Key Takeaways
New research from Omdia, commissioned by Boomi, shows that:
- AI is the primary growth engine: APAC organizations have shifted focus to growth, with 74% of firms having AI initiatives underway and 95% having dedicated AI funding.
- Infrastructure is struggling to keep pace: While ambition is high, only 46% of organizations possess a unified, AI-ready integration platform, and half lack specific AI data policies, creating a critical gap.
- Governance and integration are top priorities: Firms are actively consolidating technology and improving data governance to reduce fragmentation and shadow integrations, positioning themselves for faster, more reliable AI-driven growth.
“Over the past 18-24 months, APAC firms have emerged from a COVID-driven focus on cost and risk management and returned growth to the top of the agenda — and AI is the engine organizations are betting on to deliver it. But without an effective data strategy, AI is a promise without a foundation.”
That’s the opener from a new research report commissioned by Boomi and produced by global analyst and advisory firm Omdia. “AI Ambition Meets Data Reality: APAC Technology Priorities and Challenges” shares insights derived from a survey of more than 1,100 senior technology and business decision-makers across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
I’ve summarized some of the key insights below, along with some of my thoughts on the importance of trusted data and integration for AI success.
Read the press release for additional insights
Financial Constraints Challenge the Entire APAC Region
Financial constraints are the #1 business challenge across all five markets. Margin pressure, profit squeezes, and operational costs are limiting room to grow and innovate. Despite this, 93% of APAC firms believe their IT capabilities effectively support business growth. Supply chain resilience, cybersecurity, and modernization round out the top priorities. Business resilience and agility are the top technology priorities across all markets and industries surveyed.
Technology Investment Aims at Fueling Growth
APAC organizations have shifted from a COVID-era posture of cost control and risk management back to growth. And AI is the primary engine they’re betting on to deliver it. Nevertheless, the research surfaces a persistent and significant gap. The ambition is real. But the infrastructure often isn’t.
There’s a concept in competitive sailing called “overcanvasing.” That’s when a boat carries more sail than conditions warrant. The wind is there, the boat moves fast, but control (or in this case, infrastructure) becomes a problem. The power outpaces the ability to manage it. That’s a reasonable way to read the state of AI adoption across the Asia-Pacific region in 2026. Ambition has outpaced the infrastructure organizations need for support.
The Ambition Is Real
As noted, growth is now king. It’s back at the top of the agenda across every APAC market surveyed. The numbers clearly bear this out. 74% of APAC organizations have AI initiatives underway, with nearly half already in production. 95% have some form of AI funding committed. And 93% believe AI-enabled automation will significantly impact their business processes within the next two to three years.
So, the intent is clear. Execution is where things get complicated.
AI Governance Hasn’t Kept Pace With Adoption
One of the most striking findings is that AI deployment is moving faster than AI accountability. Organizations are launching initiatives at scale, but many still lack the policies, governance frameworks and success metrics needed to consistently measure business value.
AI adoption without governance isn’t a strategy. It’s a risk. And right now, roughly half of APAC organizations are running that risk. Only 50% have AI-specific data policies in place. And 22% have no metrics or KPIs to measure whether their AI initiatives are actually working.
This gap matters because AI is only as good as the data feeding it. Organizations can deploy the most sophisticated models available and still get unreliable outputs if the underlying data is ungoverned, inconsistent, or incomplete. The research found that 93% of APAC firms recognize AI will drive a greater focus on data quality and governance. The awareness is there. But the follow-through hasn’t caught up.
Integration Is the Heart of the Problem
Here are two numbers that should make business leaders sit up and take notice. Ninety percent of APAC organizations want to move to a unified, AI-ready integration platform. Only 46% have one.
That gap, between where organizations want to be and where they actually are, is a critical business bottleneck. Fragmented point solutions and disconnected data pipelines don’t just slow down IT teams. They slow every business decision that depends on accurate, timely data.
And the problem runs deeper than architecture. Eighty-one percent of APAC firms acknowledge that unmanaged “shadow” integrations — unofficial connections and data flows that have grown up outside IT governance — are already undermining data quality and confidence. As AI models become increasingly dependent on enterprise data, those ungoverned flows aren’t just an IT housekeeping problem. They’re risks waiting to ruin the AI party.
Organizations That Close This Gap First Will Grow Faster
The research does acknowledge that APAC organizations are moving in the right direction. 89% are actively working to reduce tool and technology sprawl. 92% are consolidating technology across data integration, API management, and automation. The desired endpoint is understood, and the journey is underway.
That means the window for competitive differentiation is still open. Not only will organizations that close the AI ambition-integration readiness gap sooner rather than later get more from their AI investments, but they’ll also make better decisions, move faster, and outpace competitors still working through data fragmentation.
As AI becomes more embedded in business operations, organizations are paying closer attention to where data resides, how it moves, and who has access to it. Data sovereignty is increasingly becoming a strategic design consideration rather than a compliance afterthought. This adds another layer of urgency, particularly in Malaysia and the Philippines, where concern about data residency requirements is highest. 76% of APAC firms are concerned about sovereignty, but only 24% have meaningfully acted on that concern. As regulatory environments tighten, that gap will become harder and costlier to ignore.
What It Takes and How Boomi Can Help
The Omdia research points to a fundamental set of priorities for APAC organizations and executive leaders who are genuinely committed to converting AI ambition into AI outcomes.
What stood out most to me was the strong connection between AI and automation. Organizations are not investing in AI for experimentation alone. They want to automate processes, improve decision-making and accelerate business outcomes. That’s where agentic AI becomes important. But agents are only as effective as the data, systems and processes they can access.
The real objective is data activation — ensuring trusted data can move securely across systems, applications, processes and AI agents so organizations can make faster decisions and automate with confidence. This requires a strong data foundation — connected and protected by a reliable, secure, modern integration platform, that allows organizations to:
- Strengthen data governance. Boomi solutions provide the foundation organizations need to implement AI systems that deliver genuine business value while minimizing risks. Boomi Agentstudio is a full agent lifecycle management solution that empowers organizations to simply build, govern, and orchestrate all AI agents at scale.
- Close the integration platform gap while addressing shadow integrations. With the Boomi Enterprise Platform, organizations can integrate applications, data, APIs, and AI agents across any infrastructure, from on-premises to cloud, with end-to-end visibility across all business processes.
- Get ahead of sovereignty requirements before they become constraints. Boomi has made a strategic investment in local infrastructure, as witnessed by its Sydney-based instance of Boomi Data Integration and its commitment to solving Australia’s most pressing data challenges.
There are no quick fixes here. But the research makes clear that the foundation matters as much as the vision. In fact, it matters more. AI is a powerful sail. The question is whether the infrastructure can handle the wind.
For more insights, read the Omdia report: “AI Ambition Meets Data Reality: APAC Technology Priorities and Challenges.”
We also compiled key statistics to create infographics for the APAC region and for each country featured within the report. Read them here:
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Statistics taken from research from Omdia, commissioned by Boomi