UAE Firms Shift To 'Always-On' Resilience As Hybrid Cloud And AI Reshape Risk Strategies

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Enterprises across the UAE and wider Middle East are rethinking business resilience, moving away from traditional disaster recovery models towards“always-on” operations as digital risks become more complex and persistent.

According to Sahem Azzam, President, Indirect, Middle East, Africa and Inner Asia at Orange Business, organisations are no longer focused solely on restoring systems after a disruption. Instead, they are building architectures that can maintain operations even during prolonged instability.“Recent escalations have made enterprises realise they need to be more proactive and flexible when it comes to resilience,” he said.

Recommended For You

This shift is being driven by geopolitical uncertainty, growing reliance on digital infrastructure, and the increasing complexity of interconnected systems. Enterprises are reassessing business continuity strategies and moving towards dynamic resilience frameworks that prioritise continuity over recovery.

A key trend in the UAE is the growing use of hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Organisations are distributing workloads across regions and platforms to improve redundancy and ensure access to data and applications even in the event of system failure. These architectures also allow companies to tap into global talent pools and capabilities while strengthening disaster preparedness.

At the same time, digital transformation strategies are placing networks and cybersecurity at the centre of enterprise architecture. Sahem Azzam noted that companies are embedding security across all layers of their infrastructure, enabling faster and more secure access to data while maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements.

Anas Naim, Managing Director - Middle East and Turkey at Orange Business, said enterprises in the UAE are moving away from centralised data centres towards distributed, cloud-native environments. Workloads are increasingly spread across hyperscalers, software-as-a-service platforms, and on-premise systems, requiring highly flexible and scalable network designs.

“The network is becoming much more distributed by design,” he said, adding that security models are also evolving.“Security now follows the user, the application and the data, rather than being tied to a physical location,” he explained, highlighting the rise of zero-trust frameworks and secure access service edge (SASE) models.

Automation and software-defined networking are also gaining traction, enabling organisations to manage complex environments more efficiently. AI is playing a growing role in network operations and resilience planning, helping businesses monitor systems, detect anomalies and automate responses in real time.

However, the rise of AI is also creating new security challenges. Sahem Azzam warned that risks extend beyond cyberattacks to include issues such as data integrity in AI models.“One of the security threats is not only hacking, but also the data feeding into AI models,” he said, emphasising the need for trusted, well-governed AI systems.

Naim added that strong data governance frameworks are critical to managing these risks, particularly in controlling access to sensitive information and ensuring compliance.

The UAE's broader digital ecosystem is supporting this transformation. Innovation hubs, startup platforms and government-led initiatives are helping organisations test and deploy new technologies, while access to global talent and a collaborative business environment are reinforcing the country's position as a regional technology hub.

As digital transformation accelerates, Orange Business said the focus for enterprises is no longer whether to adopt new technologies, but how to do so securely while maintaining continuous operations in an increasingly volatile environment.

MENAFN07062026000049011007ID1111222787