Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Aramco’s plans to become a global leader in digital transformation remain on track.
The company’s journey toward comprehensive digitization began in 2017 when it announced the launch of the Digital Transformation Program (DTP) to leverage the latest digital solutions to spur its business.
Aramco Digital
The launch of Aramco Digital during the seventh edition of In-Kingdom Total Calue Add (IKTVA) marks a new and significant stage in digital transformation of Saudi Arabia’s energy sector.
The company’s mission is to “strengthen Aramco’s leadership position in the energy industry and artificial intelligence, drive digital innovation across the broader Saudi industry, and develop the Saudi digital economy from a network of partnerships and joint ventures,” President of Aramco Eng. Amin Hassan Al-Nasser said during his announcement of the company’s launch on January 30.
“Aramco plans to invest $1.9 billion over the next three years in the digital field, which is the company’s largest investment to date while adding value to the Kingdom’s digital ecosystem,” Al-Nasser continued.
Digital Innovation Hub
The launch of Aramco Digital follows months after the energy company announced preliminary plans for a strategic collaboration with the IBM to establish a global center for digital innovation in the kingdom.
According to Aramco’s official website, this collaboration aims to support economic growth in the kingdom by leveraging artificial intelligence and quantum computers in various areas, including circular economy, materials science, supply chain, sustainability, cybersecurity, and digitization.
“The strategic cooperation between Saudi Aramco and IBM in the field of research and development, as well as the exchange of experiences, represents a starting point for achieving quantum leaps in the energy sector,” Senior Vice President of Technical Services at Aramco, Ahmed Abdul Rahman Al-Saadi said at the time..
He said that this collaboration “will have a significant impact on the national and global industry level.”
To accelerate its digital plans, Aramco teamed up with Cognite, one of the world’s leading industrial software companies in June 2022, to start their joint venture CNTXT, with headquarters in Riyadh.
CNTXT will support industrial digital transformation in the kingdom and the MENA region in general, according to Aramco.
CNTXT also plans to offer digital transformation services backed by cutting-edge cloud solutions and industry-leading software. These solutions and services are designed to assist public and private companies in ensuring the future of their data infrastructure, increasing revenues, lowering costs, and mitigating risks, all while improving operational sustainability and security.
According to the terms of this agreement, CNTXT will become the authorized and exclusive distributor of cloud solutions for Google Cloud in the kingdom, as well as the sole distributor of Cognite Data Fusion in the MENA region.
“CNTXT will be important to enhance the profitability and sustainability of the kingdom’s industries through the innovative use of technology, and I look forward to the company accelerating digital transformation in the most important sectors,” said Oyvind Eriksen, President of Aker ASA and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cognite in the vicinity.
The importance of digitization
Aramco attributes its digital trends to the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s enormous potential to accelerate digital innovation and improve business.
The new digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and drones, are already improving Aramco’s business safety and efficiency. They also increase productivity and sustainability while lowering costs.
The cloud computing market in the Kingdom is expected to reach $10 billion by 2030, according to data from the International Market Intelligence Company (IDC).
Aramco hopes that launching ambitious digital projects in the region that rely on massive computing power and Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies will help accelerate the innovation.
Saudi Aramco has signed deals worth $7.2 billion at IKTVA forum, scaling up its investments in localisation initiatives.
These deals aim to create a sustainable industrial system that can compete globally, as well as to improve the company’s work quality and increase innovation.