Dubai Customer Base

Whether you run a business in Dubai or you are planning to start one, understanding the demographics of the city is crucial for the success of your business. Dubai is one of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E). The other six emirates are Ajman, Ra's al Khaimah, Fujairah, Umm-al-Qaiwain, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

The journey of Dubai towards cosmopolitanism
From a small port to a business hub, Dubai has come a long way in the last few decades. The demographics too, have changed drastically. What used to be a small town is now a cosmopolitan metropolis where the number of expatriates is more than the number of locals. To better serve your Dubai clientele, it is important to understand who cosmopolitan the city really is.

Cosmopolitanism makes urban areas vibrant and exciting but they also make marketers' and organizations' work harder. Cosmopolitanism means a company will have to process complex data catering to diverse demographics and ensure that every psychographic attribute is considered during marketing cycles. For this, business software suites like an enterprise resource planning (ERP) are warranted.

What are the demographics of Dubai?
The culture of Dubai is more cosmopolitan than most Middle Eastern cities. This is partly due to the fact that there are millions of foreign workers residing in the city. The majority of expats come from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Other expats include people from Europe, Australia, Africa and Latin America. We cannot ignore the presence of Filipinos, China and other Middle Eastern countries as well. This being said, Dubai is a microcosm of the whole world and to analyze CRM data pertaining to Dubai is simply not possible without using an effective ERP.

Why an ERP is required to understand and operate in cosmopolitan urban centers
With its varied and layered neighborhoods and communities, Dubai is not an easy place to run a business unless you have access to all the logistical data, which can only be created and accessed through a robust ERP. Complex attributes of each community can be defined and explained using various modules of an ERP.

This could help in generating leads and even in nurturing them. The fact that each community differs vastly from the other, forces you to study your target audience like they are a field of study. Studying your target audience is not possible with the analytics that an ERP provides, especially in a complex and cosmopolitan environment like Dubai.

ERP adoption can drive success
Companies that engage in B2B activities too need to understand how vastly different each business in Dubai could be. There could be family-run businesses that are orthodox and conservative. At the same time, there could be a business run by a liberal European group of individuals.

On the other hand, big multinationals and blue chips operate within Dubai too. And each of these entities has a way of working and to understand that, an ERP is always important. And how else can an organization keep track of various sales, shipping, logistics, back office, HRMS and CRM activities pertaining to a varied demographic?

The very fact that Dubai is so cosmopolitan forces us to adopt novel ways of operating businesses. And that includes installing and implementing business process automation. There will never be missed greetings, no hassles when it comes to understanding the psychographics of a target audience and complexity of demographics will never be a problem. Using ERP is one of the best ways to ensure success in a complex and cosmopolitan environment like Dubai. After all, understanding the environment in which we work is key to achieving success.