UAE eyes $5bn IT spend amid rapid Gulf growth

I think what IDC is talking about is a potential business scenario in IT for UAE, at least. I dont think some of the Govt. deptt and Banks in UAE have budgets for new IT projects. They are somehow trying to run and manage the is existing infrastructure. KSA, Abu Dhabi may still have potential because they have cash availabiliy. I dont think Africa has had much impact of the current financial crisis. I would say, it will be great if the IT spend is same as for 2009 if not more.

I believe this is just a pr or marketing strategy to boost customer spending by creative a market hype and perspective. The reality is that the local economy has suffered a huge dent in its growth that there is practically no money to spend or genuine justifiable business. There will be decent business figures but who are we kidding? A really frank assessment figure would be much lower. Bottomline -- Work harder to meet your numbers and survive these tough times which would take time to stabilize. Anyone trying to fool themselves into believing these reports are just seeing a mirage.

We endorse your report that the Gulf is one of the world’s fastest growing regions for IT expenditure, and share the view that there is a strong commitment to build a new business infrastructure that will place the region in pole position when the global economic situation improves. But commentators overlook the fact that there are challenges in building this infrastructure on such a large scale, and from a fairly basic starting point. Not least, companies need to understand the basics at the very outset, and make sure their IT plan is aligned with their business plans for growth and development. Key areas such as business continuity and data management represent a huge learning curve for organisations unused to the rigours of international compliance requirements and the massive volumes of data that will be generated in this fast growing market. And while organisations are increasingly looking at using data centres in other regions such as London, the poor communications infrastructure across the Gulf creates serious challenges in achieving that goal. Furthermore, there has been a tendency to assume that mere investment in market leading hardware, software and networking will, by default, deliver a state of the art IT infrastructure. Shunning the perceived cost of internationally experienced IT employees, many Gulf organisations have looked locally or regionally for consultants to implement and support these projects. Whilst a number of these individuals offer excellent technical skills they do not have the hands-on experience of implementing leading applications within a fast growing business environment; and few understand the need to define the underlying business processes to ensure the applications’ functionality is both maximised and reflects business requirements. Organisations need rapidly to look for suitable partners who can offer broad experience in implementing these key solutions and who understand local needs, to avoid losing momentum in this time of unprecedented economic opportunity. Michael H Williams Chairman Sovereign Business Integration

Hi All , I feel there is significant growth in the UAE market in this fiscal year . We all in the ICT business look forward to cash in on this growth .