According to a report by IBM, titled “APAC AI Outlook 2025”, nearly 60 per cent of surveyed organisations across the Asia-Pacific region anticipate realising the benefits of their artificial intelligence (AI) investments within two to five years. Only 11 per cent expect returns within the next two years.
The report indicated that enterprises in the region are transitioning from AI experimentation to prioritising project return on investment (ROI) in 2025. Indian enterprises are leading this shift, focusing on leveraging AI for innovation (26 per cent), revenue generation (21 per cent), cost savings (12 per cent), and enhanced employee productivity (12 per cent).
In India, the primary priorities for AI investments in 2025 include improving customer experience (27 per cent), enhancing planning and strategy (16 per cent), and optimising IT functions (16 per cent). However, significant challenges persist, including data accessibility issues (46 per cent), a shortage of AI skills (42 per cent), and difficulties with integration and scaling (38 per cent).
The report also highlighted a movement from deploying AI in low-risk, non-core areas to integrating generative AI (Gen AI) into core business functions for competitive advantage. Furthermore, the report identifies five strategic trends shaping the region’s AI landscape: AI-led revenue generation, smaller and specialised models, unified AI integration, agentic AI workflows, and human-centred AI innovations.
As per the report, as organisations advance in their AI adoption, they are increasingly focusing on projects that balance immediate feasibility with long-term business impact. Emerging smaller, specialised open-source models offer powerful alternatives to large language models (LLMs), tailored for specific use cases, including regional contexts and local languages, while requiring significantly less training data and computational resources. The integration of AI into business processes is being enhanced by advanced orchestration tools that facilitate seamless operations across different vendors’ systems, contributing to a “Unified AI” ecosystem characterised by improved security, flexibility, and cost efficiency.
Additionally, the rise of AI agents, or “Agentic AI,” is poised to transform workflows by autonomously executing tasks and collaborating with human workers to drive operational efficiencies. However, as AI becomes central to organisational strategies, businesses must prioritise ethical and responsible use by establishing guardrails and regularly assessing their underlying models. Human-centric innovation is also a prominent theme, as the adoption of AI is designed to complement human capabilities by automating routine tasks and allowing employees to concentrate on creativity and innovation.
