This report identifies key demand-side trends in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region that can help enterprises fine-tune their digital strategies. It also provides an overview of enterprise challenges in this region based on Avasant’s assessment.

Why read this Market Insights?

The GCC region is balancing geopolitical challenges amid ongoing economic transformation. While trade disruptions are slowing overall tech spending, enterprises are prioritizing investments in resilience through cybersecurity, sovereign cloud, AI-driven supply chains, and automation. At the same time, economic diversification and sustainability goals are driving demand for AI-enabled and green digital solutions. Stronger data sovereignty regulations and government-backed AI initiatives are accelerating the adoption of advanced technologies, while cloud modernization and ERP standardization improve efficiency and agility. Alongside this, localization efforts and upskilling programs are building a future-ready workforce, supporting sustained digital growth across the region.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Region Digital Services 2026 Market Insights™ aids GCC region enterprises in identifying important market trends and challenges for any digital project that they take part in.

Methodology

The regional insights presented in this report are based on our ongoing interactions with enterprise CXOs and other key executives, targeted discussions with service providers, subject matter experts, and Avasant Fellows, analyst insights from primary and secondary research, and lessons learned from consulting engagements.

Table of contents

About the report (Page 3)

Executive summary (Pages 6–9)

• • Regional scope of the report
  • Key drivers and regional response
  • Avasant recognizes 27 top-tier service providers supporting the GCC region in digital transformation

Demand-side trends (Pages 10–16)

• • Gulf geopolitical tensions slow trade and tech spending, but boost investment in resilience and digital risk management
  • Non-oil GDP in the GCC is expected to grow at 3.6% annually through 2026 as the region diversifies investments in AI-powered sustainability
  • Stricter PDPL and SDAIA mandates are driving GCC enterprises to adopt sovereign cloud, compliant AI, and hybrid multicloud strategies to ensure data sovereignty and secure innovation
  • The UAE and Saudi Arabia have emerged as AI powerhouses and are spearheading initiatives to solidify the GCC region’s position as an AI hub
  • GCC enterprises are accelerating cloud-native and ERP modernization to reduce tech debt, scale GBS operations, and support AI-driven digital transformation
  • Relaxed visa policies address the digital skills gap, paving the way for blended onshore-offshore models for complex transformations

Key contacts (Page 17)

Read the Research Byte based on this report. Please refer to Avasant’s Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Digital Services 2026 RadarView™ for detailed insights on the service providers and supply-side trends.