FEATURE applications. Finance, sales, operations and other departments developed separate systems, often maintaining multiple copies of the same information. While these architectures supported specific business functions, they also created fragmented data environments that complicated enterprise-wide decision-making.
As organisations introduce AI and advanced analytics, those limitations are becoming more apparent. Fragmented information can undermine data quality, slow innovation and prevent businesses from developing a consistent understanding of their operations.
Akar advocates an approach based on data primacy, where information is treated as a shared enterprise asset rather than something tied to individual applications.
“ Data primacy is a response to this problem. Everpure is proposing this approach as it treats data as the primary consideration – a shared business asset that can be understood and governed across systems,” he said.
This approach changes the way organisations evaluate infrastructure. Instead of allowing application dependencies to dictate where data resides, enterprises can make workload placement decisions based on business requirements, governance considerations and performance expectations.
Mena Migally, Regional Vice President for EMEA East at Veeam
Mena Migally, Regional Vice President for EMEA East at Veeam, sees a similar shift towards business-driven cloud strategies.
“ We’ re seeing organisations across the Middle East move away from a cloud-first mindset towards a business-outcome-first approach. The question is no longer where workloads should run, but whether organisations can trust, govern and protect the data that powers those workloads,” he said.
According to Migally, enterprises are recognising that public cloud, private cloud and on-premises infrastructure each have a role to play. The priority is developing flexible environments that support innovation without compromising resilience, compliance or control.
Abdulkader Abousaleh, Regional Vice President MEA at Datadog, said the shift is also reflected in how organisations approach application modernisation.
Abdulkader Abousaleh, Regional Vice President MEA at Datadog
Middle East enterprises are moving beyond traditional lift-and-shift migrations towards cloud-native development, modernisation and AI integration. Citing PwC research from 2024, he noted that approximately 90 % of regional companies had progressed beyond basic migration towards modernising applications or developing cloudnative solutions.
As hyperscalers expand their regional presence and local providers strengthen their capabilities, enterprises have more infrastructure choices. This is enabling organisations to build cloud strategies around individual workload requirements rather than committing every application to a single environment.
Hybrid cloud becomes the strategic foundation
The continued expansion of hybrid and multicloud architectures reflects a broader recognition that enterprise workloads have different technical, commercial and regulatory requirements.
For some applications, public cloud provides the scalability and access to advanced services needed to support innovation. Other workloads may benefit from private cloud or on-premises infrastructure because of predictable demand, latency requirements, regulatory restrictions or existing technology investments.
Akar said business uncertainty, sovereignty, control and cost are influencing infrastructure decisions across the region.
“ Hybrid-multi cloud has become a popular approach for many organisations as it provides maximum flexibility and enables organisations to match business needs to the right workload,” he said. www. intelligentcio. com
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