Asia Pacific business leaders expect 80% success rate on GenAI initiatives

According to IDC, Asia Pacific business leaders will demand an 80% success rate on GenAI initiatives by 2027.

Business leaders will demand 80% success rate on GenAI initiatives by 2027. This is what was unveiled by IDC at its FutureScape event in Singapore recently. Given the increased spending on GenAI infrastructures as well, there is no doubt that business leaders will be wanting a high return on their investments (ROI) as they look to boost efficiency and revenue growth.

According to IDC, businesses are already pivoting from the initial scramble of GenAI, which was brought about by ChatGPT more than two years ago. Currently, most businesses that have begun experimenting or pilot testing GenAI applications in their organizations have witnessed a 62% success rate.

In 2025, this is expected to pivot to comprehensive AI integration within enterprises. This shift urges businesses to move beyond pilot projects and embed AI into core operations, aiming for measurable success and strategic outcomes by 2027.

Looking at the Asia Pacific region, IDC forecasts stronger economic growth that will be driven by AI. Spending on AI-related products is projected to grow 1.7 times faster than overall digital technology investments over the next three years, with a projected expectation of US$1.6 trillion economic impact generated by the end of 2027 across the entire Asia Pacific region.

“2025 will be the year of the AI Pivot. It marks the shift from seemingly endless AI experimentation to executing AI at scale. Organizations must integrate AI into their business strategies to stay ahead of the competition, moving beyond isolated pilot projects to achieve real, measurable business outcomes through structured approaches, governance, quality data and scalable fit-for-purpose infrastructure,” commented Sandra Ng, group vice president and general manager for IDC.

Seven critical pillars to be an AI-fueled business

At the event, IDC also outlines several critical pillars to guide Asia Pacific businesses in their transition to become an AI-fueled business. The first pillar is all about strategy. Most organizations would have realized by now that the key to successful AI implementation goes down to a well-planned AI strategy. Effective scaling AI also hinges on close collaboration between IT and business teams. IDC predicts that over one-third of organizations will be stuck in the experimental, point-solution phase of AI experimentation by 2026. Only by shifting the focus to enterprise use cases to deliver ROI can they get out of this muck.

The second pillar has to do with governance. Businesses that integrate responsible AI into governance frameworks achieve GenAI success. As such, IDC forecasts that 70% of organizations will formalize policies and oversight to address AI risks by 2025, aligning AI governance with strategic business goals.

The third pillar goes down to people. Most organizations are still challenged in working with AI or fear of being replaced by AI. Training and alignment between executives and employees are crucial to overcoming early AI deployment hurdles. By 2027, IDC predicts that more than 50% of A2000 enterprises will rely on GenAI-enabled platforms to automate, accelerate, and optimize IT training and skilling outcomes.

The next pillar is about applications. By late 2026, IDC estimates that 50% of organizations in APJ will leverage AI to bring immediate employee and business value with AI-driven technology assistants, advisors, and agents enabling improved decisions.

AI Platforms is the fifth pillar. Given that businesses often struggle with disparate AI tools, unified platforms will streamline AI efforts at scale. IDC forecasts that 75% of enterprises that establish an AI platform strategy built on a foundation of connecting processes by 2027. This will broaden business functions and will achieve enhanced value from their investments.

Another important pillar is data. Data is no doubt imperative to AI deployment. However, many organizations are grappling with dark data. To optimize costs, reduce vendor dependencies, and improve data governance, IDC predicts that by 2025, 45% of A2000 companies will adopt multi-cloud data logistic platforms. At the same time, the use of data-as-a-product architectures will significantly break down data silos in 50% of large APJ enterprises, which IDC expects to happen by 2027.

Lastly, the final pillar goes down to the AI infrastructure. While existing infrastructure solutions support experimentation, scaling AI to production challenges ROI due to high costs. Despite this, IDC estimates 75% of enterprise AI workloads will be deployed on hybrid fit-for-purpose infrastructure to turbocharge time to value while optimizing performance, cost, and compliance.

For Ng, IDC’s predictions underscore the transformative impact AI will have on APJ businesses. She believes the AI Pivot is not just an option but a necessity to drive growth, enhance efficiency, and compete in an increasingly data-driven world.

“With AI investments set to outpace other digital technologies, companies that address and go beyond the seven AI blockers in 2025 will be best positioned to capture new revenue streams, improve customer experiences, and build long-term competitive advantages,” said Ng.

The role of partners

Given IDC’s predictions and findings, technology vendors will need to engage partners more to ensure they are capable of delivering to customers what they really need in their AI journey. As the partner ecosystem continues to upskill and improve themselves and their offerings to businesses, they would also expect a strong return on their own ROI when dealing with customers and vendors.

As such, partners will no doubt streamline the business agenda of delivering and achieving ROI from all AI investments. It may be a long journey, but with the right guidance and support from the vendors, the partner ecosystem will be capable of helping businesses get the best ROI from their AI spending.