Abdul Rahman Al-Thehaiban, managing director, Turkey, Middle East & North Africa, at Google Cloud, highlights the tech giant’s top priorities for the region, including investing in its long-term digital future.
In what specific ways is AI being utilized to drive digital transformation in the region? How else can enterprises optimize AI tools to boost efficiency, productivity, and competitive edge?
We’re seeing AI adoption accelerate rapidly across the Middle East. Organizations are moving beyond just experimenting with generative AI and are now deploying it in core business processes.
For example, many companies are using AI-powered virtual assistants to provide faster and more personalized customer service. In retail, we’re seeing AI used to recommend products and enhance the shopper’s experience.
Across many industries, AI is being used to analyze market trends and customer behavior, providing valuable insights for data-driven decision-making, which greatly improves efficiency and employee productivity through task automation.
To get the most out of AI, businesses need a strategic approach. That means choosing efficient and scalable AI models that fit their specific needs and making sure these models integrate seamlessly with their existing systems. Data security and privacy are, of course, absolutely essential. But it’s also about building a culture of data literacy within the organization, so people understand how to use AI effectively.
At Google Cloud, we’re committed to helping businesses with all of this. Our Vertex AI and BigQuery platforms provide the tools and infrastructure to build, deploy, and manage AI solutions at scale, securely and cost-effectively. And our experts work with our customers across the region to develop the skills and processes they need to get the best out of this technology.
Cyber threats are increasing as more businesses and organizations move to the cloud. How is Google Cloud helping companies stay secure? What have been the most common cyber threats in the Middle East, and how is Google Cloud addressing them?
In the Middle East, we’re seeing a rise in sophisticated threats like ransomware, phishing attacks, and attacks that target critical infrastructure. The impact of these can be severe – financial losses, operational disruptions, and significant damage to reputation. Google Cloud takes a multi-layered approach to helping organizations build a strong security posture. A key part of that is proactive threat intelligence.
We leverage Google’s global threat intelligence network, and the expertise of Mandiant, to anticipate and prevent attacks before they happen. Our Security Operations platform uses AI to automate threat detection, investigation, and response. This dramatically speeds up response times, which is crucial. Our multi-cloud risk management platform enables a holistic view across cloud environments, helping customers to prioritize the most critical risks.
And of course, our cloud platform itself is built with security at its core – it’s secure-by-design – providing inherent protection against many common threats. We also work closely with organizations to help them meet all relevant regional and global data privacy and security regulations. Basically, we combine cutting-edge technology with deep security expertise to help businesses in the Middle East stay ahead of evolving cyber threats and build a resilient digital future.
SAP recently launched its Business Technology Platform on Google Cloud in Saudi Arabia for regulated customers. What does this partnership mean for digital transformation in the region?
The launch of SAP’s Business Technology Platform (BTP) on Google Cloud in Saudi Arabia is a significant step forward for the Kingdom’s digital transformation, particularly for regulated industries and government entities. It really demonstrates a strong commitment to both innovation and compliance. Having SAP BTP available locally on Google Cloud offers several key advantages.
Saudi organizations can innovate faster, developing and deploying new applications and services much more quickly and efficiently using SAP’s integrated platform. They can also maintain data sovereignty, complying with Saudi data residency and security regulations – a critical requirement for many. The local deployment also reduces latency, improving application performance.
And of course, they can leverage Google Cloud’s scalable and AI-enabled infrastructure to support growth without needing huge upfront investments in hardware, plus they can benefit from SAP’s broad partner ecosystem. This partnership is directly aligned with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030. It’s enabling digital transformation in key sectors, fostering innovation, and contributing to the Kingdom’s overall economic diversification.
What are Google Cloud’s top priorities for AI, cybersecurity, and cloud solutions in the Middle East, Africa, and Türkiye over the next few years? What do you think will be the most in-demand technologies or services in the region, and how is Google Cloud preparing to meet those needs?
Our top priority is really straightforward: To empower organizations in the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey to achieve their digital transformation goals through the strategic use of AI, cybersecurity, and cloud technologies. We see enormous potential for growth in this region, and we’re committed to being a trusted partner.
Over the next few years, we’ll be focusing on several key areas. We’ll be helping businesses integrate AI into their operations to improve efficiency, gain insights, and create new products and services. We see customers in the region leveraging Google’s AI Hypercomputer, our performance optimized infrastructure, to train and fine-tune their own AI models to solve specific business problems.
Furthermore, we anticipate high demand for AI solutions in areas such as customer experience, predictive analytics, and process automation. And increasingly, we see a major role for AI Agents – autonomous or semi-autonomous systems that can perform tasks and make decisions on behalf of users.
Think of AI agents handling complex customer service inquiries, optimizing supply chains in real-time, or even proactively managing cybersecurity threats. This is a rapidly evolving area, and we’re investing heavily in making these powerful tools accessible to our customers. We’ll also be working to strengthen defenses against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, leveraging our AI-powered security solutions, threat intelligence, and expert services.
Of course, providing the scalable and secure cloud infrastructure that businesses need to modernize their IT, reduce costs, and scale their operations is foundational. This includes ensuring compliance with local data sovereignty requirements and very importantly, enabling developers through access to cutting-edge tools.
And last but not least, sustainability is key, so we are enabling our customers to reduce their footprint. Google Cloud is investing heavily in all of these areas. We’re building strategic partnerships, and developing solutions that are tailored to the specific needs of this diverse and dynamic region.
What have been the most significant milestones for Google Cloud since expanding into the region in 2023? How has the response from enterprises and governments shaped your strategy?
One of the biggest was the opening of new cloud regions in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. This provides local businesses and governments with faster, more secure, and compliant cloud services, and directly addresses the growing demand for data residency and low-latency performance.
We’ve also forged strong partnerships with leading enterprises and government entities. For example, we’re collaborating with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to establish an AI hub, and we have a national alliance agreement with the Kuwaiti government to support their digital transformation roadmap.
We’re also seeing significant adoption of our AI and data analytics platforms across various sectors, which shows the value we’re bringing to the region. And we are actively supporting workforce training to make sure the region benefits from a skilled local talent pool.
We’re focusing on local needs, building strong partnerships, and investing in the region’s long-term digital future, and we’re strongly committed to continuing this momentum and empowering organizations and businesses to achieve their transformation goals.
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