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Dubai / Emirates Business
The UAE’s free trade zones are using advanced information management tools to drive the doubling of the global free trade zone GDP, experts announced.
Globally, the contribution of free trade zones to the Islamic Economy is set to double to USD 117 billion by 2021, according to a recent report by researchers Salaam Gateway. The UAE hosts 4 of the world’s top 10 free trade zone cities for the Islamic Economy.
Industry-watchers agree the new Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone is showing global best practices in using digital transformation to support its more than 13,000 companies.
“Digital transformation is vital for UAE free trade zones to drive the country’s economic growth. Using the latest information management solutions, trade zones can deliver digital services to boost the business competitiveness of small businesses,†said AndrewCalthorpe, CEO at the free trade zone consultancy Condo Protego.
In the UAE, Condo Protego has seen strong success on driving digital transformation for one of the region’s largest free trade zones. By replacing legacy infrastructure with automated software-defined and scale-out infrastructure, the free trade zone can publish its own business applications and move closer to cloud and mobile app delivery.
“Using cloud and mobility information management solutions, free trade zone businesses can gain a level playing field with large enterprises. Businesses can incorporate faster and more easily, better manage sales and supply chain, and enhance their ability to better meet customer needs,†added Andrew Calthorpe.
Among UAE free trade zones, Condo Protego is seeing strong demand for solutions such
as Dell EMC hyper-converged infrastructure, and Dell EMC
software-defined storage such as ScaleIO, ECS scale-out stor-age, and Isilon network attached storage.
UAE non-oil private sector improves
Dubai / Emirates Business
There was a further improvement in the health of the UAE’s non-oil private sector during May, with growth underpinned by rises in output and new orders. Although rates of expansion eased in both cases, they remained sharp. After a seven-month sequence of inflation, the non-oil private sector faced lower input.
The survey, sponsored by Emirates NBD and produced by IHS Markit, contains original data collected from a monthly survey of business conditions in the UAE non-oil private sector.