ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY
SAP MENA
posting double-digit or triple-
digit growth in the UAE and
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Big Data analytics skills are
needed by 60 per cent of Saudi
organisations and 47 per cent of
UAE organisations, according
to the recent Oxford Economics
report Workforce 2020.
Hichem Maya, Head of
Industries, SAP MENA
Big Data represents one of the biggest
business opportunities for the Middle
East channel, especially as organisations
are confronted with the massive increase
in the amount and different types of
data in the Internet of Things era, being
generated by sensors, mobile devices,
business applications and social media. For
example, a recent report by IDC for SAP
projects there will be 80 billion connected
devices generating 180 zettabytes of data
by 2025.
The biggest challenge facing Middle
East organisations is awareness about Big
Data analytics solutions. Too often, Middle
East CIOs think that Big Data solutions
should be adopted to meet a technological
need, or can be adopted in isolation for a
one-off project.
Instead, channel partners are vital in
educating Middle East organisations that
Big Data solutions should be tied to a wider
organisation-wide digital transformation
strategy. Importantly, channel partners
also need to educate customers about the
importance of having the digital core that
can support new digital business models,
and also to help introduce small and quick
projects that can deliver ROI to convince
the C-suite about the importance of Big
Data. These smaller projects could be
quickly accomplished in fields such as
finance, procurement, talent development,
travel expenses, or e-commerce.
In the rapidly changing world of the
Internet of Things and digital economy,
channel partners need to work with
vendors to ensure their own staff have the
necessary Big Data analytics skills and, in
turn, upskill their customers on the trends
and solutions such as the SAP Leonardo
digital innovation system. In particular,
the Middle East channel needs to be up
to speed on the digital growth drivers
such as blockchain, artificial intelligence
and machine learning, which can analyse
massive amounts of data quickly to
uncover new business trends.
Data analytics is one of the fastest-
growing skills by Middle East employers,
16
VMWARE
Deepak Narain, Regional
Presales Manager –
MENA, VMware
Hichem Maya, Head of Industries, SAP MENA.
Channel
partners
are vital in
educating
Middle East
organisations
that Big Data
solutions
should be tied
to a wider
organisation-
wide digital
transformation
strategy.
Hichem Maya, Head of
Industries, SAP MENA
Big Data analytics projects
present the biggest business
opportunity for Middle East
channel partners. Channel
partners play a key role in
educating Middle East CIOs in
how to have the organisation-
wide digital strategies and Big
Data solutions to navigate the
three key Big Data trends in the Internet of
Things era: volume, velocity and variety of
data coming in from devices, sensors and
business applications.
Middle East channel partners have
major opportunities for Big Data analytics,
especially in helping organisations
overcome their three biggest challenges:
budget constraints, IT expertise and
platform lock-in. Before Middle East
CIOs adopt Big Data solutions, it’s
important for channel partners to work
hand-in-hand to develop wider digital
transformation strategies, and educate
CIOs on the business benefits of Big Data
solutions that help them to run in real
time, make better decisions and drive new
digital streams of revenue.
At the same time, Middle East channel
partners may not fully be aware of how
best to deploy Big Data analytics. That’s
why vendor partner training is vital,
especially to usher in emerging and
transformative technologies such as
artificial intelligence, blockchain, machine
learning and the Internet of Things.
VMware is committed to supporting
partner training that can develop customer
business cases that drive quick ROI, foster
new ways of working, and choosing the
Issue 10
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS