As the journey from crisis to recovery gets underway in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, 63% of organisations across the Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META) are set to prioritise investments in revamping their operations over the next 12 to 18 months. That’s according to an extensive survey carried out amongst the region’s foremost CIOs by International Data Corporation (IDC).
The global technology research, consulting and events firm believes that the enablement of a ‘future enterprise’ must be the end goal for any business looking to rapidly adapt and respond to any further business disruptions that lie in wait, with other key investment priorities for the period ahead including strengthening the workforce, developing new business models and partnerships and creating new products and services.
“IDC’s vision of the future enterprise is an organisation that leverages technology to underpin every single process, initiative and value chain,” said Jyoti Lalchandani, Group Vice President and Regional Managing Director, IDC META. “These organisations are platform enabled, ecosystem centric, and fueled by innovation. To reach this state, organisations must prioritise the creation of dynamic work models, innovative services and pervasive experiences. With this in mind, the journey to becoming a future enterprise requires organisations to transform across five key areas: customers, intelligence, operations, work and culture.”
The virtual edition of the IDC Middle East CIO Summit 2021 on February 24 to 25th will navigate a broad range of themes that are central to this journey. Addressing the theme ‘Innovative Digital Strategies: Evolving to the Demands of a New Reality’, the event will bring together senior business leaders, influential IT heads and respected industry analysts to share their collective expertise on how best to meet the unique challenges of these unprecedented times. Hosted on IDC’s fully immersive virtual platform, the summit will combine presentations, panel discussions, real-life use cases and individual technology tracks to give delegates a bird’s eye view of the current market situation and the very latest technological innovations.
IDC’s Meredith Whalen, Chief Research Officer, IDC, will present the Summit’s keynote address, ‘The Future Enterprise: Developing Digital Resiliency’, in which she will warn the region’s businesses that COVID-19 will not be the last disruption they face. “The digital economy — which relies heavily on the continued flow of goods and services around the globe, as well as on transformational technology platforms and business innovation — will create more cycles of disruption to business operations and models than any other economic period,” said Whalen. “Organisations looking to succeed in this new reality will need to employ a new C-Suite agenda if they are to become masters at pivoting rapidly, capitalising on change and driving innovation in times of uncertainty.”
