UAE marketing leaders identify fragmented data as biggest obstacle to AI customer engagement ROI

Senior marketing executives from financial services, retail, hospitality, logistics and other sectors gathered in Dubai for a closed-door executive roundtable hosted by MoEngage in partnership with Khaleej Times to discuss why AI investments in customer engagement are not yet delivering consistent business returns.

Drawing on insights from MoEngage's State of AI in Customer Engagement report for the Middle East, the discussion found that while AI adoption is accelerating across the region, fragmented data infrastructure, disconnected systems and unrealistic implementation timelines remain significant barriers to measurable return on investment.

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According to the research, 92 per cent of marketing and customer experience leaders in the Middle East consider AI central to their growth strategy, yet only 31 per cent say it has become a genuine driver of business strategy. Meanwhile, 35.5 per cent remain in the early stages of adoption, relying on standalone AI tools for tasks such as content creation and audience segmentation.

Participants agreed that the biggest obstacle is not the technology itself, but the quality and accessibility of organisational data. MoEngage's research found that around half of regional organisations cannot confidently measure whether their AI initiatives are generating business value, while 53 per cent continue to deploy AI as isolated tools rather than integrating them into broader customer data ecosystems.

Marketing leaders shared examples of personalisation efforts relying on outdated behavioural data, delayed campaign execution and fragmented customer journeys. The consensus was that without unified, real-time customer data, even advanced AI models struggle to deliver meaningful business outcomes.

The discussion also highlighted the growing gap between executive expectations and operational realities. Participants noted that boards increasingly expect rapid returns from AI investments, while organisations still require significant time to integrate enterprise data systems and establish reliable measurement frameworks. Several executives described this as "pilot paralysis", where organisations hesitate to scale AI programmes until measurable success has been demonstrated, but cannot generate that evidence without broader deployment.

Another recurring theme was customer personalisation. According to the research, 83 per cent of regional brands still lack a unified AI layer across web, mobile and email channels, resulting in fragmented customer experiences. Participants discussed how traditional segmentation models continue to group customers into broad cohorts, limiting the ability to respond to changing individual behaviour in real time, while newer agentic AI approaches could enable more adaptive one-to-one engagement.

Beyond technology, attendees stressed that successful AI adoption depends equally on organisational readiness, governance and employee confidence. Several organisations shared experiences of introducing AI through smaller, measurable use cases before expanding deployments across marketing functions, allowing teams to build trust before scaling.

Governance also emerged as a growing priority, particularly as employees increasingly use personal AI tools for workplace tasks without formal oversight. Participants noted that stronger governance frameworks will become increasingly important, particularly in regulated sectors such as financial services, healthcare and telecommunications.

The roundtable concluded that while investment in AI across the Gulf continues to accelerate, measurable returns will depend less on deploying new technologies and more on strengthening data foundations, improving governance, aligning organisational expectations and equipping teams to adopt AI effectively.

Download the full report to know more.