MENA, the acronym for the Middle East and North Africa, is a common name for the group of countries in that specific region. Countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that are on the frontlines of digital innovation and transformation are part of this MENA group. Though the MENA region is known for the political tension in the international arena, it still manages to be a pioneer in the digital transformation and the technological arena. The internet density or penetration has reached near 100% in many countries of the MENA region. This is proof that the region is staying on par with the global arena when it comes to technology and business. The middle east cloud applications market is something to look for as the tech collaboration in these regions seems to be at an all-time high.
Why is cloud technology booming in the MENA region?
One simple reason for the exponential growth of cloud technology in the MENA region is the immense purchasing power of the customers. Here, customers could be startups, enterprises, or even giant organizations. Governments of the MENA region are setting a lot of incentives for people to start a tech business. They are driving the country’s small and medium businesses to transform digitally and are also helping with the global logistics and transportation of the products. As the percentage of small and medium businesses in the region is higher, the need for digitalization has exponentially grown. People are rapidly establishing their businesses in the digital platform. On top of this natural transformation, the pandemic acted as a catalyst for the rapid digital transformation.
Many businesses went bankrupt as their revenue streams were confined to the retail flow of the shops. As there were no other options for consumers to be in the same plan as these businesses, no sales happened. As the COVID situation relaxes, almost every business wants to jump onto the 'digital' ship. Also, there were many people who got into the homemade or unorganized sector during the pandemic time. As their distribution channels grew, they too want a piece of the action and are looking towards expansion. And guess the most efficient way to increase this channel? Digitalization.
So, the answer to this question can be boiled down to the following points.
- Increase in the purchasing power of the people.
- Increase in the awareness among the businesses.
- The already existing ground for digital transformation.
- Affordable tech solutions in the MENA region.
- The pandemic.
All these factors combinedly paced up the digital transformation process and this, in turn, has led to the rapid conversion towards cloud technologies.
The gigantic middle east cloud applications market
The cloud transformation in the MENA region is not to be taken lightly. As the region may feel like they are under constant geopolitical tensions, yet their digital transformation percentage is much higher than many of the top powerful nations in the world. The cloud market size of the MENA region is one of the rapidly growing cloud markets in the world. It is expected that the cloud computing market size will reach USD 31.4 billion by 2026. This is almost a 17.2% increase from the past year. Even now, the cloud computing market is nearly USD 14 billion. From the above data, we can conclude that the present market is moving towards a completely cloud-based solution. This is also confirmed by another report which states that the overall cloud spending of a business or organization would be higher than the non-cloud spending.It is no wonder that enterprises are adopting an aggressive cloud strategy. Most of the services in the market are being migrated to the cloud platform. Ipso facto, the companies that depend on these services are adapting to these changes and are aligning their strategy towards the cloud.
Cloud technology as a platform itself, is expanding at a rapid rate. This is because of the fact that the technology itself could hold things like Software as a Service, Platform as a service, Functions as a service, Infrastructure as a service, etc.
Almost everything comes under these divisions and can help you with your business operations. The skillsets required for these operations are also expanding. More people, even from a totally non-technical background are also entering the cloud space. Technological giants like Microsoft, google, amazon, etc. are trying to hold their ground while constantly innovating in the cloud computing sector. Currently, Amazon is one of the most famous cloud providers with the majority of businesses using amazon's services.
Cloud computing and the intra-organizational changes
The pandemic has pushed many companies to deploy a remote working model for their employees. The work-from-home models are completely dependent on the cloud services of the organization. Right from communication channels to working on complicated matters, the intra-organizational functions heavily relied on cloud services for the last couple of years. So, where does MENA fit into the picture? Many enterprises that aim to adopt a cloud strategy is facing a shortage of cloud architects and engineers. This is a relatively new field, and even advanced organizations seem to miss this basic point.
This is where many cloud computing companies in UAE and the MENA region comes into the picture. Countries like UAE are rich in a variety of rare talents like cloud architecture, cloud engineering, cloud service providers, etc. These talents can be outsourced or hired by organizations overseas. Also, the MENA region being a pioneer in cybersecurity, they are focusing on ready-to-market and easily deployable cybersecurity solutions through cloud transformation.
Wrapping this up,
The pioneers of the technological revolution like the UAE are becoming the face of the MENA region in the global arena. Certainly, Dubai's paperless strategy and smart city initiation have made a great impression in the global arena. Incorporating technologies like AR and VR are also possible and the space for software development in the cloud services is the most significant of all.
