Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 88 | Page 52

FEATURE : DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY

USUALLY , TECHNOLOGY IS CLOSELY LINKED TO ONE ANOTHER AND CIOS CAN STAY AHEAD OF THE CURVE IF THEY THINK OF THE ECO-SYSTEM AS A WHOLE RATHER THAN INDIVIDUAL TECHNOLOGICAL ELEMENTS .

For CIOs who realise this ahead of times and recalibrate their strategies , they will be able to carve a niche for themselves versus those who are still catching up with primitive digitalisation requirements .
Azz-Eddine Mansouri , General Manager , Sales , Ciena Middle East , said the Middle East , UAE in particular , has been ahead of the curve in accepting disruptive technology . Dubai ’ s recent announcement of its Metaverse strategy by Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan has positioned the city as a leader in offering an advanced platform for the metaverse ecosystem to thrive .
Currently , the metaverse contributes US $ 500 million to the UAE ’ s economy and is expected to nurture 40,000 virtual jobs by 2030 .
Mansouri said given the scale and the rapid pace of the upcoming changes , the IT sector needs to evaluate its current network infrastructure and question its capability to deal with the new demands ; for everything to be “ dynamic ” and “ faster ”.
“ Ciena ’ s metaverse report , which was released at the end of September , dives deeper into how the metaverse impacts the region .
“ For CIOs to successfully aid their businesses , they need to look at disruptive technology in relation to its counterparts . For instance , cloud computing and storage enable collaboration , but can also aid in generating better insights about consumers and processes through the utilisation of artificial intelligence . “ Usually , technology is closely linked to one another and CIOs can stay ahead of the curve if they think of the eco-system as a whole rather than individual technological elements ,” he said .
The Middle East and Africa has seen governments at the forefront of embracing disruptive and emerging
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