Digital Realty: Strategic data management key for AI adoption

Despite there being mature markets in AI adoption in Asia Pacific, only a quarter of enterprises in the region consider their current AI use to be transformative.

Findings from data centre provider Digital Realty’s 2024 Global Data Insights Survey revealed a significant surge in AI adoption among enterprises in the region. The Asia Pacific findings of the survey involved some 2,000 IT leaders across 21 countries including Australia, India, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea.

The study is aimed at gaining insights into how enterprises are creating business strategies and redesigning legacy IT infrastructures to support their AI ambitions and goals. The findings revealed that despite there being mature markets in AI adoption in Asia Pacific, only a quarter of enterprises in the region consider their current AI use to be transformative.

The mature markets are Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong while the state of AI maturity in other countries reflect the need for greater investment in digital infrastructure to unlock AI's full potential.

"In Asia Pacific, the race to harness AI's power is accelerating. Businesses are realizing that AI is not just a buzzword, but a strategic imperative for driving innovation and growth,” commented Serene Nah, Managing Director and Head of Asia Pacific for Digital Realty.

The study also revealed that IT leaders across Asia Pacific acknowledge the essential role of strategic data management in effectively unlocking the full value of AI. With 65% of companies in the region actively executing a formal data strategy for their current or planned IT locations, 77% of Asia Pacific companies are also adopting a distributed data approach to tackle data gravity challenges.

At the same time, 72% of enterprises are incorporating data location strategies into their AI plans, allowing them to place high-density storage and processing capacity in key locations to maximize AI's performance. Additionally, 56% plan to expand their infrastructure in one to five more locations within the next two years. With data sovereignty regulations requirements, the expansion will enable adherence and also allow them to scale AI workloads crucial for their future digital infrastructure plans.

Challenges in AI adoption

Given the demand for more data-driven initiatives by organizations, further investment in digital infrastructure is necessary to fully harness the potential of AI. However, infrastructure hurdles continue to impede the success of AI investments in the region. Currently, 56% of Asia Pacific enterprises lack the digital infrastructure required for both data and AI success.

Insufficient data storage for large AI datasets has been regarded as the main infrastructure challenge with 64% of organizations experiencing it. 55% of organizations also cite inadequate computational power for AI processing while 49% have concerns on ensuring reliable connections to distributed data sources as challenges.

“The key to success lies in a data-centric infrastructure that can seamlessly integrate data from various sources, deliver high-performance computing, and ensure robust connectivity. By prioritizing sustainability and leveraging cutting-edge technologies, organizations can unlock the full potential of AI while minimizing environmental impact,” added Nah.

As such, IT leaders in the region need to emphasize the need for data centre providers to enable secure data exchange between users, networks, clouds, and IT providers on a single data centre platform. This includes having infrastructure that is capable of managing AI's power and energy demands for data storage, processing, and hosting. There is also the need for proximity of high-performing AI workloads to data and users as well as ensuring compliance with AI and data privacy regulations.

The study also revealed that sustainability remains a top priority in Asia Pacific. Despite concerns on the compute power and carbon emissions generated from data centres and increased used of AI, 59% of respondents stated their sustainability goals are the most important factor impacting AI strategy.