Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 70 | Page 34

FEATURE : DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY
Not every emerging technology will alter the business or social landscape – but some truly do have the potential to disrupt the status quo , alter the way people live and work , and rearrange value pools . Industry pundits share insights on how CIOs can use disruptive technology to focus on continuously improving their IT products and services to the betterment of their organisations .

A disruptive technology is one that displaces an established technology and shakes up the industry or a ground-breaking product that creates a completely new industry .

The relentless parade of new technologies is unfolding on many fronts . Almost every advance is billed as a breakthrough , and the list of ‘ next big things ’ keeps growing ever longer . Not every emerging technology will alter the business or social landscape – but some truly do have the potential to disrupt the status quo , alter the way people live and work , and rearrange value pools .
A report from the McKinsey Global Institute has identified 12 technologies that could drive truly massive economic transformations and disruptions in the coming years and estimates that these technologies have a potential economic impact of between US $ 14 trillion and US $ 33 trillion a year in 2025 .
The Middle East in MEA and the 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 .
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 ”.
Manish Ranjan , Senior Program Manager – Software and Cloud , IDC MEA , said the impact of disruptive technologies such as AI , Machine Learning , IoT , cloud , mobility , and robotics has enabled organisations across industries to transform their business , their operations , processes and most importantly their product and services . Ranjan said

How CIOs can stay abreast of the IT disruption happening on the continent

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