PETALING JAYA: Only 13% of organisations in Malaysia are fully prepared to deploy and leverage artificial intelligence-powered (AI-powered) technologies, according to Cisco’s inaugural AI Readiness Index released today.
The index, which surveyed more than 8,000 global companies, was developed in response to the accelerating adoption of AI, a generational shift that is impacting almost every area of business and daily life.
The report highlights companies’ preparedness to utilise and deploy AI, showcasing critical gaps across key business pillars and infrastructures that pose serious risks for the near future.
The new research finds that while AI adoption has been slowly progressing for decades, the advancements in generative AI, coupled with public availability in the past year, are driving greater attention to the challenges, changes and new possibilities posed by the technology. While 87% of respondents believe AI will have a significant impact on their business operations, it also raises new issues around data privacy and security.
The index findings show that companies experience the most challenges when it comes to leveraging AI alongside their data. In fact, 81% of respondents admit that this is due to data existing in silos across their organisations.
Findings from the index revealed that companies in Malaysia are taking many proactive measures to prepare for an AI-centric future. When it came to building AI strategies, 94% of organisations already having a robust AI strategy in place or are in the process of developing one. More than eight in 10 (80%) of organisations are classified as either Pacesetters or Chasers (fully/partially prepared), with only 3% falling into the category of Laggards (not prepared), which indicates a significant level of focus by C-Suite executives and IT leadership.
This could be driven by the fact that almost all (99%) respondents said the urgency to deploy AI technologies in their organisation has increased in the past six months, with IT infrastructure and cybersecurity reported as the top priority areas for AI deployments.
“As companies rush to deploy AI solutions, they must assess where investments are needed to ensure their infrastructure can best support the demands of AI workloads,” said Cisco executive vice-president and general manager, applications and chief strategy officer Liz Centoni.
She added that organisations also need to be able to observe with context how AI is being used to ensure ROI, security, and especially responsibility.
Alongside the stark finding that overall, only 20% of companies are Pacesetters (fully prepared), the research found that 36% of companies in Malaysia are considered Laggards (unprepared) at 1%, or Followers (limited preparedness) at 35%.
The Cisco AI Readiness Index is based on a double-blind survey of 8,161 private sector business and IT leaders across 30 markets, conducted by an independent third-party surveying respondents from companies with 500 or more employees. The index assessed respondents’ AI readiness across six key pillars: strategy, infrastructure, data, talent, governance, and culture.
