Cisco has released findings from its new Cisco Global AI Partners Study. The study, titled Bridging the Customer AI Readiness Gap – The opportunities ahead for partners, revealed that IT partners around the world are anticipating a transformative wave of AI technology demand that will drive the majority of their revenue over the next four to five years. According to the study, more than a quarter (26%) of partners surveyed in the UAE believe that as much as 76-100% of their revenue will come from AI-related technologies during this period.
The study highlights that 43% of partners in the UAE believe the demand for AI-related technology investments will grow by more than 75% in the next four to five years. The partners surveyed for the report highlighted infrastructure (26%), cybersecurity (26%), and sustainability management (11%)as the top three drivers of AI technology demand in the coming years. As AI demand surges, partners in the UAE also foresee a significant shift in their revenue mix. In the short-term, 37% anticipate AI will contribute to 26-50% of their revenue a year from now, while in the long run that contribution is expected to become even higher.
“As AI becomes a cornerstone of business transformation in the UAE and broader region, it’s essential for our partners to be equipped with the skills and tools needed to lead this shift,” said Ossama Eldeeb, Regional Director for the Partner Organization in the Middle East and Africa, Cisco. “The study’s findings reveal substantial opportunities for partners to drive AI adoption and support businesses in harnessing the full potential of AI. By investing in readiness and innovation, Cisco and our partners are prepared to deliver impactful solutions that align with the region’s ambitions and technological advancements.”
The Cisco Global AI Partners Study, a double-blind survey of over 1,500 IT partners across 29 markets, assesses partners’ capabilities in the age of AI. These findings align with the Cisco AI Readiness Index, which found that companies globally lack readiness for AI adoption, revealing gaps in infrastructure, data management, governance, and talent. Built on the insights from the Index, the Cisco Global AI Partners Study reinforces the crucial role partners play in helping customers achieve AI readiness.
Partners Show Confidence and Invest in Overcoming Challenges
The findings indicate a robust confidence among partners in their knowledge and understanding of various aspects related to AI technologies. The assessment focused on several specific solutions and capabilities for AI deployment across the four pillars of infrastructure, data, governance, and talent.
These capabilities include:
- Building scalable and adaptable AI-ready infrastructure;
- Ensuring sufficient GPU resources for ongoing projects;
- Assessing and maintaining latency and throughput of data centers;
- Understanding data sets, data sovereignty and privacy laws across different regions/countries.
While partners show strong confidence in their knowledge and understanding of deploying AI technologies, they also understand the challenges they need to address to maximize the opportunities ahead. The biggest ones are inexperience in deploying new technologies (69%), lack of knowledge of systems and processes (51%), and a lack of available technologies (46%). To address these challenges, partners are already heavily investing in upskilling existing employees in AI-related competencies, with almost 74% conducting either internal trainings or inviting external vendors to provide specialized training.
