Brigitta Bihari 
As the adoption of hybrid and multi-cloud technologies continues to gain traction within the IT sector in Egypt, the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) highlighted some of the key trends that impact the ITO and BPO sectors in the country.
More Security for Networks
As the use of cloud services continues to increase, businesses are investing more in technologies such as Software-defined Wide Area Networks (SD-WAN) and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) to expand automation and strengthen network security.
SASE combines SD-WAN with a package of security services, making it the ideal choice for companies that need to securely expand their edge computing offerings to encompass public clouds, branch offices, remote workers, and Internet of Things (IoT) networks. This is critical as far more people now work remotely, and businesses must secure more devices, applications, data, and services outside of company premises.
It is a similar story inside data centers, where a web of connections linking access points, switches, and routers that transmit data, known as network fabric technology, are being deployed to safeguard customer and business traffic.
Digitization opens the door to Artificial Intelligence (AI)
As Egyptian companies in the BPO sector accelerated their digitization journeys in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new world of possibilities has opened to them. AI is finally playing a more significant role by making operations more efficient and enhancing offerings.
We have already seen BPO companies use automation and Cloud services to help clients improve workflows and that will only increase in the coming months. By integrating AI, automation, and Cloud services, businesses are then able to switch their focus and attention to their core functions.
Data-Focused Analysis
Businesses increase their reliance on contact center services for collating and analyzing data. This will force contact center operators to expand the range of available data analytical tools to serve better the needs of larger companies rather than the small and start-up firms that most commonly use their services. Such tools can provide enterprises with valuable insights and, in turn, help these companies hit their sales targets while empowering them to make better decisions that are aligned with their company’s aims.
Seamless Omnichannel Communication
Modern consumers have become accustomed to tailored experiences and interactions with their favorite brands across social media channels. As such, it is imperative that companies develop and implement an omnichannel approach to customer engagement.
The ITS and BPO industries in Egypt and the broader Middle East can be unpredictable at the best of times, but one thing is certain. Companies across the country want to work more efficiently and effectively, and with promising technologies now maturing, that will increasingly become the norm. In many ways, these trends are speeding up and giving a more significant role to AI and automation, and more focus is on gathering and analyzing data to discover customer insights, which can then be fed back into a business to improve operations and the services provided. The result will benefit not just Egyptian enterprises but their clients, customers as well as other national, regional, and international partners.
The Information Technology Industry Development Agency, ITIDA, is the Egyptian business partner making sure that you get all the help you need. We are primarily concerned with building the capacities of the local IT companies, attracting and servicing multi-national IT companies, and growing a qualified, sustainable, and deployable talent pool. ITIDA adheres to a Public-Private Partnership mode to achieve the goals of the IT industry and create for you a business environment where cooperation is a salient feature.