JEDDAH: Enterprise application software (EAS) market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) would to return to double-digit growth after a retarded pace as a result of global economic crisis. Saudi Arabia will remain the MENA region's largest EAS market, and will also be its fastest growing, while Egypt is also tipped for strong growth as large numbers of businesses migrate to modern EAS suites from the installed base of legacy applications. Global giants SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft Dynamics dominate the MENA region's EAS market. “Widespread regional liquidity difficulties and the delay or cancellation of EAS projects by organizations that were forced to revisit their spending plans proved particularly troublesome, although the market will soon rebound to former heights,” said Dhiraj Daryani, senior analyst for the software market at IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey. Market research company IDC said the region is predicted to expand at an average annual growth rate of 12.8 percent by 2014. As the global economic recovery takes shape, and as governments and businesses in the MENA region proceed with IT modernization efforts and application transformation, high-growth vertical segments like education and healthcare will continue to remain the fastest growth areas for EAS solutions. Other segments will forge ahead with EAS investments.
