Saudi Arabia is rapidly positioning itself among the world’s most advanced markets for artificial intelligence (AI), with organisations investing heavily and achieving impressive returns, according to The Future of IT Operations in the AI Era — a new study by Riverbed unveiled ahead of GITEX Global 2025.
The report highlights a 160% year-on-year increase in overall AI investments among Saudi enterprises. Notably, 26% of organisations invested more than $50 million in AI initiatives last year — significantly higher than the 18% global average. This surge reflects the Kingdom’s accelerating digital transformation and alignment with Vision 2030 objectives.
The findings show that 36% of Saudi organisations are fully prepared to execute their AI strategies, while 78% expect full readiness within three years. Over half (55%) reported exceeding ROI expectations on AIOps projects, and another 38% met their original goals — underscoring tangible business outcomes from AI adoption.
Behind this progress lies a strong focus on data management. Around 63% of Saudi companies are building enterprise-wide data strategies, supported by investments from hyperscalers such as Microsoft, AWS, Google, and Oracle, which have all established large-scale data centres in the Kingdom. Currently, AI-related data is distributed across public clouds (31%), on-premises (27%), and private clouds (25%), though this balance is shifting toward edge computing to support faster and more intelligent operations.
The study also reveals that Saudi organisations are consolidating IT observability — reducing their reliance on multiple tools (currently averaging 13) and moving toward unified platforms. Nearly all respondents (95%) believe unified observability will enhance operational efficiency, with a strategic focus on productivity over cost reduction.
Unified communications (UC) tools have also become essential to IT operations. With 45% of IT leaders’ work hours spent using UC tools and each help desk ticket taking about 40 minutes to resolve, businesses are increasingly adopting advanced monitoring and automation through open standards such as OpenTelemetry. Currently, 39% of Saudi firms mandate its use, and another 54% plan to do so within two years.
“Saudi Arabia is one of the most exciting AI markets in the world right now,” said Moueen Zahreddine, Senior Regional Director – GCC at Riverbed. “To fully capitalise on this momentum, enterprises must scale AI projects strategically. Riverbed is helping organisations achieve this by implementing practical AI solutions that enhance digital experiences, IT performance, and enterprise-wide automation.”
With AI transitioning from experimentation to execution, Saudi Arabia continues to set a benchmark in AI-driven transformation — combining bold investment, strategic data management, and a mature approach to performance optimisation in line with its Vision 2030 goals.
