Gulf region has room for digital transformation
Middle east has a pressing need to go digital as people want high quality products and services here, said senior officials of technology giant Huawei.
Addressing the Huawei Innovation Summit at Gitex Technology Week at the Dubai World Trade Centre, Space Lee, vice-president of public affairs and communications, Huawei Middle East, said the first challenge is broad penetration in Mena as more investments are required to meet digital transformation while the regional workforce also lacks digital skills.
“Middle East has a pressing need to go digital. People want high and good quality products and services. Consumers want fast, hassle-free networks and companies need to capitalise on digital opportunities. Public services need to be simpler and more efficient. We need to develop strong broadband infrastructure for enhanced coverage and driving innovation,” he said during the conference. However, Huawei will continue to invest and expand
consumers want fast, hassle-free networks and companies need to capitalise on digital opportunities Space Lee, vice-president of public affairs and communications, Huawei Middle East
partnerships with its partners for innovation, infrastructure and digital ecosystem. “We will work more closely on technical on research and development partnerships.”
Middle East’s population has unique strengths to fuel digitisation. There is national willingness and openness to innovation among the residents of the region, he noted.
Dr. Mohammed A. Al Amer, chairman, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, Bahrain, said: “We have missed the digital revolution. Digital transformation will push progress beyond to what today seems impossible. Revolution is in its early stages and companies are increasingly moving operations online to harness the power of big data and artificial intelligence to cater their clients. Our governments have stated that top priority is to have knowledge-based economy and we believe that ICT is highly important for us and is the future.”
Safder Nazir, vice-president for digital industries, Huawei, said GCC has room for progress in digital transformation. “All countries have a national vision for the near-term which is not seen in other regions.”
Edward Zhou, vice-president of global public affairs, Huawei, said: “We are living in dynamic world and technology changes every day such as cloud computing, Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. We believe there will be a better connected world. The connectivity will not be restricted to smartphones or smart watches or smart metres, but we will have sensors to detect environment, to crack data for us among a lot of other things. Not just human beings, everything will be connected – thanks to the IoT technologies, blockchain and artificial intelligence. Thanks to cloud computing, everything will be intelligent. It means almost everything will have a brain inside that can take decisions,” he said while addressing the conference.
— waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com