AI adoption accelerates across Asia Pacific, strategic data management remains key: New Digital Realty study
"If you don’t have the right data where you need it, then your AI strategy is already broken before it starts. Data must be in the right place where AI can ingest it and create more data in a forever perpetuating cycle." - Dan Eline , VP Platform Solutions, Digital Realty
Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR) recently released the Asia Pacific findings of its 2024 Global Data Insights Survey, highlighting a significant surge in artificial intelligence (AI) adoption among enterprises in the region. The report is aimed at gaining insights into how enterprises are creating business strategies and redesigning legacy IT infrastructures to support their AI ambitions and goals.
Four Key Findings in 2024
The IT landscape faces infrastructure complexities as new technologies disrupt business as usual. With data as the engine for innovation, all respondents ranked unlocking data insights as their top priority and finding the right data infrastructure solutions as their number one challenge.
Data-first strategies advance AI innovation
79% of respondents with a high AI maturity are executing data strategies that guide IT infrastructure investments.
Data is pervasive and growing
52% of respondents cite lack of sufficient investment in data systems, infrastructure, and analytics as barriers to gaining insights.
Data localization matters more than ever
New points of data generation at the edge change the way infrastructure and data sets are deployed and interconnected.
Data drives the business agenda
More than half of IT leaders say data insights are critical to improving customer experience and satisfaction. Data is the engine that drives important decision-making for the enterprise.
The survey of 2,000 IT leaders across 21 countries including Australia, India, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea found that although many enterprises in Singapore (46%), South Korea (66%), and Hong Kong (45%) rate themselves as mature in AI adoption, only a quarter of enterprises in the region consider their current AI use to be transformative. This suggests a strong need for greater investment in digital infrastructure to unlock AI's full potential.
IT leaders across Asia Pacific acknowledge the essential role of strategic data management in effectively unlocking the full value of AI. The survey revealed that 65% of companies in the region are actively executing a formal data strategy for their current or planned IT locations, with 77% of Asia Pacific companies adopting a distributed data approach to tackle data gravity challenges.
72% of enterprises are incorporating data location strategies into their AI plans, allowing them to place high-density storage and processing capacity in key locations to maximize AI's performance. Additionally, 56% plan to expand their infrastructure in one to five more locations within the next two years. This expansion will enable adherence to data sovereignty regulations, and allow them to scale AI workloads crucial for their future digital infrastructure plans.
As organizations prioritize data-driven initiatives, further investment in digital infrastructure is necessary to fully harness the potential of AI. Infrastructure hurdles continue to impede the success of AI investments in the region, with over half (56%) of Asia Pacific enterprises lacking the digital infrastructure required for both data and AI success.
Key infrastructure challenges include:
Insufficient data storage for large AI datasets (64%)
Inadequate computational power for AI processing (55%)
Ensuring reliable connections to distributed data sources (49%)
To achieve data and AI success, IT leaders in Asia Pacific emphasize the need for data center providers to enable secure data exchange between users, networks, clouds, and IT providers on a single data center platform. Key requirements they shared include:
Infrastructure capable of managing AI's power and energy demands for data storage, processing, and hosting (51%)
Proximity of high-performing AI workloads to data and users (46%)
Compliance with AI and data privacy regulations (45%)
Sustainability is also a top priority in Asia Pacific, with 59% of respondents stating that their sustainability goals are the most important factor impacting AI strategy.
Serene Nah, Managing Director and Head of Asia Pacific for Digital Realty, commented, "In Asia Pacific, the race to harness AI's power is accelerating. Businesses are realizing that AI is not just a buzzword, but a strategic imperative for driving innovation and growth. The key to success lies in a data-centric infrastructure that can seamlessly integrate data from various sources, deliver high-performance computing, and ensure robust connectivity. By prioritizing sustainability and leveraging cutting-edge technologies, organizations can unlock the full potential of AI while minimizing environmental impact."
About the Global Data Insights Survey
Online survey of 34 questions conducted between October 30 and December 4, 2023, with targeted respondents in companies ranging from sub-$100 million small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to multinational corporations with over $1 billion in annual revenue, from 21 countries in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe.
In the Global Data Insights Survey, C-level executives, technology leaders, and IT decision makers are surveyed on their attitudes, strategies, and priorities as they adopt data and AI strategies that may impact their IT infrastructure. The results of the survey offer insights into how data is becoming one of the most critical areas of focus for enterprises. It highlights the key challenges and opportunities for data management, with a particular focus on leveraging AI to gain a competitive advantage.
Insights from 2,254 global IT decision makers across 11 industries
Respondents from 21 countries in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe
Global strategies on AI adoption and the data that fuels it
Actionable takeaways from Data and AI Leaders
What is an example of a data strategy?
Data strategy involves the location, processing, management and analysis of business data to better achieve positive outcomes. An example of a data strategy is to plan IT infrastructure that allows data to be stored in a secure place in close proximity to where it will be used and processed.
From there, organizations can learn from the data by analysis, implement the learned changes, and then start the cycle again. A detailed strategy should address data hygiene and preparation, how to adapt to increasing amounts of data within the business, how data intelligence will be used to enable business efficiencies or new products and services, how the data will be secured, and where it should be located geographically. Schedule a workshop with Digital Realty’s solution architects to begin your data strategy today.
What is the data economy?
Digital information has an economic contribution, often called the data economy. Technology and data have an economic value that is generated by its creation, storage, and retrieval to national economies. You can learn more about data economy by discovering Digital Realty’s Data Gravity Index™.
Are the outcomes of the new Global Data Insights Survey different to the previous survey?
The 2024 Global Data Insights Survey shows an increased focus from IT decision makers to leverage AI for a competitive advantage. The first edition of the Global Data Insights Survey was published in 2022.
Download the Global Data Insights Survey and discover how IT leaders across the globe leverage data and AI to fulfill their business intelligence strategies and gain competitive differentiation.
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