Gartner : Says CIOs Can Use 2017 Hype Cycle for IT in GCC to Re-evaluate IT Spend

GCC Hype Cycle Identifies 29 Key Technologies for IT Leaders to Consider

Analysts to Discuss Latest Technologies and Trends at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2018, 5-7 March 2018 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - 7 December 2017 - CIOs in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) can use Gartner, Inc.'s 2017 Hype Cycle for IT in GCC to identify the most compelling emerging technologies as IT budgets are squeezed.The GCC is an alliance of six Middle Eastern countries - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.

Cost-optimization and self-sufficiency are key priorities for CIOs in the region where annual IT spending in 2016 declined 2.4 percent, owing to declining oil prices.

'The volatile oil and gas market has a direct bearing across verticals in GCC, and has resulted in CIOs being tasked with re-evaluating their IT spend and initiating cost reduction measures,' saidSanthosh Rao, principal research analyst at Gartner. 'Gartner's 2017 CIO Agenda also indicated thatbusiness intelligence (BI)/analytics, mobility and cloud services would be given priority for any new technology investments treated as discretionary spending. This is in-line with the overall intent of the GCC region to rapidly move towarddigitization, which in turn is reflected in the progress of associated technologies on the Hype Cycle.'

The Hype Cycle for IT in GCC, 2017 assesses the technology maturity in areas such asdigital business, IT infrastructure and security. It also covers specific technologies in the banking, healthcare, and oil and gas verticals. This year's GCC Hype Cycle (see Figure 1) identifies 29 key technologies at various states of maturity and varying degrees of impact that are most relevant for information technology in GCC and positions them on the Gartner Hype Cycle. This provides a snapshot of technologies that CIOs and senior IT leaders in GCC enterprises should consider as they transition to digital business.

Figure 1. Hype Cycle for ICT in GCC, 2017

Source: Gartner (December 2017)

'Technologies such ascitizen data science,smart city framework andInternet of Things (IoT)-enabledenterprise resource planning (ERP) are transformational in nature and are expected to become mainstream in five to 10 years, owing to the increase in the number of digitalization projects currently underway in GCC,' said Mr. Rao. 'Technologies such asprivate cloud computing anddisaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) are expected to become mainstream in the next two years, given the increased seriousness to optimize existing system infrastructure, reduce costs and drive efficiency in the region.'

More detailed analysis is available to Gartner clients in the report 'Hype Cycle for IT in GCC 2017.'

Additional analysis on driving business performance will be presented during Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2018, the world's most important gathering of CIOs and other senior IT executives. IT executives rely on these events to gain insight into how their organizations can use IT to overcome business challenges and improve operational efficiency. Follow news and updates from the events on Twitter using #GartnerSYM

Upcoming dates and locations for Gartner Symposium/ITxpo include:

March 5-7, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

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