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It is fair to say that in 2022 , as with the previous two years , digital investments have driven business outcomes across the GCC . Digital Transformation is no longer just something the IT professionals do . Leaders across all functions are paying attention to tech trends . In 2023 , we can expect more of the same and there are some great opportunities ahead for those that make the right moves .
Digital disruption will determine who survives 2023
With the oldest millennials now in their 40s , we live in a digital-native world . The region ’ s businesses must contend with that . Digital user experiences for smartphones and Web browsers are now the norm for the acquisition and retention of customers . Across the UAE , in every industry , we saw examples of this . Those that did it well , survived and thrived . Those that did not , did not . In 2023 , expect to see pressure mount on businesses to leverage digital experiences to compete for consumers with less disposable income .
Next-gen apps must be cloud-native
The region ’ s lack of skilled developers persists , even as initiatives such as the UAE ’ s National Program for Coders get underway . A recent IDC study predicts that the global developer shortage will reach 4 million by 2024 . And developers with cloud-native skills are in even shorter supply . This will have a severe impact on cloud migration , which will remain a top priority for IT teams given the need for them to deliver on business agility and digital experiences .
Uday Shankar Kizhepat , Vice President and General Manager – Middle East and Africa Region , WSO2
Somewhere between 65 % and 75 % of established businesses ’ workloads continue to rely on legacy mainframe backends . In 2023 , they must move to the cloud and refactor their digital offerings into cloudnative microservices to achieve the scale , agility and reliability required for always-on digital experiences that can compete with digital disruptors like Amazon . ae .
We will see a need for consumer digital consent management
In 2022 , we saw the rollout of the UAE ’ s federal data privacy law . From banking to healthcare , this regulation will continue to have a great impact in 2023 . Any organisation that holds personal information on its customers must adopt a culture that confers appropriate ownership rights on those customers . This will affect different industries in different ways . For example , in healthcare , where we are seeing growing demand for apps , wearable devices and telemedicine , the industry must move toward a scenario where data is only accessed with explicit consent from the patient .
Consent management is not just based on some vague digital signature . Customers must-have the opportunity to grant or deny access to a specific application and put time limits on that access .
Somewhere between 65 % and 75 % of established businesses ’ workloads continue to rely on legacy mainframe backends .
WSO2 ’ s Reprogramming the Enterprise Survey , found that almost two in three ( 65 %) IT Decision-Makers ( ITDMs ) believe cloud-native development is their organisation ’ s most sought-after skill because of its established link to the pace of innovation . And more than half ( 54 %) of ITDMs polled indicated that the shortage of developers has led to delayed projects and reduced productivity . Such bottlenecks to progress must be overcome in 2023 to deliver the right experiences at the right pace to appease digitalnative consumers .
Cloud-native services and platforms are certainly desirable as they allow development teams to do more with less . But while building them may be a quicker process than legacy development lifecycles permitted , learning to build them takes time . And keeping up with the fast-changing tools and practices behind cloudnative development takes even more time .
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