Is the cost of business software and the resulting digital inequality limiting the growth of the UAE’s SME sector?

Wiresoft is making original used software available to businesses at a fraction of the cost

Wiresoft offices in Frankfurt.  

It is no secret that Covid-19 has accelerated consumer demand for online and mobile services. What is less well known is that this has placed a significant financial burden on the IT infrastructure, and budgets of businesses, big and small, throughout the region.

Businesses without the ability to adapt quickly to an increasingly online and ‘digital first’ model suffered during the last 12 months. Many of these problems arose because of inflexible software and the costs associated with a full-scale digital transformation.

When you consider that the global business software and services market is expected to more than double to US$917 billion by 2026 – up from $396.69bn in 2018 – it is perhaps no surprise that businesses looking to digitise are facing significant, potentially prohibitive, levels of investment in their IT infrastructure and software.

Maybe it is also no surprise that the most successful businesses and the wealthiest businesspeople are those who provide the software upon which the digital economy is constructed.

Increased inequalities

The digital economy has quickly increased inequalities, among both companies and individuals. The pandemic increased the frequency of digital interactions, but it also exacerbated the resulting inequalities. These potential disparities could see a fragmentation in the SME sector as businesses unable to meet the cost of providing fully digitised functionality become increasingly uncompetitive.

Covid-19 highlighted the significant challenges facing businesses across the world in participating in the new digital age. Whilst there are undoubtedly winners who can successfully capitalise on the opportunities created by consumers, increasing appetite for all things digital, there are likely to be significantly greater number of losers who will struggle to meet the costs associated with participating in this new digital race. These financial pressures resulting from Covid-19 threaten to restrict many companies and their workforces from the markets of the future.

As the pace of changes continues to speed up, businesses will find it increasingly hard to keep up – with blockchain technologies, cloud computing, AI and the Internet of Things looking more commonplace, it will be more difficult for businesses to control their investment in IT.

Cutting corners on software may seem like a sensible move, but it is worth remembering that reliable and secure software is a vital aspect of your business’s security infrastructure and any system outage or failures risks damaging your business and its reputation irreparably.

Cyber-attacks

Out of date software limits your ability to tackle the increasing onslaught by cyber criminals. Most experts agree that the pandemic has seen the number of cyber-attacks in the region increase significantly as criminals seek to exploit weaknesses in hastily deployed software and systems introduced by businesses hoping to capitalise on an increased consumer appetite for all things digital. Mohamed al-Kuwaiti, head of UAE Government Cyber Security, spoke recently of how the UAE had experienced a 250 per cent increase in cyber-attacks during 2020.

If we are to combat the spread of cyber-crime and to fully harness the economic potential of the digital revolution to benefit the many and not the few, there is a need for more competitive pricing of the software upon which the digital future is being created. If that can be achieved, then we can all share the spoils of this technological bonanza. Our mission at Wiresoft is to do whatever we can to tackle this growing inequality by making original used software available to businesses at a fraction of the cost, when compared to the original manufacturer's price.

Launched in Germany in 2012, Wiresoft are one of the world’s leading resellers of used software. In this increasingly digital world, we want to make genuine software accessible to UAE businesses of all shapes and sizes at a fraction of the normal cost. We believe every company has the right to authentic software at reasonable prices and we are on a mission to do just that. Wiresoft was also awarded the leading provider of Pre-Owned software 2021 by Corporate Vision (Technology Innovator Awards).

Wiresoft legally acquires used software, including licences from reputable businesses, and makes it accessible to its customers at a significant saving when compared to the original manufacturer's price.

We have a portfolio of over 1 million satisfied clients, including some of the world’s largest and most successful brands, covering sectors as diverse as pharmaceuticals, defence, government sector, automotive, hospitality and retail, so you can be confident in the security and authenticity of all the software you buy from us.