Deloitte Middle East Point of View: Embracing the Technology R/Evolution

7 August, 2019 – The most successful organizations in the region are increasingly those that embrace innovative technologies, says the Summer 2019 issue of Deloitte’s Middle East Point of View magazine.

Topics discussed by Deloitte’s experts in the latest edition include: Big Data in the GCC, change management in the Middle East’s education sector, the use of pioneering technologies by ME family businesses, the opportunities and challenges associated with mobile devices in investigations, as well as how businesses can automate audit processes, retain millennial talent and train their CFOs at Deloitte’s CFO Transition Lab^TM.

In the first article in this issue – From fragility to antifragility – Ziad Zakaria and Elham Barghouty dissect the education sector in the region. “The shift in our thinking about education as a result of the rapid move towards the fourth industrial revolution has prompted key regional governments to embark on education reform that holistically addresses their challenges in improving the quality of education to meet the increasing labor demands of the digital world and beyond,” they conclude.

It is not only the education sector in the region that is having to embrace technology. As Faiq Khalid notes in his article …In with the new: “People want to carry out most of their mundane daily chores on their mobile phone […]” As such, “embracing technology is no longer a choice for a successful business, it is a requirement […]”

In The Black Mirror in your pocket? Nick Athanasi and Boray Altunisler examine the unique opportunities and challenges associated with mobile devices in investigations and legal matters.

“The information that the average user sees and interacts with on their mobile phone,” they say, “is only a portion of the vast data their device truly holds. In truth, the data on smartphones is rich and granular enough to build profiles of intimate detail about their users.”

Technology is usually synonymous with speed and efficiency and this is particularly true in the audit world. In Automating audit: The evolving role of auditors, Angelito Catacutan and Fadi Ghawi state that: “Auditors need to invest in understanding the value of new technologies and the skillsets now needed to deliver a new generation of audit.”

In their article on Big Data, Bhavesh Morar et al., write that: “Gulf countries benefit from unique strengths to be able to unlock opportunities offered by Big Data such as the availability of an efficient legislative system, strong leadership commitment, and a state-of-the-art technology and infrastructure foundation” in their article Big Data in the GCC: from strategy to global leadership.

Tahani Sinjab, in her article Millennial 4.0: Gearing up for retention, describes millennials as “exponential professionals” who are disrupting much of what the Baby Boomers have established.

Robert O’Hanlon and Bronwyn Millar recount the one-day learning at the CFO Transition Lab^TM. An experience that focuses on the three most important resources new CFOs should consider managing during their transition: time, talent and relationships.

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About Deloitte & Touche (M.E.) LLP:

Deloitte & Touche (M.E.) LLP (DME) is a licensed member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL) and is a leading professional services firm established in the Middle East region with uninterrupted presence since 1926. DME’s presence in the Middle East region is established through its affiliated independent legal entities which are licensed to operate and to provide services under the applicable laws and regulations of the relevant country. DME’s affiliates and related entities cannot oblige each other and/or DME, and when providing services, each affiliate and related entity engages directly and independently with its own clients and shall only be liable for its own acts or omissions and not those of any other affiliate.

DME provides audit and assurance, tax, consulting, financial advisory and risk advisory services through 25 offices in 14 countries with more than 3,300 partners, directors and staff. It has also received numerous awards in the last few years which include, Middle East Best Continuity and Resilience provider (2016), World Tax Awards (2017), Best Advisory and Consultancy Firm (2016), the Middle East Training & Development Excellence Award by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), as well as the best CSR integrated organization.