The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), with a GDP of around $1.5tn, is among the world’s top 10 economies. The IT industry which is worth $200 billion is growing at a rate of 20 per cent year-on-year. The GCC has one of the highest levels of smartphone penetration in the world at 120 per cent. Cisco estimates that GCC will see 41 per cent CAGR in cloud traffic by 2019. While there is a demand for digital goods and services, the government and corporates have not yet taken full advantage of the opportunity.