Accenture: Embracing Cloud Based Operating Models

Five Actions for Organisations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)—the Middle East’s largest economy—has embarked on the cloud adoption journey later in comparison to other economies in the region. However, they have a historic opportunity at hand that they must not ignore. The KSA can establish unique benchmarks in cost competitiveness and innovation, building cloud-based operating models helping it achieve its goals enshrined under its Saudi Vision 2030 on time and with fiscal prudence.

Author: Omar Boulos, Accenture’s Market Unit Lead in the Middle East

What might a “digital first” country look like? The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) envisions a future where its people—especially for the young—can live and thrive. One where transactions will be both seamless and secure, with an ecosystem of service providers offering everything from entertainment to education.

These and other goals have been laid out in the Saudi Vision 2030, an ambitious $3.3 trillion-plan to pivot away from a dependence on oil and remake society in the process. Spanning major infrastructural projects and socioeconomic reforms, achieving the aims of Saudi Vision 2030 will require continuous innovation and prudent financial management, involving stakeholders across the globe collaborating and co-creating value.

A Centerpiece Strategy: Cloud Technology

Cloud-driven operating models will be a key enabler. Recognising this, the KSA has been strategically positioning itself as a cloud-friendly nation in the region over the last five years. In 2019, it launched the Saudi Cloud Strategy to promote the use of cloud computing, following up with the Cloud Computing Special Economic Zone in April 2023.

Moreover, forward-thinking regulatory policies—such as the Cloud Computing Regulatory Framework, the Cloud First Policy and the National Cybersecurity Authority’s Cloud Cybersecurity Controls—are paving the way for more widespread cloud adoption.

These policy changes have been backed up with government investments in key infrastructure. In 2021, the Saudi Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) launched a US$18 billion plan to build a network of large-scale data centers across the Kingdom.

The growing commitment of the KSA to cloud computing is attracting investments from the world majors in this space. For example, in November 2023, the Google Cloud Region has been launched in Dammam. Research commissioned by Google Cloud and conducted by Access Partnership estimates that this could potentially boost the country’s gross domestic product by $109 billion and generate 148,600 jobs between 2024 and 2030.

Not Just Any Cloud Technology

Although the KSA may have embarked on its journey of cloud adoption later than other nations in the region, it now has a massive opportunity to set the benchmarks for efficient and responsible cloud operating models that drive innovation and cost-competitiveness.

The Cloud Continuum will provide organisations of all sizes involved in such mega infrastructure projects with an optimised, scalable, and agile platform, accelerating their digital transformation by integrating technologies such as AI, Big Data and analytics, and Internet of Things. These can only be built responsibly with a strong digital core bringing together applications, services and data via the cloud powered by green software and programming.

Done right, it will create a technology foundation providing workers a flexible way of accessing and creating value with their data at anytime, anywhere. Most importantly, it will do so without the cost burden that a physical function would require.

How can organisations in the KSA go about building operating models on the Cloud Continuum?

Five Actions Towards Building Cloud Based Operating Models

Recent research from Accenture, titled The Race to the Cloud, has five actions to offer organisations—both public and private—in the KSA:

To begin with organisations must strategically pursue the full power of cloud as a force to drive total enterprise reinvention. They must prioritise use cases according to time-to-value and align investments with emerging business strategies.

Next, they must embrace cloud as a strategic enabler and adopt the right mix of capabilities and services across the Cloud Continuum.

They must recognise that a cloud operating model can only succeed with transforming people and processes in tandem—from ways of working to organisational cultures—to thrive in the Cloud Continuum.

Most importantly, to unleash value of your cloud investments they must incur equal or more spend on data and AI. With data excellence, cloud investments help carve out an important competitive edge. And with right insights across the enterprise, organisations innovate value with speed.

Mastering and optimising cloud economics is essential. This requires not only transparency and oversight, but also shifting the conversation from cloud-cost to cloud-value.

Leading companies across key industries such as banking are already putting these lessons and actions into practice and reaping benefits. Take Minna Bank, for example, which was not only Japan’s first digital bank but the world’s first full cloud banking system.

From the outset, it was designed as a “digital first” company that provides financial services to everyone, including digital natives—individuals that the KSA looks to attract in terms of talent pools and residents in its cities of the future.

Specifically, in the context of their “Zero Bank Core Solution”, Minna Bank’s digital core was built on Google Cloud using a cloud-first approach, connected technology and cloud-native core solution. Thus, empowered by the right combination of technologies, it took less than 18 months to launch a transformational bank amid strict regulations governing financial institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Executives at Minna Bank agree that if it was not for cloud driven operating model, they would have been six months late in opening. Cloud gave them scalability, enhanced speed of deployment and made them efficient in fixing bugs.

Remember…

Cloud operating models are like a muscle; building them with the appropriate capabilities, data-driven insights and ecosystem partnerships requires constant nourishment. With strong government and corporate support, the time is right for organisations in the KSA to build and flex their cloud muscle now.

Setting Global Benchmarks: KSA All Set to Boost Status

In Saudi Arabia, an ambitious vision is taking shape — a future in which its people can thrive in a seamlessly connected digital landscape.

It’s a world supported by layers of impenetrable security, with an ecosystem of service-providers ready to fulfil every need, from leisure and entertainment to education.

This relentless pursuit of digitalisation lies at the core of Saudi Vision 2030, a $3.3tn blueprint aimed at propelling the nation beyond its historical reliance on oil, and revolutionising society along the way.

Such ambition needs powerful and adaptable technology to deliver on its goals.

Saudi Arabia stands at a crossroads, with an opportunity it cannot overlook – entering Cloud computing. By adopting these models, the KSA can set new standards for cost competitiveness and innovation.

Historically, Saudi Arabia embarked on its cloud journey a bit later than its regional counterparts. But what it lacked in timing, it made up for with strategic vision. The past five years have seen a concerted effort to position the Kingdom as a Cloud powerhouse.

The government has been pouring resources into building the necessary infrastructure. A testament to this is the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology’s (MCIT) 2021 initiative, an $18bn investment to establish a network of data centres across the kingdom.

This is about more than establishing infrastructure; it’s about setting global benchmarks. It isn’t just about technological integration, either: it’s about building a sustainable digital core.