Businesses that rush to adopt generative AI tools will encounter prolonged challenges with their existing infrastructure, new research from Console Connect, a global Network-as-a-Service provider has revealed.
This is based on a survey conducted by Arlington Research, which covered 1,000 CTOs and senior IT leaders across Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and Hong Kong.
Findings show that Singaporean business leaders and CTOs are more wary than their colleagues across the globe. Among those who are based in Singapore, 82% agreed the fast adoption of generative AI will have long-term repercussions on technology infrastructure planning for their organisation, compared to 76% globally.
Also, Singaporean organisations appear less prepared for the rollout of generative AI than other markets. The vast majority (81%) said their network infrastructure does not have the capacity to embrace generative AI to its full potential — even though 89% have it on their roadmap.
This compares to 69% of leaders globally saying their infrastructure doesn’t have the capacity to handle generative AI and 88% of organisations globally including generative AI on their tech roadmap.
More than three quarters (76%) globally believe their IT teams are under increasing pressure to adopt generative AI within their organisation, while in Singapore, this jumps to 80%.
The large volumes of additional data being generated by generative AI and the requirement to move this data to and between private and public clouds is already starting to introduce greater cost and complexity to enterprise networks.
As enterprises build hybrid and multi-cloud architectures to deliver and support generative AI, they need to re-examine how they access the cloud, according to Console Connect.
The findings underscore a growing awareness among industry leaders regarding the potential long-term repercussions of embracing generative AI without strategic planning, it added.
“The rapid development of generative AI creates a demand on networks that we have not seen before,” says Paul Gampe, CTO of Console Connect.
“As CTOs and senior IT leaders adopt generative AI tools within their organisation, they need to consider the short and long-term implications of moving larger volumes of sensitive data to and between private and public clouds,” said Gampe.
Security is also a big concern when it comes to the adoption of generative AI. Over one-third (58%) of those in Singapore say it is likely to put their network at risk of cyberattacks or data breaches. However, this figure is lower than the global figure of 71%.
Cybersecurity risks and lack of IT skills/expertise to support it are seen as the main barriers to adopting generative AI in their organisations.
“These survey results demonstrate that when it comes to deploying mission-critical AI applications, businesses are growing increasingly concerned about the need to be securely connected and that the public internet is no longer suitable for handling many of these applications and workloads,” said Gampe.
“Automation and the move to network-as-a-service presents a way for businesses to break away from traditional network infrastructure and the public internet, and instead utilise automated, private and secure network connections to the cloud,” he added.
