Modern Leader

"Our Mission is to Protect Our Digital Way of Life." ‍An Exclusive Interview with Abdulaziz Aldhobaie, Palo Alto Networks

‍An exclusive interview with Abdulaziz Aldhobaie, Regional Vice President at Palo Alto Networks, Saudi Arabia.

I had the great pleasure of speaking with Abdulaziz Aldhobaie, Regional Vice President at Palo Alto Networks, Saudi Arabia, at Black Hat MEA.

If you’re a technologist, you know the name Palo Alto Networks. So it’s no surprise that they had a big presence at Black Hat MEA.

I wanted to gain a little more insight into Palo Alto’s approach to the Saudi Arabian market.

So, we discussed the overall company strategy in Saudi Arabia, the services they’re offering, the importance of proactive customer engagement, relationships, and of course, partnerships

Here are a few select quotes from our interview:

Saudi Arabia Cybersecurity is Growing Globally

“The cybersecurity market in Saudi Arabia is growing exponentially; we're seeing it firsthand. The Saudi Arabian Cybersecurity Market size is expected to grow from $500million in 2023 to $1.05 billion by 2028, and cloud and SASE (cloud architecture) are the fastest-growing product areas.

With businesses' increasing reliance on information technology, organizations are migrating to the cloud to improve performance and are implementing a cloud-first policy for all new projects.”

A Global Perspective with Local Expertise

"We're part of the Palo Alto global brand and serve the Saudi Arabian region. This gives us global expertise with a unique local presence to address the specific needs of the Saudi market. 

The emerging market region comprises the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, and GCC countries. We're in a great position to serve our customers."

Forecasting a Cybersecurity Boom

"We are extremely optimistic about growth and expect massive growth to happen. We are 100% aligned with the company's global growth and believe we have immense potential in Saudi Arabia. 

This optimism is rooted in the nation's solid global ranking in cybersecurity and its commitment to transformative investments in the sector."

Focus on Cloud and SaaS

"Cloud and SaaS are one of our main areas of focus. The cloud services market in Saudi Arabia is expected to reach approximately $1.3 billion (IDC) in 2023. 

With the GCP Launch in Saudi, the new location for Prisma Access enables Palo Alto Networks to leverage the hyper-scale of Google Cloud technology to provide organizations in Saudi Arabia with domestic access to superior AI, multi-cloud-delivered security to protect users, regardless of location."

The Importance of Relationships

"Our mission is to be the cybersecurity partner of choice, protecting our digital way of life. We work proactively with customers, helping them shape a cloud-centric future with technology that transforms how people and organizations operate."‍

On Customer Success

"Continuous assistance for success" is the key message; we are working closely with our customers to ensure:

  • Guidance and oversight to help expedite the setup and initial configuration.
  • Reliance on industry-leading security experts with 24/7 telephone support to maximize the security posture.
  • Regular product operational reviews to keep the teams aligned and on track."

A Journey of Success and Collaboration

"It's an excellent opportunity to be part of the iconic cybersecurity conference BlackHat MEA. We look forward to participating in the coming years and thank the organizers (Tahaluf) for a successful event."

As Saudi Arabia continues to climb the ranks in global cybersecurity, companies like Palo Alto Networks play a pivotal role in shaping its dynamic and promising future.

Thank you, Abdulaziz Aldhobaie, for a wonderful interview!

Also, I wanted to give a massive thank you to Candice Luicien at Action PR for making this interview happen. None of this is possible without someone to organize the chaos. So, thank you again!