Nearly 60% of surveyed organisations across the Asia-Pacific region anticipate realising the benefits of their artificial intelligence (AI) investments within two to five years, a recent study commissioned by IBM, titled “APAC AI Outlook 2025,” said. Only 11% expect returns within the next two years, it added.
The report said that enterprises across the Asia-Pacific region to transition from AI experimentation to prioritising project return on investment (ROI) in 2025. It showed that Indian enterprises are at the forefront of this transition, focusing on leveraging AI for innovation (26%), revenue generation (21%), cost savings (12%), and enhanced employee productivity (12%).
In India, the top priorities for AI investments in 2025 include enhancing customer experience (27%), planning and strategy (16%), and optimising IT functions (16%). However, challenges such as data accessibility issues (46%), limited AI skills (42%), and difficulties in integration and scaling (38%) remain significant barriers to achieving these goals.
Sandip Patel, managing director of IBM India & South Asia, said, “In 2025, AI is set to be the game-changer for Indian enterprises, revolutionising productivity and enabling unprecedented scalability. The focus will be on leveraging AI responsibly to drive real business value — moving beyond low-risk experiments to strategic initiatives that provide a competitive edge and improved ROI”.
The study also highlights a shift from deploying AI in low-risk, non-core areas to integrating generative AI (Gen AI) into core business functions for competitive advantage.
Evolving Trends in AI Deployment
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 organisations mature in their adoption of AI, they are shifting their focus to projects that balance immediate feasibility with long-term business impact. Smaller, specialised open-source models are emerging as powerful alternatives to large language models. These “rightsized” models are designed to address specific use cases, including regional contexts and local languages, while requiring significantly less training data and computational resources.
The integration of AI across business processes is being streamlined by advanced orchestration tools that enable seamless operation between different vendors’ systems. These tools enhance security, flexibility, and cost efficiency, creating what the report describes as a “Unified AI” ecosystem.
Furthermore, the rise of AI agents, or “Agentic AI,” is set to redefine workflows by autonomously executing tasks, collaborating with human workers, and driving operational efficiencies. However, as AI increasingly becomes central to organisational strategies, businesses must ensure its ethical and responsible use by establishing guardrails and regularly evaluating underlying models.
Human-centric innovation also stands out as a key theme in the report. The adoption of AI is being shaped to complement human capabilities, automating routine tasks while enabling employees to focus on creativity and innovation.
Ullrich Loeffler, CEO of Ecosystm, said, “Human beings are indispensable in the evolution of AI. People need to be involved at every stage of the technology – this includes maintaining oversight of critical applications. Progress should be premised on the idea that AI enhances rather than replaces humans, with both working and growing together”.
Despite the optimism surrounding AI, organisations must address significant challenges to unlock its full potential. These include ensuring data accessibility, enhancing AI skills, and enabling seamless integration and scaling.
