Preparing for 2026: The opportunities in Asia

CRN Asia reached out to a variety of vendors that focus on different verticals and sectors to see which areas that they are expecting to see most opportunities from in 2026.

Technological background

AI investments are showing no signs of slowing down globally. In the Asia Pacific region, AI spending is expected to increase in 2026 as businesses invest in more use cases and also want to remain ahead of their competitors.

Tech vendors are also expecting increasing opportunities next year. Be it network or infrastructure modernization to support AI, enhanced data management capabilities for better AI results or even AI in cybersecurity to have faster threat detection; businesses in Asia already have an idea or a strategy in place.

For vendors, the opportunity now is in which areas they can support organizations in their AI journey. CRN Asia reached out to a variety of vendors that focus on different verticals and sectors to see which areas that they are expecting to see most opportunities from in 2026.

Alex Teo, Vice President & Managing Director of Southeast Asia, Siemens Digital Industries Software

In 2026, the biggest opportunities for the region will center on AI, Digital Threads, Cloud, and the Industrial Metaverse — and Siemens Digital Industries Software will continue to advance the convergence of these technologies into a unified engineering ecosystem.

Customers and partners should expect AI to be increasingly embedded across engineering workflows as an integrated capability, empowering teams to design faster, simulate more intelligently, and make better decisions – and this is exactly why we integrated AI into our product lifecycle management portfolio earlier in the year.

The digital thread is also evolving from a set of disjointed solutions into an interconnected system that connects data, processes, and decisions across every discipline and lifecycle. This evolution will empower businesses with real-time continuity, which is increasingly critical as products become more multi-domain and software defined. We will also accelerate the adoption of cloud-native, composable platforms that deliver continuous updates and support global, real-time teamwork.

Customers will also see the Industrial Metaverse become a truly practical engineering environment. 3D graphics collaboration tools, such as Siemens NX Immersive Designer, will empower teams to collaborate in immersive spaces and engage with high-fidelity digital twins before anything exists physically.

We are already enabling such opportunities in the region through initiatives like our collaboration with Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). This partnership provides faster access to industrial AI and automation expertise, and supports the development of sustainable manufacturing processes that meet international standards. It is a clear example of how digital twin capabilities can help organizations integrate engineering and operations in manufacturing plants, to better manage plant complexity and accelerate construction timelines.

In 2026, it will be more important than ever for organizations across the region to master complexity, remove friction, and accelerate innovation. This is why we continue to unify emerging capabilities into a cohesive ecosystem that helps enterprises turn complexity into a competitive advantage.

Lawrence Yeo, ASEAN Solutions Director, Hitachi Vantara

Southeast Asia is quickly becoming a real-world test case for how economies scale AI while balancing sustainability, sovereignty, and economic competitiveness. This creates several high-value opportunities. The first is the shift from experimentation to operational AI, particularly in financial services, healthcare, logistics and manufacturing, where agentic systems can drive measurable improvements in efficiency and decision-making. The second is the region’s move toward sovereign hybrid infrastructure. As governments strengthen requirements around data residency and operational control, enterprises will need architectures that can provide local assurance while maintaining performance and interoperability.

A third opportunity lies in the modernization of data pipelines, storage and networks. Because the region cannot simply expand capacity endlessly due to power and land constraints, the demand for dense, efficient, next-generation infrastructure will grow significantly. Finally, ASEAN’s broader digital infrastructure transformation presents a major opening. Countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand are redesigning their infrastructure blueprints around resilience and sustainability, making this one of the most active regions in the world for disciplined AI-infrastructure investment.

Christanto Suryadarma, Vice President for Southeast Asia (SEA), South Korea and Channel APJeC, Zebra Technologies

By 2026, AI-powered agents will evolve from managing routine tasks to automating complex processes and operating autonomously with minimal human oversight. These systems, capable of understanding intent and anticipating user needs, will transform organizational operations.

In APAC, rapid AI adoption is driven by structural challenges, labor shortages, cost pressures, and rising customer expectations. Multi-agent systems are already delivering up to 50% efficiency gains in sectors like finance, IT, and customer service. Research by Zebra Technologies and Oxford Economics reveals that top companies in retail, manufacturing, and logistics could unlock an average of US$3 billion in additional revenue and US$120 million in profit by improving frontline workflows with AI, highlighting the transformative potential of AI-led automation. Examples like OpenAI’s collaboration with Spotify demonstrate how AI enhances discovery, personalization, and conversational interactions. As APAC advances in AI maturity, industries should explore similar innovations to boost productivity and user experience.

For Zebra Technologies, embedding AI agents into devices enables autonomous inventory tracking, predictive maintenance, and task optimization. AI orchestration tools can further enhance efficiency, minimize downtime, and empower frontline workers to focus on higher-value activities.

Sumir Bhatia, President, Asia Pacific, Infrastructure Solutions Group, Lenovo

Perhaps the most exciting shift for 2026 is how AI changes who can participate in innovation. The opportunity lies in democratizing AI through natural‑language interfaces and agentic AI. Domain experts, doctors, plant managers, supply‑chain leaders, can design and orchestrate AI‑driven workflows without needing to be AI specialists. In the Asia Pacific region, where diversity of markets and talent stands out as a core strength, this human‑centric approach enables experimentation and faster time to value. Hybrid AI also allows for the tailoring of infrastructure to local regulatory and connectivity needs, resulting in innovation that’s more inclusive and scalable across the region.

Beni Sia, General Manager & Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific & Japan

In APJ, the biggest opportunities come from three major shifts: data resilience, AI and cybersecurity. Cyberattacks are escalating, regulations are tightening, and AI initiatives are stalling because the underlying data can’t be trusted. Gartner predicts organizations will abandon 60% of AI projects unsupported by AI-ready data next year. Traditional approaches that rely on siloed tools for data security and management can no longer be trusted.

This is where Veeam, together with Securiti AI, will create significant opportunities for our customers and partners in 2026. By providing a unified command center for all data, we can dramatically reduce these trade-offs.

Nearly every organization has experimented with AI, and in 2026, many of these pilots will have grown into enterprise-wide deployments. This shift will drive a huge need for better observability and control across increasingly fragmented environments.

Veeam will address the challenge of fragmented data management by enabling customers to fully control, understand, and secure all of their data. Our solutions will help organizations ensure near-zero data loss or business downtime and provide the ability to recover and roll back both data and AI models with precision.

Remus Lim, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific & Japan, Cloudera

The biggest opportunities lie in the rapid maturation of AI agent use cases across sectors, particularly financial services. With 97% of financial institutions already running at least one AI/ML use case in production, the region is reaching a tipping point where AI agents will begin driving measurable business outcomes.

Enterprises that focus on connecting AI agents to governed, real-time data and embedding them into workflows stand to unlock advanced, intelligent automation. This shift represents a significant opportunity for organizations ready to scale beyond pilots and capture real value.

Another major opportunity is the rising demand for Private AI. With tightening regulations and increasing data sovereignty concerns, industries such as financial services, healthcare, and the public sector will accelerate adoption of Private AI architectures. This presents a critical moment for organizations seeking to innovate without exposing sensitive data, especially as identity-based cyber attacks surge.

Kenneth Lee Wee Ching, CEO, Global TechSolutions

While we strengthen our operations from the inside, the shifting geopolitical and technological landscape has also prompted us to look outwards, especially in both growing and key markets such as India, Vietnam, and Japan. As these countries continue to develop their semiconductor industries, we see an opportunity for experienced refurbishment and field-service players to support local ecosystems with proven processes, documentation and standards. GTS will continue to analyze where our capabilities in 300 mm refurbishment, modification and on-site support can play a pivotal role as these markets scale up.

At the same time, the advanced packaging market is projected to grow roughly eightfold and reach around US$80.5 billion by 2033, driven by demand for AI chips, consumer electronics and other data-intensive applications. For GTS, the opportunity lies in supporting this push by helping fabs and OSATs keep their customized and progressively high-end equipment for advanced packaging lines performing reliably, extending tool lifecycles, reducing downtime, and contributing to sustainability goals through refurbishment and customization rather than wholesale replacement.

Dominic Forrest, Chief Technology Officer at iProov

The "opportunities" we see for 2026 are born from a sobering reality: the massive ripple effects of third-party supply chain breaches we witnessed in 2025 are set to escalate to the level of national security. We foresee a scenario where a major disruption to a national power grid or critical utility is traced back not to a sophisticated hacking group breaking down a firewall, but to a single contractor who gained legitimate employment and access to critical systems using a sophisticated synthetic identity.

Governments will have no choice but to mandate high-assurance identity verification for every single individual with privileged access to critical national infrastructure. The days of trusting a simple background check are over and this threat vector doesn't stop at the gates of national infrastructure - it has already made its way inside enterprises.

Following the crackdowns on "laptop farms" that exposed the staggering scale of synthetic identity scams where bad actors infiltrated major companies as IT workers - the risk of hiring based on an unverified resume has become untenable. We're moving toward a world where organizations will need to verify exactly who is behind the keyboard, from the moment they apply for the job to every single time they access a sensitive data or system. This isn’t just restricted to traditional employees but the workforce as a whole be it contractors, temporary staff, partners and so on.

Troy Nyi Nyi, SVP & GM, APAC, SEON

APAC’s growth with guardrails. As cross-border commerce, e-commerce and real-time payments accelerate in the region, interconnectivity widens the attack surface – so the opportunity is to make trust part of the product experience: explainable, proportionate decisions that keep genuine users moving while meeting partner and regulatory expectations. Our latest AML expansion was built for multi-jurisdiction reality: configurable screening profiles by market and list type, rule categories aligned to frameworks and connected investigations inside a unified workflow. That lets teams adapt controls per country without heavy engineering, maintain consistent outcomes and close cases faster as they scale across borders.

Countering AI-driven fraud at real-time speed. Synthetic identities, deepfakes and multi-account generation will keep targeting APAC’s volume and velocity. SEON’s role is to detect risk earlier – using digital footprints, device intelligence and behavioral patterns with explainable AI – so teams act quickly without blanket friction. Under the hood, SEON evaluates 900+ real-time, first-party signals, allowing risk to be assessed in context and friction to be applied only when it’s warranted. This results in fewer false positives and manual reviews, protected conversion at peak moments and decisions partners and regulators can audit.

Netskope - Kunal Jha, Regional Director for Netskope Asia

The APAC region represents a major growth engine for Netskope. Organizations in the region continue to drive major IT migration and transformation projects that require modern and more efficient security capabilities that do not slow the pace of innovation, and our platform helps achieve that.

These priorities are affecting organizations of all sizes, especially with the need to secure AI interactions becoming a catalyst for change. Mid-size organizations, for example, are reassessing everything from data security to branch connectivity, and Netskope One has great capabilities for these needs. MSPs are an essential bridge, particularly to mid size organizations, so we look for partners that have a shared mission to secure these customers

We will also continue to educate customers on the full breadth and depth of capabilities in Netskope One, and demonstrate the potential for them to draw great value from further consolidating and unifying their security and networking with us, as well as inform the development of future capabilities that make sense as part of the platform. It’s important to remember that not only does Netskope secure AI, but we use AI capabilities throughout the platform—and have since the very beginning.

Increased regulatory pressures across the region to strengthen privacy, data protection and sovereignty requirements are also pushing organizations to find ways to facilitate compliance. The data security capabilities in Netskope One make those processes easy, even with complex security stacks that mix on-premise and cloud solutions.

Erich Kron, CISO Advisor at KnowBe4

Humans and AI agents will be the new workforce. The most transformative shift in 2026 will be the evolution of AI from passive tools to active, autonomous members of the security team, triggering a fundamental shift in how organizations must think about their workforce. As agentic AI systems move from experimental tools to core operational team members, organizations deploying agentic AI will need to expand their definition of ‘workforce training’ to include the policies, guardrails and behavioral expectations for AI agents.

Nathan Cheng, Southeast Asia, Data & AI Lead

The data is unambiguous: APJ enterprise AI spending is forecast to almost double from $90 billion in 2025 to $176 billion by 2028, with 41% of Australian organizations already using AI agents, and another 50% planning to deploy them by 2026. The opportunity lies not in selling AI tools, but in solving the execution gap. Over 70% of APJ firms believe that orchestration will deliver a significant competitive advantage in the next 18 months. This means demand for managed services that handle the complexity of hybrid cloud operations, data modernization, and AI workload governance is accelerating rapidly, particularly in financial services, healthcare, and government sectors where compliance and security are non-negotiable.

The talent shortage amplifies this opportunity. With 54% of APJ organizations citing talent shortage as the top hindrance to adoption, and almost half (48%) saying skills shortages are their most significant challenge in cybersecurity, and IDC predicting that by 2026, more than 90% of organizations worldwide will feel the pain of the IT skills crisis, amounting to some $5.5 trillion in losses, enterprises will increasingly turn to partners who can absorb that operational burden.

The opportunity for Rackspace is to become the operating model partner—not just the infrastructure provider—helping customers redesign roles so humans own intent, architecture, and security while agents take on migrations, plumbing, and testing. This is where the real revenue growth lies: managed AI operations, data platform modernization, and the professional services required to run long-lived agents safely against enterprise data at scale.

Ananth Nag, Vice President, APAC, Rubrik

A key trend shaping the APAC region is the rapid rise and adoption of AI agents across enterprise environments. Given agents’ productivity benefits, Rubrik research shows that 87% of APAC organisations are already incorporating AI models or agents into their identity infrastructure. Yet, as more AI tools and agents are woven into everyday operations, organizations now face an “AI sprawl” accompanied by new risks such as hallucinations and potential compromise by threat actors. The challenge, thus, boils down to how AI agents can be deployed safely and at scale.

IT and security teams need greater visibility and governance over their AI agents, from monitoring and auditing their actions and enforcing real-time guardrails, to fine-tuning for accuracy and undoing mistakes. As organizations transform into AI-driven enterprises, they will then be able to maintain security, accuracy, and efficiency.

For APAC organizations, bolstering AI resilience is essential to future-proof their businesses and remain competitive. Rubrik’s focus is on helping bridge these gaps through tools like Rubrik Agent Cloud, so businesses can embrace agentic AI while maintaining trust, security, and operational integrity.

Andrew Amos, Vice President of APAC, Diligent

Across Asia, the biggest opportunities for leaders stem from a growing demand for clarity and confidence in the application of AI within GRC. Regulatory expectations – including FAR and ACRA – are also rising in the region, prompting leaders to seek greater clarity and consistency in how decisions involving AI are overseen. Many organizations have already introduced AI into parts of their operations and placed digital transformation at the top of the board's agenda, but still struggle with fundamental questions: Where can we apply AI effectively in our GRC process? How do we move beyond spreadsheets to make automation part of our day-to-day compliance and governance? Who is accountable for each decision?

It is to these fundamental questions that Diligent brings clarity. Companies are seeking clarity on AI's operational footprint, the risks it introduces, and how governance must adapt. There is also significant demand for director and leadership education that cultivates a comprehensive understanding of data, systems, and emerging technologies. We are seeing particular interest in two practical areas: strengthening third-party risk processes and improving corporate governance workflows through automation. Bolstering these capabilities now will enable organisations to make informed decisions about where to invest and how to manage the risks inherent in rapid adoption.

Tatsuya Suzuki, Regional VP APJ Channel Sales, Akamai

APAC’s biggest opportunity in 2026 lies at the intersection of distributed AI, digital sovereignty, and automated cyber defense. As enterprises move AI inference closer to the edge to meet latency, cost, and performance demands, partners can play a pivotal role in designing architectures that balance portability, compliance, and operational efficiency. A recentIDC InfoBrief report predicts that 80% of APAC CIOs will rely on edge services for AI inference by 2027, signaling a regional shift toward decentralized intelligence.

Sovereignty mandates across markets like India, Australia, and Singapore will further accelerate demand for sovereign-by-design cloud models, enabling organizations to maintain control over sensitive datasets and AI pipelines. Here lies an opportunity to support enterprises in building multi-cloud environments that strengthen resilience against risks and threats.

With the rise of autonomous AI attacks and the surge in API exploitation, organizations will require AI-driven threat detection, API visibility, supply chain resilience, and AI firewalls that secure training data, inference traffic, and model outputs. The convergence of AI, sovereignty, and cybersecurity make APAC one of the strongest innovation landscapes globally.

Mark Weaser, Vice President, APAC at OutSystems

The rise of AI agents for high-value, strategic work is shaping up as a key opportunity for businesses to drive impactful business returns, with more than half of APAC organisations planning to leverage agentic AI for advanced use cases by 2027. Companies will increasingly seek tools allowing them to effectively build and deploy enterprise-grade agentic applications that are scalable, secure, and deliver needle-moving business outcomes. Grihum Housing Finance, a fast-growing Indian mortgage lender, offers a strong example.

To enhance operational efficiency and elevate customer experience, the company is using an AI agent to automate technical property deviation identification during loan origination, improving underwriting accuracy and compliance. AI-powered low-code platforms providing control over the full agent lifecycle will be in demand for their ability to seamlessly orchestrate multi-agent workflows under human oversight – all while ensuring reliability and compliance with rigorous security and governance frameworks.

Part of that endeavor calls for solutions built for specific workloads and industries, rather than generic AI models. As such, a greater spotlight will be placed on vertical AI, powered by models trained on industry-specific language, workflows, and data to handle real-world variations with far greater precision. This trend is becoming evident in APAC, with 78% of manufacturers moving towards AI adoption for supply chain tasks, including predictive maintenance and quality control, and 86% of healthcare organisations increasingly leveraging AI for diagnostics, patient monitoring, and workflow automation. With each sector demanding solutions tailored to its unique challenges, customization will be the true business enabler.

At the same time, the rise of multi-agents is reshaping the developers’ role from coders to cognitive architects who will design, govern and orchestrate agents. This shift will alleviate the region’s tech talent shortage – where 81% of IT employers struggle to find skilled talent. By automating repetitive, time-consuming tasks and enabling more non-technical business users to contribute to application development, organizations can accelerate the deployment of AI solutions and unlock greater productivity even in the face of tightening digital talent constraints.

Zoe Nicholson, VP partner sales APAC at Qualtrics

Understanding evolving consumer expectations in uncertain markets, enabling ongoing workplace transformation, and demonstrating proven returns on AI investments are top of mind for every organization right now. These are critical challenges Qualtrics can help solve, and are in areas we’re delivering proven value for organizations like Singapore Airlines, Jollibee, and RHB. For our partners, these capabilities are a huge opportunity to provide critical value - especially as more companies trust AI to interact directly with the customers, employees, and markets they serve.

For example, one of the biggest opportunities we see for our partners - driven by growing customer demand and capabilities - is helping companies better understand their customers and take meaningful, timely action on every piece of feedback being shared with them. These AI capabilities are significantly expanding the value and business impact of traditional customer experience programs.

Asia Pacific is one of our fastest growing regions, and to ensure our partners capitalize on this next year we’re continuing to invest locally to make that happen.

Chris Kelly, President, Delinea

There are two opportunities that really stand out for us in Asia going into 2026. First is getting on top of identity sprawl, especially with the rise of machine identities.

Across the region, we’re seeing workloads, service accounts, APIs, IoT and now AI agents grow faster than most organizations can realistically track. A lot of these identities end up overprivileged or effectively invisible, creating entry points for attackers. Helping customers bring those non-human identities into a least-privilege, continuously managed model is going to be a major focus in 2026.

The second is enabling safe AI adoption through consistent governance policies rather than ad-hoc approaches. Teams are embracing AI quickly for productivity, but governance is still catching up. Shadow AI is becoming the bigger issue - not just unsanctioned tools, but approved tools used without the right guardrails. There's an opportunity to help organizations first discover where AI is being used, then secure the identities associated with those AI tools, and manage the credentials and tokens those tools rely on.

Mark Micallef, Managing Director, Southeast Asia, Google Cloud

Leapfrogging legacy infrastructure. This region is uniquely positioned to bypass traditional digitization phases and go straight to AI-native services. We see three massive growth areas:

Prabhuraj Patil, Senior Director, Physical Access Control Solutions, Asean & India Subcontinent, HID

One of the biggest opportunities in 2026 is the region’s accelerated push to modernise physical access control. Mobile credentials continue to gain traction as organisations seek stronger security and more intuitive user experiences. This shift is opening doors for solutions that unify mobile, biometrics and traditional access into a single, flexible ecosystem.

We are also seeing rising interest in hybrid deployments, where organisations upgrade to next-generation access without replacing their existing infrastructure. HID Amico is a strong example of this trend — delivering fast, secure facial verification while integrating seamlessly with mobile-first environments.

Overall, Asia’s continued investment in smart, connected infrastructure presents significant opportunities to reimagine physical access as a foundational layer of safer, more intelligent workplaces and cities.

Johan Fantenberg, Director at Ping Identity

The next wave of opportunity lies in incorporating identity management into the business foundation and embracing a hybrid workforce of humans and intelligent agents. Organizations that shift to continuous verification, adopt new identity types for AI agents, and operationalize runtime trust will unlock safer automation, faster decision-making, and entirely new ways to serve customers.

Agentic AI will open massive growth potential in commerce and customer experience, creating seamless journeys where trusted human and machine interactions work together to drive revenue and loyalty. Companies that treat identity as a strategic enabler—not just a safeguard—will be best positioned to capture the advantages of AI-driven business models, build measurable trust, and lead in the emerging digital economy.

Ken Exner, Chief Product Officer, Elastic

The growth and reliability of agentic AI will hinge on accurate context engineering, which ensures AI systems access and utilize the right data at the right time. In 2026, context engineering will become critical as enterprises struggle with scattered data across unstructured sources like documents, emails, apps, and customer feedback.

Effective agentic AI requires relevant data inputs to deliver accurate responses. Many failures in AI development trace back to the inability to provide relevant context for applications. Context engineering addresses this challenge by facilitating precise data retrieval, governance, and orchestration, enabling agents to seamlessly identify, retrieve, and process owned data.

There are a limited number of platforms offering comprehensive context engineering capabilities at this time. Demand for such solutions will rise sharply in the next year. Businesses will increasingly seek AI platforms that integrate context engineering at their core, boosting the adoption of contextually aware and reliable AI systems.