Bridging Dubai's Digital Divide: The Agentic AI Revolution with Lijeesh Majeed

Lijeesh Majeed reveals how Agentic ERP and AI are transforming Dubai's businesses, automating compliance, and overcoming legacy system hurdles

While Dubai's government stands as a global beacon of digital innovation, a significant lag exists within its private sector, where paper-based processes and legacy systems are secretly hampering growth and compliance.

We spoke with Lijeesh Majeed to explore how agentic AI is not just closing this gap but fundamentally redefining business operations. As the visionary behind Summitcode Ventures, Lijeesh unveils how intelligent ERP systems are transforming regulatory burdens into competitive advantages and propelling Dubai's enterprises into a new era of autonomous efficiency.

Interview with Lijeesh Majeed

How is the demand for agentic ERP solutions and AI-driven digital transformation evolving in Dubai's public and private sectors, and what key factors are driving this growth?

The demand for agentic ERP solutions in Dubai is at an inflection point. Every company needs an internal software operating system to maintain high efficiency, lower costs, and maximize business impact. Traditional ERP systems lack AI-native capabilities and are fundamentally outdated for competing in today's market.

Dubai and the UAE have consistently positioned themselves at the forefront of digital innovation. The government leads from the front, but the majority of the private sector still lacks the latest systems to operate efficiently. Industries we've worked with—banking, trading, manufacturing, gold and precious metals—largely operate on legacy systems with significant paper-based processes. This creates a striking contrast: while the government operates paperless, many private businesses still rely heavily on paper, creating substantial operational hurdles.

The key driver for growth is necessity. Companies are realizing that staying competitive requires catching up with government digital standards and meeting increasingly stringent regulatory requirements. At Summitcode, our Agentic ERP automates complex compliance tasks with simple conversations. For example, our AI agents can generate custom VAT reports, WPS compliance documents, and regulatory filings on demand—transforming what used to take hours of manual work into seconds.

What regulatory hurdles and data governance standards do companies face when deploying AI-integrated ERP systems in Dubai, and how are organizations adapting?

The UAE excels at regulating essential industries. We're seeing comprehensive regulation through VAT, corporate tax, the upcoming 2026 e-invoicing, and strict KYC/AML standards. The interesting reality is that these aren't hurdles from the government—they're opportunities. The real challenge is that businesses need to catch up with government regulations in their systems to remain compliant.

What Summitcode builds is game-changing in this aspect. We've developed one of the most compliance-automated ERP systems available, where regulatory requirements are just a few clicks or a conversation away. Our agentic approach means businesses can ask our AI chatbot to generate compliance reports, check regulatory status, or produce audit-ready documentation instantly.

Organizations are adapting by partnering with technology providers who understand both the regulatory landscape and the technical implementation. The shift from viewing compliance as a burden to seeing it as a competitive advantage happens when companies have systems that make compliance effortless.

What are the biggest technical and operational challenges businesses encounter when integrating AI with existing ERP platforms, particularly legacy systems?

The biggest technical challenges often stem from operational procedures companies have defined for themselves, which result in data scattered across different systems. Moving to a single source of truth requires extensive communication from top to bottom. This organizational alignment is frequently more challenging than the technical migration itself.

The second major challenge is vendor lock-in. Many companies don't have permission to access their own data because legacy software vendors have locked them in. Every data request must go through the vendor, and they often impose legal restrictions that prevent migration. This creates both technical and strategic barriers to modernization.

Summitcode takes a consultancy-based approach. We discuss details from top to bottom to figure out the fastest way to implement new solutions while respecting data ownership.

Our Agentic ERP is designed with integration flexibility at its core—we can connect to legacy systems through APIs, gradually migrate data, and provide intelligent data mapping.

How significant is the talent shortage in AI, machine learning, and ERP implementation expertise in Dubai, and what strategies are organizations using?

Dubai is an excellent place for skills availability, but when it comes to traditional SMEs, there's a significant affordability gap. These businesses cannot sustain the cost of hiring and retaining top-tier AI and ERP talent on a full-time basis.

The solution isn't just about hiring—it's about accessing expertise when and how you need it. Most companies rely on quality and trusted staff augmentation solutions like we offer at Summitcode. This model allows businesses to access world-class expertise without the overhead of permanent hires.

Beyond staff augmentation, the real game-changer is our Agentic ERP approach itself. By embedding AI intelligence directly into the system, we dramatically reduce the need for specialized technical skills for day-to-day operations. Users can interact with the system through natural conversation. This democratization of technology means companies can operate sophisticated AI-powered systems with their existing workforce.

How are organizations in Dubai measuring the ROI of AI-enabled ERP transformations, and which KPIs are considered most indicative of success?

Organizations measure ROI through both operational efficiency gains and strategic business impact. Agentic ERP makes life fundamentally easier for employees. We've seen customers reduce operational costs by 40-45% while simultaneously increasing overall business efficiency and revenue generation capacity.

The most indicative KPIs fall into several categories. First, time-to-insight metrics: how quickly can managers access critical business intelligence? What used to take hours now happens in seconds. Second, compliance accuracy and speed: automated filings reduce errors to near-zero while accelerating timelines. Third, employee productivity: when staff can ask the system complex questions and receive instant visualizations, they spend more time on strategic decisions.

Beyond these, strategic KPIs include decision-making velocity, customer response times, and business agility. Our clients report being able to respond to market opportunities faster and scale operations without proportionally scaling headcount.

What emerging AI technologies and agentic ERP features are expected to shape the next wave of digital transformation in Dubai?

We're witnessing a fundamental shift from reactive software to proactive, intelligent systems. The next wave will be shaped by truly agentic AI that doesn't just respond to commands but anticipates needs, identifies opportunities, and executes complex workflows autonomously.

Emerging technologies include multimodal AI agents that can process text, data, images, and voice commands seamlessly.

Imagine sending a photo of an invoice to your ERP and having it automatically processed and validated. We're also seeing predictive analytics becoming standard, where AI forecasts what will happen and recommends preemptive actions.

At Summitcode, we're building increasingly sophisticated agent capabilities. The next evolution includes autonomous decision-making agents for routine operations, real-time anomaly detection, and cross-functional AI agents that coordinate between departments seamlessly. Local companies preparing for this are investing in organizational change management—training teams to work alongside AI agents as collaborators. The companies that embrace this now will define the competitive landscape for the next decade.

Additional Use Cases for Summitcode's Agentic ERP:

• Intelligent Financial Analysis: Ask "Compare our gross margins across product lines for the last 6 months" and receive interactive visualizations with AI-generated insights.

• Automated Regulatory Reporting: Generate VAT returns, WPS salary reports, customs declarations, and audit trails through simple conversational requests.

• Smart Inventory Management: AI agents monitor stock levels, predict reorder points based on seasonal trends, and automatically generate purchase requisitions.

• Dynamic Cash Flow Forecasting: Real-time cash position analysis with AI-powered predictions and alerts for potential liquidity issues.

• Intelligent Document Processing: Upload invoices or receipts, and AI automatically extracts data, validates against records, and processes transactions.

• Anomaly Detection: Proactive identification of unusual transactions, potential fraud, or compliance violations before they escalate.