Saudi Arabia’s Stance on Cloud Computing Promises to Provide Pure Gold for Kingdom and its Vision 2030

April 13, 2023, was a red-letter day in the history of cloud computing in the GCC. It was the day His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman announced the establishment of a Cloud Computing Special Economic Zone in Saudi Arabia – the first of its kind in the region.

Located in the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, the zone allows cloud service providers to establish data centers across the Kingdom and provide various cloud computing services from the dedicated zone, which operates under a specialised regulatory environment and provides investors with an array of enticing, business-friendly incentives. The thinking behind the zone, closely aligned with the Kingdom’s Cloud-first policy, is that it will accelerate innovation nationwide and contribute significantly to both GDP and the realization of Saudi Arabia’s ambitious Vision 2030 goals.

The zone, of course, serves a cloud computing market in the country that is on an almost perpendicular upward trajectory. The zone will help maintain that momentum. Certainly, the outlook is promising: Saudi Arabia is already home to the region’s largest ICT market and the Kingdom was classified as “very advanced” when ranking third globally and first regionally in the World Bank’s latest GOVTECH Maturity Index. And the advances are there for all to see, as evidenced by the introduction of the Shahid streaming services, the Tawakkalna digital app, which looks to increase the quality of residents’ lives with its wide range of integrated and consistent services and the Ministry of Interior’s Absher electronic platform, which provides services digitally.

Technology and cloud computing are recognised by the public sector as central to Vision 2030. Indeed, industry analysts anticipate cloud computing will contribute SAR 7 billion to Saudi’s GDP by the time we enter the third decade of the 21st century, with an 80 per cent targeted cloud computing services adoption rate in the public sector alone.

The private sector will not be far behind. Saudi Arabia is recording an exceptional 40 per cent compound annual growth rate in cloud computing – well above the global average.

The business case for cloud computing in the Kingdom is rock solid. It can empower the huge economic and social transformation embodied in Vision 2030, including: Development of a digital and data-driven e-government infrastructure; rapid and secure delivery of innovative citizen-centric services; improved ease of doing business; attainment of a vibrant, diversified, and knowledge-based digital economy and retail sector; and enhancement of focus on the emerging sustainable economy.

For both the public and private sectors, the adoption of cutting-edge cloud solutions, including its AI, IoT, and ML developments will optimise resources, leaving more time to focus on innovation. By transitioning from traditional on-premise setups to cloud-based architectures, organizations can achieve significant cost savings, enhance operational efficiency, and bolster the overall resilience of IT infrastructure.

The International Data Corporation (IDC) survey on industry cloud adoption trends in the Middle East in 2022 put the business case into stark focus. It says governments in the region have saved US$100 million by migrating to – or adopting – cloud-based solutions. Furthermore, local governments have saved 30 per cent on their budgets by migrating to the cloud. The survey concluded with a bold forecast that by 2027 the cloud will be the region’s primary computing style and that hardly any organization will be able to deploy new business models and eco-systems without relying on the cloud.

Cloud solutions and Vision 2030 are clearly aligned with both prioritizing agility, now an essential element of a responsive and dynamic 21st Century government. Cloud platforms facilitate the rapid deployment of services and applications, enabling governments to respond swiftly to changing demands and ensuring the scalability required to support ambitious goals.

And the cloud can also assist in meeting governments’ drives to net zero and the increasing ESG demands on organizations. The Cloud fuels energy efficiency by optimizing data centers more efficiently than individual businesses, resulting in more efficient use of resources and energy management, ultimately reducing overall energy consumption. Businesses leveraging cloud computing significantly reduce energy consumption, carbon emissions, and waste, contributing to a more sustainable future.

Amazon Web Services (AWS), which operates a Middle East data center has disclosed that its infrastructure in the region is outstripping enterprise data centers in Europe and the US in terms of energy efficiency by five times in the case of Europe and 3.6 times compared to the USA. AWS operations in the region are also delivering an 80 per cent reduction in carbon footprints, which it expects to reach as high as 96 per cent when it transitions fully to renewable energy next year.

Of course, not everything can be achieved overnight. Transformation is not a sprint. The industry has identified some roadblocks, with a scarcity of talent being high on the agenda. Yet instead of struggling to secure and then retain the talent needed to migrate and support cloud computing ambitions, organizations are increasingly opting to outsource to partners with proven expertise, who understand business challenges, and offer reliability of support. Bespin’s expertise was recognized by no less than AWS when it took the company’s System Integrator Partner of the Year award last year and has been recognized as a Visionary in the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Public Cloud IT Transformation Services for two successive years. Bespin Global MEA’s client list now exceeds 150 customers, including some of the region’s biggest public and private sector names.

Saudi Arabia will be a beacon for digital and cloud adoption. Vision 2030 recognizes digital transformation is a strategic imperative for building a future-ready infrastructure, fostering innovation, delivering citizen-centric services, ensuring rapid scalability, and adhering to the highest standards of regulatory compliance. The arrival of the Cloud Computing Special Economic Zone on April 13, 2023, sent a clear signal of things to come. Undoubtedly, more red-letter days lie ahead.