IDC, IBM & GSD Digital Roundtable

20 May 2026

IDC, IBM & GSD Digital Roundtable

Resilience by Design

20 May 2026

Hosted By

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How Integration Enables Digital Sovereignty and Business Continuity

Across the GCC, national digital agendas – from the UAE’s cloud-first policies to Qatar’s data localization mandates and Kuwait’s emerging regulatory frameworks – are reshaping how organizations architect their IT estates. Data sovereignty is no longer a compliance checkbox; it is a core business strategy.

 

Yet as regulatory fragmentation intensifies and hybrid environments grow more complex, a critical question emerges: how to move fast without losing control of data, operations, or continuity.

 

According to IDC, by 2028, 60% of multinational firms will split AI stacks across sovereign zones tripling integration costs as regulatory fragmentation accelerates.

 

This executive Virtual Roundtable, hosted by IBM and Gulf Software Distribution, in association with IDC, brings senior technology leaders across the GCC to explore how integration architectures can deliver agility, resilience, and sovereignty simultaneously.

Agenda

IDC, IBM & GSD Digital Roundtable

One Day Event

11:00 am

Welcome Address

11:05 am

IDC Keynote: Digital Sovereignty and Resiliency During Highly Disruptive Times

Harish Dunakhe

Harish Dunakhe

Senior Research Director, Software & Cloud (META), IDC

11:25 am

How Integration is Critical for Business Continuity

11:35 am

IBM Integration Strategy for Resilient, Digitally Sovereign Enterprise

Feras Juma

Feras Juma

Integration Technical Sales Leader, Middle East and Africa, IBM

11:55 am

GSD Session

12:05 pm

Closing Note

Speakers

Harish Dunakhe

Harish Dunakhe

Senior Research Director, Software & Cloud (META)

IDC

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Feras Juma

Feras Juma

Integration Technical Sales Leader, Middle East and Africa

IBM

Read bio

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