CIOs in Dubai discuss the AI-Ready IT team of tomorrow

As organizations across the Middle East accelerate their adoption of artificial intelligence, a critical question arises: how do you build an IT team equipped to handle this transformation? This was the central theme of a panel discussion at the 18th edition of the IDC Middle East CIO Summit, held in Dubai, which brought together IT leaders to explore talent development strategies for the AI-infused enterprise.

The panel recognized that IT organizations are undergoing a fundamental shift, requiring CIOs, data heads, and AI leaders to rethink their approach to talent management. The discussion revolved around key areas such as skill assessment, gap analysis, data architecture, security, governance, and the non-technical skills necessary for cross-functional collaboration and change management.

“The biggest challenge is that people are not used to operating at a very fast speed and making decisions quicker than they currently do. This will cause some challenges when we start to see good use cases of AI implementation. How do we work with that speed? On the tech side, there is a big skills gap. Part of the problem is that when we start a course, the technology has already changed; it’s also changing so fast,” said Adam Lalani, CTO at Alliad (UAE).