While Singapore’s enterprises are seeing growing returns from AI and cloud investments, only 24% feel fully prepared to manage future risks, well below the global average of 31%.
A report from Kyndryl also found that while many organisations in the country are racing to modernize, workforce preparedness and growing regulatory complexity are slowing innovation.
The report combines survey data from 3,700 senior leaders and decision-makers across 21 countries including Singapore, with insights from Kyndryl Bridge, the company’s AI-powered, open integration digital business platform.
According to the report, Singapore’s businesses increased AI spending by an average of 33% over the past year. However, 53% of projects in Singapore remain stuck in pilot stages as leaders face mounting pressure to prove returns.
And while 54% of global organisations report positive ROI from AI, up 12 points from 2024, most Singapore leaders say foundational technology challenges are holding back progress, with 58% of the country’s respondents saying they struggle to keep pace with technological change.
Meanwhile, more than half believe their legacy tech stack limits innovation and scalability, and 68% say their IT infrastructure is not fully ready to manage future risks.
AI is expected to reshape roles across industries, but readiness remains uneven worldwide. While 87% of global leaders believe AI will completely transform jobs within the next year, only 26% of people in Singapore feel their workforce has the right technology skills to make the most of AI opportunities – making digital proficiency the most pressing workforce concern among Singapore organisations.
Last year’s report revealed a critical gap between perception and preparedness: while 90% of business leaders worldwide believed their IT infrastructure was best-in-class, only 39% felt it was ready for future disruption. While there has been momentum – that tension remains.
This year, ROI is on the rise, but AI is stuck in the experimentation phase. While 54% of organisations globally reported seeing positive returns on AI investments – an increase of 12 points from 2024 – 62% still haven’t advanced their AI projects beyond the pilot stage.
Also, confidence continues to outweigh capability. While 90% worldwide say their tools and processes allow them to rapidly test and scale new ideas, more than half say their foundational technology stack holds back innovation.
Further, AI is driving workforce transformation, but skills gaps remain, as 87% of the world’s organisations say AI will “completely” transform jobs within 12 months, even while many say their employees are not using AI frequently today and few have the technical skills necessary.
In addition, geopolitical pressures are forcing a data pivot. While reporting clear benefits from cloud adoption, organisations globally are now reevaluating where and how their data is stored, processed, accessed, and secured amid an increasingly fragmented regulatory landscape.
Businesses are also balancing legacy infrastructure challenges, with 70% of CEOs saying they got to their cloud setup by “accident rather than design.”
