Anilesh Kumar (Intwo) on Cloud and Gen AI as a catalyst for digital transformation

Two of the most hyped technologies for 2025 are undoubtedly cloud computing and generative AI. Anilesh Kumar, Managing Director for the Middle East and Asia at Microsoft-partner Intwo, shares how the two technologies are empowering companies to outpace their competitive and rapidly innovate.
Digital transformation is a huge focus across industries in the Middle East. How would you describe its impact on businesses?
Digital transformation is no longer just a trend – it becomes crucial for any business that want to ultimately be successful in the long run. In the Middle East, such policies as Smart Dubai in UAE or Saudi Vision 2030 stress this change, making the region suitable for digital development.
Extensive research reveals that companies across the world are spending 80 percent of their digital budgets to improve operational efficiency and customer value.
Cloud computing is a major driver of digital transformation. How is cloud adoption progressing in the region, and what challenges do companies face?
Cloud solutions in the MENA region are growing exponentially as organizations continue to discover the advantages of the availability. Estimates also indicates that the MENA cloud market will be valued at $5 billion before the year 2025 given the regions’ overly emphasis on the development of innovation through establishing data centres facilities by major players like Microsoft, AWS, and Google Cloud.
Thus, the expansion allows companies to own their data, a factor especially important within the region due to the regulations and security challenges pertaining to the area.
Several conditions are helping this growth process. All governments throughout the MENA region are going through the process of digitalisation – Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and UAE’s National Innovation Strategy are perfect examples, as both point to the necessity of developing tech intensive economies.
Also, the need for cloud computing services is growing in the scope of the organization and the type of industry: financial and real estate, retail, and healthcare industries strived for increased flexibility and competitiveness to provide services and products using the latest technologies. As an example, a PwC report reveals that about 60% of the MENA organisations believe it is critical to integrate cloud solutions into their strategic plans.
However, several issues are still existing today, and they include data security and compliance, and cost of migrating forms a big challenge. According to the PwC survey less than half of the business leaders in the region are worried about data security challenges affecting cloud migration a factor of importance in sectors such as healthcare and financial services.
We’re hearing a lot about Microsoft’s new AI tools like Copilot and the Power Platform. How are these generative AI tools changing the way businesses operate?
Microsoft has been focusing on various AI functions that are transpiring across organizations. Microsoft Copilot is an AI present across Microsoft workloads that can assist in creation of content, analysis of data and handling of rote tasks. By itself, this tool can drive efficiency improvements on the order of 50 percent, per Microsoft research.
The Power Platform that has tools such as Power apps and Power automate are revolutionizing business processes automation and customs. Power Apps enables organizations to implement regular solutions without necessarily involving many IT skills to develop complicated applications.
In its turn, Power Automate can automate all types of tasks, from data entry to compliance, making a company’s time and resources more efficient.
What specific industries in the Middle East are benefiting most from cloud and generative AI solutions?
Cloud as well as generative AI are proving to be a boon for a variety of sectors in different manners. A McKinsey & Company report for instance found that more use of AI in business functions could unlock at least $150 billion of value in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies. Generative AI accounts for a major part of that value.
A few examples by sector: the opportunities of AI incorporated into real estate organizations are in upgrading tenants and building performances. Retailers use AI services and cloud computing to analyse their consumers to make decisions quickly and meet the market needs. In production, the use of predictive analytics reduces by a quarter the time losses that may result from mean preventive and breakdowns.
Further reading: AI and Cloud lifting demand for data center services to new heights.
How would you advise business leaders looking to adopt cloud and generative AI technologies?
I would suggest to business leaders that they focus on their objectives and test out the different projects with quantifiable benefits and start small. A Gartner survey reveals that 60% of the CIOs worldwide expect to launch cloud or AI pilots this year lest they disturb the regular business operations.
Leaders should also ensure that cloud and AI direction is aligned with specific organizational goals, whether it is enhancing the customer experience or cutting on the expenses or enhancing productivity.
Finally, Intwo is playing a growing role in the region’s digital transformation? Can you tell us more?
Intwo is part of Synergia and consistently recognized in the top 3 of Microsoft’s Inner Circle for the past three years. We leverage over 20 years of expertise in cloud transformation to deliver compliant, tailored solutions that drive sustainable growth across industries like manufacturing, retail, real estate, and business services.
At Intwo, we ensure that our clients’ cloud computing concerns are adequately met through deploying secure, regulatory compliant, and highly scalable cloud solutions to meet unique regional and regulations. It is our mission to make sure that the businesses having cloud technology can use it without doubt about its locality and security standards.
Intwo has 12 offices worldwide, including 3 in the Middle East: in Dubai, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.