The Mena region is seeing record-high enterprise application software spend, which is projected to reach $760 million in 2018, said the International Data Corporation (IDC), a global provider of market intelligence.

Cloud-based software is helping organizations of all sizes to become more agile, efficient, and productive, it added.

However, pouring money into software spend alone does not enable digital transformation. While 60 percent of organizations worldwide will implement a digital transformation strategy by 2020, according to a joint survey by IDC and Veritas, 60 per cent of organizations are concerned about gaps in their toolset. These gaps can include successful cloud migrations, reliably and quickly recovering from outages and disasters, and successfully tracking and managing service level agreements.

“Record-high software spend shows that Middle East CIOs understand the importance of cloud-based information management software. But if used improperly, then software becomes technology for technology’s sake without meeting business goals,” said Savitha Bhaskar, COO at Condo Protego, the UAE-based IT infrastructure and information management consultancy and solutions provider.

Industry experts agree that Middle East organizations are turning to digital consultancies to help solve business challenges – including budget constraints, over-extension of IT infrastructure, optimizing information management, and finding minimal time to value for digital business solutions and strategies.

“As most Middle East organizations need to enhance their digital toolset, specialized channel partners are key for implementing information management strategies and training customers. Organizations should use have the best in-house capabilities to manage their IT effectively, especially in prioritizing data validity, classification, retention, and analytics for new levels of business insights,” added Bhaskar.

Supporting effective digital transformation, Condo Protego is ramping up its Veritas Consulting Services, a company statement said.

In particular, the company is seeing strong demand for the Veritas 360 Data Management Suite, which can help organizations to save time and money by assessing current capabilities, defining future strategies, and designing new programs, it added. – TradeArabia News Service