Partner Pulse: How Netways Is Building AI-Ready Digital Platforms Across the Gulf

From Digital Transformation to AI-Ready Platforms

Netways operates across the Middle East, supporting governments and enterprises in their digital transformation journeys. As Carla explains in the interview, customer expectations have evolved rapidly in the AI era. Organizations are no longer just modernizing interfaces. They want platforms that integrate AI capabilities, unify experiences, and meet strict regulatory requirements.

Today, “AI-ready” means more than adding a chatbot.

It means:

• Reliable, well-structured data
• Modular and scalable architecture
• Strong governance and compliance frameworks

“If you are building AI on top of data that is not reliable, you will have the wrong AI outcome,” Carla notes in the discussion.

In regions like the Gulf, data privacy, residency requirements, and national compliance frameworks add additional complexity. Platforms must adapt to country-specific regulations while still enabling agility and innovation.

Unifying Fragmented Systems and Monetizing Public Services

Across projects in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Netways has implemented unified digital platforms that consolidate legacy systems and create centralized access points for customers, partners, and employees.

A few examples Carla shared:

• A ministry with 16 subsidiaries unified under a single architecture, enabling online marketplaces for subscriptions and ticketing, turning public services into revenue-generating digital channels.
• An employee portal integrating ERP systems and internal tools into one centralized experience.
• An investment fund platform consolidating 30 services into one unified system, integrated with CRM and ERP back-office systems.

The shift is significant: digital platforms are no longer viewed purely as cost centers. They’re becoming monetization engines and strategic growth enablers.

Security and Compliance: The Non-Negotiables

When asked what matters most to buyers in the Middle East, speed, sovereignty, or security, Carla is clear: security and compliance come first.

Regulatory frameworks across the Gulf require strict adherence to data privacy, data residency, and sovereignty rules. Any digital platform must accommodate these requirements without slowing down innovation.

At the same time, organizations still expect speed. Agility matters, especially for customer-facing platforms in retail or public services. The balance between compliance and rapid deployment is critical.

Building the Future Together

Looking ahead, Carla emphasizes responsiveness and adaptability as key ingredients for long-term success. As AI capabilities continue to evolve, the partnership between Netways and Liferay is focused on enabling complete AI transformation journeys, particularly in the public sector.

The opportunity presents a significant potential for growth: combine strong governance and integration capabilities with AI-driven innovation to deliver secure, scalable digital ecosystems.

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About Netways

Netways is a recognized leader in AI-driven transformation, operating across the Middle East and is a platinum Liferay partner. With a wide portfolio of solutions and accelerators, Netways empowers organizations to achieve Intelligent Digital Transformation while enhancing business efficiency and creating competitive differentiation.

Netways serves diverse industries including public sector, healthcare, finance, manufacturing, and education, while maintaining strategic partnerships with leading global vendors and software providers.

Interview Transcript

Below is a lightly edited version of the conversation for readability.

Liferay:

Hello and welcome to another episode of Partner Pulse. Today I’m happy to be joined by Carla Naufal, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Netways. Hi, Carla.

Carla Naufal:

Hi. Thank you for having me.

Liferay:

Thanks for taking the time. Netways works with Liferay customers across the Middle East, and Carla and I will be talking about their journey with strategic partnerships, of course AI, and how digital experience is evolving in the region.

Carla, before we dive into strategy and AI and more, let’s start a little more personally. Can you tell us about Netways, what your role focuses on at Netways, and how your journey with Liferay began?

Carla Naufal:

Yes, sure. Netways is a leading AI and digital transformation company operating in the Middle East and covering around ten countries. We accompany companies throughout their AI transformation journey, and we have a big customer base in many different industries, mainly in the public sector, but we also cover financial services, education, manufacturing, and other industries.

We enable those companies to go through their digital transformation projects and exercises and to be AI-ready. We also have partnerships with major software companies like Microsoft. We have been partners with Microsoft for more than 25 years, and we are also partners with other software companies, and obviously now with Liferay.

Our journey with Liferay started two years ago, and during those two years we covered projects in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, mainly in the public sector. We became a Platinum Partner with Liferay in no time, and we are planning to expand this partnership into other countries.

Liferay:

Very interesting. In your role around strategic partnerships, you’ve been closely involved when Netways expanded its alliance with Liferay, especially in 2025. What changed in the market, or maybe in customer expectations, that made this the right and maybe also the necessary moment to take that step?

Carla Naufal:

Actually, as you know, we are in the AI era, and all companies would like to integrate AI capabilities into their organizations and to be AI-ready. They also need to provide the best experience to the customer. They need a centralized platform where customers, partners, and employees can access one single unified platform. And this is where Liferay is a key player.

Also, since we are in the digital transformation business, it was very natural to complement our offering with what Liferay is providing, especially because it is an AI-ready platform. So yes, this is the right time for customer-facing experiences and for a single platform communicating with all parties. I think we have a great alliance in this regard with Liferay.

Liferay:

You mentioned the term AI-ready just now. That’s probably also a term a lot of your customers use today. It can also probably mean different things in practice. So when a client says to you, “We want an AI-ready digital experience,” what’s your practical definition of AI-ready? Is it something that concerns architecture, data, governance, or all of those?

Carla Naufal:

I would say all of those. If you are building AI on top of data that is not reliable and not correct, you will have the wrong AI outcome. So data has to be reliable. It has to be well defined. It has to be structured.

Architecture is also super important. It has to be modular and scalable to be able to speak to many components and systems. And governance is key, because governance means compliance and security. There are plenty of regulations across the Gulf, since I’m talking about the Middle East, and these regulations are related to specific compliance requirements in specific countries.

So governance is key. And fortunately, Liferay covers those three aspects: data, architecture, and governance.

Liferay:

Maybe a follow-up on that. You mentioned all the different compliance regulations across the Gulf and the Middle East. Is it very difficult to keep an overview? You have to take all of these into account when you do your projects.

Carla Naufal:

Absolutely. Because there are regulations related to data privacy, to where to store your data, and to data sovereignty. So definitely, you have to take all those aspects into account, respect those regulations, and cater for them. Liferay is helping in that sense because it can adapt to those regulations.

Liferay:

Across your different projects and industries in the Middle East, I think we talked a little bit before the interview about how certain functionalities, features, or capabilities tend to matter more than others. From your perspective, what are the Liferay capabilities or features that have delivered the most value for Netways customers? And why do they especially resonate in the public sector, where you do most of your work?

Carla Naufal:

Actually, Liferay has many functionalities, and we implemented different functionalities depending on the customer’s needs. For each project, the customer needed specific features and functionalities.

I’ll give a couple of examples. One of the ministries used to have, or has, 16 entities, 16 subsidiaries. So what we did was integrate an online marketplace helping to monetize the public services. Now they can sell subscriptions and ticketing online. All those 16 entities had their own portals, but through the same architecture, the same platform, and the same workflow.

For another project, for instance, we had to build an employee portal. This employee portal was communicating with and gathering the data systems within the company in one place. It was integrating very well with ERP, and this employee portal was able to provide the employees with everything they need within the organization. Instead of having the employee go and take the data from so many places, they can now have everything they need in a single unified platform.

For another public sector company related to investment funds, we replaced fragmented processes and systems with a unified platform where 30 services are present in one unified platform, and all the 30 services can be accessed through the same platform.

So these are examples of projects where we integrated with CRM and ERP systems. I would say that it depends on every project, but to summarize, Liferay can help those entities monetize their services, which is great. So it is no longer only about cost control, but also about becoming a revenue-generating center. And it can also help organizations move from fragmented systems and processes to a unified platform. It integrates very well with the back office of a company, whether ERP or CRM, and it has accelerators that can integrate easily. This is very valuable because it helps us achieve a customer-facing experience through a single platform.

Liferay:

How often are you confronted in projects, especially in the public sector, with older legacy systems? Is that a problem or an issue you have to integrate? Does Liferay help with that, or are legacy systems not so much of an issue?

Carla Naufal:

It’s not so much of an issue because Liferay has the needed accelerators. However, it is very important for Liferay to be able to communicate with those systems because, as you know, all those organizations have many systems and back-office software solutions. We cannot reinvent the wheel. We need a unified platform that can talk to all those systems, and Liferay, so far, is succeeding in that.

Liferay:

You mentioned that you work around the Gulf. Different regions tend to optimize for different priorities, especially when it comes to digital platforms. If you had to choose, what is most important for Middle East buyers right now: optimizing for go-to-market speed, for security and compliance, or for something I would call platform sovereignty, meaning one unifying platform? And how does that affect platform decisions?

Carla Naufal:

I would say that security and compliance are super important and key drivers. As I said earlier, you have all those compliance requirements and regulations in the Gulf, and you have to abide by those rules.

So it is very important to guarantee security first, as well as data sovereignty. And then, of course, you also have to be agile and work at a certain speed, because you have to move very fast, especially when it’s a company that is dealing with customer retail and customer-facing systems.

But yes, I would say regulations, compliance, and security are definitely key.

Liferay:

In closing, let’s look into the future a little bit, and let’s look at Liferay’s and Netways’ future. What’s the next capability or feature that you would like Netways and Liferay to be known for together? And what would need to happen to get there?

Carla Naufal:

The positive thing is that Liferay has high responsiveness. They are still building more capabilities into the product, but they are moving fast, and this is very important.

So I believe together we can complement what would be an AI transformation journey, and we can provide all the elements needed together, especially to industries like the public sector, the financial sector, and also other industries.

Again, we are building a very strong partnership. And when you are acting quickly, you can build more easily for the future. I’m confident that we will have great joint successes in the near future.

Liferay:

Perfect closing remarks. Thank you for your time. It was very nice talking to you, and I hope we talk again soon.

Carla Naufal:

Thank you.

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