Saudi Arabia's SBM publishes blueprint for AI success

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 emphasizes a technology-driven transformation to achieve its social, economic, and environmental goals, focusing on adopting and producing advanced innovations to position itself as a global leader in technological disruption. By positioning itself at the forefront of technological disruption, the country aims to be a global leader in shaping the future of technology. These efforts have already started paying off, as evidenced by its performance in global benchmarks.

The kingdom’s exemplary focus on emerging technologies
Saudi Arabia has been ranked 5th out of 134 countries worldwide for its government’s promotion of emerging technologies—a reflection of the kingdom’s strong and forward-thinking technology vision.

Source: Network Readiness Index, 2023

As one of the kingdom’s leading end-to-end enterprise information technology and telecommunications solutions providers and a digital hub for innovative emerging technologies, SBM has taken a proactive stance in helping Saudi Arabia’s public and private sector organizations successfully accelerate their AI journeys.

In this white paper, IDC and SBM examine the broader AI-related developments in the kingdom, discussing the digital maturity of organizations, their readiness for AI adoption at scale, the demand for AI solutions, use case adoption trends, the challenges ahead, and the business and technology considerations for succeeding in AI-driven business transformation.

When analyzing technology investment strategies in the kingdom, AI stands out as the top priority, with one in every two organizations investing in it. However, assessing organizational readiness for enterprise-wide AI implementation is crucial. A key challenge is the growing digital divide between digital-native companies and others, driven by the unmatched speed, agility, and innovation of the former. This advantage allows digital businesses to adopt emerging technologies, including AI, more swiftly and effectively.

To help organizations address this challenge, the white paper highlights several key themes outlined below:

• The Foundational Pillars of AI: The white paper outlines the foundational pillars of AI readiness: vision, people, process, technology, and data.
• Understanding AI Maturity in Organizations: It examines how organizations are progressing in their AI adoption journey and their AI maturity levels.
• Key Challenges in Scaling AI Adoption: Obstacles organizations face in addressing data security and privacy concerns and establishing AI governance, infrastructure, and processes are also explained.
• Strategic AI Investments for Business Growth: The paper explores how businesses can transition from isolated AI projects to enterprise-wide adoption.
• Framework for Achieving AI-Driven Impact: It provides a structured approach to integrating AI into business operations for maximum value.
• Identifying and Implementing AI Use Cases: The paper also outlines strategies for discovering, evaluating, and scaling AI-driven opportunities.

While it is important to understand and guide enterprises in creating AI-fueled businesses, the more pressing issue is helping organizations address their current blockers and get them progressing from the experimentation to the adoption phase. The white paper takes a systematic approach to identifying the challenges and building and implementing a structured transformation plan to become an AI-ready organization that delivers business outcomes.

Additionally, the paper alludes to the importance of accessing specialized knowledge by working with consultants, systems integrators, and the services arms of software and hardware vendors to complement their internal staffing capabilities. Building a trusted and strategic partner ecosystem will play an important role in driving success in AI.