INDUSTRY VIEW

YASSER SHAWKY, VICE PRESIDENT, EMERGING MARKETS( MEA) AT INFORMATICA

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping businesses across the Middle East, offering immense opportunities but also exposing organisations to risk without proper foundations. Yasser Shawky, Vice President, Emerging Markets( MEA) at Informatica, tells us how investing in trusted, AI-ready data can turn potential chaos into lasting business value.

was recently speaking to my mother about what she’ d been cooking lately, and was amused to learn that she now uses ChatGPT to help her come up with new recipes. I couldn’ t help but smile at how pervasive AI has already become. When even our parents are comfortable treating LLMs as their culinary consultants, you know the technology has crossed a noteworthy threshold.

It also got me thinking. In this case, the advice she received was useful. But what if the AI hallucinated, as it sometimes does, and suggested swapping sumac for cinnamon in a delicate Middle Eastern dish? That would almost certainly ruin the flavour. And what if the same thing happened in a more serious context like a home remedy, financial advice or supplement recommendation? The consequences could be dire.

That small, charming exchange has stayed with me, because it’ s a fitting metaphor for what I see happening across the Middle East as organisations rush to capitalise on AI. Like my mother with her recipes, businesses see the promise and want to seize it. But without proper visibility into the inputs AI models are drawing from, and without governance over the data that fuels them, they’ re exposing themselves to risk.

AI’ s dot-com moment

With AI adoption proceeding at breakneck pace, it might feel like we’ re venturing deep into uncharted territory. And while that’ s undoubtedly true, the IT industry has stood at a similar inflection point before. Just over two decades ago, the world watched as the dot-com boom of the late 1990s rewrote the rules of business almost overnight. In that exuberant environment, many crashed and burned, but those that invested in solid infrastructure, user experience and sustainable business models emerged as titans, still standing strong today.

Now, we’ re living through AI’ s own dot-com moment and just as with the Internet revolution, the winners won’ t be those who leap in first. Winners will be those who lay the right foundations, especially when it comes to data.

Why data, not just AI, should be the starting point

It’ s easy to be dazzled by the tech itself. Large language models, Generative AI, Machine Learning, have entered daily dialogue. But these are just enablers. The true foundation of any successful AI implementation is a strong data platform.

It’ s a truth the industry has long known but often skirts around – poor data quality destroys business value. According to Gartner, the average cost of bad data is estimated at US $ 10.8 million per year per organisation. The reasons? Duplicate entries, outdated records, inconsistent formatting, missing fields, lack of data governance and lineage, and fragmented systems. Every Chief Data Officer is all too familiar with these challenges.

But flip the equation and the potential is transformative. When data is accurate, complete, consistent, timely and relevant – what we at Informatica call‘ AI-ready’ – then use cases that once seemed overly complex suddenly become achievable and durable. That’ s when data chaos is turned into business value. It’ s not just about better models. It’ s about creating a single, authoritative view of

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