VMware, a leading provider of virtualization and cloud infrastructure, has announced research revealing that 60 percent of IT decision makers in the United Arab Emirates believe an average time lapse of seven months exists between what the business wants and when IT can deliver it.
This misalignment between business and IT carries significant ramifications for the performance, competitiveness and growth prospects of organisations. The reduced likelihood of company growth by revenue (41 percent), reduced likelihood of innovation across all departments (38 percent), and the risk of data theft or loss (34 percent) were cited by IT decision makers in the UAE as the implications of the gap.
As companies in the United Arab Emirates grapple with the new era of IT, this gap can add to the growing pressure IT is under. The research by Vanson Bourne, commissioned by VMware, finds that 77 percent of IT decision makers in the UAE feel their department is under pressure from the CEO, CTO or board to modernise IT in the next 12 months. Beyond the ongoing challenge of moving infrastructure to the cloud (46 percent), these departments specifically have been tasked with implementing hybrid cloud (43 percent), and increasing the mobility of the workforce (41 percent).
“A lag of more than half a year between what the business in the UAE expects of IT and what it can deliver is huge. We cannot underplay the pressure IT departments face in this new mobile cloud era, as they balance a need to maximise value from existing systems alongside the necessity to deploy new technologies,” says Sam Tayan, Regional Director, MENA, VMware. “We’re hearing time and again that businesses see IT as a driver of innovation; it has to be part of future, not part of the furniture. Organisations of all sizes need an IT infrastructure that can scale up and down with business demand, increase automation to reduce management burden and help improve productivity and support innovation. Investment needs to shift so that IT can genuinely impact the business and reduce the gap.”
The pressure surrounding IT delivery is a challenge felt by many enterprises in the Emirates. The research found that 44 percent of IT decision makers recognise that smaller competitors can more rapidly implement modern IT and therefore react quicker to market changes. As a result, 67 percent of these respondents felt either concerned or threatened by smaller businesses.
Commenting on the findings, Rob Harborn, Senior Economist, CEBR said: “As economies move from recovery mode into a period of growth and optimism, the pace of business is faster than ever. With this new wave of IT innovation taking place right before us, organisations are in a race to find better and quicker ways to align business expectations with IT delivery. There is a demonstrable impact on organisational performance for those that can closely align the two. Those that cannot will may be forever hampered in their efforts to maximise productivity as the growth agenda returns.”
In addition to becoming closer aligned with business objectives (62 percent), 55 percent of IT decision makers in the United Arab Emirates identified the need to recruit more skilled talent as being key to reducing the gap. Also cited was the need for increased budget (41 percent), and ,the creation of a Digital Officer role (48 percent), demonstrating the need to have the right people in place to empower IT to support organisations as they look to increase performance, competitiveness and growth potential.
