Leaps and Bounds Drive ICT Industry to Grow

The UAE’s ICT industry is growing by 25-30 per cent per year across all sectors including hardware, software, mobile and internet services, according to experts taking part in the 8th Financial Technology Summit in Abu Dhabi said.

“The UAE’s ICT industry is among the most promising sectors in the country,” Khalid Faraj, managing director of Experton Group, Middle East and North Africa (Mena).

“Banks in the UAE invest more than $1.2 billion  yearly on ICT and financial technologies and services including online banking, social media, and mobile banking,” he said.

Saudi Arabia comes first in the Mena region. About 60 per cent of the investments in the ICT in the Mena is in Saudi Arabia and 20 per cent in the UAE.

Khalid Eid, managing director of the World Development Forum, said in order to achieve a competitive advantage, banks are looking to technology to lead their innovation both internally and externally to outmaneuver the competition, as Gulf News stated.

According to Srood Sharif, CIO of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, “Innovation is no longer a nice-to-have flavor, but rather it is an essential element for survival.” He said technology can be used as an enabler to provide a higher quality user experience and as drivers for next generation business offering. Fadi Chehayeb, CIO of the National Bank of Kuwait, said “A successful innovation strategy should address the culture of innovation across the organization.”