From vision to reality: Building the Middle East’s digital future with PwC Middle East’s Hadi Kobeissi

He shares how scale, adoption, and responsible AI development and governance can make the region a global digital leader.

Across the Middle East, digital transformation at both organisational and national levels has become a defining key driver of economic growth, societal progress, and global competitiveness. Achieving lasting success, however, requires more than new technology; it demands strategic vision, human-centred design, strong governance, and the agility to adapt in a fast-changing world.

Hadi Kobeissi, Partner – Consulting, Digital & Technology at PwC Middle East, brings expert insights, drawn from over 14 years of consulting expertise in national digital transformation and digital economy development. He has worked closely with digital government authorities and key sectors across the GCC, shaping innovative strategies, policies, programmes, and plans that advance the region’s digital capabilities.

His focus spans enhancing digital service design and delivery, strengthening governance and resilience, and driving operational efficiency to position nations as global digital leaders. His deep knowledge of emerging technologies, such as Machine Learning and Generative AI, has been instrumental in delivering transformative solutions for the government and other sectors.

As a judge at the Middle East Technology Excellence Awards 2025, Kobeissi shared insights on scaling digital services, measuring true national transformation, strengthening resilience, harnessing AI in government, and building global digital leadership.

What are the common pitfalls organisations encounter when scaling digital services?

When organisations embark on digital transformation journeys, many invest substantial effort into planning and developing new digital services and products or enhancing existing ones. However, despite solid strategies and good intentions, several common pitfalls often prevent the successful scaling of these digital initiatives:

Stuck in pilot mode: A frequent challenge is remaining perpetually in the pilot or proof-of-concept (PoC) stage. Organisations often spread their resources thin across multiple pilots rather than focusing deeply on a select few initiatives. This approach hampers the progression from pilot to full-scale implementation. Additionally, a lack of a genuine innovation culture, which should encourage experimentation, rapid iteration, and the acceptance of quick, controlled failures, further worsens this issue. Organisations should prioritise creating Minimum Viable Products (MVPs), swiftly bringing them to market, and iterating based on real-world user feedback.

Neglecting the human factor: Digital transformation is fundamentally about people as much as it is about technology. Many digital initiatives fail because the human element, including users, administrators, and operators, is either overlooked or insufficiently involved. Organisations must place humans at the heart of the design process, ensuring technology adapts to user needs and experiences rather than imposing technology-driven solutions that do not resonate with people.

Outdated processes hindering agility: Legacy internal processes, particularly in procurement, finance, security, and risk management, often impose significant roadblocks that slow down scaling efforts. Excessive bureaucracy and outdated policies extend project timelines, making organisations vulnerable to falling behind in the rapidly evolving digital landscape. Streamlining these processes and introducing agility are critical steps toward effectively scaling digital services.

Treating resilience as an afterthought: Resilience, encompassing security, backup, and recovery plans, is frequently treated as an afterthought rather than a foundational element of digital design. By embedding resilience from the outset, organisations can confidently take calculated risks, launch digital services faster, and recover swiftly when setbacks occur. Proactive resilience planning enhances organisational confidence and accelerates innovation rather than stifling, as many would think. This is due to the existence of proper safety nets and clarity around the risks and their mitigations.

Limited ecosystem perspective: Digital services and products rarely succeed in isolation. A common oversight is neglecting the broader ecosystem, such as partners, vendors, and other stakeholders, that significantly contributes to the success and scalability of digital initiatives. Organisations must adopt an ecosystem mindset, actively collaborating and integrating with external partners to unlock greater potential, enhance user experiences, and drive wider adoption.

From your perspective, what defines true national-level digital transformation, and how do you measure its success?

True digital transformation, as AI expert Andrew Ng insightfully describes, is most successful when it feels "invisible” – seamlessly integrated and naturally intuitive. When digital becomes the default mode of operation, it signals genuine transformative success. To practically gauge this transformation, I recommend assessing three key aspects:

Scale: Is the digital initiative designed and executed at a national level? Even if it aims at specific user groups, it should have broad national relevance, scope, and accessibility.

Adoption: Are people naturally inclined to adopt the digital service as their preferred choice? High adoption rates can indicate that users find the service trustworthy, intuitive, and valuable. Important factors to be measured include user satisfaction, completion rate, trust in the system’s transparency, privacy and security measures, and overall user experience.

Impact: Has the initiative achieved the intended outcomes? Also, true digital transformation is measured not just by immediate objectives but by its broader impact on society and the economy. Success is evident when benefits spill over into the wider digital ecosystem, fostering growth, innovation, and economic opportunities.

In short, a national-level digital transformation is truly successful when it achieves significant scale, widespread natural adoption, and meaningful impact, collectively fuelling a robust digital economy and improving societal outcomes.

How critical is digital resilience in transformation programmes, and what signals do you look for to ensure it’s not overlooked?

Resilience is the seatbelt of digital transformation: invisible until the moment it saves you. PwC’s 2025 Digital Trust Insights highlights that 55% of executives in the Middle East prioritise tech-risk mitigation as a critical objective in their 12-month agenda. Ensuring digital resilience requires proactive measures, and there are several key indicators I recommend organisations look out for from the start:

Dedicated focus and budget: Ensure clear financial allocation and focused efforts specifically on security, data privacy, and recovery planning. Resilience should be integral to the transformation, not merely an afterthought or secondary consideration.

Regular crisis simulations: Conduct frequent crisis response and recovery exercises led by business owners, not just IT teams. Such drills ensure that resilience measures are understood across the organisation and deeply integrated into daily operations.

Supplier and vendor mapping: Create a clear, comprehensive map of critical suppliers and vendors. Regularly assess their dependencies, evaluate their security situation, and maintain robust contingency options in the event of disruptions.

Security by design: Adopt architecture and system designs premised on the inevitability of breaches. Systems should incorporate zero-trust identity frameworks and real-time monitoring and response mechanisms, rather than relying solely on traditional perimeter defences like firewalls.

Any shortfall in these critical areas could considerably undermine digital resilience, exposing the organisation to preventable risks and vulnerabilities.

What are the most important competencies you believe today’s digital leaders in the Middle East must develop to stay competitive globally?

In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, the competencies required for effective digital leadership are continuously expanding and becoming more complex. Whilst digital leaders must stay current with many emerging skills, there are several key competencies crucial for global competitiveness:

AI fluency: Digital leaders must possess the ability to discern genuine AI opportunities from mere hype. They need clarity to identify valuable AI use cases that can work for their organisations, strategically deploy and evolve them, and avoid wasting efforts and resources on transient trends. Additionally, it is critical that digital leaders assemble and manage multi-competency teams capable of delivering and seamlessly integrating AI within broader digital transformation initiatives.

Cyber-risk literacy: Understanding cybersecurity risks has become non-negotiable. Digital leaders should effectively communicate threats, recovery expectations, and cultivate shared accountability throughout the organisation, thus fostering robust cyber resilience.

Platform thinking: Successful leaders think beyond standalone products, embracing a platform mindset. Building open, adaptable ecosystems that seamlessly integrate with partners and third parties is essential for long-term scalability and innovation.

Inclusive and human-centred design: Leaders must champion inclusive digital solutions that resonate with diverse user groups across varying ages, cultural backgrounds, and abilities. This inclusivity ensures broader adoption, higher satisfaction, and sustainable impact.

Change management and adoption: Leaders must effectively manage change and foster widespread adoption of digital initiatives. This involves clearly communicating the vision, providing the necessary training and resources, addressing resistance proactively, and ensuring alignment across all organisational levels.

Regulatory partnership: Proactive collaboration with policymakers is vital. Effective leaders don't merely respond to regulatory changes, they actively participate in shaping regulations. This approach positions organisations as industry frontrunners and thought leaders, anticipating and influencing future regulatory landscapes.

By cultivating these competencies, digital leaders in the Middle East can navigate global complexities and position their organisations for sustained international competitiveness.

How do you foresee the role of AI evolving in the Middle East, specifically in government services, and what are the potential risks and rewards?

The role of AI in the Middle East, particularly within government services, is poised to significantly evolve, unlocking new experiences, efficiencies and opportunities whilst also bringing potential challenges. Key opportunities include:

Enhanced service delivery and operations: Next-generation chatbots and intelligent assistants will revolutionise government service delivery, introducing new ways of interacting with people through fast, autonomous, and always-available channels. Critically, these interactions will become increasingly human-like and empathetic, providing personalised experiences and ensuring that people feel genuinely supported. This shift will also allow human staff to concentrate on more complex, high-value interactions and problem-solving activities, ensuring faster, more responsive, and more effective public services.

Improved regulations and decision-making: AI's capability to rapidly analyse large volumes of data and now even “reason” can provide invaluable insights, helping governments detect patterns, forecast trends, and craft more targeted and effective policies and regulations. AI enables smarter resource allocation, spending decisions, and strategic planning, significantly enhancing regulatory precision and impact.

Economic and industry growth: The development and deployment of locally tailored AI models, especially those fine-tuned to regional and cultural contexts as well as industry specifics (e.g., mobility, healthcare, tourism, etc.), will foster new economic opportunities and markets. These AI-driven innovations can stimulate local industry growth, boost exports, and enhance regional competitiveness on the global stage.

Despite these promising opportunities, governments must remain vigilant regarding potential AI-related risks:

Bias and fairness: AI systems might inadvertently perpetuate biases present in their training data, resulting in unfair outcomes or discrimination.

Privacy and security: Increasing reliance on AI introduces vulnerabilities around data privacy, potentially exposing sensitive government or people's information.

Misinformation and harmful content: AI has the potential to spread misinformation or propagate hateful speech and other harmful content.

Over-reliance on 'Black-Box' systems: Dependence on AI systems whose decision-making processes lack transparency could lead to unintended consequences and reduce public trust.

To balance these risks, clear, responsible and ethical frameworks, robust transparency standards, thorough testing protocols, and consistent human oversight must accompany AI implementation. A responsible approach to AI governance will be essential in maximising benefits whilst safeguarding public trust and wellbeing.

As a judge at the Middle East Technology Excellence Awards 2025, how can you say an award-winning initiative is shaping and advancing the broader digital economy agenda of the Middle East?

As a judge, I look for initiatives that don’t just deliver isolated success but actively contribute to advancing the region’s broader digital economy agenda. An award-winning initiative should typically stand out in three critical ways:

Designed to scale across borders: The most impactful projects are those built with scalability in mind. They are adaptable to diverse cultures, languages, regulatory conditions, and market needs, not only across different parts of the Middle East but also with the potential to expand globally. This kind of cross-border agility is essential for positioning the region as a hub of digital innovation.

Creates real spillover value: Truly transformative initiatives create ripple effects beyond their core purpose. They have the potential to generate new employment opportunities, enhance digital and technical skills within the workforce, and strengthen local ecosystems through robust supply chains and partnerships. These projects can uplift communities and contribute to long-term socioeconomic growth.

Built with responsibility from day one: Award-worthy digital initiatives take privacy, cybersecurity, and environmental sustainability seriously from the start. Responsible design principles are embedded in the foundation of the project, ensuring trust, resilience, and lasting impact.

Projects that meet these three criteria don’t just solve immediate challenges; they also raise the bar for what’s possible across the region. They inspire others, fuel digital ambition, and serve as powerful examples of how innovation can shape a more prosperous digital economy in the Middle East.