era of monumental
change that will fundamentally change
the way businesses operate and prioritise
investments. While half of the business
leaders in the region are unsure of what
the next ten to fifteen years look like for
their industry and are struggling with the
quick pace of change, a large majority are
looking at embracing change and new
technologies in their digital business plans
for the next five years.
This pivotal time is rich with
opportunities of collaboration and
innovation. It is becoming increasingly
clear that businesses can either transform
their IT, workforce, and security and play a
defining role in the future or be left behind.
The research was commissioned by Dell
Technologies and undertaken by Vanson
Bourne, an independent research company,
completed in June to August 2017 with
3,800 business leaders from mid-size
to large enterprises across 17 countries
including UAE and Saudi Arabia.
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