COUNTRY FOCUS : SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi Arabia ’ s government and public sector is spearheading IT spending in the country , with substantial investments being made in the areas of AI , IoT , cybersecurity , big data analytics , which are the critical building blocks of an experience economy .
Powerhouse of te investment and in
Riyadh at Daylight , Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is propelling itself into a new era of digital innovation . Fuelled by an influx of foreign direct investment and a colossal $ 7 trillion development plan for giga projects , ICT spending in Saudi Arabia is projected to soar beyond $ 35 billion in 2023 . That IS according to the latest forecast from IDC , predicting strong compound annual growth rates , CAGRs for software , 11.4 % and IT services , 8.7 % over the 2022 – 2026 period .
The government sector is spearheading IT spending in Saudi Arabia in 2023 , with substantial investments being made in the areas of AI , IoT , cybersecurity , and big data analytics – the critical building blocks of an Experience Economy . The key sectors of finance , communications , energy and resources , and manufacturing will be the next biggest spenders in 2023 ; however , the healthcare , finance , retail , wholesale , professional services , and education sectors are expected to see the fastest rates of growth over the next five years , according to IDC .
Key institutions inside Saudi Arabia ’ s ICT sector include Ministry of Communications and Information
Technology , MCIT ; Communications and Information Technology Commission , CITC ; Saudi Data and AI Authority , SDAIA ; and National Cybersecurity Authority , NCA .
According to the International Trade Administration , since 2019 , Saudi Arabia ’ s digital regulatory environment has been fragmented , with MCIT , SDAIA , CITC , and NCA creating a host of new regulations and policy frameworks vis-à-vis the cloud , cybersecurity controls , data management and personal data protection standards , e-commerce , and the Internet of Things .
US industry has noted that there are significant discrepancies between some of these laws and regulations , which creates ambiguity . The most significant factor when considering Saudi Arabia ’ s ICT sector is Saudi Arabia ’ s strict data localisation requirements which are out-of-step with global best practices for privacy and data protection . This potentially raises the cost of doing business in Saudi Arabia as companies are required to build duplicative local infrastructure and must find cloud-based applications on which to run their business .
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