- Spending on ICT in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa will increase 4.5% year on year to top $238b this year.
- Telecommunications services spending to increase 5% year on year in 2024 to reach $133b while IT spending set to grow 3.9% year on year to $105b.
Spending on AI in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META) will top $3 billion this year, up 32 per cent compared to 2023.
“AI investment priorities of end-user organisations will likely evolve over the coming years as they move beyond their initial focus on reducing costs,” Jyoti Lalchandani,” Vice President and Managing Director for the IDC META, said.
Across the META region, he said that there is a clear appetite for AI in general and generative AI (GenAI) in particular, with spending on AI forecast to reach $6.9 billion by 2027.
However, he said that many organisations are already questioning whether they are over-pivoting on cost reduction and not focusing enough on how AI can help them to grow their revenues.
“We expect revenue growth outcomes to take center stage in the next 3–5 years and providers must track this shift carefully with their core buyers to ensure that their AI-related offerings continue to align with the evolving business goals of their customers.”
New relationships opening up
Eric Hunter, Managing Vice President at Gartner, said that GenAI is dominating the technical and product agenda of nearly every tech provider.
“The technology reshapes a tech provider from its growth and product strategy down to the everyday tools used by its associates. Despite the potential for GenAI to reshape providers, it is not the only influence facing technology leaders. There are new points of friction in growth plans, new points of fusion in marketing and sales, and new relationships opening up to technology and service providers.”
Crawford Del Prete, IDC’s global President, said that the impact of GenAI’s emergence will reshape the IT landscape as companies strive to not only boost productivity, but also create new ways of meeting the needs of customers.
“We are increasingly seeing companies invest aggressively in GenAI to capture an advantage and ensure they are not left behind. Indeed, by 2027, we expect global spending on GenAI to top $150 billion, accounting for around 30 per cent of all AI-related investments.”
Developing responsible AI strategy is key
As GenAI adoption grows in the META region, Thomas Meyer, IDC’s group Vice President of Research for the EMEA region, said that tech providers must develop a responsible AI strategy.
“As part of this strategy, they need to support their customers in unlocking funding for investments and delivering ROI and significant business outcomes for prioritised use cases.”
As META’s digital economy increasingly takes shape, Lalchandani expects that digital transformation spending in the region will top $59 billion in 2024 and accelerate at a compound annual growth rate of 15 per cent over the coming years to cross the $88 billion mark in 2027.
Moreover, he said that spending on information and communications technology (ICT) across the region will increase 4.5 per cent year on year to top $238 billion this year.
Telecommunications services spending to increase five per cent year on year in 2024 to reach $133 billion while IT spending set to grow 3.9 per cent year on year to $105 billion.