GCC region’s retail real estate sector is expanding rapidly, but traditional space-centric models are insufficient. A new report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) titled “Imagining the Future of Retail: Beyond Space” offers a comprehensive examination of the strategic readiness of retail real estate developers across the Middle East.

Drawing on BCG’s project experience and interviews with senior leaders across the GCC’s major mixed-use, retail, entertainment, and lifestyle developments, the report says that the region’s retail real estate sector is witnessing its most ambitious physical expansion in generations, with millions of square meters of gross leasable area (GLA) under development across megaprojects in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dubai, and Doha. In several GCC markets, luxury retail space expansion has already outpaced growth in addressable consumer spending, reshaping sales per square meter and current development strategies. In addition, competition is intensifying as new supply comes online. Up to 25% of revenue at leading assets comes from non-GLA sources. Assets that lack digital and data capabilities may need to evolve to stay relevant in future customer journeys.

“The forces reshaping retail are converging faster than most operators recognize, and traditional space-centric models are no longer sufficient for what lies ahead,” said Andrea Pierobon, Partner at BCG Middle East. “The GCC has built world-class retail destinations, and the opportunity now is to rethink what retail real estate actually delivers in terms of moving from space-centric models to capability-led approaches.”

Factors Transforming the Traditional Retail Operating Model

The report identifies five converging forces that are systematically transforming traditional retail operating models. Retailers are reducing store size and numbers, opening smaller formats, and experimenting with new space as online commerce grows. The omnichannel imperative means retailers and developers can no longer treat digital and physical as separate strategies. Experience-led consumption is fundamentally shifting what consumers expect from physical retail environments, demanding immersive engagement rather than transactional convenience.

Retail media monetization represents an emerging value stream that most GCC operators have yet to capture, with global retail media revenues forecast to grow by $213 billion by 2028. AI-powered discovery is transforming how consumers navigate their shopping journeys, with more than half of consumers under 34 already using AI tools as part of their purchasing decisions.

BCG outlines three disruption scenarios (not predictions) that retail real estate leaders must actively plan for now:

1. What if: over 50% of retail sales move online, fundamentally challenging the economics of traditional mall development, as we see in advanced markets around the world
2. What if: Data replaces product margins as the primary value driver, shifting power toward operators who can capture and monetize customer intelligence, as we already see with many leading global retailers
3. What if: AI agents become the primary decision-makers in consumer journeys, disintermediating traditional brand and retailer relationships, as we see adoption of Gen AI and Agentic tools accelerating.

Three Archetypes, One Imperative

The analysis also identifies three distinct strategic archetypes emerging across GCC retail real estate, each requiring a different operating model, capital allocation strategy, and capability set. Community and convenience retail serve localized, high-frequency needs with efficiency and accessibility at its core. Experience-led destinations compete on immersive engagement, cultural programming, and social connection rather than transactional retail alone. Ecosystem platform developers position themselves as orchestrators of broader consumer and commercial ecosystems, capturing value through data, partnerships, and integrated services.

“There is an immediate opportunity to shape the next chapter of GCC retail real estate, and to innovate for future retail needs, rather than continuing with the traditional development model,” said Andy Veitch, Managing Director & Partner and Head of Consumer Practice, BCG Middle East. “Those who act decisively, by choosing a clear archetype, investing selectively in enabling capabilities, and shifting from space delivery to business model innovation, will define the category for the next generation.”

The report outlines future-proofing levers that operators must activate: redefining the value proposition, repositioning the tenant mix, creating experiential programming, building data and analytics capabilities, developing retail media offerings, enabling omnichannel integration, investing in sustainability and ESG, forging strategic partnerships, and transforming organizational capabilities.

However, the report reveals that most organizations remain tied to more traditional leasing models, siloed functions, and occupancy-led KPIs. Without targeted investment in data and analytic capabilities, customer experience design, and agile decision-making infrastructure, progress against these imperatives will remain uneven.

Rohit Chowdhary, Head of Advanced Consulting Services at Nokia, sat down with The Integrator to share insights into the company’s vision for enabling the AI Supercycle. He outlined how Nokia’s end-to-end portfolio spans everything from AI-ready connectivity and energy-efficient 800G data centre networking to intelligent, self-optimising home Wi-Fi experiences powered by AI.

A key focus of the discussion was Nokia’s shift from strategic advisory to real-world execution through its dedicated Automation Excellence Practice, helping operators translate ambitious transformation roadmaps into measurable outcomes. The conversation also highlighted the growing importance of integrated, intelligent and secure networks that can support rising AI workloads, eliminate infrastructure bottlenecks and unlock tangible business value, while maintaining the highest standards of security, privacy and resilience

Could you begin by telling us about your role at Nokia and the journey that brought you here?

I lead Nokia’s Advanced Consulting Services business across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. My journey with Nokia spans nearly seventeen years, beginning at a time when consulting was largely focused on network transformation initiatives. Over the years, I have worked closely with operators around the world on transformation programmes, analytics adoption, customer experience management and digital modernization.

As the industry evolved, so did our consulting focus. Following the Nokia and Alcatel Lucent merger, we established what is today known as Advanced Consulting Services. The organization now spans several domains, including Security, Business monetization, Cloud and Technology transformation, Autonomous Networks, and Data & AI.

More recently, we launched an Automation Excellence Practice. The idea was simple. Customers often appreciated our strategic blueprints but needed practical expertise to implement them. Today, we have specialized engineers who combine telecom expertise, AI capabilities and software development skills to turn strategic visions into real automation pipelines, AI-driven workflows and production-ready use cases. Our role is to help customers move from concept to measurable business outcomes.

Nokia is often associated with connectivity, but the company is increasingly talking about AI readiness. How does Nokia’s infrastructure portfolio support this transition?

AI is creating what we describe as an AI Supercycle. It is transforming everything from data centres and cloud infrastructure to network architectures and edge computing. Supporting this shift requires a complete ecosystem rather than isolated technologies.

Nokia’s portfolio addresses this across multiple layers. On the network side, we continue to innovate in radio technologies, including AI-RAN capabilities developed alongside strategic partners such as Nvidia. We also have a strong optical networking and IP portfolio that enables the high-capacity connectivity required between data centres, edge locations and cloud environments.

One area that excites me is our innovation in data centre networking. We are introducing highly efficient coherent optical technologies and advanced switching platforms that significantly reduce infrastructure footprints while improving performance and energy efficiency. These innovations are becoming increasingly important as organizations invest in AI factories, AI grids and large-scale inference environments.

Beyond connectivity, we also provide intelligent automation layers through our Autonomous Networks platforms, enabling operators to manage complex, multi-vendor environments more efficiently and intelligently.

What are some of the biggest infrastructure bottlenecks you see operators and enterprises facing as AI adoption accelerates?

One of the biggest challenges is understanding that AI infrastructure is not just about compute power. Organizations often focus heavily on GPUs and processing capabilities, but connectivity can quickly become the limiting factor.

You can deploy the most powerful AI infrastructure available, but if the network cannot support the required data movement between racks, data centres and edge locations, performance suffers. This is where intelligent networking becomes critical.

At Nokia, we are helping customers design what we call AI-ready connectivity. This includes high-capacity optical networking, intelligent routing and the seamless interconnection of compute environments. As AI workloads become increasingly distributed, the ability to move data efficiently becomes just as important as the ability to process it.

On the consumer side, Nokia has been showcasing AI-driven Wi-Fi management capabilities. How does this improve the end-user experience?

The home network has become far more complex than it was a few years ago. Consumers expect flawless connectivity across multiple devices, applications and services.

Our AI-enabled Wi-Fi solutions continuously monitor network performance and user experience. They can identify coverage gaps, detect congestion, analyze interference patterns and even recommend or automatically implement corrective actions.

The goal is to create a self-optimizing network environment where many issues can be resolved autonomously before they impact the user. This reduces support requirements for service providers while delivering a more consistent and reliable experience for customers.

The Middle East is witnessing an unprecedented surge in data centre investments. How do you see this shaping Nokia’s opportunities in the region?

The Middle East has emerged as one of the most dynamic markets globally for AI infrastructure investments. Governments and enterprises are actively investing in sovereign AI capabilities, advanced data centres and digital ecosystems.

This creates significant opportunities, not only for Nokia but for the broader technology industry. The success of these initiatives depends on having secure, scalable and efficient connectivity between compute resources, cloud environments and end users.

Our role is to help customers build these foundations. Whether it is data centre interconnectivity, optical networking, intelligent routing or autonomous operations, Nokia’s technologies are designed to support the scale and performance requirements of AI-driven economies.

As data volumes continue to grow, security and data sovereignty are becoming increasingly important. How is Nokia addressing these concerns?

Security is deeply embedded into Nokia’s strategy and innovation roadmap. As a European technology company, trust, resilience and security have always been fundamental principles in how we design and operate our solutions.

While we continue to invest heavily in AI innovation, we are equally focused on strengthening security capabilities across our portfolio. This includes advanced network security architectures, AI-driven threat detection and preparations for future technologies such as quantum-safe networking.

We are actively engaged with industry bodies, standards organizations and ecosystem partners to help define the next generation of secure digital infrastructure. As AI becomes increasingly pervasive, security must evolve alongside it, and that is an area where Nokia continues to invest significantly.

Looking ahead, what excites you most about the future of AI-driven networks?

What excites me most is the convergence of AI, automation and connectivity. Networks are evolving from passive transport layers into intelligent platforms that can learn, adapt and optimize themselves.

The future will be defined by autonomous operations, AI-native networks and real-time decision-making at scale. Organizations that successfully combine these capabilities will unlock entirely new business models and levels of operational efficiency.

For us, the opportunity is not just about deploying technology. It is about helping customers transform the way they operate, innovate and create value in an increasingly AI-driven world.

Informatica from Salesforce has announced a comprehensive series of strategic partnership expansions designed to empower enterprises to build, deploy, and scale trusted agentic AI workflows across their entire technology estate. The innovations span integrations with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Databricks, Google Cloud, Microsoft, and Snowflake, positioning Informatica as the unified data foundation for the agentic enterprise.

The announcements address a critical market reality: organizations adopting agentic AI are held back by unreliable, fragmented, and ungoverned data. With 89% of data leaders believing agent interoperability will soon be required to do business, and 89% stating that a strong data foundation is the most critical factor for successful AI adoption, enterprises need enterprise-grade data management embedded directly into their AI agent workflows.

“The organizations that win the AI race will be those that put trusted, governed data in front of their agents from day one,” said Rik Tamm-Daniels, Vice President, Ecosystems and Technology, Informatica from Salesforce. “These announcements demonstrate our unwavering commitment to being the data intelligence layer across every major cloud and data platform. We’re giving enterprises the confidence to operationalize agentic AI at scale.”

Headless Data Management as the Agent Enabler

Across all partnerships, Informatica is making its Headless Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) available through Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, a rapidly emerging interoperability framework for AI agents. This approach eliminates the need for custom integrations, allowing enterprises to invoke Informatica’s core data services — metadata search, address verification, master data management, and data quality — directly within agentic workflows on any cloud.

Partnership Highlights

Databricks: Agentic Enterprise Data at Scale: Informatica brings four new capabilities to Databricks, enabling joint customers to fuel Agent Bricks with governed data. The innovations include native headless IDMC integration with Databricks Agent Bricks (Private Preview, summer 2026 GA), a purpose-built Lakebase connector optimized for agentic use cases, an MDM extension for automatic publication of trusted golden records into Databricks SQL, and governance tag federation between Informatica and Databricks Unity Catalog. The result: enterprises can move trusted master data and governance metadata seamlessly into their Databricks intelligence layer, enabling production-ready agentic deployments.

Snowflake: Trusted AI With Open-Data Confidence: Informatica deepens its collaboration with Snowflake by delivering headless IDMC integration with Snowflake Cortex AI (Private Preview moving to GA summer 2026), row-level access policy management for Snowflake Tables (generally available), and metadata scanners for Snowflake Managed Iceberg Tables. These capabilities enable enterprises to build trustworthy agents on Cortex AI, enforce unified access governance across Snowflake assets, and extend governance standards to open-data architectures with confidence.

AWS: Enterprise Data for Agentic Workflows: Informatica’s MCP servers and CLAIRE Agent skills are now available in AWS Agent Registry and Amazon Quick, enabling organizations to embed governed data directly into agentic workflows on AWS. The Metadata Explorer MCP ensures agents understand sensitive classifications; the Master Data Management MCP prevents agents from acting on fragmented records; and Data Quality MCPs validate information at the point of entry. Informatica MCP Servers on Amazon Quick are generally available in U.S. regions, while CLAIRE Agent skills on AWS Agent Registry and Amazon Quick are available in global preview.

Google Cloud: Conversational Intelligence and Open Interoperability: Informatica brings two innovations to Google Cloud: CLAIRE GPT, a conversational AI assistant for enterprise data management now generally available on Google Cloud (enabling natural-language discovery, metadata enrichment, quality assessment, and governance resolution), and A2A Protocol support (Fall 2026 release) enabling CLAIRE agents to collaborate with agents across heterogeneous enterprise agent ecosystems.

Microsoft: Trusted Data for AI and Analytics at Enterprise Scale: Informatica’s headless IDMC MCP servers are now generally available in Microsoft Foundry, enabling Azure customers to integrate data management services — governance, metadata search, address verification, and data provisioning — into their AI agents. Additionally, expanded IDMC support for Microsoft Fabric brings mass ingestion and Change Data Capture for Fabric Data Warehouse, allowing enterprises to ingest billions of rows monthly and keep data synchronized while minimizing compute costs.

The Outcomes Enterprises Need

These partnerships deliver three critical capabilities for enterprise agentic success:

• Metadata Context: Agents understand asset classifications, business terms, and governance policies, knowing which data is safe to act on and which is sensitive.
• Unified Master Records: Agents operate on single source-of-truth data, preventing personalization and compliance failures caused by fragmented or duplicate records.
• Point-of-Entry Quality: Data validation occurs immediately upon ingestion, preventing errors from propagating downstream and undermining agent accuracy.

By making these capabilities available across Databricks, Snowflake, AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft — the platforms enterprises are standardizing on — Informatica ensures that high-quality data management is accessible to all business personas, not just technical teams.

Availability & Support

Informatica’s MCP servers and agentic integrations are rolling out across cloud partners with varying general availability timelines — from immediate availability in Microsoft Foundry and Google Cloud to preview status on AWS and summer 2026 GA for several Databricks and Snowflake capabilities. Customers can discover and activate these integrations directly within their cloud platform partner ecosystems.