Complexities made simple
Emerging technology disrupts so much that it organises everything
Emerging technologies are becoming commonplace in today’s rapidlyevolving digital age. For the common man, these add convenience to life; for companies, however, it is a more complex process, from finding the right reasons to implement it, to ensuring a seamless experience for the end-user.
Top executives from leading UAE industries gave their takes on artificial intelligence, blockchain, the Internet of Things and other emerging innovations at the two-day Oracle OpenWorld in Dubai this week, the first time the US bellwether has brought its flagship event to the region.
Abdul Rahman Al Thehaiban, senior vice-president for the Middle East and Africa at Oracle, kicked things off with a startling figure: quoting a study from the International Data Corporation, he revealed that 2019 witnessed more data collected than in the past 5,000 years.
“Things have been changing completely,” he said in his opening speech, pointing out that 60 per cent of organisations say artificial intelligence is part of their strategy, while autonomous technology can save up to 65 per cent of costs.
“Driving change is faster than we’ve ever seen before. It’s disrupting business and, indeed, entire industries,” Andrew Sutherland, senior vice-president for technology in Emea and Apac at Oracle, said in his keynote speech.
“Every minute of the day we’re being reminded of a world being disrupted by technology. But the question is, how do we harness that disruption and turn it into our advantage for progress?”
The event is also in line with the UAE’s strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), which aims to reinforce the nation’s position as a global hub for technology and as an interactive city to achieve sustainability.
In his presentation, Sutherland outlined the needs of lines of business in parallel with specific industries that would benefit the most from it. Time spent in analytics is seen to grow to 75 per cent in 2020 compared to 25 per cent in 2015; the finance sector can use this to cut costs, optimise speed and track key business metrics. In marketing, the 375 per cent leap in analytics spending by marketers is being used to utilise improved customer insights and track demand generation.
In sales, 57 per cent of high-performing representatives rely on analytics, ensuring a constant 360-degree view of customer, bookings and pipeline. Human resources data, meanwhile, is expected to balloon by 50 times come 2020, which would help improve employee productivity and performance, while also tracking budgets and recruitment.
“Change can be scary, but we should not be afraid of it; we need to take chances,” Atif Alhejali, vice-dean for e-services at Al Qura University, said at a panel session. “No one wants to fall behind… we must embrace everything.”
The Oracle Innovation Report, presented by Neil Sholay, vice-president of digital for the Emea, revealed that disruptive technology plays a 30 per cent ‘significant role’ in the UAE over the next three years. The figure is at 26 per cent when it comes to culture-enabling technology, while for incremental innovation, it is at almost 30 per cent.
A number of major firms in the UAE have benefitted from the cloud to a large extent. Dubai Airports, for instance, was able to consolidate multiple legacy systems for its 90,000-strong employees, eventually empowering them with the use of mobile HR applications without intervention from its IT unit. The implementation went live in less than two months without any unsettling to its operations.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, on the other hand, used autonomous data warehouse cloud services to speed up provisioning, performance and automation. As a result, it was able to save 10 times more in costs by moving data from on-premise to the cloud.
“One of our core pillars is technology excellence… as well as rolling out and communicating that strategy to the entire company,” Sebastian Samuel, chief information officer of AW Rostamani, added.
He stressed that it is critical to “put technology at the heart of strategy and make sure the next wave of change should be investing in the right technology and business enablement, to help everyone weather the changes ahead”.
Dr Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Group developed apps for steps from pre-admission
to discharge, while also using AI and machine learning for predictive and prescriptive treatment recommendations. The processes are secure and highly available across the over 300 hospitals and clinics it operates.
Retail giant Landmark Group, with 57 brands and over 2,300 stores across 22 countries, was able to increase stability and simplify its complex cross-platform architecture, resulting in 25 per cent cost savings in a span of five years and enjoying less risk by exiting the use of a data centre.
When eyeing to implement a new innovation within a company, having a “total package” should be considered, said Umair Jumaid, chief financial officer of Access Power. “We have to consider everything; we are not sure about what’s coming ahead so we have to be prepared.”
“What is affordable should be sustainable and what is sustainable should be affordable,” he stressed.
The UAE has recently rolled out its 4IR strategy, comprised of six pillars further divided into strategic areas: human of the future (augmented learning, personalised medicine, robo-care and connected care), security of the future (food/ water security, economic security, space data and advanced defence manufacturing), experience of the future (intelligent government services, intelligent customer experience, intelligent cities and nextgen mobility), productivity of the future (open additive manufacturing, 3D-printed construction, intelligent grids and intelligent supply chains), frontiers of the future (commercialisation of space and cognitive human enhancement) and foundations of the future (future talent, integrated cyber-secured data environment, 4IR policies/regulations, 4IR values/ethics and global 4IR hub).
Oracle last week also announced the availability of its new data centre in Abu Dhabi.
Every minute we’re being reminded of disruption… how do we harness that and turn it into our advantage for progress? Andrew Sutherland, senior vice-president for technology in Emea and Apac at Oracle
Change can be scary, but we should not be afraid of it; we need to take chances. No one wants to fall behind
Atif Alhejali, vice-dean for e-services at Al Qura University