The new Application Economy brings new business opportunities to Middle East companies, said an industry expert, adding that more than 80 billion apps are estimated to be downloaded each year.

“Applications have changed the way companies do business. We live in an Application Economy. Everything is driven by a connected, mobile, application-based world where customers are far more likely to experience brand and interact with an enterprise through a software application than a live person,” added Diyaa Zebian, regional director for Lower Gulf and Levant, CA Technologies Mena, the sole representative of US-based software giant CA Technologies.

“In order to succeed in this new reality, all business across industries are challenged by the need to innovate and develop and deliver superior user experiences that engage customers and employees, and it´s all enabled by software,” added Zebian.

The recent study commissioned by CA Technologies “How to Survive and Thrive in the Application Economy” which surveyed 1,450 senior business executives worldwide reveals that there are clear financial benefits for companies embracing the application economy.

Companies identified as leaders in this global study have seen double the revenue growth, 68 per cent higher profit growth, and 50 per cent more revenue driven by new business offerings.

Leading companies accelerate the delivery of proven and high quality applications that give them a competitive advantage, and have adopted DevOps methodologies and technologies to speed application delivery, said Zebian.

In the Middle East, an increasing number of enterprises are embracing DevOps to help foster collaboration between the teams that create and test applications (Dev) with those that maintain them in production environments (Ops).

A recent survey of 50 senior IT Middle East decision-makers conducted by Vanson Bourne and commissioned by CA Technologies shows that more than half (54 per cent) of the respondents have or intend to incorporate DevOps into their organization. The intake is expected to gain even more momentum, as the majority (64 per cent) of respondents agree that DevOps has become of major significance.

“DevOps has become a focal point for organizations that recognize the key role that the Application Economy will play in line with the Middle East’s long-term technology-enabled development agenda,” said Zebian.

In fact, Middle East respondents who have adopted DevOps report significant benefits such as increase number (27.7 per cent) of customers, reduced time to market of software/services (27.1 per cent) or improved quality of applications (20 per cent).

“We aim at helping our customers with our DevOps solutions to help work around constrained resources, accurately simulate services, lower costs and raise quality,” added Zebian.

CA Technologies has been at the forefront of efforts to advocate DevOps as best practice methodology for Middle East enterprises to quicken the delivery of superior IT services, applications and customer experience.

In the coming months, CA MENA will host a number of activities, including webcast, simulation workshops and online campaigns, to help customers accelerate the development and delivery of applications with the use of DevOps to help them succeed in the Application Economy, Zebian said. – TradeArabia News Service