A joint study conducted by Siemens and the management consultancy Strategy& launched the ‘Preparing for the digital era: the state of digitalisation in GCC businesses’ report at Dubai’s 3D-printed Office of the Future, highlighting key findings that are intended to help encourage the progress and evolution of digitalisation among the region’s businesses.
Of the 300 companies surveyed, 60% believe that digitalisation has the potential to create new business models or lead to a more open culture of innovation. However, only 3% of organisations believe they are at an advanced stage of their digital transformation process, with only 18% using the cloud and 30% using big data and analytics specifically. The study also found that companies in the GCC are lagging behind their government and consumer counterparts when it comes to using digital technologies.
For example, GCC governments have acknowledged the economic and social benefits of digitalisation, incorporating them into their ambitious strategies. Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and National Transformation Plan 2020, Smart Dubai, Qatar’s Connect 2020 ICT Policy, and Oman’s digital strategy e-Oman all stress the importance of the use of digital technologies.
Even though many organisations are gradually building technology capabilities, some lack the vision and the necessary leadership to drive their digital transformation. Taking practical steps forward can often be beset by internal obstacles. For example, 40% of companies in the region have allocated less than 5% of their total investments to digitalisation activities. Only 37% of companies have a strategy for going digital, and less than 1% of companies have a chief digital officer.
