2025 is positioned to become a pivotal year for AI integration in Southeast Asia (SEA), based on findings ofa new IDC InfoBrief, "Agentic Automation: Unlocking Seamless Orchestration for the Modern Enterprise", commissioned by UiPath.
"Becoming an AI-fueled business is no longer an option in today's unpredictable climate. For many organisations, it's fast becoming a strategic necessity. Across the region, organisations are embracing agentic AI and agentic automation at scale," said Deepika Giri, associate vice president, AI Research, IDC Asia/Pacific.
AI adoption
With 42% of organisations in the region already implementing agentic AI, and almost 44% planning to use the technology within the next 12 months, organisations are shifting from AI experimentation to large-scale implementation this year.
Moreover, 79% of organisations are actively developing agentic AI use cases. For instance, customer support automation (58%), risk and fraud detection (58%), and productivity enhancement (56%) are the top use cases of agentic AI in 2025.
Most SEA organisations reported that agentic AI significantly improves decision-making(75%) and increases productivity (72%).
Barriers to adoption
The study found that data privacy breaches (51%), security vulnerabilities resulting from autonomous actions (48%), and unintended consequences arising from complex interactions (47%) were the top business risks associated with the adoption of agentic AI.
Meanwhile, data security concerns (57%), high implementation costs (48%), and integration with existing systems (42%) were cited as the top implementation challenges of agentic AI.
"Agentic automation is rapidly redefining business operations across Southeast Asia. While enterprises in this region are embracing the full potential of AI agents to streamline workflows and autonomously execute complex business processes, trust and security remain barriers to widespread implementation," said Deb Deep Sengupta, area vice president, South Asia, UiPath.
