Artificial Intelligence to nearly double innovation in Asia-Pacific by 2021

But despite clear benefits in adopting the technology, less than half of Asia-Pacific organisations have embarked on their AI journeys.
By: | February 21, 2019
Topics: Asia-Pacific | Digital Transformation | HR Technology | News

 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) will nearly double the rate of innovation and employee productivity improvements in the Asia-Pacific by 2021 – at any rate, for those organisations that have actually adopted it.

This according to a new study from Microsoft and IDC Asia-Pacific, which surveyed more than 3,000 business leaders workers across 15 regional markets.

However, despite clear benefits in adopting the technology, only 41% of organisations in Asia Pacific today have embarked on their AI journeys.

For these organisations, the top three business drivers were: better customer engagement (26%), higher competitiveness (19%), and higher margins (18%).

 

Challenges to technology adoption

Business leaders who are adopting AI face three top challenges: a lack of thought leadership and leadership commitment to invest in AI; a lack of tools and infrastructure to develop actionable insights; and a lack of skills, resources and continuous learning programs.

The study showed that to move ahead on their AI journeys businesses have to create the right organisational culture.

More than half of the business leaders and workers surveyed believe that cultural traits that support AI journeys, such as risk-taking, proactive innovation, as well as cross-function partnerships among teams, are not pervasive today.

“Business leaders must now embrace a new culture, where innovation and continuous learning are core components of the organisational culture. It sets the stage for agility, adaptability and growth,” said Ralph Haupter, President of Microsoft Asia.

 

What makes an AI leader

The study also identified 6% of organisations which are so-called “AI Leaders”.

These organisations have already incorporated AI into their core business strategy and nearly doubled their business benefits today as compared to other organisations.

Check out the graphic below to see what sets these “AI leaders” apart, compared to their peers.

Source: Future Ready Business: Assessing Asia’s Growth Potential Through AI