New survey highlights leadership in IT technology

Middle Eastern senior business executives have highlighted the importance of leadership from the top when it comes to cutting-edge IT technology.
According to a survey conducted at the recent SAP User Group Middle East & North Africa (SUG-MENA) Executive Exchange held during joint SAP Forum and SUG-MENA conferences in Riyadh, Doha and Dubai, 95 percent of business leaders surveyed agreed that the role of the CEO and CFO was integral to making strategic technology decisions in 2012.
Top of the wish-list for those looking to give their business strategy and IT a boost was business analytics (86 percent), followed by on-device mobile technology (67 percent) and cloud computing (23 percent).
The overwhelming receptivity to business analytics was largely focused on the ability to make informed decisions, as well as share and provide real-time and remote access to data.
"Executive leaders in the region aspire to be ahead of the business curve. IT technology is the springboard for transforming this ambition into profitable reality," said Salem Al-Angari, president of SUG-MENA.
"SUG-MENA is an independent and non-profit entity where the SAP user community plays a vital role influencing SAP to address solutions, concerns, needs that matter to the MENA region. Testament to SAP's continued support was the presence and commitment of Jim Hagemann Snabe, co-CEO and executive board member, to the user community while in Dubai.
Sam Alkharrat, MD, SAP MENA, said: "We are committed to helping the SAP user community grow and adopt technology innovation that can genuinely make a difference. In addition to business analytics, mobile apps and cloud-based solutions, this is likely to include solutions capable of dealing with the Big Data challenge such as SAP HANA, a ground-breaking platform rooted in-memory computing that facilitates the real-time analysis of large, non-aggregated data at unprecedented speeds."