Why adopting technology is a matter of survival for today’s businesses
In today’s interconnected post-coronavirus world, technology has become the key driver for business-growth and companies that are too slow in adopting tech will run the risk of being left behind, according to Faisal Ameer Malik, CTO of Enterprise Business Group, Huawei Middle East.
Responding to coronavirus was a good indicator of this, with companies which did not rapidly adopt a digital transformation strategy struggling to maintain their bottom line, explained Malik.
“Although unfortunate, Covid-19 made everyone realise that technology is not just a business-enabler, but it is also a matter of survival,” said Malik.
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“During the pandemic, we saw that the organisations and sectors which adopted technology at a better pace and way, or had a better understanding of it, were able to sustain themselves longer. They were able to continue to work in a better way, given that the impact of the pandemic lasted almost two years,” he continued.
In the region, there has been a massive adoption of technology across several industries, including manufacturing, oil and gas, health, education, governance and transportation, said Malik.
“The technology domain is very vast and so we see that, as we move forward, the impact of certain technologies, such as cloud, 5G, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and other baseline technologies will play a very important role in helping us realise whatever we are trying to achieve,” he explained.
Faisal Ameer Malik, CTO of Enterprise Business Group, Huawei Middle East.
“Adoption rate in the region is very good and this all comes down to leadership. We have seen how fast-paced things are in Dubai when it comes to adopting new ideas and technologies. The trend is almost the same across the region,” said Malik.
He added: “There is an acceptance of the fact that technology plays an important role in making things better. When you talk about us being in the malls, on the roads, in clinics, in schools…in all these critical services related to life in the region, there is a pretty fast and open-minded adoption of technology.”
The speed at which industries can adopt technology depends on their country’s regulatory framework, however, and in that the Middle East has proven to be a pioneering adopter of digital transformation, said Malik.
“If, at the government level, ICT policies are well thought-out and defined, simple and realistic to adopt, then the transformation at the industry-level will happen faster,” said Malik.
“Fortunately in the Middle East, the governments really understand this aspect and design tech regulations according to the business requirements of the different industries. They interact with all stakeholders and then they design the policies so the technology is adopted in the right way, under the right regulatory framework and brings maximum benefit to citizens and businesses,” he explained.
Malik gave the example of how the region has been "at the forefront of adopting 5G technology. The government, operators and regulators in this region are playing a very important role in being a catalyst to speed up the whole process of 3G adoption for the industries, rather than only the consumers.
“It involves a lot of stakeholders from the industry itself to solution providers, carriers, us as technology providers and the regulators to make it all easy. We are working on all those layers as Huawei,” he said.
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