Instead of demonstrated business results, the fear of being left behind is driving enterprises across the Asia Pacific (APAC) to accelerate AI investments, according to a new IDC InfoBrief commissioned by Expereo.
Some 37% in the region admitted they are investing aggressively with little evaluation of returns, almost doubling the global average (20%), and significantly higher than the United States (10%) and Europe (13%).
AI investments
The majority (61%) of APAC organisations are planning to prioritise AI or machine learning investments over the next year, compared with 51% globally.
However, despite the enthusiasm, fewer than half (40%) of organisations in the region said their AI projects exceeded or significantly exceeded expectations.
Key challenges include poor-quality training data, higher-than-expected costs, failure to achieve a return on investment (ROI), and AI systems that underperform expectations. More than half of APAC respondents identified cost overruns or unmet ROI targets as a major concern. Moreover, only 9% of APAC organisations described their networks as fully prepared to support new AI, cloud, and digital initiatives, while 37% said upgrades or replacements would be necessary soon.
Ben Elms, CEO, Expereo, says:Â “Without resilient, scalable, cloud-optimised networks, even the most well-funded AI programs will struggle to deliver ROI. Getting the network right is no longer an IT decision; it is one of the most important conversations happening in the boardroom today to help fulfil AI ambition.”
“Across the region, we are seeing enterprises reassess whether their infrastructure is truly ready to support AI at scale, particularly around performance, resilience, governance, and visibility. Organisations that address those foundations early are generally seeing stronger outcomes and faster operational impact from their AI initiatives,” Eric Wong, president, APAC, Expereo, said.
