Artificial intelligence would become a major catalyst for global economic growth. Between productivity boosts and consumer boons, some $15.7 trillion would be added to the global economy by 2030, with an estimated $320bn flowing to the Middle East. Now, in the new normal, we can see entire industries upended by the encroaching reality. And innovators across the region are adopting new corporate cultures of tech intensity where cloud, data, and AI come together to accelerate innovation, enhance customer experiences, and grow revenues. Global retail sector has undergone a massive shift during the pandemic as consumers became more reliant on digital transactions. Leveraging the power of data lakes and the intelligent cloud, retailers in the region can transform the industry by creating individualized experiences for customers and empower employees and digital channels to act as one when serving that base. Marketing and sales teams across the region now have access to the same information in real time, ensuring that each part of the business deals with customers within the context of all previous contacts.
A need to overhaul their manufacturing and supply networks to increase resilience. In this light, the internet of things (IoT) powered by the cloud can play a starring role in sweeping reforms across the region’s manufacturing industry. Service delivery models – in which appliances, machinery and other equipment are sold in subscription-style contracts that include field maintenance and support – are becoming increasingly popular around the world and IoT sits at the heart of those models. The region is gearing up in this sector with strong interest in predictive maintenance, where communication between field-based IoT sensors and back-office analytics platforms can raise alerts about failing machinery in advance of it breaking down. Such systems eliminate downtime and drastically optimize operations and costs of support for customers and suppliers. Cloud will be indispensable to the region’s innovators as they try to design their new hybrid workspaces, making collaborative solutions and communication channels available to employees everywhere. The economies of large cloud providers also allow the delivery of secure infrastructures, as those providers tend to pump sizeable annual budgets into cybersecurity R&D.