Top Transformation Champions: Boosting national economies with automation

Traditionally, the early departmental adopters of digitally transformative solutions have been the departments with historically high volumes of data: IT, sales, customer service, and marketing, for example. Improving customer experience through AI, chat bots, and digital technology is a highly effective strategy. The more recent areas of adoption are in departments with high levels of regulation and compliance like accountancy.

One Alteryx Customer, Al Futtaim Automotive, automated 300,000 tax applicable transactions each month, saving huge amounts of back office time. The ability to take a manual repetitive task and then automate it can drastically reduce the potential for human error while simultaneously streamlining the reporting process.

One of the biggest blockers stalling digital initiatives in the Middle East is – ironically – the technology. Organisations can sometimes overinvest in the latest technological system at the expense of the actual humans who are expected to use it. Layering on technology after technology is a strategy with rapidly diminishing returns if the technology is not accessible or the necessary people aren’t fully upskilled to use it.

Ultimately any new technology integration needs to have an associated change management period – one where staff are brought on board for the journey the company is going on, and where they are actively incentivised to make the best use out of these new systems.

If an urgent challenge appears, businesses cannot afford to respond a week later. The biggest hurdle that business leaders need to overcome in the next few years will be making decisions at necessary speed to do business in our modern operating environment.

Increasing the pace of insight generation, while increasing resiliency to unexpected change, is going to be more important than ever by 2030. The winners and losers in any industry will continue to be defined by those upskilling their workforce to leverage analytics for business insights and those that are not.

AI and automation technology has the potential to be a huge economy boost in the Middle East. PwC see it as a $320bn opportunity for the region, and a $96bn opportunity for the UAE alone. The ability to take raw data and automatically turn it into business driving insights is a huge competitive advantage that can’t be understated.


Key takeaways

  • One of the biggest blockers stalling digital initiatives in the Middle East is ironically technology.
  • Al Futtaim Automotive automated 300,000 transactions each month saving huge amounts of back office time.
  • AI and automation technology has potential to be a huge economy boost in the Middle East.
  • PwC see it as a $320bn opportunity for the region, and a $96bn opportunity for the UAE alone.
  • The ability to take raw data and turn it into business driving insights is a huge competitive advantage.
Karl Crowther, Regional Vice President MEA, Alteryx.
Karl Crowther, Regional Vice President MEA, Alteryx.