By ; Basel Khaled

As the journey from crisis to recovery gets underway in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, 63% of organizations across the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey are set to prioritize investments in revamping their operations over the next 12-18 months. That's according to an extensive survey carried out amongst the region's foremost CIOs by International Data Corporation (IDC).

The global technology research, consulting, and events firm believes that the enablement of a Future Enterprise must be the end goal for any business looking to rapidly adapt and respond to any further business disruptions that lie in wait, with other key investment priorities for the period ahead including strengthening the workforce, developing new business models and partnerships, and creating new products and services. 

"IDC's vision of the future enterprise is an organization that leverages technology to underpin every single process, initiative, and value chain," says Jyoti Lalchandani, IDC's group vice president and regional managing director for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa.

"These organizations are platform enabled, ecosystem centric, and fueled by innovation. To reach this state, organizations must prioritize the creation of dynamic work models, innovative services, and pervasive experiences. With this in mind, the journey to becoming a future enterprise requires organizations to transform across five key areas: customers, intelligence, operations, work and culture."

The virtual edition of the IDC Middle East CIO Summit 2021 on February 24-25 will navigate a broad range of themes that are central to this journey. Addressing the theme 'Innovative Digital Strategies: Evolving to the Demands of a New Reality' , the event will bring together senior business leaders, influential IT heads, and respected industry analysts to share their collective expertise on how best to meet the unique challenges of these unprecedented times.

Hosted on IDC's fully immersive virtual platform, the Summit will combine presentations, panel discussions, real-life use cases, and individual technology tracks to give delegates a bird’s eye view of the current market situation and the very latest technological innovations.

IDC's chief research officer, Meredith Whalen, will present the Summit's keynote address, 'The Future Enterprise: Developing Digital Resiliency' , in which she will warn the region's businesses that COVID-19 will not be the last disruption they face.

"The digital economy — which relies heavily on the continued flow of goods and services around the globe, as well as on transformational technology platforms and business innovation — will create more cycles of disruption to business operations and models than any other economic period," says Whalen. "Organizations looking to succeed in this new reality will need to employ a new C-Suite agenda if they are to become masters at pivoting rapidly, capitalizing on change, and driving innovation in times of uncertainty."

For the very first time, this year's IDC Middle East CIO Summit will also incorporate a dedicated CIO Masterclass Arena that attendees can access throughout the course of the event.

This section of the virtual platform will showcase a series of exclusive CXO best-practice presentations, fireside chats, and panel discussions with more than 50 international and regional industry pioneers.

The CIO Masterclass Arena will host technology-based sessions on cloud, security, and digital transformation strategies, as well as vertical-focused sessions for industries such as oil and gas, healthcare, banking, and government.

The government session will explore the new era of transformation that is sweeping across the region's public sector, with perspectives from respected national ICT leaders such as: 

• H.E. Wesam Lootah, CEO of Smart Dubai Government
• Eng. Ali Alasiri, CEO of Yesser, Saudi Arabia's e-Government Program
• Dr. Zakaria Ahmad Al Khaja, Vice Chief Executive for Electronic Transformation at Bahrain's Information & eGovernment Authority
• Dr. Ammar Alhusaini, Deputy Director General at Kuwait's Central Agency for Information Technology
• Hassan Jasim Al-Sayed, Assistant Undersecretary for the IT Sector at Qatar's Ministry of Transport and Communications