Sascha Giese, Global Tech Evangelist, Observability at SolarWinds, shares the key trends and tactics that digital leaders should use to gain an IT advantage in 2025
The dawn of 2025 brings a chance for the GCC to recalibrate its approach to transformative technologies, moving beyond the frenzy of hype to focus on meaningful progress. With AI and IT strategies maturing, regional enterprises have the opportunity to strike a balance between innovation and governance, addressing challenges like regulatory compliance and operational complexity. This year could mark the beginning of a more deliberate and impactful digital evolution, as businesses harness technology to shape a future that’s both efficient and sustainable. Here, we explore the key trends and tactics that digital leaders will use to gain an IT advantage.
1. Tempering of AI Ambitions
Before generative AI turned our heads, the GCC was already home to the world’s first AI ministry (in the United Arab Emirates) and was serving as a testing ground for thousands of use cases. From Saudi Arabia’s Mozn to Dubai’s SleekFlow, AI startups continue to put the Arab Gulf squarely in the global spotlight.
In 2025, however, we are going to see a slightly less frantic scramble to adopt AI. Generative AI created a storm that was equal parts inspiration and panic. Now, decision-makers across the region have come to realize that GenAI comes with a list of legal and operational challenges. A global study by SolarWinds in 2024 showed nearly half (47%) of IT professionals had had negative experiences, especially around privacy and security. The GCC is awash with regulatory frameworks restricting storage and use of data. Cross-disciplinary collaboration will be required if companies are to develop the right governance to remain compliant and retain the trust of customers.
If businesses can walk this line, AI could be a major boon to multiple functions, including our overwhelmed IT helpdesks. It can bring advanced automation and support troubleshooters with root-cause analysis. It can monitor more effectively and report more quickly. It can predict and advise on a range of support issues, such as storage capacity and security. Provided we take the time to understand AI, we can build a future where it supports rather than supplants employees.
“As a result of the re-examination of AI strategy and of the desire to repatriate large chunks of the IT stack, ITSM platforms will become indispensable to regional enterprises. They will be the backbones of IT service desks across the GCC in 2025. GenAI’s ability to slicken workflows and act as an ever-vigilant consultant will be integrated into modern ITSM platforms.”
Sascha Giese, Global Tech Evangelist, Observability, SolarWinds
2. Grounded Expectations of Cloud Computing
In 2020, the GCC looked to the cloud as the only way to remain operational during COVID lockdowns. Five years on – having taken stock of their capabilities and analyzed their ability to pivot in reaction to another crisis – business heads are settling on a compromise where at least some of their infrastructure is returned to premises. Hybrid IT and multi-cloud will dominate 2025 IT strategy. Taking back control will call for the procurement of observability solutions that cater to such environments. These solutions must be strong in full-stack monitoring that includes cloud infrastructure. And they must offer AI/ML integration that allows remediation of issues before they occur.
No longer blinded by the complexity of IT sprawl, helpdesks will be paragons of efficiency. And as generative AI takes its place in ITSM, smaller organizations will also be able to bring their IT home because GenAI will allow them to perform enterprise-grade ITSM functions without the need to consult (or pay) a team of outside specialists. Consequently, hours of humdrum manual labor will migrate into the hands of advanced digital platforms that can complete tasks more quickly. Innovative human resources will be redirected towards strategic and creative work. In the world of GenAI, words like “understaffed” and “overstretched” no longer apply to human ITSM teams.
3. ITSM joins the A-list
As a result of the reexamination of AI strategy and of the desire to repatriate large chunks of the IT stack, ITSM platforms will become indispensable to regional enterprises. They will be the backbones of IT service desks across the GCC in 2025. GenAI’s ability to slicken workflows and act as an ever-vigilant consultant will be integrated into modern ITSM platforms. Productivity will soar as IT professionals focus on more complex issues, resulting in boosts to efficiency and service quality. AI is ideally placed for incident triage, taking a fraction of the time humans require to assess, categorize, and prioritize. This rapid and accurate resolution of issues will come out in enhanced first-contact resolution rates, MTTR metrics, and CSAT scores.
In the midst of this new efficiency lies a shift to observability and a departure from in-house development of monitoring platforms. Between the rise of GenAI and the practicality and availability of open-source, it has become harder to justify the time and resources necessary to go it alone. Another driving force of the adoption of open-source tools is the regional IT skills gap. Plugging holes in its capabilities, an organization will be only too eager to go with a cost-effective, ready-made tool.
4. Soft Skills Will Take Precedence
With so much change surrounding them, and teams under pressure to make it all work, senior executives will be pushing for exceptional IT leaders to be installed. Change brings doubt, anxiety, and stress. The hard skills of a data scientist or IT troubleshooter will do little to reassure people that everything is heading in the right direction. Cultural change is in the air; soft skills like empathy, conflict arbitration, active listening, and collaboration will be the difference between an organization becoming a torn shell of its former self or a more resilient form of what it was before.
If corporate values are to remain intact and employees are to stay motivated, leaders must be inspirational. They must be able to instill a sense of confidence and togetherness while maintaining the understanding that accountability is critical. With the right culture, new technologies will add value rather than sow discord. Nowhere is this more important right now than in AI adoption, which requires the skills from several teams to ensure governance and innovation can go hand in hand and that solutions address ethical issues and multiple areas of compliance.
Control, alter, compete
Now that the power to shape their digital future is back in the hands of regional organizations, the benefits to employees, customers and balance sheets will become apparent. There are less mysteries on a journey when one travels in a reliable vehicle. IT is changing forever, so pick the right mode of transport and reap the rewards.
About the Author
Sascha Giese is an Observability Evangelist at SolarWinds. He holds various technical certifications, including being a Cisco® Certified Network Associate (CCNA®), Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA), Microsoft® Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA), VMware® Technical Sales Professional (VTSP), AWS® Certified Cloud Practitioner, and Network Performance Monitor and Server & Application Monitor SolarWinds Certified Professional® (SCP). Giese has more than 15 years of technical IT experience, four of which have been as a senior pre-sales engineer at SolarWinds. As a senior pre-sales engineer, he was responsible for product training SolarWinds channel partners and customers, regularly participated in the annual SolarWinds Partner Summit EMEA, and contributed to the company’s professional certification program, SolarWinds Certified Professional.
