Riverbed Study: 90% Of Saudi Organisations Say AI Has Met Or Exceeded ROI Goals As Focus Shifts To Execution At Scale

(MENAFN- Mid-East Info) As agentic AI reshapes IT, Saudi organisations show strong confidence in governance while
focusing on measurable returns, employee experience and the foundations required to scale
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – October 7, 2026 – Riverbed, the leader in AIOps for observability,
today announced the results of the Riverbed Global Survey on 'The State of Autonomous IT
Operations'. Artificial intelligence has crossed the threshold from experimentation into the IT
operating model, with organisations accelerating efforts to operationalise AI and progress
towards autonomous IT. As AI assumes a greater role in enterprise operations, the ability to
understand, trust and govern it will become increasingly important.* Borderless Finance. AI-Native.

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The Saudi findings from this new research indicate that organisations in the Kingdom are
particularly alert to this requirement. More than half (54%) of Saudi respondents are extremely
confident in their organisation's AI governance and human-oversight capabilities, compared with
42% globally. At the same time, 93% agree that effective AI assurance, observability and
governance will become a critical new IT domain to manage, while 77% report internal
hesitation about allowing AI to make operational decisions without human approval.

The findings suggest that Saudi enterprises view governance as an enabler of AI adoption
rather than a constraint. Establishing visibility into how AI performs and retaining appropriate
human oversight will give organisations the confidence to expand automation while maintaining
control over operational decisions.

“Riverbed's new research shows that AI is becoming fundamental to how IT operates, as
organizations look to use it to create more resilient, efficient and proactive environments,” said
Jim Gargan, Chief Marketing Officer, at Riverbed.“The next phase of AI is not simply more
automation, but AI that enterprises can understand, trust and govern. Riverbed is helping
customers close these gaps with unified observability, trusted data, AI governance and
intelligent automation, accelerating toward zero-disruption autonomous IT operations.”

Saudi organisations move from AI investment to execution
Saudi enterprises are increasing investment in AI and reporting measurable returns from their
initiatives. Two-thirds (66%) of Saudi organisations increased their AI investment during the past
year, while 90% say their AI initiatives have met or exceeded their original return-on-investment
goals. Looking ahead, 85% want to progress to human-supervised or highly autonomous IT
operations within the next two years.

These findings indicate that the conversation is shifting from whether organisations should
adopt AI to how effectively they can operationalise it at scale. Continued success will depend on
translating investment and ambition into more resilient, efficient and proactive IT operations.

Autonomous IT will be judged by the employee experience
Saudi organisations are already reporting strong capabilities in using AI to improve IT
operations and reduce employee disruption. Forty-four percent say their IT operations teams
are extremely effective at using AI to identify and resolve issues before employees notice a
disruption, compared with 34% globally. In addition, 96% expect AI-powered operational
intelligence to have at least a moderate impact on frontline IT and service-desk capabilities
within the next two years, while 36% expect the service desk to shift from reactive support
towards proactive prevention.

The findings suggest that the success of autonomous IT should not be measured simply by the
number of processes automated or the volume of service-desk activity reduced. Its impact will
increasingly be determined by whether organisations can anticipate problems, prevent
disruption and provide employees with a consistently high-quality digital experience.

A unified operational foundation will be essential to scale
As organisations in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia progress towards more autonomous IT, unified
visibility and simpler technology environments will become increasingly important. Almost all
Saudi respondents (95%) consider multi-domain visibility at least somewhat important for
successful AI-driven IT operations, but only 22% currently have fully unified visibility across
networks, applications, endpoints and cloud environments. Encouragingly, 94% agree that tool
consolidation can reduce operational friction, while 94% also agree that a unified platform can
simplify problem identification and resolution.

Closing this gap will require organisations to consolidate fragmented tools, establish trusted and
accessible data, and create unified visibility across their IT environments. These capabilities will
give AI the operational context required to make reliable recommendations, support faster
decisions and enable greater levels of autonomy.

“Saudi Arabia has built tremendous momentum around AI, supported by ambitious national
programmes and organisations focused on translating innovation into measurable outcomes,”
said Salman Ali, Senior Manager – Solution Engineering, GCC, at Riverbed.“The next stage will
be defined by how effectively enterprises can govern AI and apply it to improve everyday
operations. By unifying their data and observability capabilities, Saudi organisations can
progress towards autonomous IT while maintaining appropriate human oversight, strengthening
digital experiences and ensuring their AI investments deliver lasting business value.”

The findings point to a more operational phase of enterprise AI adoption in Saudi Arabia. As the
Kingdom continues its digital transformation journey under Vision 2030, its organisations have
an opportunity to accelerate human impact by building a globally competitive organization from
the ground up to unlock new levels of creativity, achievement, and human potential through
accessible AI technologies.

* Note: Unless otherwise noted, all data and percentages referenced in the press release are based on a
sample of 100 Saudi Arabia responses to the Riverbed Global Survey 2026: The State of Autonomous IT
Operations. Survey respondents included business and IT leaders and technical specialists.

Methodology:
Riverbed Global Survey on The State of Autonomous IT Operations polled 1,200 business decision-
makers, IT leaders and technical specialists across seven countries. The Saudi Arabia findings are based
on responses from 100 respondents in the Kingdom. Key industries included manufacturing, financial
services, government and the public sector, energy and healthcare, among others. The research was
conducted by Coleman Parkes Research in July 2026.

To view the complete findings, download the full report here: riverbed/autonomousIT-survey26/
About Riverbed
Riverbed, the leader in AIOps for observability, helps organizations optimize their users' experiences by
leveraging AI automation for the prevention, identification, and resolution of IT issues. With over 20 years
of experience in data collection and AI and machine learning, Riverbed's open and AI-powered
observability platform and solutions optimize digital experiences and greatly improve IT efficiency.

Riverbed also offers industry-leading Acceleration solutions that provide fast, agile, secure acceleration of

any app, over any network, to users anywhere. Together with our thousands of market-leading customers
globally – including 95% of the FORTUNE 100 – we are empowering next-generation digital experiences.
Learn more at riverbed
Riverbed and certain other terms used herein are trademarks of Riverbed Technology LLC. All other
trademarks used herein belong to their respective owners.

About Coleman Parkes:
Coleman Parkes is a full-service B2B market research agency specializing in IT/technology studies,
targeting senior decision makers in SMB to large enterprises across multiple sectors globally.

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