Date: 24th November 2021

Author: Julia Nasri

Recently, Arabianbusiness.com published an article explaining how GCC countries could add up to $255 billion to regional GDP. The article explains the Digital Economy Index, which discusses the digital maturity of the country and helps to measure progress in a country’s digital infrastructure and technology. Countries in the GCC have made progress in these fields, being labelled as ‘digital adopters’, but have yet to reach the highest level on the DEI’s scale, which is a digital disruptor.

A digital disruptor is a label given when a country is not nearly adopting new technologies, but also is creating and innovating to change how technologies are used. When achieving this new level, says the DEI, GDP also increases. 

According to Bahjat El-Darwiche, partner with Strategy& and the technology, media, and telecommunications leader for Europe, Middle East, and Africa, “GCC countries need to focus their efforts in three main areas: reforming the regulatory framework, deepening the talent pool, and strengthening innovation and localization,” in order to obtain the digital disruptor status.

Localization, the last area of focused mentioned, is the process of making something local in character or restricting it to a particular place. For translators, this often means adapting a text, website, advertisement campaign, etc. to fit not just the language needs of the target audience, but also the cultural backgrounds of the target audience. 

Each country in the GCC has a distinct culture, but what they share in common is their diverse populations. The GCC and its strong economies have attracted people from all over the world for year. For example, in the UAE, Emiratis make up approximately 14% of the population, the other 86% being made up of expats of more than 200 nationalities. This deepening of the talent pool has helped the region’s GDP, but are firms the governmental organizations doing enough to localize for a non-local population?

Idiomatic Translations Dubai encourages firms to consider that the audience of the UAE and the GCC is not a homogenous group of people. To adapt to the diversity of the region, it is important to adapt websites, marketing material, and product packaging to accommodate as many potential clients as possible. Language localization and translation services are something we specialize in, and our translators are cultural experts who can adapt your text to fit your target audience. You can either upload your document for a free quote here or contact us at [email protected] to discuss the best language solution for you.