UAE (United Arab Emirates) is a very small region in the Middle East. Geographically small they maybe but in terms of wealth are at the top of the tree and on par with the Scandinavian countries. They have a standard of living that is the envy of the West and with wise governance that is forged with discipline spares the Gulf States much of the turmoil presently happening around the world.

The Gulf States entered the digital sphere rather late. True to the adage ‘better late than never” they have converted this delay into strength. Almost 95% of their digital infrastructure is via fiber optics. The citizens of UAE have leapfrogged over other denizens as the information highway aids their data crunching admirably. Web hosting UAE companies are witnessing strong growth. Businesses irrespective of size have realized the immense advantages of transacting the ecommerce way.

Ecommerce Explosion in UAE

A major facilitator in the digital transformation of UAE is the number of undersea cables and terminals traversing this region. The Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz (at its widest the Strait is only 29 miles wide) seems obliterated by red and blue lines on an interactive map of submarine cables due to the concentration of cables. Dubai IT services companies have kept pace with new paradigms in ecommerce. State-of-the-art ecommerce engines enable web presence for all businesses. Internet traffic is exploding by the day as people recognize that quality goods are only a click away.

UAE governments’ long-term vision of moving away from oil-based revenues is at the heart this paradigm change. They have curbed wasteful expenditure and are now poised as an intelligent organization that is utilizing wealth efficiently. They designed a roadmap that included building fiber optic infrastructure in Dubai and UAE. They mandated private enterprises to take full advantage of the infrastructure and provide services to the citizens in all sectors. The biggest beneficiary is the government itself as all concerned can access the services delivered by the government in real time.

IT services in Dubai have quickly moved to cloud based computing allowing businesses to quickly ramp up their strategy without spending too much on IT (information technology) infrastructure. An offshoot of this development is the standard computer annual maintenance contract by Indian companies is registering a downward growth, as more business uses the cloud for their IT needs.  SMB (small and medium businesses) sectors used to invest in computers and due to Moore’s law (which stated that transistors on a chip would double every 12 months) the businesses had to spend on hardware repeatedly. Cloud computing has transformed this narrative. With faster networks, information and back office operations carried out on handheld devices freeing up capital. Particular mention needs to be made of advanced health services in the UAE. Healthcare technology has benefited all citizens with a level of care that few countries in the world can match.