IT departments in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar and Oman - have been adopting some of the best known standards, practices and technologies in IT operations, according to Gartner, Inc. "GCC as a region has adopted many best practices, including established best practices and standards like ISO 27001, ISO 20000, ITIL, CMM and COBIT," said Biswajeet Mahapatra, research director at Gartner. "Most organizations are aware of the benefits they can derive by adopting these standards and are eager to adhere to these best practices. Gartner analysts will discuss critical business, technology and leadership strategies at the 2nd Annual Gartner Middle East CIO Leadership Forum 2012 to be held in Dubai, UAE on Feb. 27-28, 2012 at the Raffles. The primary reasons for adoption are improvements of existing processes and adherence to best practices worldwide, and not for the certificate. This is key because the entire objective becomes a process improvement exercise and not a mere certificate process, which becomes relevant only during the audit period." GCC companies that traditionally have not been mindful of cost have become more cost conscious and are looking at ways to calculate the ROI of their investments in IT. Outsourcing has become a common practice without regard to its effectiveness, but the focus has shifted toward ensuring that outsourcing is the right strategy. Virtualization is a commonly adopted practice in most of the large enterprises in this region. "Many companies have completed their virtualization and outsourcing initiatives, and are now looking for new technologies and delivery systems. Cloud appears to be a viable option for most of them, although the primary reasons vary from organization to organization," said Mahapatra. Public cloud will take a few more years to evolve and get widely accepted, however some very large enterprises have already started experimenting with private clouds. Very large enterprises have started porting noncritical applications and testing their environments for cloud readiness. Private cloud adoption by large enterprises is expected to grow rapidly during the next couple of years. "Cloud is looked upon as a solution that is not less expensive, but that makes the environment more agile. This proves that CIOs in this region are aware of the actual benefits of cloud and have been vigilant and planning well before going in for large-scale cloud adoption," he said. In a related development, Virtualization will be a major growth factor in 2012, Gulf Business Machines (GBM), the region's leading IT solutions provider, said Tuesday. GBM, which recently held its annual Kick-Off meeting in Dubai, has identified Virtualization as being the top driver of demand for its business this year as its customers are expected to continue their focus on improving cost and operational efficiencies. Virtualization results in an immediate increase in effectiveness/productivity of IT infrastructure, translating into significant cost savings, estimated to be as much as 20 percent to 50 percent. Additionally, virtualization also provides flexibility and speed to deploy infrastructure to meet the dynamic needs of today's business.
