RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is committed to delivering “world-class” tourism experience and services through cloud-powered digital solutions, partnering with enterprise software developer Informatica Inc, an executive said superior.
In an interview given to Arab Newsthe company’s CEO, Amit Walia, expressed his admiration for the rapid growth of tourism and the importance of the efforts that the Kingdom is making to improve the overall visitor experience.
Mr. Walia said: “I was very impressed and amazed by the attention paid to the end customer, the tourist, and the efforts put into making this the best experience in the world. We must ensure that information is easily accessible so that the experience is optimal.”
He stressed that the company wants to help achieve this goal and can participate in the development of tourism and infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.
Mr Walia highlighted the potential to improve the experience of visitors, whether religious or not, by leveraging data and technology in areas such as transport, accommodation and leisure facilities.
Informatica enables businesses to leverage insights and AI by connecting and managing data across any multi-cloud or hybrid system, making it easier to adopt modern business strategies.
During an interview with Arab News At the first major data innovation summit, Informatica Summit Saudi Arabia 2024, in Riyadh, the CEO highlighted that the aim of this event was to chart a roadmap to accelerate data transformation. Saudi Arabia into a cloud and data-driven state ahead of the 2030 World Expo.
He also asserted that the company’s capabilities in managing supply chains and ensuring data security and governance can improve the Kingdom’s operational efficiency as a digital enterprise.
Mr. Walia also highlighted Informatica’s belief that its investment in Saudi Arabia will accelerate the country’s digital transformation driven by AI and Cloud, ultimately benefiting its advancement.
“All major partners have standardized on Informatica. We are confident that not only can we help the Kingdom achieve its 2030 goal, we believe it could achieve it sooner. We wish to fully contribute to this success,” he declared.
Emphasizing the crucial role of cloud technology in digital transformation, especially in the context of AI, Walia asserted that cloud infrastructure is essential to enable these technological developments.
He highlighted the importance of data management, saying high-quality data is crucial to achieving accurate results in AI applications.
The company is set to open its first ever office in the Kingdom in the coming months, strengthening its presence in the region.
The CEO was confident about Informatica’s development in Saudi Arabia, forecasting growth outpacing any other region, including its expansion into Europe.
“I firmly believe that our growth in the Kingdom will be much faster than in any other region on the European continent. We are investing accordingly,” said Mr. Walia.
During the interview, Walia said the company has collaborated with Google Cloud to establish a regional data delivery infrastructure, thereby ensuring security.
He further explained that partnerships with global system integrators and local agencies aim to standardize governance and privacy practices across the country.
“This is a very close partnership. We have been working with Google Cloud since its inception. Our goal here in the Kingdom is to ensure that all our cloud platforms for data management are available locally,” said Mr. Walia.
He continues: “We plan to address this topic in more depth in the coming months and weeks, in order to become the foundation for all initiatives relating to secure and quality data management for the Kingdom.”
He concluded the interview by highlighting the importance of data management in the era of AI-driven advancements. To this end, Mr. Walia emphasized that although AI is powerful, it only generates value if it is combined with high-quality data.
“AI does not inherently generate value. It only brings value when combined with quality data. However, data is not necessarily good by nature; they may be of poor quality and fragmented. Data management is crucial. This is precisely what we do at Informatica,” he said.
And Mr. Walia added: “Informatica has been managing data for 30 years. We are the first company to do this at scale. Our platform handles 92 billion transactions per month and is growing 100% every year.”
In April, Informatica launched its AI-powered intelligent data management cloud platform in Saudi Arabia, representing a first-of-its-kind advancement for the Kingdom.
This initiative involved the establishment of a new delivery point in Riyadh on Google Cloud, allowing the company to strengthen its support to local partners and organizations with its cloud data management platform, in compliance with regulations local.
