Businesses across the GCC must embrace artificial intelligence technology or risk losing out to competitors, according to Oracle's senior vice president for the region, Andrew Sutherland. Speaking on the sidelines of the Oracle OpenWorld event at the Dubai World Trade Centre yesterday (Tuesday), Sutherland argued that the maxim'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' no longer applies for companies due to the emergence of new efficiency-driving technologies, which will give first movers a distinct advantage over those who are slow to adopt. "I am strongly of the opinion now that artificial intelligence (AI) in general, and autonomous databases in particular, are an inevitability," he told reporters. "This is not just airlines or card processing companies. Even a modest-sized organisation will need to handle more and more data and will want to spend more and more time getting value from that data – not administering it. "If your neighbour is getting 70 per cent less cost in managing their data, how are you going to compete?