Tencent Cloud backs Bookme’s Saudi expansion

Saudi Arabia is embarking on a transformative journey in cloud computing, with local Microsoft cloud capabilities unlocking new possibilities for businesses to rapidly adopt Microsoft 365, cloud technologies, and artificial intelligence (AI). As government entities, financial institutions, healthcare providers, and critical infrastructure companies modernize their IT infrastructure, the focus is shifting from merely shifting to the cloud to ensuring data remains secure, recoverable, and resilient.

Mena Migally, Regional Vice President for EMEA East at Veeam, stresses that Saudi Arabia is a dynamic and strategically vital technology market. As critical workloads transition to Microsoft 365 and the cloud, ensuring data protection and rapid recovery becomes a critical business requirement. Veeam and Microsoft have a longstanding partnership centered on safeguarding Microsoft environments, which has expanded in recent years.

In 2024, they launched a five-year strategic alliance to jointly innovate, including integrating Microsoft Copilot and AI services with Veeam's data protection solutions. Tamer Elhamy, Director of Software Partners at Microsoft MEA, highlights the significance of this collaboration for the Kingdom's cloud and AI trajectory. With Microsoft 365 services now accessible from their Saudi Arabia East datacenter region starting November 2026, businesses in the Kingdom will have access to local data residency alongside global cloud and AI advancements.

This partnership has further strengthened through an equity investment and joint development of AI-powered solutions for data resilience. Both companies are integrating Microsoft AI capabilities into Veeam's data resilience platform, enhancing protection for Microsoft 365 and Azure environments. Migally emphasizes that data protection must be an integral part of any cloud strategy from the outset.

"The cloud doesn't eliminate the need to safeguard data," he explains. "Our collaboration with Microsoft allows us to combine Veeam's expertise in backup, recovery, and ransomware defense with Microsoft's cloud and AI capabilities, providing customers greater assurance across their data infrastructure." This alliance is already delivering new features.

Veeam was among the inaugural partners for Microsoft 365 Backup Storage, integrating with Veeam Data Cloud for Microsoft 365 to offer faster backup and recovery at scale. Elhamy notes that this collaboration enables customers to achieve resilience that was previously unattainable, allowing them to focus more on business-critical work in Microsoft 365 and AI applications, knowing their data is securely protected.

With the region's readiness confirmed, Saudi Arabia is now concentrating on developing robust data estates, governance policies, and transitioning from pilot projects to full-scale production. Both executives see AI as the key driver of this transformation. Elhamy predicts that AI will generate significant economic benefits for the Kingdom, with IDC projecting Microsoft, its partners, and customers to generate approximately $44 billion in new revenues for the Saudi economy between 2027 and 2030.

He also stresses that the quality of AI outputs is directly linked to the quality of underlying data, underscoring the importance of governance and recoverability in unlocking AI potential. Migally concurs that data resilience will increasingly become a core component of business strategy. "The organizations that will thrive will be those capable of rapid innovation while maintaining control, compliance, and recoverability," he concludes.

"In the era of AI, data resilience is not just an IT issue; it is a fundamental business imperative."