Saudi Executives Agree on Multi-Cloud’s Business Potential

C-level executives and business leaders in Saudi Arabia overwhelmingly agree on cloud computing’s positive and transformative impact, according to new findings released .

Commissioned by security and cloud experts F5 Networks, and conducted by research agency Think Positive, the study is one of the most in-depth of its kind to involve board-level decision-makers.

The results are the most up-to-date gauge on current regional attitudes to the cloud, drawing on the views c-level executives and business owners from across the GCC and Egypt1.

“Cloud computing has significant potential to radically alter how businesses and organizations run in the GCC,” said Mamduh Allam, Saudi Arabia general manager, F5 Networks.

“This new study shows that, while the region still has plenty of room to ramp up cloud deployment projects, the overall recognition of the technology’s possibilities is at an all-time high.

Decision-makers in the region see the cloud as a business priority.

Firms that continually innovate and build a sustainable cloud strategy will increasingly stand out from their competitors, meet intensifying compliance targets, and be better able to substantively contribute to major government-backed transformation projects.”

Although the GCC is relatively early in its multi-cloud embrace compared to mature markets, such as the USA and parts of EMEA, there is widespread and enthusiastic receptivity for the technology’s potential.

100% of all Saudi executives believe the cloud can have a positive impact on market share and help to displace competitors.

89% also stated that it can improve brand perception, and 92% praised its capacity to improve innovation.

A clear consensus was also reached on the cloud’s potential to enhance the overall customer experience (89%). 97% believe cloud will be integral to the rollout of Saudi Vision 2030.

Most respondents also flagged the importance of local regulations as a constructive cloud conduit, with 64% stating they had a favorable influence.

Cloud computing’s most commonly cited benefits in Saudi Arabia include greater business efficiency (69% of surveyed businesses), followed by cost savings (58%), operational flexibility (58%), scalability (47%) time-to-market (44%).

According to all surveyed businesses across the GCC and Egypt, as many as 35% estimate that cloud migration unlocks business growth of between 25-50%. 25% predict it drives 51-75% growth, and 18% went as far as 76-99%.

The most critical apps currently used in the cloud were related to operations (57%), services (47%), marketing (43%), business (40%) and HR (28%)

. By 2025, 26% of GCC businesses said 25-50% of apps would be in the cloud; 23% said the total would be between 51-75%; and 20% as much as 76-99%.

Almost half of respondents currently use one cloud provider (45%) but, as awareness and enthusiasm levels rise, multi-cloud realities are fast entering the picture.

20% currently use 2-6 providers and 3% use 7-10. Google is the most commonly used vendor (43%), followed by Microsoft (25%). 23% of respondents use other global providers but were not specific.

The top cloud-related concern for Saudi businesses is data security. 92% of executives listed this as the number one issue — the highest proportion of all surveyed regions (the next closest were Oman with 86%, Bahrain with 83% and the UAE with 80%).

Saudi Arabia also had the highest proportion of executives citing difficulties in identifying and hiring staff with cloud-relevant skillsets (89%). Other major concerns include consistency of policy (42%) and data integrity (25%).

Think Positives’s findings align with F5’s recent State of Application Delivery (SOAD) report, which reported that applying consistent security policies for applications is the “most challenging or frustrating” aspect of managing multi-cloud environments (42% of F5’s surveyed EMEA customers).

“Saudi Arabia is ideally placed to reap the benefits of the cloud in all its incarnations. Governments have ambitious, world-class plans in place to change the way people live and work, and there is a huge base of tech-savvy youngsters about to enter the workforce.

As the findings show, there is also a strong appetite among key decision-makers to use the cloud as a conduit to move fast and innovate,” said Allam.

“The key to make the cloud work is to rigorously focus on return on investment.

An effective cloud architecture strategy should increase business agility and provide flexibility to scale based on shifting hardware, software and on-demand requirements.

Meanwhile, application control, access and security must ensure optimal service performance, availability and security.

Ultimately, the right approach is a comprehensive multi-cloud solution that drives innovation and continually adds customer value.”