Following LEAP 2026, Shargil Ahmad (Deloitte) reflects on key technology trends for governments

At LEAP 2026, Deloitte took to the stage to explore the technologies reshaping Saudi Arabia’s business landscape. Among the firm’s delegation was Shargil Ahmad, Government and Public Services Leader for the Middle East, who reflects on the key topics discussed at the event and their implications for the Kingdom’s digital agenda.

To start with, what are the major challenges facing governments, and how can AI and technology more broadly help solve these challenges?

Governments everywhere are juggling complex service delivery, rising citizen expectations, fiscal pressure and talent gaps, all whilst the economic climate is getting tighter.

In the Middle East, especially the GCC, the added complexity is that national visions demand transformation at scale. AI helps governments shift from reactive to predictive services, automate routine work, and deliver services that are personalized and proactive; exactly what GCC citizens expect.

Many organizations have yet to move from AI pilots to organization-wide implementation. What challenges do public sector organizations face in scaling AI adoption?

Government organizations are navigating legacy systems, fragmented data, strict compliance and mission critical public services that cannot fail. Add to that procurement complexity and risk appetite, and it’s very difficult to scale pilots in most places.

Research from Deloitte, titled ‘State of AI in the Enterprise 2026’, reveals that many organizations remain trapped in a “proof-of-concept cycle,” continuously launching pilots without successfully scaling them into enterprise-wide deployment due to integration challenges, governance complexity, and infrastructure limitations.

The conversation around enterprise AI is moving from enabling adoption to implementing it at scale, with organizations increasingly focused on measurable value, operational resilience, and the confidence to deploy AI across the enterprise.

Enabling that organization-wide or even government-wide transformation requires unambiguous governance that makes decisions, unified data and – in my view, the most important ingredient – executive sponsorship that treats AI as business-critical infrastructure.

When implementing tech solutions, how can public sector leaders best go about handling change management and effectively engage the workforce?

Public sector leaders, in the Middle East or elsewhere, need to keep in mind that transformation is about culture change, not system rollouts. That means early and frequent communication, visible leadership sponsorship and hands on training are needed. The technology is not the star of the transformation; public sector staff are, and they are the ones who will deliver the return on investment.

Digital sovereignty and local data residency are top priorities for KSA organizations. How can government entities balance strict sovereignty regulations with the push to rapidly adopt world-class tech innovations?

I believe the GCC can adopt world class tech and maintain digital sovereignty. It’s not easy, but the starting point is being clear about why sovereignty is important and where it is needed. Only then can we make informed choices on where data must stay local, federate what can scale and build partnerships with trusted global vendors under clear guardrails.

Citizen trust is essential for government bodies everywhere. How can public sector leaders ensure that resilience and trust are built in by design when deploying AI and other technologies?

Trust has to be earned. We need to show that where we have deployed AI in public services, it has enabled and protected fair and equitable access.

Looking forward to 2030, what do you expect will be the regulatory or technological shift that will have the biggest impact on how government organizations will deliver citizen services?

I expect and hope the biggest shift will be towards AI native service delivery: services triggered automatically by life events, not applications. This will require the technology to work (sovereign AI plus data platforms), but, more importantly, public services will need to be redesigned to be proactive rather than reactive.