Kuwait’s technology tapestry

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MERANDA: We wanted to open a satellite office where our customers are, not open an office and hope they come.

When most people discuss the spool of threads that make up the fabric of Kuwait, the nation’s significant oil reserves and not the qualities of the IT industry are usually the first to enter the conversation. Nathan Statz digs deeper into the Emirate’s technology layer.

The year was 1991. Allied military hardware was rolling through burning oilfields and the biggest names in news broadcasting were chirping reports of the first Gulf War from the shadows of the Kuwait Towers. Much has changed in the time since the Iraq invasion, and the country’s resource-based economy is thriving as is the IT industry that provides the lifeblood for enterprises to flourish within it.

Given the turbulent patch the country was subjected to a couple of decades ago, it’s surprising to think that the technology tapestry which has woven Kuwait together is not all that dissimilar to the other countries which hug the Arabian Gulf. One of the most qualified to make the comparison is Akram Mokdad, chief enterprise architect at the National Bank of Kuwait, who has worked all throughout the region as well as in Canada and the US in the financial and telecommunications industry as a consultant.

Mokdad explains that when it comes to the IT market, Kuwait’s is quite similar to other countries in the GCC, particularly Qatar and Bahrain which share many of the same characteristics. The interesting thing is that the maturity of Kuwait’s IT market is on par with many of its neighbours, though Mokdad claims that the Middle Eastern IT industry is at a different stage to the Americas: “Compared to Canada and the USA it is not a mature industry here. But it is getting more and more mature.”

Once you scratch the surface of any IT market in the Middle East, an interconnected system that is teeming with life greets you and Kuwait is no different. The vast range of technology available in the emirate is on par with other GCC nations and so is the presence of large multinational IT players, often through a sophisticated partner network.

This is not to say the country’s technology market is not without room for improvement. The progress in the realm of IT marches on faster than a sandcastle gets swallowed up by the ocean. Keeping up with that steadfast wave of innovation is a tough ask and one where adversary has to be overcome. Mokdad identifies expert advice as one of the big challenges in the country, particularly the availability of specialists, which often forces organisations to look abroad.

“From the development side you can find good developers, but you don’t have the sort of people who know the product. Sometimes you count on people outside Kuwait and that could be anything in Dubai as it’s very close. But what’s really missing here is the people who understand the business and IT,” he says.

The National Bank of Kuwait deals with a large number of vendors in the IT space, and Mokdad explains that it is not necessary for them to have a presence in Kuwait, though the availability of consultants and support at short notice is very important to his organisation.

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