Asia-Pacific executives hail AI's rapid business rise

Technology executives across Asia Pacific and Japan are using AI Appreciation Day to highlight both the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence and the structural challenges that still surround it.

Senior leaders from Nutanix, SugarAI and Workiva say organisations now see AI as central to commercial performance and regulatory reporting, rather than as an experimental add-on.

Jay Tuseth, Vice President and General Manager APJ at Nutanix, said many enterprises in the region had moved from pilot projects to live deployments over the past year, exposing weaknesses in infrastructure, governance and data management.

"A year ago, agentic AI in Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ) was mostly confined to pilots. Today, 75% of APJ organisations have already deployed it in at least some initiatives - real proof of how fast this technology has scaled. Yet moving fast is not the same as moving safely, and a lot of enterprises are trying to run that bullet train on tracks built for steam engines. Three things are putting AI infrastructure to the test. Shadow AI is one: 79% of global organisations already have AI applications or agents running outside IT's knowledge. Sovereignty is another, with 80% now calling data sovereignty a high infrastructure priority. And then there's legacy gravity, as most enterprises run agentic AI on top of decades-old systems never built for autonomous agents working at this speed. None of this is a reason to slow down - it's a reason to get the basics right. Organisations need a platform that runs AI applications consistently across Kubernetes and virtual machines, wherever they sit. They need one place to see which agent is accessing what, and at what cost. They also need the freedom to keep sensitive data and models within their own borders, on infrastructure they control, without overdependence on any single provider. This AI Appreciation Day, the point worth making to APJ leaders is simple: it's not about who has the fastest train, it's about who laid the tracks to carry it. Ask yourself: if you had to move your AI models out of the public cloud by next week, could you? Technology is only part of the solution; you must also solve for the people and process barriers that cause AI initiatives to stall. Get the foundation right, and agentic AI will take enterprises exactly where they need to go," Tuseth said.

His comments reflect a growing focus on governance and sovereignty as AI moves deeper into core business systems. Concerns about so-called shadow AI, where employees adopt tools outside formal IT oversight, are feeding broader debates about risk and compliance.

Adam Frank, Vice President and General Manager APAC at SugarAI, said the central question was the business rationale behind AI investments. Many organisations, he said, still focused on visible use cases such as chatbots instead of the commercial levers behind them.

"As organisations race to implement AI, AI Appreciation Day is a chance to sit back, take stock of those decisions, and ask a critical question; why are we implementing AI? No serious business is implementing AI to automate customer service via a chatbot and calling it a day. Sure, this is something AI can do, but the reason AI is even considered in the first place is usually to drive the business forward. Automating customer service doesn't move the needle. What does make an impact is when AI is used to improve commercial outcomes or deliver outsized productivity gains. Consider two very different industries: manufacturing and aged care. Modern manufacturing is already optimised to the nth degree after years of automation, robotics, and productivity boosting projects. Factory floors already hum with machines generating data, while ERP and CRM systems hold a gold mine of business, customer, and sales data. Where AI can truly change the game in this sector is by analysing these fragmented data sets and delivering clear, actionable intelligence that helps teams sell with greater precision. With the right insight at the right moment, manufacturers unlock a huge commercial advantage by predicting what their customers will need even before they know themselves. In aged care, the proposition is slightly different but the impact no less profound. When a family engages an aged care provider, they are doing so during an extremely stressful and emotional time. Australia's aging population isn't getting any younger and the current demands on the sector mean hundreds of thousands are stranded on waiting lists. The pathway from first contact through to admission and care needs to be simpler, shorter, and easier to navigate. AI can help connect data that already exists so the right person reaches the right place without the holdups currently slowing things down. That means clearer communication at every stage of the process, better coordination between providers, and faster delivery of care. While AI-generated responses to customer queries might save a few hours in a day (assuming the customer gets the response they're looking for), this is far from the real possibilities AI can deliver," Frank said.

Frank's comments point to a divide between narrow productivity gains and broader changes in how sectors such as manufacturing and healthcare manage data and customer journeys. He framed AI as a way to connect fragmented operational information and support front-line decision-making.

In corporate finance and compliance, AI is also moving into routine workflows. Kristen Pimpini, Vice President and General Manager APJ at Workiva, said organisations had begun embedding the technology into regulatory and sustainability reporting.

"AI has crossed the line from buzzword to business-critical, reshaping how teams handle financial reporting, sustainability, audit, and risk. Despite the many forward-looking claims coming from across the tech sector, the change is already underway. Workiva's 2026 Executive Benchmark Survey found 64 per cent of Australian organisations were applying AI to parts of their quarterly and annual disclosures this year, while 55 per cent now rely on AI heavily throughout the reporting cycle. The exhausting reporting seasons of long hours, repetitive tasks, and mounting pressure are giving way to something far more manageable, and the people living this shift are feeling the difference. Teams are developing trust in the tools with 75 per cent of organisations putting their AI models through internal audit scrutiny. Even if it is just small pockets of time handed back to reporting professionals it is genuinely valuable, and allows them to redirect their focus on strategic work moving the business forward. And behind every one of these breakthroughs sits the quiet work of the researchers, engineers, and innovators who built this technology. AI Appreciation Day is a fitting moment to thank them for their efforts that are pointing the world toward a smarter and more productive way to work," Pimpini said.