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Even though it’s still early days, there is no question that generative AI will be a defining driver of productivity and efficiency in Bahrain’s economy. What’s required to capitalise on this opportunity is strong public sector leadership and second-generation cloud innovation.
In the time I’ve spent with customers, I’ve learned there are critical decisions public sector organisations can make to empower AI readiness for their economies.
First, they must ensure access to bandwidth and power. Large scale AI implementations need secure and flexible cloud infrastructure capable of managing a vast amount of data. Cloud data centres can support the demands of AI’s large language models, but these data centres require power and high bandwidth interconnects which governments are best positioned to provide.
Second, governments must lead by example. There is so much more a country can do when it runs in the cloud. Citizens gain easier access to more government services and governments can more easily optimise resources, reducing costs. It’s a win-win and will inspire businesses to follow suit.
Third, the public sector can turn local businesses into technology partners. As we’ve seen in other parts of the region, governments play a huge role in identifying and collaborating with educational institutions and technology companies that can catapult technology transformation forward.
But that’s only part of the equation.
As public sector organisations depend more on cloud-based technologies for their operations, the concept of sovereign cloud is emerging as a critical pillar to ensure national security, data privacy, and digital sovereignty. Moving to the cloud should never compromise security or privacy.
Sovereignty requires more than a one-size-fits-all solution. Cloud infrastructure should address issues that governments prioritise: deployment choice, interoperability, better price performance, and built-in security.
Sovereign cloud enables customers to maintain control over operations and assets to ensure productivity and resilience, while also addressing regulatory compliance related to data security and regional requirements. When our customers achieve AI sovereignty, they gain more control over where they run AI workloads, how they manage data, and how they operate infrastructure.
Cloud sovereignty also requires a level of security that public clouds can’t provide. With sovereign architecture, you don’t need to worry about public cloud ‘neighbours’ because they are physically separated from your data and workloads.
Thanks to AI, Bahrain’s enterprise data can provide limitless capacity to innovate and grow, but only if its cloud architecture is secure. When a cloud’s operating system and database are autonomous, human labour is no longer needed to configure, patch, or manage the system. That’s important because if you remove human labour, you’ve removed the possibility of human error and human mischief. Almost all security breaches result from one of these two human factors.
Oracle is investing in Bahrain’s need for secure cloud technology to power modern AI innovation.
This week, Oracle signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Labour Fund Tamkeen to open a dedicated Oracle Engineering Centre in Bahrain, which will provide technical training to strengthen Bahrain’s ICT talent pool and help meet the growing demand for Oracle Cloud solutions in the Gulf region.
We’re prioritising our work with Bahrain – a pioneering country of the Abraham Accords – because we believe the kingdom will continue to experience the economic strength that the accords create.
I was delighted to participate in the MoU signing ceremony with Tamkeen this week because of the important decision made by Bahrain’s leadership to prioritise peace, prosperity and opportunity through the region.
It’s a decision that will drive economic growth across the kingdom for years to come.
The author is the chief executive of Oracle
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