IT spending in MENA to reach $155.8bn in 2017; Gartner

The ecosystem foundation is how the enterprise interacts with the digital world

Research house Gartner has projected that IT spending will reach $155.8bn in 2017, an overall 2.4% increase from 2016.

During Gartner's Symposium/ITxpo, analysts discussed that key vertical segments driving IT spending include communications, media and services, banking and securities, manufacturing and the utilities markets.

Peter Syndergaard, senior vice president and global head of Research at Gartner, said: "The MENA region is moving in the right digital direction, where demand for the latest and most emerging technologies like Blockchain will continue to reflect the profound changes the IT markets are experiencing.

He added: "Middle East user organisations must realise the next evolution of digitalisation is here: the rise of the digital ecosystem - where enterprises, competitors, customers, regulators and other stakeholders form an interdependent business network."

Gartner predicts that CIOs will contribute to building a new digital platform which will focus on five domains: traditional IT systems, customer experience, the Internet of Things (IoT), an ecosystem foundation and the intelligence platform.

"Each of these domains are interconnected and interdependent. All have a role, and all are required," stated Sondergaard. "Your new digital platform will allow you to participate in the evolving world of business, government, and consumer ecosystems. Because ecosystems are the next evolution for digital. It's how you compete at scale."

Gartner believes that taking traditional core IT systems and modernising them with cloud, mobile, social and data as the core capabilities. Furthermore, IT spending will increase as organisations invest in virtual and augmented reality enhance the digital customer experience.

Analysts also revealed that IoT will change how CIOs invest in analytics as decisions must move from days to minutes to instant, meaning investment should be made in receiving analytics in real-time. With this comes intelligence, in particular how systems analyse, learn and decide independently.

The ecosystem foundation is how the enterprise interacts with the digital world, and will allow full transformation from traditional business to networked digital ecosystem businesses.