Saudi Arabia’s organisations move to cloud for cost savings

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s organisations are increasingly moving to the cloud for cost savings, with nearly two-thirds (62 per cent) of IT decisionmakers in the Kingdom saving costs on the cloud, according to new research from Yougov.

Many Saudi organisations - especially smalland medium-sized enterprises - use traditional on-premise technology infrastructure, which presents business challenges. Organisations are locked into specific vendors, face rising costs in technology infrastructure, and do not have real-time customer insights.

By taking a cloud approach to digital transformation, Saudi organisations, from government and public sector to oil and gas, can primarily optimise costs on hardware and sotware.

The cloud can quickly, easily, and affordably scale up as organizations expand, serving as the foundation for business and economic growth.

Among the 306 survey respondents, 30 per cent said the cloud saved at least 25 per cent in costs, and about one in eight respondents (13 per cent) said the cloud saved at least 50 per cent in costs.

“Double-digit cost savings can help Saudi organisations to gain C-suite buy-in for cloudbased digital transformation, especially for SMES operating on tighter budgets,” Ahmed Al-faifi, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, SAP Middle East North. “Organisations running on the cloud can operate in real-time, easily scale up as they expand, and free up IT staff to focus on business innovation,” a press release said.