IDC Directions 2021 Middle East, Turkey & Africa

The UAE & Other Gulf excl. KSA: Recalibrating for 2021 and Beyond

As the UAE and other GCC countries look to re-invent themselves for the post-COVID world in 2021 and beyond, they are recalibrating national strategies for the next stage of growth, re-initiating mega-events like Expo 2020 and redesigning industry diversification plans to kickstart economic growth. As “digital-first” strategies increasingly shape business and government agendas, what technology investments will they prioritize during the recovery?

The Next Phase of Saudi Arabia's Digital Aspirations: Opportunities and Considerations

As Saudi Arabia moves into the crucial phase of realizing its ambitious Vision 2030, digital technologies and strategies are expected to play a vital part in enabling the Kingdom to fast track its economic diversification drive. Given the havoc and uncertainty caused by the pandemic, this session will examine the impact of traditional and disruptive technologies on key national initiatives, CIO agendas, and giga projects. It will also contextualize the ongoing digital government drive and outline opportunities for ICT service providers in 2021. 

Five Pillars for Success: Confronting Africa's Post-COVID-19 Reality

The African marketplace is characterized by significant diversity and vastly different market conditions between countries and regions – this has been further complicated by the impact of the pandemic across this region. In this presentation, IDC will share the five critical pillars that must be considered if meaningful business growth is to be achieved in 2021. Relevance, affordability, accessibility, security, and trustworthiness are strategic imperatives that, if properly applied to market strategies in Africa, increase the likelihood of strong market penetration and ongoing momentum in the post-pandemic environment. The African market presents high levels of both risk and reward; if properly planned and executed, these five pillars provide a useful filter through which to test your strategic thinking on the road to recovery.

The Future of Turkey's ICT Market in a Post-Pandemic World: Building Resiliency for a Sustainable Economy

The Turkish economy and ICT market are witnessing rapid changes amid the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and growing regional tensions. The current scenario is posing new challenges to the way business is conducted, and technology is certain to play a critical role as enterprises navigate their journey from response to recovery. These challenges also present opportunities, with businesses looking to realign their investments in specific technologies to help accelerate their digital transformation journey and prepare for future growth.

Tapping into Egypt and North Africa's Recovery in 2021 and Beyond

Based on a less severe lockdown and the continued inflow of international and government stimulus packages, Egypt's economy is expected to recover rapidly in 2021, paving a smoother road to accelerated investment in national infrastructure and technology programs underpinned by effective digital transformation strategies. Furthermore, with the pandemic distinctly reshaping the business landscape, CIOs across both the public and private sectors are taking full advantage of the opportunities that digital transformation presents, with a clear focus on the priorities and investments needed to rebound faster. Join us to explore why Egypt continues to emerge as serious market opportunity in the region with continued ICT growth.

Cloud as a Driver for Smart Recovery: The Emergence of Cloud-Based Digital Platforms in a Software-Defined World

As the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa region emerges from the economic fallout of COVID-19 and works its way towards a smarter recovery, the shift to "cloud-based enterprises" will accelerate in 2021 and beyond. Cloud model and management considerations, alongside interconnect and edge-computing adoption trends, will define the emergence of new opportunities as enterprises adopt distributed digital platforms in an increasingly software-defined world.

Automation and Intelligence as Force Multipliers for the Recovery: Tapping into the META Market for Emerging Technologies in 2021 and Beyond

As the economy recovers in 2021 and beyond, organizations across the META region will consolidate their automation and intelligence gains from 2020 and build them into the core of their digital strategies. Insight-driven organizations and AI-driven operations could become a reality faster than anticipated. As organizations look to accelerate their adoption of technologies such as AI, RPA, and advanced analytics to drive differentiation and sustained competitive advantage, new market opportunities will take shape.

Redefining Security and Trust for the Next Normal

With accelerated digital transformation, unprecedented growth in remote and distributed work models, and increased cloud adoption, the attack surface is expanding at an unprecedented pace. The simultaneous expansion of the threat landscape is making the management of security and digital trust even more challenging. As organizations across the META region look to integrate security, privacy, and trust into their digital strategies, and protect ever-growing data and applications in distributed cloud environments, the regional security market will present significant opportunities.