AI tops investment in technology, Oxford Economics and SAP Study
Banking, Healthcare, Oil and Gas, Public Sector, Professional Services, Retail, and Utilities Must Digitally Transform to Overcome COVID-19 Challenges
RIYADH – 
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SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) held a virtual roundtable to announce a new research study, in partnership with Oxford Economics, designed to discover how businesses are incorporating a holistic management approach into everyday business strategy and operations.
The survey was conducted with 3,000 global business executives across 10 industries* during the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Key findings include:
- 32 percent of organizations are investing in new technologies to analyze data.
- Top three technologies seeing investment are artificial intelligence 34 percent, Internet of Things 33 percent, and analytics 27 percent.
- 34 percent are retraining employees to work with data.
- 25 percent are extending data governance policies across the business ecosystem.
Technology investments are contributing to organizational success, including improving citizen and customer experiences 48 percent, employee experiences 47 percent, and employee productivity 46 percent.
Ahmed Al-Faifi, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, SAP Middle East North said: “Middle East organizations are aligned with global organizations investing in real-time technologies to drive citizen, customer, and employee experiences – needed even more amid the COVID-19 era. Middle East organizations need to digitally transform into Intelligent Enterprises to build new levels of resilience, profit, and sustainability.”
Similarly, in the Kingdom, a recent YouGov survey shows that 83 percent of IT decision-makers in Saudi Arabia agree that public cloud is important for integrating future technology.
In the Middle East, SAP is seeing rapid digital transformation among seven key industry verticals: banking, government, healthcare, oil and gas, professional services, retail, and utilities. Middle East organizations are facing numerous challenges — including instituting remote work, changing workforce needs, supply chain disruption, reskilling and retraining employees, and getting closer to their customers.
“Public cloud solutions are the foundation for digital transformation in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East,” added Ahmed Al-Faifi. “Real-time solutions are helping Middle East organizations to measure employee experiences with remote work, re-skill employees for the future workforce, and enhance their sourcing from a global network of suppliers. Agility, customer-centricity, and competitiveness are all major business benefits.”
Read the study “Beyond the Crisis: How Interconnected Businesses Exhibit Leadership and Resiliency.”
