CIOs are taking on more responsibility for leading business change and helping teams connect AI capabilities with real business needs.
Artificial intelligence is moving from experimental stages to everyday business use. According to Salesforce’s second annual Chief Information Officer (CIO) Survey, full adoption of AI will increase by 282% worldwide in 2025 compared to 2024.
A year ago, many CIOs were still trying to solve data problems, strengthen security, and test early AI tools. Now the focus has changed. Companies are starting to implement AI across their operations, rather than limiting it to small trials.
This change is also changing what CIOs need to succeed. While technical skills remain important, many leaders say the job now requires stronger leadership, communication, and change management skills. In Asia Pacific, 96% of CIOs say expanding AI across their organizations requires them to develop new capabilities.
The role of the CIO within the company is also increasing. CIOs have been collaborating with CEOs on technology planning for years. As AI becomes more central to business strategy, we are helping guide broader decisions about how AI fits into day-to-day operations and long-term planning.
Paul Carvouni, senior vice president and general manager of Salesforce ASEAN, said AI is spreading faster than many previous technologies. Because of that pace, the CIO’s role is changing from simply managing systems, he said. Instead, CIOs have more responsibility for leading business change and helping teams connect AI capabilities with real business needs.
CIOs build new skills
This research shows that CIOs are increasingly focusing on skills beyond technical work. Many companies are now spending more time with executives and teams understanding how AI will impact the business.
Across APAC, 75% say their communication and change management skills have improved. Additionally, 55% said they worked on storytelling and narrative building, and 53% said they strengthened their leadership skills.
These changes reflect the growing need to clearly explain AI projects and guide teams to new ways of working.
Even as AI adoption accelerates, data reliability continues to slow adoption.
Despite the increasing use of AI, data concerns remain a major issue. CIOs say their biggest concerns related to AI are data security and privacy, followed by concerns about whether corporate data can be trusted.
However, this research shows that there are several gaps in how organizations address these risks. Only 45% of APAC CIOs say they are working more closely with their chief data officer thanks to AI, and just 15% of their IT budgets are dedicated to data security.
Confidence in governance is also limited. Only 29% of CIOs say they are completely confident that their AI investments include good data governance.
Companies are also moving more quickly from testing AI to using it at scale. According to the study, full adoption of AI increased from 11% in 2024 to 42% in 2025.
The budget has also increased with the introduction of the system. According to APAC CIOs, approximately 29% of AI spending is currently on agent AI, or systems designed to perform tasks with limited human input.
Nearly all respondents (98%) say their organization is already using agent AI or plans to use it within the next two years.
Customer service teams are seeing some of the earliest and most prominent use cases for AI. Approximately 84% of APAC CIOs say that AI agents allow them to work more closely with their customer service teams than any other department.
CIOs ranked customer service highest for AI readiness, enthusiasm, and adoption. Data from Salesforce’s Agentic Enterprise Index supports that trend. According to Agentforce Usage, the number of customer service conversations handled by AI agents increased 22x in the first half of 2025.
Collaboration gap remains
Executing AI across an enterprise often requires multiple departments to work together. Around 80% of APAC CIOs say AI agents are increasing the need to collaborate with teams such as HR, finance and sales, but less than half say they are currently collaborating at that level.
At the same time, 96% say AI implementation works best when tools are integrated into daily work processes. Many also prefer to rely on technology providers they already work with. Approximately 49% say they would rather invest in an existing vendor than hire a new one.
One life sciences CIO cited integration as a key challenge, saying the industry still needs a better way to connect AI tools to the broader technology systems that companies already use.
Another survey respondent in the retail industry said part of the CIO’s job now includes guiding the business through the hype surrounding AI. They explained that many teams need help understanding both the possibilities and limitations of technology. Without this guidance, costs can quickly rise without delivering real value. They added that greater collaboration between departments is also needed so that companies can better leverage the data and insights that AI can provide.
