A new study by database software company Oracle has shown a strong uptake and trust in digital technologies in the UAE, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The organisation polled responses from business leaders in November and December last year, following nearly 10 months of disruption caused by the pandemic.
THE COVID-19 CONCERN AND FUTURE PROOFING BUSINESSES
The study showed that an overwhelming majority of UAE business leaders (97 percent) are concerned about the impact of the pandemic on their organisations. However, the study also showed that companies are willing to use and invest in technology to manage the crisis.
Indeed, these digital advancements are something many businesses plan to build on, after the pandemic too. Out of those polled, 94 percent of UAE business leaders said in the long term they would entrust robots to help improve productivity at their organisations, while 70 percent said they would trust robots to manage their company finances. Out of those polled, 64 percent of businesses said they believed robotic technology would replace financial professionals in the next five years – higher than the global average of 56 percent.
Commenting on the results of the report, Juergen Lindner, Oracle’s senior vice president for global marketing, said: “Digital is the new normal and technologies such as artificial intelligence and chatbots play a vital role in managing finance.”
Other concerns from business leaders in the UAE included a slow economic recovery (61 percent), cuts to company budgets (54 percent) and the potential for their company to go bankrupt (21 percent),
THE RISE OF PROPTECH
Within the real estate industry, the most direct impact COVID-19 has had on business operations is through the rapid increase and expansion of PropTech.
Indeed, a recent report on PropTech by global consulting and audit firm Deloitte said “the global COVID-19 pandemic is already accelerating this disruption, given some of the challenges of executing real estate transactions and operating properties remotely, as well as the impact the pandemic will have on how real estate is used in the future.”
Although the PropTech revolution was well underway prior to the pandemic, the need for social distancing and the resulting increase in digital communication has no doubt accelerated the process, starting a large scale disruption that is unlikely to be reversed once the pandemic is over.
KEEP UP WITH THE REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY
Subscribe to the Cityscape Intelligence newsletter here