COVID-19 pandemic constraints highlight need for increased technology investment

Saudi Arabia embarks on digital transformation  

photo_camera AFP/FAYEZ NURELDINE  - Logo of the Vision 2030 modernisation plan, which envisages the diversification of Saudi Arabia's economy. 

The whole world has been forced to empty its streets and stay at home to minimise the possibility of contagion during these months of pandemic. The new reality has forced everyone to step forward and adopt a form of distance learning and working that may be here to stay. Teleworking, videoconferencing, telematic classes... Remote work has reached every corner of the planet and Saudi Arabia has seen this new landscape as an opportunity to catch the wave of digital transformation: "Immediately after COVID-19, we all, in a sense, moved to the cloud," explained Dina Abo-Onoq, Managing Partner of IBM Services.  

The cloud has become a fundamental medium for the Saudi population in virtually every aspect of day-to-day life: "Using cloud-based video conferencing, cloud-based educational platforms, cloud-based document sharing and signing, and more. For companies that needed to quickly set up distributed call centres or 'chatbots', the cloud provided a quick route to do so, without the need to purchase hardware or go through a lengthy procurement cycle with vendors. We see more and more companies of all sizes looking at how they can move more and more workloads to the cloud. This is the course of action that Saudi Arabia wants to pursue in the medium to short term. In fact, it was one of the first countries in the region to adopt specific regulations for cloud service providers.  

SPA-Ministerio de Energía saudí y la Autoridad Saudí de Datos e Inteligencia Artificial (SDAIA). 

"Saudi Arabia wants to be a regional hub, the number one player in technology and digital transformation in the region," said Yasser al-Obaidan, founder and CEO of Jawraa, a leading local digital transformation company, "This means that we have to attract investment and technologies to come and host their services in Saudi Arabia and invest their services in the country," he added to Arab News.  

Saudi Arabia is already encouraging large companies to replace their traditional working methods with telematic ones. Proof of this is the Cloud First Policy, announced in October 2020 by the Ministry of Communications and Communication Technologies, following the launch of a cloud data centre in the city of Jeddah by Oracle. And not only that. Two months later, just last December, Google Cloud and Saudi Aramco signed an agreement to offer their services to the whole of Saudi Arabia, prompting Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and venture capital fund eWTP Arabia to announce a joint partnership with Alibaba Cloud a few days later to provide high-performance public cloud services across the country.  

Added to all this is the establishment of two new cloud footprints in Riyadh and Jeddah, courtesy of BIOS Middle East, a leading provider of managed IT services in the Middle East. "Cloud services are essential to reap the benefits of digital transformation, which has been identified as an important strategic pillar for Saudi Arabian organisations in line with Saudi Vision 2030," argued the company's managing director, Dominic Docherty.  

It is no longer just high-speed connectivity and easy access that bring all these technological improvements to Saudi Arabia. On the one hand, the installation of these projects will lead to a high demand for local labour, resulting in job creation. On the other hand, the Saudi government points out that, thanks to the implementation of all these services in its own territory, there will be an increase in the levels of cybersecurity and data control.  

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