Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 74 | Page 46

FEATURE : DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY

Staying abreast with the technology disruption happening in MEA

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 . Now , 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 ’ grows ever longer . However , 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 in the IT segment . Industry experts look at the disruptive technology space and share insights on how CIOs can stay ahead and abreast with the tech disruption happening around them .

A report from the McKinsey Global Institute 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 between US $ 14 trillion and US $ 33 trillion a year in 2025 .

With an entire generation born-on-the-web , it is not surprising that 79 % of Saudi Arabia ’ s total population uses a smartphone and in UAE the corresponding figure was a whopping 91 %, an uptick of nearly 20 percentage points in a single year . In Kuwait , smartphone penetration rose from 49 % to 86 % in a period of two years , according to eMarketer .
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 .
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