Oman AI Adoption Focuses on Business Performance

At an SAP event in Muscat, business leaders and technology executives said the value of AI depends on trusted data, industry knowledge and staff skills, not simply on deploying new tools. The message comes as Oman accelerates digital reform: the government said its Digital Transformation Program improved to 94% at the end of 2025 from 73% a year earlier, while the Sultanate attracted OMR1.2 billion in communications and information technology investment in 2025, including about OMR65 million in AI.

SAP used the gathering to frame its “autonomous enterprise” model, in which applications, data and AI are linked so agents can work across business processes using enterprise data and business context. That pitch is designed to appeal to firms under pressure to deliver measurable savings and faster decisions, not just innovation theatre.

For investors and operators, the economic logic is straightforward. AI applied to finance, supply chains, human resources and customer operations can reduce bottlenecks, improve forecasting and lower working capital needs. In resource-heavy economies such as Oman, the biggest gains are likely to come from maintenance, procurement, logistics and planning rather than consumer-facing chatbots. That makes data quality and workflow integration more important than model sophistication.

Petroleum Development Oman, one of the country’s most important companies, underscored that point by stressing that AI’s value will come from combining technology with sector know-how and workforce development. Energy Development Oman said AI could help analyze complex scenarios and support a more resilient and sustainable energy system, while Zubair’s CIO said firms should use the technology to rethink how they create value, not only automate existing tasks.

The bull case is that Oman is laying the groundwork for a more efficient private sector just as capital is flowing into digital infrastructure and AI capabilities. The bear case is that many companies will still struggle with fragmented data, governance gaps and skills shortages, leaving AI as a presentation-layer tool rather than a profit driver.

For listed global beneficiaries such as SAP, and for infrastructure and cloud players tied to enterprise software rollouts, the opportunity is less about one event than a longer adoption cycle across the Gulf. For Oman’s economy, the test is whether AI can raise productivity fast enough to support diversification targets and improve the performance of sectors from energy to manufacturing.