RIYADH: Professional services firm Deloitte is scaling up its investment in Saudi Arabia, reinforcing its long-standing national presence with new initiatives.
In an interview with Arab News on the sidelines of the LEAP 2025 Tech Conference in Riyadh, Patrycja Oselkowska, growth leader at Deloitte Middle East, highlighted the firm’s goal to double its growth in the Kingdom over the next three years. Revenue expansion and strategic partnerships with key clients will primarily drive this development.
“Our future is firmly in Saudi now,” Oselkowska said, adding: “Our presence in the Kingdom dates over 100 years, and we see our future in the Kingdom. We’ve recently launched our new headquarters in the King Abdullah Financial District, and we are very proud of it.”
Rather than pursuing broad-based market expansion, the firm aims to serve as a trusted adviser on its clients’ most complex challenges. “The way we differentiate in the market is by providing very in-depth industry expertise,” Oselkowska said.
Deloitte is serving as the official Innovation & Emerging Technology Partner at LEAP 2025 for the third consecutive year. The firm’s presence at the event includes interactive booths featuring discussions on generative artificial intelligence, sustainability, and cybersecurity, as well as cloud alliances and digital transformation.
Digital transformation remains the prevailing trend in the Middle East’s business landscape. According to Oselkowska, companies across sectors are accelerating their digitization efforts, with GenAI emerging as a game-changer.
Deloitte recently published its “State of AI” report, which surveyed 150 C-suite executives from corporations across the Middle East. The findings indicated that over 80 percent of organizations feel the pressure to adopt AI, but nearly half struggle with a shortage of talent and technological capabilities necessary for successful scaling.
She added: “Many corporates are worried that gen AI is going to completely revolutionize how they do business.”
The top official emphasized that Deloitte is proactively embracing this shift, positioning itself to disrupt its own business model before being challenged by others.
“We launched a new GenAI tool that is called Tax Genie, where we are basically trying to implement GenAI to provide services in the tax space. It is both for our people as well as for our clients.”
Oselkowska also addressed the future of digital banking in the Kingdom, distinguishing between traditional banks that offer digital services and fully digital banks that operate exclusively through mobile applications.
While the Kingdom has yet to introduce fully digital banks, the regulatory framework is evolving, with the Saudi Central Bank overseeing licensing processes for potential entrants.
For this medium to thrive, it needs to offer a seamless customer experience and a compelling value proposition that incentivizes clients to switch from traditional banks, she said.
Cybersecurity remains a critical challenge, as digital banking platforms must ensure robust security measures to maintain high consumer confidence levels.
Deloitte’s recent research on Trust ID highlighted that credibility in financial services is exceptionally high among Gen Z consumers in Saudi Arabia. “Digital banks need to maintain that really high level of trust by being extremely secure,” Oselkowska added.
In an announcement at LEAP 2025, Deloitte introduced its Silicon-2-Service offering, an initiative designed to accelerate AI adoption across the Middle East.
According to a press release, the S2S framework provides end-to-end support for businesses seeking to implement sovereign AI capabilities, covering strategy, design, deployment, and optimization.
Deloitte Middle East AI and Data Leader Yousef Barkawie said: “AI is transforming business landscapes globally and presenting our Middle East region with unprecedented opportunities to innovate and scale.”
He added: “With the rollout of our Silicon-2-Service offering in the region, we are enabling adoption and providing access to cutting-edge innovation at a large scale. We support clients across the public and private sectors through their entire AI journey.”
The press release said: “This collaboration enables Deloitte’s clients to accomplish faster time to value of their large-scale AI investments while embracing the freedom to innovate and adapt to evolving market demands.”
“The launch of S2S aligns with Deloitte’s broader commitment to supporting the Middle East’s digital economy by fostering an ecosystem where AI bridges innovation with tangible, positive outcomes, in compliance with the prevailing regulations unique to each country,” it added.
