eHosting DataFort: Outsourcing will continue to help companies become more agile and effective

Speaking on the eve of GITEX Technology Week 2007, Fouz said:

"Companies will have to overcome several challenges to even approach the outsourcing potential - develop enterprise outsourcing core competencies, take new approaches to vendor management to diversify and expand the vendor pool, and adopt new thinking about enterprise boundaries."

The outsourcing business in the Middle East is witnessing rapid growth, according to the global market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC). Outsourcing business in the UAE is projected to grow by 16 per cent in 2007 to reach AED347 million, compared to AED 298 million in 2006.

Due to this market growth and the increasing number of companies providing outsourcing services, outsourcing providers are facing challenges in meeting their clients' requirements while warding off competition.

Outsourcing providers will need to include more flexible and new service capabilities, develop a new breed of partnerships with software and system providers, and seek new customers in the SMB and consumer spaces, as well as emerging markets with entirely new business models, according to IDC.

"These shifts, along with other key trends in the market, such as a customer's need to mitigate risks, drive productivity and cut costs, are creating fundamental changes in the outsourcing marketplace which require the key players to radically alter their delivery models," added Fouz.

Exhibiting under Dubai Internet City pavilion during GITEX Technology Week 2007, eHosting DataFort will display its latest products and services to visitors and ICT industry professionals along with Schnabel AG, specialists in data centre planning and consulting, and Interoute, owner operator of Europe's most advanced and densely connected voice and data network, encompassing over 53,000 kms of fibre .

IDC figures indicate that during 2003-04, the Rest of Africa and the Rest of the Middle East regions registered growth rates of 20.8 per cent and 19.1 per cent respectively. While South Africa registered a 17.4 per cent growth during this period, Egypt witnessed just 5.8 per cent.