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How this Dubai company built a 1,000+ strong workforce to become one of the UAE’s largest private sector employers in just two decades

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Data Direct Group

In an era defined by digital transformation and workforce localisation, Data Direct Group has emerged as one of the UAE’s largest and most enduring private employers.

Founded in 2002 with a vision to offer reliable, locally grounded customer experience (CX) solutions, Data Direct Group recently surpassed 1,000 + employee milestone in the UAE alone. The company, today employs, more than 1500 people across four GCC countries, quietly redefining what sustainable private sector impact looks like – with a workforce that today represents 35+ nationalities.

“Our story is Dubai’s story — built on ambition, innovation, and a belief in people,” said Rajiv Dalmia, Founder and Chairman of Data Direct Group that marks 23 years of operations this month. “When we started over two decades ago, back in 2002, we had a clear focus: build a company that not only delivers operational excellence but also contributes meaningfully to the economy and society around us. That vision has stayed the same.”

Supporting On-Shore Employment and Emiratisation

In an industry often driven by offshore outsourcing, Data Direct Group has doubled down on creating meaningful, on-shore employment opportunities within the UAE. Its diverse portfolio includes call centre services, digital onboarding, and IT support — all delivered by a workforce physically present in the country and trained to global standards.

“Our journey reflects not only business resilience, but a deep-rooted commitment to on-shore job creation, inclusivity, and economic value generation,” said Dalmia explaining how this ‘localisation drive’ has allowed the company to support both government and private sector entities across the UAE while aligning with national initiatives such as Emiratisation.

“We’ve never believed in exporting jobs; we’ve always believed in exporting  knowledge and capabilities,” Dalmia noted. “That’s why we’ve invested heavily in building local talent — our growth is measured not just in numbers, but in lives uplifted and careers shaped.”

A True UAE-Grown Success Story

With its roots deeply embedded in Dubai, Data Direct Group has become a textbook example of homegrown enterprise success. From early challenges to regional expansion, the company has retained its core commitment to service, speed, and scalability.

Today, it is trusted by leading names in banking, healthcare, government services, utilities, logistics, and telecom, delivering bespoke business solutions that enhance customer experience and drive digital agility.

“The UAE allowed us to dream big. The leadership here created an ecosystem where entrepreneurs like myself could build something real and long-lasting,” Dalmia said.

One of the UAE’s Largest Employers in its Category

Employing more than 1,500 people in the region and growing, Data Direct Group has carved out a reputation not only for its size but also for its inclusive work environment. With more than 35 nationalities represented, the company mirrors the cosmopolitan fabric of the UAE itself.

“We don’t just talk diversity — we live it every day,” said Dalmia. “Whether it’s a young graduate from Sharjah or a systems analyst from India, we’ve built a space where people from all backgrounds, walks of life and academic qualifications can grow and lead.”

The company’s female participation has also grown steadily over the past decade, particularly in middle-management and client delivery roles — a focus area it aims to accelerate in the coming years.

Driving Economic Impact Beyond Numbers

Beyond employment figures, Data Direct Group plays a pivotal role in supporting the business infrastructure of the UAE and wider GCC. From managing millions of customer interactions to helping clients streamline operations, the company’s services are woven into the fabric of everyday business in the region.

This impact translates to cost-efficiencies, customer satisfaction, and scalable support for public services — key drivers of GDP contribution in UAE’s digital economy.

“Economic impact is not just about revenue — it’s about relevance,” Dalmia added.

“The fact that we’ve been around for over two decades, evolving every step of the way, is proof that you can be relevant, resilient, and responsible — all at once.”

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Snowflake powers KSA’s Zahid Group’s data and AI transformation to unlock enterprise value

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Zahid Group, one of Saudi Arabia’s leading diversified business groups spanning heavy equipment, energy, transport and manufacturing, and others, has selected Snowflake, the AI Data Cloud company, as the strategic foundation for its enterprise data and AI transformation, giving the Group a scalable way to strengthen governance, advance AI adoption, and elevate customer experiences enterprise-wide. The relationship was formalized during a signing ceremony at Zahid Business Park in Jeddah, launching a multi-year investment that will strengthen productivity and support technology-led growth in line with Saudi Vision 2030.

With Snowflake, Zahid Group’s Digital Solutions Division is unifying data from across its business streams and departments on a governed, secure, centralized and scalable lakehouse platform. A modern business intelligence ecosystem will give leaders faster access to information, enabling them to spend less time reconciling reports and more time acting on insights. The next phase will use Snowflake Cortex AI to enable employees to engage with data through natural language, reducing reliance on traditional reporting and shortening the path from question to decision.

Snowflake’s adoption at Zahid Group comes as Saudi Arabia accelerates its goal of becoming the Middle East’s leading AI infrastructure and technology hub. The Council of Ministers has designated 2026 as the Year of AI, and PwC estimates that AI could contribute around 12.4% of the country’s GDP by 2030.

Before adopting Snowflake, Zahid Group’s data was dispersed across multiple systems, requiring extensive manual consolidation and resulting in reporting inconsistencies that slowed decision-making. As an early proof of value, the Caterpillar Helios initiative demonstrated the power of secure, real-time data sharing through Snowflake. Building on this foundation, Zahid Group is now extending Snowflake’s capabilities across its digital ecosystem, enabling real-time data streaming and integration with core platforms such as Infor and Salesforce.

This connected architecture has standardized critical reporting processes, reducing month-end reporting cycles from days to hours, and in many cases minutes. By eliminating manual effort and improving data consistency, it provides leaders with timely, trusted insights that support faster decision-making and strengthen a culture of data-driven innovation.

Suzan Sadek, Group IT Manager, Zahid Group, said: “Data is one of the most valuable assets of the digital economy. By choosing Snowflake, we are building a trusted and scalable data foundation that enables AI-driven innovation, faster decision-making, and improved customer experience. This transformation strengthens Zahid Group’s competitiveness, while supporting Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 ambition to create a data-driven economy.”

Michel Nader, General Manager for the Middle East, Turkey & Africa, Snowflake, said: “Zahid Group is demonstrating how trusted data can become the foundation for enterprise AI at scale. Snowflake brings information closer to customers while providing leading AI capabilities to enable digital transformation across Zahid’s operating environment. We are proud to support the company’s next phase too, where employees can access trusted insights faster and strengthen the Group’s ability to create lasting and scalable value across its businesses.”

Looking ahead, Zahid Group will expand Snowflake’s platform’s role across the Group, extending governed data products, advanced analytics and AI capabilities into more business functions to deliver measurable value for customers, partners and employees.

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PNY Technologies Joins LEAP 2026 with the Latest AI Technologies – Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | 31 August to 3 September | Booth H3-D10

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PNY Technologies announces its participation in LEAP 2026, taking place in Riyadh from 31 August to 3 September, where it will present its latest AI infrastructure and accelerated computing solutions.

The showcase will feature the technologies behind PNY’s AI infrastructure portfolio, from the AI Enterprise Factory to the latest NVIDIA RTX PRO and GeForce graphics solutions, together with networking and infrastructure technologies.

Visitors will also be able to explore the PNY AI Factory Digital Twin Configurator, which allows users to design and configure their own AI factory using digital twins and NVIDIA Omniverse.

PNY will also host live demonstrations developed in collaboration with its technology partners, including SOMOD, DDN, INFINIARC, VERTIV, and F5.

The company’s participation in LEAP 2026 reflects its continued commitment to supporting AI innovation across the Middle East and helping shape the technologies powering the region’s digital transformation.

The PNY team, including regional representatives, will be on-site throughout LEAP 2026 to meet with visitors, partners, and members of the media at Hall H3, Booth D10. Attendees wishing to arrange a briefing or interview are welcome to submit a request below.

Contact request: https://forms.pny.eu/pny-at-leap-2026/

Press contact: sverdier@pny.com / mhamdouche@pny.com

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Globant Introduces Glob.AI, Reinventing Technology Services for the AI Era

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Globant (NYSE: GLOB), a global company focused on driving enterprise reinvention through AI, today introduces Glob.AI, a new AI-native tech services model that fundamentally changes how enterprises access, purchase and deploy AI services. Available online through a self-service model, Glob.AI gives organizations access to enterprise-grade, high quality AI Pods (service units run by a set of AI agents and supervised by humans). Companies are charged for what they produce -per output or per consumption- never per seat or per hour.

“For over 20 years, Globant has stayed ahead of every major technology shift, and AI is no different. Glob.AI is our next step: the one-stop shop where our AI Pods live, each specialized by task and industry. Traditional AI adoption drives token consumption far beyond what efficient output requires, and the real cost is the wasted tokens plus the unstructured, manual supervision of AI. AI Pods introduce a smarter model, running the right AI through parallel agents, loops, workflows, and deterministic processes, representing the true state of the art of what AI can deliver today,” said Martín Migoya, CEO and co-founder of Globant.

Glob.AI brings together AI-native velocity with Globant’s 23 years of enterprise delivery baked into the governance layer. AI agents do the heavy lifting, with Globant’s experts supervising their outputs and guiding every step. Glob.AI works to standards–documented, tested, secure, built for enterprise scale. It’s the speed AI promises, with the rigor and quality that businesses need, by including:

  • Well-defined, deterministic, and repeatable processes, supervised end to end by experts
  • Optimized AI usage and transparent pricing: customers pay strictly for expert-validated outputs and/or real consumption — not hours, seats, AI hallucinations, retries, or wasted cycles.
  • At least 30% more productive than the typical engineer-plus-AI approach
  • Full AI sovereignty and governance: total flexibility over which models customers use and where they run them, with zero client data ever used to train external models.
  • Token consumption secured in a client’s proprietary Token Vault, providing full traceability and compounding a client’s institutional knowledge over time.

“AI is not just making the same projects faster, it is making thousands of projects viable that never were before,” said Guibert Englebienne, co-founder of Globant. “Until today, enterprises could not buy technology services this way: instantly, transparently, paying only for results. That is the shift Glob.AI delivers, and the strong demand for AI Pods shows enterprises are ready for it.”

Organizations joining the waiting list at Glob.AI will gain early access to a comprehensive catalog of agentic workflows capable of building and deploying solutions for enterprise platforms and specialized industry use cases. The AI Pods in the offering also include partnerships with major organizations including Anthropic, AWS, Vercel, OpenAI, Adobe, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, SAP and Salesforce.

Traditional enterprise tech services require months of discovery, RFPs, and procurement cycles before the work begins. Glob.AI changes that model entirely. Users can log in and immediately start building enterprise grade software. Tech delivery becomes a live, continuous service rather than a fixed-term project — every improvement and release happening on the platform, fully visible to the client, in real time.

Globant released AI Pods in mid-2025, and they are already in use by several Fortune 500 organizations across media, entertainment, professional services, and finance, delivering early results that include:

  • FIFA experiencing a 20% efficiency increase in throughput generation while maintaining or improving quality rates
  • LALIGA deploying AI across key functions in three months
  • YPF reducing contract timelines by up to 40%
  • PharmaMar achieving 15x faster insights in oncology research
  • A leading commercial bank completing a COBOL migration in 2 months versus 14 as projected with a traditional approach
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