Enabling remote work securely has increased the adoption of cloud services across the Middle East. A virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI allows hosting of desktop applications on a central server, facilitating secure and convenient remote access.

Sumanta Roy, vice president and head of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Middle East and Africa (MEA) explains: “There are certain critical things you cannot do quickly without a cloud. A VDI may take months to deploy but this can be done using cloud within hours.”

Roy expects an increase in demand for TCS data recovery and backup services due to the widespread adoption of remote work in response to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Roy, who says that his firm generates an estimated $500m in annual revenue across the MEA region, adds: “I expect TCS MEA margins to start improving by the third quarter, as costs become more predictable, but the Covid-19 crisis’ impact on revenue is harder to predict.”

Some of the worst-hit sectors such as aviation and retail account for less than 15 per cent of TCS’ overall business in the MEA region. For these sectors in particular, Roy says it will be very difficult, if not impossible, for businesses to recover lost sales in the first two quarters.

He explains: “For instance, Ramadan 2020 has passed – people who usually shop or travel did not. You can’t offset that [in the remaining half of the year].”

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TCS outlook hopeful mid to long term

Roy says: “Once lockdowns are eased, demand will pick up. Companies that are able to capture the pick-up in demand [in any industry], using customer insights and analytics will be the first to recover.

“However, at the moment, nobody can say which business decision is right or wrong. Only time will tell.”