By Christopher David, Founder & Managing Editor Techitup Middle East
As per a recent report by Strategy& and PwC, cloud adoption across the Middle East is poised for accelerated growth, with a significant proportion of companies already gaining value from the cloud. Based on the company’s analysis, if the Middle East were to catch up with North America in terms of market maturity, cloud vendors could potentially secure approximately US$14 billion in revenue.
According to the report, 85% of Middle Eastern enterprises surveyed have already initiated their cloud journey, with 32% utilizing the technology in at least one area of operations. A third of the companies surveyed have adopted cloud computing across multiple business domains, and 18% have scaled cloud throughout their business. Nearly 70% of Middle Eastern countries aim to migrate almost all of their operations to the cloud within the next two years, with 76% looking to increase their cloud budget over the coming year.
During my visit to the Mobile World Congress (MWC) Barcelona 2024, I was keen to understand how Middle Eastern companies leveraged cloud technologies. In particular, we saw firsthand some of the latest cloud innovations launched at the event by Huawei Cloud, with a series of new partnerships being announced at the event that aimed at pushing growth for multiple industries like e-commerce, digital payments, and more.
At the global tech trade show, Huawei Cloud announced new partnership agreements with Saudi Arabia-based Zode and UAE-based PayTabs. These collaborations are intended to collectively drive the innovation and implementation of cloud and AI technologies in diverse industry use cases.
PayTabs Group‘s partnership is also set to inject new vitality into the business development for both PayTabs Group and Huawei Cloud, potentially growing the fintech ecosystem. On the other it would also unleash smoother, secure payment experience for global consumers. Simultaneously, Huawei Cloud will provide a solid cloud foundation to support PayTabs and other leading fintech enterprises in the region to expand their business locally and globally.
Another noteworthy partnership announcement was that of Saudi Arabia’s Zode and Huawei Cloud. Their newly signed agreement is aimed at deepening technological innovation and promoting the rapid development of the e-commerce industry in Saudi Arabia.
Together, Zode and Huawei Cloud will jointly accelerate Zode’s journey to becoming a leading Internet e-commerce platform in the Arab world. This could bring a more convenient and smooth shopping experience to regional consumers and inject new vitality into the e-commerce market in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. The new agreement will also include Arabic AI services to help Zode’s e-commerce platform run more efficiently.
Huawei Cloud Riyadh Region:
To add more focus on Huawei’s Cloud strategy in the Middle East, last year in September, the company launched Huawei Cloud Riyadh Regio, with notable benefits:
- First, the region translates Huawei’s global expertise on digital transformation into industries’ excellence, making innovation easier and faster
- Huawei Cloud Saudi Region is located in Riyadh and through a 3AZ (availability zone) architecture, it will provide highly available and secure cloud services, ensuring the stable operations of various services
- In addition, the region can provide full-stack cloud services, including infrastructure, databases, containers, big data, and AI services to meet the requirements of various industries
Based on the 3AZ high-reliability architecture, the Riyadh Region provides low latency, covering all existing carriers’ networks powered by STC, Zain, and Mobily. The local data center will store data locally in line with local data regulations. The company will also launch 68 cloud services in three categories – data, AI, and cloud native.
Within three months of launching this public cloud Region in Saudi Arabia, Huawei Cloud obtained the Class C license. This demonstrates Huawei Cloud’s commitment to establishing widespread connectivity, competitive cloud computing, and AI services in Saudi Arabia. By doing so, Huawei Cloud contributes to Saudi Arabia’s core competitiveness in the digital era.
In addition to the partnerships announced at MWC, Huawei Cloud has been actively collaborating with players in various sectors. For instance, in the manufacturing industry, Huawei Cloud collaborates with ecosystem partners, like KSA-based Al Obeikan, to develop standard solutions for manufacturing R&D innovation, production & supply, operations & management, and infrastructure operations, accelerating the industry’s digital transformation.
The company also empowers digital governments across the region, providing scalable, efficient, secure, and reliable cloud services powered by cloud-native and data-AI convergence on demand. To accelerate digitalization in the finance sector, Huawei Cloud introduced the Huawei Cloud Pangu Finance Model, which integrates advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and blockchain, combining the company’s technological prowess with extensive financial expertise. This innovative financial solution provides Fintech companies and financial institutions with the tools to navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of the financial industry on a global scale.
In the media and entertainment industry, Huawei Cloud has supported EYON from Kuwait and other live game companies to significantly improved user experience and enlarge their user base with its KooVerse, Huawei’s global cloud infrastructure, and Low latency Live (LLL) solution.
Beyond headline-grabbing industry stats, I was able to witness this first-hand at MWC 2024. Yes, cloud adoption is accelerating across the Middle East, but we’ve barely scratched the surface!
