Ram Ramachandran, Senior Vice President of India, Middle East & Africa at Tech Mahindra, explains the company is driving the Middle East’s digital transformation through AI, 5G, and smart city innovations. Focused on scalability, partnerships, and sustainability, it empowers industries to thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape.
The tech landscape in the Middle East is experiencing a significant transformation, driven by a wave of innovation and government support. This evolution is evident in key sectors such as finance, healthcare, and education, where notable digital disruptions are taking place. As artificial intelligence continues to reshape industries worldwide, the Middle East is poised to leverage this technology effectively. A recent industry report projects that the Middle East is set to capture 2% of the global benefits of AI by 2030, which translates to around $320 billion.Beyond AI, the region is making strides in other emerging technologies, including blockchain, the metaverse, Web3, and digital twins. These advancements are paving the way for new opportunities that will simplify products and services, enhance urban living, and improve efficiency in education and healthcare. Tech Mahindra is excited to be a part of this unfolding tech revolution in the region.
How does Tech Mahindra differentiate itself from competitors in the Middle East market?
We believe that the era of viewing other technology enterprises as rivals has passed. Today, we embrace competitive collaboration, where each organization contributes its unique strengths to drive digital transformation in the region we operate in. The Middle East stands out as a vibrant hub in our global strategy, where we have made strategic investments and established ourselves as trailblazers by understanding and responding to customer needs.
As a digital-first company, we are passionate advocates for digital transformation. Our efforts are driven by our Scale at Speed promise to help enterprises transform at speed, bring agility, resilience, and efficiency to their businesses. In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, businesses must not only adapt but also scale effectively and swiftly to remain competitive. We enable our partners to quickly leverage digital tools and technologies, allowing them to respond to market demands and customer expectations in real-time.
To support this mission, we have organized our business into five key lines: digital, connectivity, engineering, processes, and cloud. These areas fundamentally shape our organization, with a particular focus on sectors such as telecom, manufacturing, banking, financial services, retail, and the public sector. Our commitment goes beyond simply providing services; we are dedicated to empowering industries through comprehensive digital transformation.
What does Scale at Speed mean for Tech Mahindra and for its customers?
At the core of Tech Mahindra’s promise of Scale at Speed lies our robust engineering foundation, extensive talent pool, and the rich heritage of the Mahindra Group, which spans diverse industries. Over two decades, we have cultivated strong relationships with our clients through a comprehensive suite of offerings and a deep entrepreneurial spirit.
In today’s landscape of geopolitical challenges and rapidly evolving AI capabilities, businesses must adapt more than ever. Typically, organizations face a choice between Scale or Speed in their technology transformation journeys. However, the current need is for Scale at Speed—driven by AI advancements—requiring technology partners who can help bring agility, resilience, and efficiency to operations. Tech Mahindra embodies this promise as a trusted partner, collaborating with our customers to explore new frontiers, fostering innovation, and driving genuine transformation across industries.
Which industry verticals are driving Tech Mahindra’s business in the region?
Tech Mahindra’s growth trajectory in the UAE and the wider Middle East has been significant, driven by the region’s rapid adoption of 5G, smart cities, and digital transformation initiatives. Over the last few years, our business in the Middle East has doubled in size, establishing operations in six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
In the UAE and the broader region, Tech Mahindra is focused on sectors undergoing rapid digital transformation, including public services, energy, utilities, financial services, telecom, travel and logistics, and smart cities. The telecom sector has been at the forefront of growth due to the accelerated adoption of 5G and the ongoing modernization of telecom infrastructure. Our travel and logistics clients are leveraging AI/ML, IoT, and process automation to streamline operations, improve customer experiences, and optimize supply chains. Meanwhile, in smart cities, Tech Mahindra supports end-to-end solutions, from IoT-enabled urban infrastructure to connected services, helping cities improve liveability and operational efficiency through sustainable technologies.
By leveraging our expertise in AI/ML, cloud technologies, and 5G capabilities, we help clients across these industries enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs, and unlock new business models. Additionally, our oil and gas division, with over 15 years of industry experience, continues to work with over 30 clients globally across upstream, midstream, downstream, and oil field services. The diversity of our industry portfolio in the Middle East reinforces our commitment to driving transformation across key sectors, shaping the future of the region.
Can you share some successful used cases highlighting Tech Mahindra’s impact in the region?
We have been part of the UAE digital transformation for years, and the journey has been fascinating. For instance, we are working with a leading telecom provider for their data transformation initiatives, which sets the foundation for their futuristic AI plans.
Our customer base has been growing stronger every passing year. Recently, we signed a MoU with a Ministry in the UAE for a multi-year next-gen project. Through this partnership, we would be moving their technology platform to a low-code model, which is one of the most preferred technology models implemented by leading tech-savvy enterprises these days. Our long-standing partnerships with customers are also picking up pace. We have a long-term agreement with a leading department in Abu Dhabi that focuses on infra-managed services and providing other innovative next-gen solutions.
Such trusted partnerships have resulted in us garnering enhanced business opportunities. With the government’s and companies’ willingness to embrace digital transformation, we believe the region will grow significantly in the next decade and beyond.
How is AI helping address your customers’ concerns?
Many customers remain in the Proof of Concept (PoC) stage of AI, cautious about scaling. Tech Mahindra supports them with change management and guidance to ensure smooth, full AI adoption. Our solution, TechM VerifAI, validates and verifies AI/GenAI projects end-to-end, offering a 360-degree validation framework with customizable metrics and seamless integration for faster, reliable AI outcomes.
TechM VerifAI assesses data quality in early stages and tests models during development, verifying and tuning deployed models for consistent, secure, and explainable results. The solution addresses unique industry needs. In telecom, AI-driven insights enhance network performance, predict maintenance needs, and improve customer support with more responsive, personalized service. For example, TechM VerifAI enables telecom providers to validate and fine-tune AI models supporting network operations, ensuring security, accuracy, and reliability under high-demand scenarios.
In travel and logistics, AI optimizes supply chains, predicts demand fluctuations, and manages operational disruptions, enhancing agility and efficiency. TechM VerifAI empowers travel and logistics clients to validate their AI models confidently, achieving dependable results in areas like route optimization, fleet management, and customer experience.
For smart cities, AI manages connected infrastructure, reduces energy consumption, and enhances public services. TechM VerifAI meets the rigorous demands of smart city deployments by validating AI models used in traffic management, waste management, and resource allocation, ensuring they are safe, reliable, and compliant with city governance standards. By offering a seamless path from PoC to full-scale AI adoption, we empower clients to address real-world challenges and unlock AI’s potential with greater confidence and speed.
What role do partnerships and collaborations play in Tech Mahindra’s growth strategy in this region, and can you discuss any of your latest partnerships?
As mentioned earlier, partnerships play a major role in Tech Mahindra’s goal of leading the regional digital transformation. To give you an instance, we have played a key role in Ooredoo’s digital transformation and data migration journey by leveraging new working methods. Our deep telecom industry and expertise in digital transformation have enabled us to play a pivotal role with other Ooredoo partners, resulting in the achievement of tangible milestones for Ooredoo Oman and its customers.
We look forward to continuing our partnership and supporting globally leading organizations in their mission to provide cutting-edge digital services and enable them to scale at speed.
Looking ahead, what is your vision for Tech Mahindra in the Middle East and how are you planning to enhance your presence in the region?
The Middle East and Africa offer some of the world’s fastest 5G networks, innovative smart cities, and advanced infrastructures. Beyond current opportunities, there is potential for future advancements in education, healthcare, and the improvement of social standards through digital technology. We are making significant investments in these markets, with development centres established in nations such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria. We are also adopting a localization strategy to empower youth with digital skills to contribute to their societies and advance their nations. Additionally, sustainable business practices are being integrated, following Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles, with commitments to become carbon neutral by FY 2030 and net zero by 2035.
