More than nine in 10 UAE IT decision-makers (93 percent) say that their organisation is planning to expand in the next 12 months, into either a new region entirely (66 percent), a new country (47 percent), or a new city (43 percent), according to a recent survey by Equinix.
The Equinix 2022 Global Tech Trends Survey looked into how businesses around the world are planning major investments in digital technologies to support ambitious expansion plans following lessons learned from the pandemic.
The findings of the study suggest a movement toward a less connected world could not be further from the plans of digital leaders across industries and geographies. Despite concerns of a potential looming recession and talk at the World Economic Forum in Davos about the end of globalisation, businesses appear to remain bullish about their plans for further global expansion.
With cloud’s evolving capabilities, 48 percent of IT decision-makers across the UAE that are planning an expansion are most likely to deploy virtually in the short-term and then building permanent physical infrastructure in the new market, while 44 percent said they will support an expansion using existing teams.
A number of potentially limiting factors were identified by businesses when it came to global growth, with supply chain challenges highlighted as a particular area of concern. These continued supply chain issues appear to be driving a need for more virtualisation, with growth aspirations underpinned by significant planned investment in digital infrastructure.
To address this challenge, two-fifth (40 percent) of respondents from the UAE said they plan to facilitate global expansion plans by deploying virtually via the cloud, with (37 percent) doing so using a bare metal solution.
The Equinix report also noted that the pandemic also continues to have a significant impact on businesses’ digital strategies. This resulted in more than half of UAE IT leaders (53 percent) indicaing that they are accelerating their company’s digital evolution because of the COVID-19 crisis.
Furthermore, it found that over half (57 percent) confirm their IT budgets have increased as a direct outcome of its legacy—an insight into the now broadly acknowledged necessity for robust digital infrastructure to pivot to evolving business needs in an instant. Furthermore, the majority of respondents (55 percent) believe the technology changes and investments implemented during the pandemic are here to stay.
Businesses learned their lesson during Covid-19, now they’re applying that to digital adoption
“It is evident that a post-pandemic economy is currently taking shape, with organisations overcoming the lingering COVID-19 challenges and accelerating their business recovery. Organisations are adopting a digital-first strategy and are looking to technology to be as dynamic a force to transform business processes,” said Kamel Al-Tawil, Managing Director, Equinix Middle East and North Africa.
“The Global Tech Trends Survey reveals that IT decision-makers in the UAE are regarding the speeding up of innovation, digitisation of business, and moving IT infrastructure to the digital edge as the highest priority in their organisation’s technology strategy. Digital leaders today are capitalising on these enticing opportunities in the aim to enable and shape their business’s aspirations for growth.”
Equinix also emphasises that cybersecurity remains a significant concern for organisations’ expansion plans.
As part of their digital-first strategies, 85 percent of global respondents confirmed a key priority is improving cybersecurity. 84 percent said complying with local market data regulations is critical, while 83 percent highlighted the need to futureproof their businesses. According to IT specialists, the most feared threats were cyber-attacks, security breaches and data leaks (all 70 percent).
