How AWS can help partners grow in the Middle East

One of the primary strategies for growth for partners is through global expansion. Amazon Web Services (AWS) continues to invest in infrastructure around the globe. The Middle East is one region with huge potential for growth.

According to IDC, more than 75 percent of workloads are on premises in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia. The AWS and IDC report “Unlocking the Full Potential of AI in the Middle East” points out that 28 percent of organizations surveyed in the UAE and Saudi Arabia are currently investing in AI while another 50 percent plan to invest.

AWS infrastructure in the Middle East

AWS Global Infrastructure comprises of 36 Regions and 114 Availability Zones.

• AWS has two Middle East Regions: the Bahrain Region launched in 2019 and UAE in 2022. We also announced the launch of the Saudi Arabia Region in 2026 and plans to invest $5.3 billion.
• In Oman, we have an AWS Local Zone which can help with both data residency and latency requirements.
• AWS Outposts which allow you to extend and run native AWS services on premises is available in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and UAE.
• AWS CloudFront Edge Locations, available in Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, UAE, and Oman, can improve security and performance.

Additionally, AWS can build an AWS Dedicated Local Zone for a specific customer or community to further help with hosting sensitive workloads. At re:Invent 2024 we announced the release of Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) directory buckets for Dedicated Local Zones, which enables customers to deploy a wider range of solutions.

Customers can use a combination of these infrastructure offerings to design architectures that meet sovereignty and data residency requirements. This can also help in countries where there is currently no AWS Region. For instance, a customer can deploy sensitive workloads to AWS Outposts or an AWS Local Zone, and less sensitive workloads to an AWS Region in the country or in another country.

AWS is sovereign-by-design

Sovereignty requirements differ by country and sector. There is no single overarching regulation covering all countries. AWS Cloud is sovereign-by-design, meaning we provide a broad set of features and controls that allow customers around the globe to meet their sovereignty requirements.

AWS Partner Network (APN) Partners can access the latest country-specific cloud acquisition information, resources, and training through the Cloud Acquisition Tear Sheets, available in AWS Partner Central (login required). This can help partners get started with customers in regulated industries such as public sector. We recommend partners also reach out to their account teams who can provide them contacts in local AWS teams.

We launched the AWS Digital Sovereignty Competency at re:Invent 2024. The AWS Digital Sovereignty Competency connects customers with APN Partners that have specialized expertise in helping organizations maintain control over digital assets and meet compliance requirements. These partners leverage AWS technologies, controls, and security features to provide customers with options for data residency, access control, resilience, and self-sufficiency. By offering tailored solutions for local regulations, the AWS Competency Partners simplify the process for customers to design, build, and operate cloud environments that meet their unique digital sovereignty needs. This allows customers to utilize the full power of AWS while retaining the control and compliance to protect sensitive data and critical workloads.

In addition to AWS Specialization Program benefits, AWS Digital Sovereignty Competency Partners receive unique benefits, such as go-to-market strategy workshop planning sessions. To learn more, review the AWS Specialization Program Benefits Guide in AWS Partner Central.

AWS Partners can help customers

According to IDC, the skills gap is a key blocker for 43 percent of customers when it comes to realizing cloud value. SoftwareOne, an AWS Premier Tier Partner and a launch partner of the AWS Digital Sovereignty competency is one partner that can help customers.

“Our research on the cloud skills gap reveals that 95 percent of respondents report a negative impact on their organization due to a lack of cloud skills, and 93 percent prioritize investing in cloud managed services to bridge this gap. Our AWS Cloud Center of Excellence (CoE) is dedicated to supporting clients in the Middle East by building secure, compliant, and scalable AWS environments tailored to local regulatory requirements. From advisory to migration and ongoing management, we enable IT teams to focus on innovation while ensuring security, compliance, and operational resilience,” said Alex Galbraith, CTO of Cloud Services at SoftwareOne.

“Cloud adoption can enhance sovereignty, often making it easier to meet sovereignty requirements in the cloud than on premises. With 13 AWS competencies, SoftwareOne helps clients achieve data residency and compliance through our AWS Landing Zone, providing security and governance guardrails using AWS regions and services.”.

Growth opportunities in the UAE

The UAE offers a promising market for software businesses pursuing international expansion, featuring a robust economy, technology-focused government initiatives, and increasing demand for cloud solutions.

Deploying software to the AWS UAE Region addresses essential business requirements for organizations in the Middle East. It helps meet UAE data residency requirements, particularly important for financial services and healthcare organizations. This regional presence improves latency and performance for users across the Middle East, enabling businesses to deliver responsive applications and enhanced user experiences.

Partner success story: OutSystems

OutSystems, an AWS Advanced Technology Partner offering a low-code development platform, has expanded its services to the AWS UAE Region. This strategic deployment enables regional enterprises to use OutSystems’ development capabilities while maintaining data within UAE borders.

“Since launching our generative AI-powered platform, ODC, in the AWS UAE Region, we have experienced remarkable growth in our Middle Eastern customer base, along with a fourfold increase in our pipeline. With this new product, customers can now generate the first version of an application in minutes—simply from a prompt or a requirements document—seamlessly integrating it into an enterprise-grade application lifecycle,” said Eduardo Cruz, OutSystems’ Regional Vice President for the Middle East.

“Our UAE-based customers, particularly in the government and financial services sectors, can now confidently leverage our gen AI-powered, industry-leading low-code platform to build and deploy mission-critical applications within weeks, all while ensuring compliance with strict data residency requirements.”

AWS Partner matchmaking event in Saudi Arabia

The AWS Business Outcomes Xcelerator (BOX) Program creates value for AWS Partners interested in developing integrated solutions for line-of-business challenges. Through partner matchmaking events, the program facilitates connections between complementary partners to address customer requirements effectively.

These events bring together local AWS Partners, independent software vendors (ISVs), and consulting and services partners who are active APN members. These collaborations enable solution development and innovation through combined expertise.

“AWS helped unite Pega, AWS, and our essential GSI [global system integrator] partners, simplifying the process for clients by delivering cohesive solutions,” said Judy Buchholz, SVP Global Partner Ecosystem at Pega. “Now, clients no longer need to navigate the complexities of vendor collaboration. Instead, we can help them focus on achieving their goals.”

The next event is scheduled for April 2025 in Saudi Arabia. The event aims to foster collaboration for developing customer-focused solutions that deliver measurable impact for Saudi Arabian organizations.

Progress in AI is accelerating cloud adoption

Migrating to the cloud offers operational, security, performance, cost, reliability, and sustainability benefits. Once in the cloud, customers can take advantage of modernization opportunities, one of which is to enhance their applications using AI and generative AI made possible by the processing power of the cloud.

According to IDC, 43 percent of companies within the region reported that progress in AI accelerated their cloud migration and modernization plans.

Amazon SageMaker AI is available in both AWS Regions in the Middle East and customers can choose from a wide range of foundation models (FMs) available through Amazon SageMaker Jumpstart to implement their generative AI use cases. Customers can also opt to use Amazon Bedrock, which provides API access to FMs, in an alternative AWS Region.

Country-specific recent highlights

Besides investing in infrastructure, AWS continues to work with governments and organizations in the Middle East to meet regulatory requirements and drive cloud enablement. Here are some recent highlights by country.

• UAE – In October 2024, AWS and e&, the global technology group which serves more than 175 million subscribers in 34 countries, entered into a strategic partnership. This will help address the most stringent customer requirements across the public sector and regulated industries including healthcare, finance, and oil and gas.
• Bahrain – Since launching in 2019, around 85 percent of government data has been migrated to the AWS Bahrain Region.
• Oman – AWS entered into a strategic agreement with Omantel to address data residency and security requirements for government entities and regulated industries, and provide enablement to Omani organizations to migrate to the cloud. AWS will also be a preferred cloud provider for Omantel for digital transformation.

Conclusion

There are clear expansion opportunities for AWS partners in the Middle East. By leveraging the AWS infrastructure and participating in programs like AWS BOX, partners can expand their reach, ensure compliance, and develop innovative solutions for diverse sectors, including the public sector. We invite you to explore these opportunities and reach out to your account teams to develop a joint strategy to expand into the Middle East.

Please contact us with any questions or comments.