Experts predicted that 2018 will see higher levels of adoption of cloud computing solutions and technologies in Saudi Arabia at a time when the global market value of the industry of "Chatbots" has amounted to around $800 million in 2016.
Moreover, experts have expected this value to exceed three billion dollars by 2020 while 74.7 percent of the Saudi citizens use social media chat applications and are always connected to the Internet.
"Companies will increasingly embrace new technologies in their digital strategies, but many of these companies cannot integrate and benefit from artificial intelligence," Chief Executive Officer of Ubuntu Ayman al-Ashkar told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Ashkar added that artificial intelligence is not limited to large companies as there is a way for small and medium-sized companies to integrate it quickly and easily in their digital strategies through ChatBox for use in e-commerce.
"This artificial intelligence-based mobile phone or website enables companies to address customers without talking to them and interact with them in a direct dialogue such as Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp for 24 hours per day,” he added.
"In 2017, the Kingdom witnessed more than 164,000 online attacks in one day," said Fateh Gergenawi, regional director of FireEye in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
He stressed the need for institutions and bodies in Saudi Arabia to reduce the risk of hacking by developing response capabilities and recovery from breakthroughs in the case they occur.
He pointed out that Saudi Arabia’s plan to enhance e-security will play a key role in achieving its 2030 vision, noting that the process of growth and development of the Kingdom depends more on technology, artificial intelligence and IT experience.
The stability of technologies in the cloud lets stored data an easy target for hackers, making cloud security one of the key emerging trends to be adopted by organizations across the region, not just in the Middle East, Gergenawi stressed.
