The third annual Cisco AI Readiness Index has revealed that only 2% of organisations surveyed in Hong Kong are fully prepared for AI, the lowest among all surveyed markets globally.
Pacesetters, comprising only about 2% of organisations surveyed in Hong Kong but 13% globally, are 10x more likely to move pilots into production and 80% more likely to see measurable value, and have outperformed their peers across every measure of AI value for the last three years.
HK Pacesetter profile
The global study of over 8,000 AI leaders across 30 markets and 26 industries also revealed that pacesetters in Hong Kong have a defined AI roadmap (32%) and have a change-management plan (14%).
Only 6% Pacesetters in Hong Kong say their networks are fully flexible and can scale instantly for any AI project. 29% are investing in new data-centre capacity within the next 12 months.
Only 6% have a mature, repeatable innovation process for generating and scaling AI use cases 8% have already finalised those use cases.
30% are highly aware of AI-specific threats, 10% integrate AI into their security and identity systems, and 30% are fully equipped to control and secure AI agents.
More than half (52%) report gains in profitability, productivity, and innovation, compared with 52% overall in Hong Kong.
Jeetu Patel, Cisco's president and chief product officer, said: The evidence points to a massive competitive advantage: companies that are further along are seeing dramatically stronger returns than their peers."
