Organizations in the Middle East are increasingly investing in technology to gain an advantage in an increasingly competitive environment, adopting structured and results-oriented digital plans to improve business results. Enhancing customer experience (CX) through digital transformation (DX) is the top business priority for organizations of all sizes across all industries. Notably, companies are also incorporating cloud deployments into their digital adoption plans. In fact, most public and private sector organizations in the region are overarchingly adopting cloud platforms. High-priority business areas such as CX both benefit from and accelerate cloud deployments.
According to IDC research, cloud solutions are supplanting on-premises contact center solutions as the main types of deployments in the CX software domain. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only catalyzed this adoption and utilization of cloud solutions, but it has also elevated the use of Big Data analytics, mobility, artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA), and social technologies in the Middle East. Companies are using these solutions and technologies to innovate and improve performance. The adoption of cloud-based customer engagement solutions further allows organizations to enhance business continuity and improve customer care processes.
AI has not only streamlined and improved CX; it has also reduced costs and optimized the use of company resources.
Within the Middle East region, most organizations are striving to meet customer expectations and provide differentiated experiences. The preventative policies enacted by MEA governments in the wake of COVID-19 — such as complete lockdowns, partial curfews, and social distancing measures — have played a key role in increasing customer reliance on online platforms. Consequently, robust, agile, and efficient digital channels have never been more important. The rising utilization of these channels implies that organizations across industries need to accelerate their DX programs to improve agility, efficiency, productivity, and speed — all of which are prerequisites for success in the “new normal.”
Adoption of Cloud-Based Customer Engagement Solutions in the Middle East Cloud is impacting every business across industry verticals. In the recent past, demand for and uptake of cloud-based solutions in the Middle East has risen, as evidenced by the region’s increasing software as a service, platform as a service, and infrastructure as service deployments. As a result of their investments in local datacenters, multiple hyperscalers have had a positive impact on cloud perception in the region, particularly as such data centers address in-country data residency requirements and other regulations. Regulated industries such as government, healthcare, banking, insurance, and finance have embraced subscription-based solutions in order to be more agile and scalable. Cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) tools, especially digital platforms, customer service applications, and contact center applications, allow businesses to be mobile and agile enough to be always connected to customers, enabling them in turn to our superior user experiences. Cloud, being a foundational platform, also enables organizations to embed other disruptive technologies such as AI, machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT), and Big Data and analytics. Collectively, these technologies allow companies to improve time to market, accelerate responses to customer queries, monitor changing customer preferences, and gain visibility and control of their financial resources.
