Dubai, August 16, 2015 View All Press Releases

Digitalization and cost optimization initiatives are of paramount importance to IT organizations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) according to Gartner inc. In the report Hype Cycle for IT in GCC, 2015, Gartner provides a snapshot of the predominant technologies that will enable these key initiatives in the region.

Based on the Hype Cycle report, Gartner sees three trends at work that can assist IT organizations in the GCC to position themselves for success:

1. Smart initiatives driving innovation and new technology adoption

2. Mobility as the primary mode for services and application delivery

3. Data center modernization, with an emphasis on cloud deployments

“GCC CIOs, IT leaders and technology professionals should consider these technologies when developing IT strategies and technology roadmaps. The Hype Cycle is intended as a starting point,“ said Biswajeet Mahapatra, research director at Gartner. “Actual selection and deployment of any of these technologies should be augmented with input from other technology and industry Hype Cycles, relevant research and communication with analysts who have in-depth knowledge of the products and vendors to identify which is ideally suited (for example, right sized, "good enough," cost-effective) for your environment”.

Smart initiatives have been a priority for many governments in his region. For example, there are smart city initiatives in UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. This focus on smart initiatives is resulting in smart city framework, and smart transportation reaching the Peak of Inflated Expectations (see Figure 1). Additional information, and definitions for the stages of the Hype Cycle are available at http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/methodologies/hype-cycle.jsp.

“The immediate impact of smart cities is expected to be in governance, transportation, R&D, retail, security, energy and utilities,” Mr. Mahapatra said. “Smart energy initiatives include connecting distributed solar panels to the power grid, installing smart meters and implementing smart applications, which help monitor energy consumption, and promoting usage of electric vehicles by having electric recharging points at regular intervals across the cities.”

** Figure 1 . **Hype Cycle for IT in GCC, 2015

With mobility becoming a primary mode of services and application delivery, a number of technologies are positioned in the 2015 Hype Cycle, such as BYOD in the Slope of Enlightenment, and mobile device management and mobile device protection moving into the Plateau of Productivity.

Enterprise mobility management (EMM) suites are not yet a mature technology. The products are relatively new, yet they provide very broad functionality, and must do so across multiple, constantly changing OS platforms. Gartner has found that organizations are starting to use mobile devices for an increasing number of use cases, platforms and applications, which is leading them to use a broader set of EMM features.

In the past couple years, the GCC market has seen the construction of many new data centers. Although cloud adoption has proved to be an enigma for many in this region, it has still shown positive growth, especially private cloud and software as a service (SaaS). Cloud security assessments is in the Peak of Inflated Expectations, while private cloud computing is in the Trough of Disillusionment.

“Many organizations are hitting refresh cycles and rethinking data center strategies to ensure they can scale up and out to support the growth and performance associated with business intelligence (BI) and the Internet of Things (IoT),” Mr. Mahapatra said.

The Hype Cycle for IT in GCC has an even mix of technologies that are at different stages. This is a healthy sign, as this means IT is not overloading itself with too many newer technologies and is not overburdened with legacy and older technologies.

“As the adoption of IT has been late in the GCC region, the tendency has been to leapfrog many technologies and to quickly adopt newer technologies,” said Mr. Mahapatra. “Only those technologies have been chosen that currently have the highest demand in the region, and that also provide the right solutions to the various business and government initiatives in the GCC.”