THE NEXT PHASE OF ENTERPRISE CLOUD
As Middle East enterprises move beyond cloud-first strategies, the focus is shifting towards workload optimisation, data sovereignty, AI readiness and cost control. or much of the past decade,
F enterprise cloud strategies were largely defined by migration. Organisations measured progress by the number of applications moved to public cloud platforms, the retirement of legacy infrastructure and the speed at which they could reduce their dependence on traditional data centres. Cloud adoption became synonymous with digital transformation, promising greater agility, scalability and access to innovation.
That narrative is now changing. Across the Middle East, enterprises are entering a more mature phase of cloud adoption, where the emphasis is shifting from migration to optimisation. Rather than pursuing cloud adoption as an end in itself, CIOs are reassessing where applications and data should reside, how infrastructure investments can deliver measurable business outcomes and whether existing architectures are equipped to support the demands of artificial intelligence.
Omar Akar, Vice President, METCA at Everpure
The most significant change in enterprise cloud thinking is the move away from infrastructureled decisionmaking towards strategies built around business outcomes.
Omar Akar, Vice President, METCA at Everpure, said enterprise leaders are increasingly examining how their cloud strategies can help organisations launch services faster, adopt AI more effectively and retain control over critical information.
Cost and sovereignty remain important considerations, but Akar believes the ability to understand and use data across different environments is becoming equally important.
Historically, enterprise IT architectures were organised around individual business
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INTELLIGENT CIO MIDDLE EAST www. intelligentcio. com