Sunday, 24 March 2019 Blog ehdf

Cloud Market in the UAE in 2019

Digital Transformation will continue to be a top priority for UAE organizations and government entities in 2019. Cloud services in UAE is a key enabler in accelerating their digitization journeys. Cloud is meant to provide environments that are scalable, reliable, and highly available, amongst others.

Cloud adoption is shaping the way organizations are moving towards their core objectives. Added to this is the fact that enterprises are consciously leveraging managed Cloud servers to optimize their application workloads. They are focused on being able to gain from the unique capabilities that the different Cloud models offer and to optimize costs. Cloud adoption amongst UAE businesses is expected to increase exponentially over the next few years.

In fact, over the last two years, there has been a significant increase in the uptake of Cloud services in UAE from Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which account for almost 90 percent of the companies operating in the UAE. Cloud is playing a crucial role in optimizing SME operations too.

The adoption of Cloud services in UAE is providing added avenues for organizations to adhere to data protection regulations, being able to maintain regulatory compliance with service providers consciously and adding value to their services by attaining relevant certifications.

Given the security transformations now inherent in managed Cloud servers, customers strive towards consistency and speed in securing their networks and moving towards an integrated security approach rather than a fragmented model. This is creating opportunities in the growth of Security Operation Centre (SOC) Services and we also see a spike in Managed Security Services.

With the adoption of the Public Cloud on the rise, more and more organizations are integrating a Public Cloud strategy into their long-term digital transformation plans. Public Cloud helps organizations in scaling up their operations with ease without needing to invest in new hardware and upgrades. They can migrate tons of data to the Cloud and reduce thousands of hours of their IT team in refreshing their onsite systems. Earlier security was a barrier in Public Cloud adoption. However, Security is now seen as one of its biggest strengths as Cloud Hosting Providers are adopting the latest innovative technologies, security systems and compliance initiatives.

Drivers of increased Cloud adoption

Regional government’s innovations and initiatives and an increase in the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data etc. are a few drivers for the growth of Cloud in the region.

Cloud adoption is growing significantly in the UAE as enterprises are seeing tremendous value in having a scalable and flexible pool of resources at their fingertips. The assurance of lower IT costs and scalability has drawn IT decision makers to move their business-critical data and applications to managed Cloud servers. Customers are driven to Cloud services in UAE for cost optimization, agility and more time for them to focus on creating profitability avenues as most IT operations are shifted to Cloud and managed by Cloud Hosting Providers. Cloud Hosting companies allow easy and feasible extension of business capabilities and provides enterprises a competitive edge over those who are lagging on the technology front. The popularity of the pay-as-you-go model is another driver towards cloud adoption in the UAE.

For business and IT decision makers, the question is no longer whether to enter the Cloud or not. If an organisation is serious about competing in tomorrow’s digital market place, adopting Cloud technologies and Cloud platforms is the best way to move forward. Such Cloud initiatives bring about an alignment between business and IT, yielding transformation with enhanced competitive differentiation, productivity, agility, and reduction of IT costs.