Singapore–(Business Wire)–Boomi, the AI data activation company, today announced new research commissioned by Boomi and conducted by Omdia. This shows that despite the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in Asia Pacific (APAC), a significant number of organizations lack the data architecture needed to achieve measurable return on investment (ROI).
“Organizations in APAC are working rapidly on AI, but our research shows that many still seem to treat AI as an extension of broader technology spend rather than a strategic business transformation initiative.”
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Omdia’s survey of more than 1,100 senior technology and business decision makers in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines found that 74% are already implementing active AI initiatives. Nine out of 10 people believe that AI-powered automation will significantly change their business processes within two to three years.
Despite adoption momentum, only 46% of companies currently take a platform-led approach to integration, highlighting the widening gap between AI ambition and execution. Meanwhile, nearly a quarter say they are unable to effectively measure the success of their AI initiatives, a critical gap when trying to assess ROI.
“Organizations in APAC are moving quickly on AI, but our research shows that many are still treating AI as an extension of broader technology spend rather than a strategic business transformation initiative,” said David Irecki, Chief Technology Officer, Boomi, APJ. “The gap between adoption and realizing ROI stems from a fundamental problem of data foundation vulnerabilities. Without a unified integration, governance, and data quality framework, each new AI initiative adds complexity rather than value.”
The survey found that 89% are actively working to reduce tool and technology sprawl, and 92% are already integrating data, process integration, application programming interface (API) management, and automation.
Data governance as a key priority
Meanwhile, 94% of organizations in APAC believe data integration, access, and governance are key priorities, and 93% believe their AI efforts will place greater emphasis on data quality and governance policies. Yet, only half of respondents have formal AI-specific data governance policies in place, and 81% said unmanaged shadow integrations compromise data quality and reliability.
“Nine out of 10 organizations surveyed list governance as a priority, but only half have formal policies in place,” said Michael Barnes, Chief Analyst for Enterprise IT Asia at Omdia. “If teams are building AI models based on data that they don’t fully control or orchestrate across the system, they don’t know what’s feeding what. This gap becomes a real business risk.”
Data sovereignty has emerged as a key consideration, with 76% of businesses expressing concerns about data residency requirements. However, only 24% of companies say these concerns have a significant impact on their data integration or AI strategy, suggesting that many organizations are still in the early stages of operational planning.
Scaling for competitive advantage
“Successfully scaling AI requires trusted, connected, and managed data. CIOs and senior IT leaders are increasingly focused on simplifying fragmented environments, improving data quality, and building the operational foundation needed to support enterprise-scale AI,” Irecki added.
“The rapid rate of AI adoption across APAC, with Malaysia at 86% and Singapore at 78%, shows that organizations are moving beyond experimentation to implementation, but now is the time for organizations to put in place the right data foundations, integration capabilities, and governance structures.”
“Without this change, organizations risk creating siled AI activities that fail to achieve measurable business outcomes. Governance, data quality, and clear performance measurements can transform AI adoption into sustainable business value and enable organizations to turn adoption into productivity gains, operational efficiencies, and competitive advantage,” said Irecki.
Download the full report, “AI ambition meets data reality: APAC technology priorities and challenges in 2026” at https://boomi.com/content/report/apac-tech-priorities-ai-2026/.
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About Bhumi
Boomi, an AI data activation company, empowers agent companies by leveraging data across their business. The Boomi Enterprise Platform is an active data foundation that provides the essential agent infrastructure to power agent transformation. Boomi enables organizations to harness the power of AI with secure, scalable connectivity by unifying agent design and governance, API and MCP management, integration and automation, and data management into a single platform. Trusted by over 30,000 customers and supported by a network of over 800 partners, Boomi helps organizations of all sizes achieve agility, efficiency, and innovation at scale. For more information, please visit boomi.com.
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