AI, Sovereignty, and Resiliency

22 Apr 2026

Saudi Arabia

AI, Sovereignty, and Resiliency

What CIOs Must Prioritize Now

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Overview

The Middle East is navigating a period of significant geopolitical and economic change. For technology leaders in Saudi Arabia, the priority is not only to manage risk, but also to sustain innovation, resilience, and long-term transformation in a complex environment.

The current crisis is introducing new variables into the global technology economy. IDC’s latest outlook indicates that IT spending in the Middle East and Africa is expected to grow by around 5% in 2026, with a downside scenario of 3–4% growth should geopolitical pressures persist.

At the same time, the regional picture is unlikely to be uniform.

Gulf markets such as Saudi Arabia are expected to show greater near-term resilience than more import-dependent economies, giving CIOs in the Kingdom a different challenge: how to maintain momentum on strategic priorities while preparing for a more uncertain external environment.

Join us

The IDC Middle East Virtual Roadshow – KSA Edition to explore how these forces are reshaping CIO priorities in the Kingdom and what they mean for technology investment, AI adoption, digital sovereignty, and enterprise resilience in the months ahead.

Key Imperatives

Resilience First

Ensuring enterprise operations remain uninterrupted through stronger infrastructure, disaster recovery, and business continuity strategies.

Digital Sovereignty

Strengthening control over data, infrastructure, and digital ecosystems to support strategic autonomy in the Middle East.

AI Acceleration

Sustaining AI innovation and scaling intelligent capabilities even as organizations navigate crisis.

Cloud Continuity

Designing resilient cloud architectures that support multi-region availability, operational stability, and sovereign requirements.

Cyber Protection

Safeguarding digital infrastructure, data, and enterprise operations against evolving cyber threats and disruptions.

Smart Investment

Balancing cost pressures while prioritizing strategic technology investments that drive long-term innovation and resilience.

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Agenda

AI, Sovereignty, and Resiliency

One Day Event

11:00 am

Welcome Address

11:05 am

IDC Keynote: The CIO Agenda Reset: What’s Changing for Technology Leaders in the GCC

Attendees will gain insights into new priorities around resilience, data sovereignty, multi-cloud strategies, and talent transformation as CIOs navigate an increasingly AI-first, regulation-driven, and fast-growing digital economy.

Harish Dunakhe

Harish Dunakhe

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

11:20 am

Anchored in Intelligence: AI, Data Sovereignty & Resilience in Shifting Economies

The rules of the digital economy are being rewritten. As Gulf economies navigate an era of unprecedented change, the ability to harness AI while maintaining control over data and digital infrastructure has never been more critical. AI is the new currency of power — and for organizations across the region, harnessing the value whilst maintaining sovereignty and resilience is no longer optional; they are strategic imperatives.

Join ServiceNow as we examine the strategies, technologies and practices needed to build intelligent, sovereign and resilient foundations — ones that withstand disruption and drive sustainable long-term growth.

Ask Questions and stand a chance to win exciting e-gift vouchers.

Tolga Tutel

Tolga Tutel

Field CTO, Middle East & Africa, ServiceNow

Shakeel Baig

Shakeel Baig

Specialized Solutions Sales Leader, Saudi Arabia, ServiceNow

11:35 am

Cloud That Doesn’t Stop: Architecting for Availability When It Matters Most

This session highlights how to design cloud systems for high availability and resilience. It covers key practices like fault isolation, multi-region architecture, automated recovery, and observability. Attendees will gain practical insights into building systems that stay reliable and responsive—even during failures or peak demand.

Ask Questions and stand a chance to win exciting e-gift vouchers.

Mohammed A Alreedi

Mohammed A Alreedi

CTO, IBM

11:50 am

Disaster Recovery Reimagined: Preparing for Disruption Before It Happens

This session highlights how disaster recovery is evolving from reactive planning to proactive resilience. It explores strategies such as automated failover, multi-region readiness, continuous data protection, and regular testing to ensure rapid recovery.

Ask Questions and stand a chance to win exciting e-gift vouchers.

Marc Merheb

Marc Merheb

Director Solutions Consulting, Middle East Region, OpenText

12:05 pm

Doing More with Less: Balancing Cost Pressures While Sustaining Innovation

This session highlights how organizations can optimize costs without slowing innovation. It explores strategies such as smart cloud spending, prioritizing high-impact initiatives, automation, and efficient resource allocation.

Ask Questions and stand a chance to win exciting e-gift vouchers.

12:20 pm

Smarter Spending: How CIOs Are Reprioritizing Technology Investments

This session highlights how CIOs are reshaping technology investments to deliver greater business value. It explores shifts toward high-impact initiatives like AI, automation, and digital platforms, while optimizing legacy spend and reducing inefficiencies.

Ask Questions and stand a chance to win exciting e-gift vouchers.

12:35 pm

Governance, Protection and Resiliency in the era of AI

Ask Questions and stand a chance to win exciting e-gift vouchers.

Cliff Madru

Cliff Madru

Vice President, Digital Solutions, Iron Mountain

12:50 pm

From Risk to Resilience in the AI Era

The role of the CISO is expanding faster than ever. AI adoption is accelerating, regulatory pressure is intensifying, and boards expect clearer answers on risk, resilience, and return on security investment. At the same time, CISOs face growing personal accountability while still being expected to enable innovation rather than slow it down.

In this executive level session let us unpack the key findings from The CISO Report 2026: From Risk to Resilience in the AI Era and explore what they mean for security leaders.

Ask Questions and stand a chance to win exciting e-gift vouchers.

Tom Gamali

Tom Gamali

Field CTO & Strategic Advisor, MEA-TRC, Splunk

1:05 pm

Zero Trust Under Pressure: Identity, Endpoint, and Access Strategy in a Volatile

This session highlights how organizations can strengthen security using Zero Trust principles amid increasing threats and complexity. It explores strategies around identity-first security, endpoint protection, continuous verification, and secure access.

Ask Questions and stand a chance to win exciting e-gift vouchers.

1:20 pm

Gold Tracks (Parallel Sessions)

Join the tracks to participate in the session kickoff raffle.

Ask Questions and stand a chance to win exciting e-gift vouchers.

Track A

1:20 pm – 1:30 pm

The Sovereign Intelligence: Fueling Regional Innovation via Logical Data Management

Dr. Alexey Sidorov
Chief Data Evangelist and Data Management Director, Denodo
1:30 pm – 1:40 pm

Preemptive Security in an AI World

Tareq Momani
Head of Systems Engineering, Middle East, Infoblox

Track B

1:20 pm – 1:30 pm

Trusted & Sovereign AI in Action — From Insight to Responsible Execution

Faye Murray
Field Chief Data Officer (EMEA), Dataiku
1:30 pm – 1:40 pm

When Supply Chains Shift: Navigating Infrastructure and Technology Disruptions

Umar Qayum
Senior Sales Engineer, Ping Identity
1:40 pm

Summary & Takeaways, IDC

1:50 pm

Close of Event

Speakers

Shakeel Baig

Shakeel Baig

Specialized Solutions Sales Leader, Saudi Arabia

ServiceNow

Read Bio

Tolga Tutel

Tolga Tutel

Field CTO, Middle East & Africa

ServiceNow

Read Bio

Mohammed A Alreedi

Mohammed A Alreedi

CTO

IBM

Read Bio

Marc Merheb

Marc Merheb

Director Solutions Consulting, Middle East Region

OpenText

Read Bio

Samer Hasan

Samer Hasan

Senior Solutions Engineer, Strategic

Cloudflare

Read Bio

Dr. Alexey Sidorov

Dr. Alexey Sidorov

Chief Data Evangelist and Data Management Director

Denodo

Read Bio

Tom Gamali

Tom Gamali

Field CTO & Strategic Advisor, MEA-TRC

Splunk

Read Bio

Tareq Momani

Tareq Momani

Head of Systems Engineering, Middle East

Infoblox

Read Bio

Cliff Madru

Cliff Madru

Vice President, Digital Solutions

Iron Mountain

Read Bio

Faye Murray

Faye Murray

Field Chief Data Officer (EMEA)

Dataiku

Read Bio

Knowledge Hub

Rethinking Digital Sovereignty in a Disrupted World

For years, digital transformation was measured by speed, scale, and efficiency. Today, resilience is emerging as a defining metric. As digital infrastructure becomes part of a nation’s critical fabric, disruptions no longer remain confined to IT — they impact economies, public services, and trust itself.

Hande Akdede Erbay
IBM
Director, Data Platform, Middle East and Africa
Learn More

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