Cisco’s new Global AI Partners Study, titled Bridging the Customer AI Readiness Gap—The opportunities ahead for partners, revealed that 44% of IT partners in Asia Pacific believe the demand for AI-related technology investments will grow by more than 75% in the next four to five years. IT partners believe that infrastructure (31%), cybersecurity (17%), and customer experience (9%)will drive AI technology demand in the coming years.
“The potential for AI to transform business operations is immense, and realising this requires a concerted effort to strengthen our partners’ practical deployment capabilities,” said Alex Pujols, VP of Global Partner Engineering at Cisco. “This study highlights the significant revenue opportunities for IT partners to lead AI deployment. By focusing on AI readiness, Cisco and its valued partner ecosystem are well-positioned to drive transformative outcomes for our customers and leverage the opportunities of the AI era.”
Confidence and investments
The findings indicate that partners in Asia-Pacific show strong confidence in their knowledge and understanding of deploying AI technologies. However, they also understand the challenges they need to address, such as inexperience in deploying new technologies (64%), lack of knowledge of systems and processes (54%), and a lack of available technologies (52%).
The study found that 80% of Asia Pacific partners already conduct internal training or invite external vendors to provide specialised training in AI-related competencies.
“Cisco reaffirms the critical importance of capitalising on the power of AI alongside resilient cybersecurity, particularly in light of the Hong Kong Government’s commitment to the development of digital government and smart city through the use of AI, as indicated in the recent Policy Address,” said Iris Feng, general manager of Cisco Hong Kong, Macau, and South China.
