BMC Helix accelerates AI-driven innovation and ServiceOps transformation, aligning with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 through local partnerships and next-generation automation.
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BMC Helix marked a significant milestone in its regional journey with the Customer and Partner Roadshow held at the InterContinental Riyadh on Wednesday, showcasing how its Agentic AI, HelixGPT, and AIOps capabilities are redefining IT service and operations management. The event brought together industry leaders, partners, and customers to experience first-hand how BMC Helix’s AI-powered solutions are enabling enterprises to turn intelligence into action—anticipating needs, automating solutions, and accelerating outcomes across ServiceOps.
In an exclusive conversation with Tahawultech.com, Salman Kazmi, Area Vice President, META, BMC Helix, shared insights into the company’s expanding footprint in Saudi Arabia, its commitment to Vision 2030, and how Agentic AI is shaping the next era of enterprise intelligence and operational excellence.
Interview Excerpts:
BMC Helix hosted its customer and partner event in Riyadh. What was the focus of this engagement?
The Riyadh event was part of a global series of Helix roadshows—this year, the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META) region was chosen for the main stage. We’ve previously hosted similar events in the UAE, and the decision to hold it in Saudi Arabia this time reflects the kingdom’s strong transformation agenda. Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia are our core markets, but each has unique characteristics—different citizen dynamics, regulatory structures, and digital goals.
“We operate with dedicated country managers in both nations, ensuring our teams deliver value-driven outcomes tailored to local needs. It’s not about competition between markets—it’s about complementarity and shared ambition.”
BMC Helix is now operating as an independent company. How has this shift accelerated innovation?
BMC’s roots go back to 1980, but as technologies evolved, our business diversified into three areas—mainframe management, automation, and service operations. With the rise of AI, the Helix division needed more agility, which is why we became an independent entity. This autonomy allows us to innovate faster, with four major releases a year—something that wasn’t possible before. Whether customers run our solutions as SaaS or on-prem for data sovereignty, they now benefit from accelerated development cycles, deeper investment in AI, and faster time to value.
How is BMC Helix supporting Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 digital goals?
We’ve operated in Saudi Arabia since 1998, so we’ve grown alongside the kingdom’s transformation journey. Our strategy aligns with Vision 2030 through localisation, co-innovation, and strategic partnerships. We co-create AI-powered solutions with leading enterprises and government entities while investing in local talent development. For us, it’s not just about delivering software—it’s about co-creating the future of AI operations in the Saudi Arabia.
Tell us about your partner ecosystem in Saudi Arabia and how local collaborations strengthen customer success?
Partners are our lifeblood. We have one of BMC Helix’s strongest global partner networks in Saudi Arabia, including Al Moammar Information Systems (MIS), Magnoos (MDS Group), CyberMAK, and Fourth Dimension Systems (FDS). These collaborations drive localisation, co-development, and faster deployment for customers.
“We run partner enablement programmes, co-marketing initiatives, and joint innovation projects. It’s truly a global innovation model powered by local execution.”
Could you clarify how data sovereignty is maintained in markets like the UAE and Saudi Arabia?
Data sovereignty laws vary by country. In the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the key requirement is that data must remain within national borders, with no sub-processing abroad. We ensure full compliance through localised infrastructure—our UAE instance runs on Oracle Cloud (OCI), and our Saudi instance operates on Google Cloud. Each environment is managed separately and replicated locally. No customer data leaves the country or is visible to global BMC servers, ensuring complete separation and adherence to national policies.
Dubai has positioned itself as a Digital-First nation. How do you view the emirate’s progress in embracing next-gen technologies?
The best way to describe Dubai is that it never settles. The city constantly seeks the next efficiency paradigm and continues to push the boundaries of innovation. If you look at initiatives like DEWA’s paperless transformation, which began years ago, the results today are remarkable. Dubai and the UAE have not only embraced AI but are building frameworks around it, reflecting His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s vision to make this the happiest and most future-ready nation. Today, e-services and banking initiatives in the UAE are ahead of many Western markets. The region’s fearless approach to adopting technology makes it a hub where global vendors can actually define what the future looks like, rather than waiting for others to set the standard.
Agentic AI is a major focus for BMC Helix. How do you define it, and how does it differ from traditional automation or generative AI?
Traditional automation is rule-based—“if this, then that.” Agentic AI, on the other hand, introduces autonomous digital teammates capable of reasoning and acting toward specific outcomes. We call it Enterprise Intelligence—a system where digital assistants pursue goals proactively rather than reactively. We’ve developed purpose-built agents such as Insight Finder for contextual decision support, Ops Swarmer for cross-team collaboration, and Best Action Planner for intelligent recommendations. The objective is to unlock human potential by letting AI handle operational complexity, so employees can focus on innovation and differentiating work.
How do you address the challenge of cultural and mindset shifts when introducing agentic AI?
Change management is key. It’s a process of cultural education and demonstration—showing, not just telling. Our global leadership, including our CEO, actively demonstrates agentic use cases to customers.
“Once people experience how agentic AI delivers value, fear turns into curiosity, and curiosity turns into adoption.”
How do HelixGPT, AIOps, and other capabilities work together to enhance IT service delivery?
HelixGPT forms our intelligence backbone. It enables natural language understanding, causal analysis, and code generation through reflex automation. AIOps complements it by offering deep observability and predictive analysis across hybrid environments—on-prem, cloud, or both. Together, they detect anomalies, correlate events, recommend resolutions, and even automate fixes in real time. It’s like moving from reactive IT operations to proactive, self-healing digital ecosystems.
What measurable benefits have customers seen from implementing AI-powered ServiceOps with BMC Helix?
Our customers report tangible improvements—
- 60% faster incident resolution, driven by AI-powered root-cause analysis and automated team assembly.
- 40% reduction in manual effort through intelligent scheduling and autonomous change management.
- 30% improvement in change success rates, as AI assesses dependencies before implementation.
For instance, Vodafone saw a 37% drop in service desk calls, while DNV accelerated deployment from design to production in just six weeks.
What are some best practices for responsible and successful generative AI adoption?
Adoption starts with purpose-built use cases and measurable goals. Governance and guardrails are essential—AI initiatives must align with enterprise security and data privacy. We follow a “bring your own model” approach, letting customers choose between Azure OpenAI, Google, or other LLMs, ensuring ownership and control. Equally important is hands-on engagement. Our “Airport Simulator” and “Farsight Activation” sessions let customers experience AI in action, which helps overcome resistance and fosters cultural change.
Looking ahead to 2026, how do you see the role of AI agents evolving in enterprise operations?
We’re moving from task automation to full-scale operational augmentation. AI agents will become trusted digital teammates capable of reasoning, acting, and learning across enterprise environments. We’re expanding our Agent Builder capabilities so customers can create their own specialised agents. Future innovation will focus on multi-agent orchestration, bias-aware data governance, and conversational DevOps. The next challenge will be ensuring that these agents can talk to each other across systems—creating a unified agentic framework, and BMC Helix will play a major role in that evolution.