Latest report finds only 7% of ASEAN organizations are focused on building the right data and AI foundation
EVERY successful organization today has embraced digital transformation, with data and AI initiatives at the core. However, ASEAN sees some common challenges that have disrupted the effective implementation of data and AI solutions.
Kyndryl the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider, recently launched, “5 Insights to Help Organizations Build Scalable AI”, in collaboration with technology research and advisory firm Ecosystm. The study found that 48 percent of participants remain challenged with integrating AI solutions with existing systems, 38 percent with collecting data from multiple internal sources, and 34 percent with the quality of data. Several key insights to guide organizations were offered:
Data access is a key stumbling block. Only 7 percent of participants focus on building the right data and AI foundation. True insights can only be derived from a consistent and complete dataset that has no data gaps. Building that dataset requires key conditions such as a focus on clean and trusted data, a data interoperability strategy, and synthetic data generation to bridge data gaps.
Organizations need data creativity. Organizations in ASEAN recognize that a true data-first organization derives value from their data and AI investments across the entire organization. From 2023 through 2024, 77 percent of participants will increase the use of AI and data solutions for customer experience, 75 percent for human resources and 72 percent for marketing. The returns on investment will be measured in financial terms internally such as increase in profit margins, cost optimization, reduction of operating costs, and so on — across all lines of business, including IT. This will help identify and prioritize business cases for data.
Governance not built into organizational psyche. The lack of an internal policy and limited understanding of the risks (36 percent) are the two biggest challenges of an effective data governance policy in ASEAN. Data governance policies formulated by data-first organizations should include accountability and ownership guidelines, standardized regulations, a dedicated data stewardship team and a regular re-evaluation of the policies set up.
Lack of end-to-end data lifecycle management. It is critical for organizations to have observability, intelligence, and automation built into the entire data lifecycle. Building a data infrastructure that is ready for current needs but may not be able to support future business requirements as data continues to proliferate, represents a myopic view. An enterprise data fabric, on the other hand, futureproofs organizations as it speeds up and simplifies access to data assets across the entire business. The metadata generated by the data fabric will include business, technical, and operational data, which can generate insights for the entire business if managed intelligently.
Democratization of data and AI should be the goal. The true value of data and AI solutions will be fully realized when the people who benefit from the solutions are the actual users managing the solutions and running the queries. However, only 10 percent of organizations in ASEAN have business teams managing or maintaining AI solutions. Building scalable AI will require organizations to empower citizen data scientists through training, and access to user friendly tools that help them gather the right information for the right insights and make data-driven decisions a norm for the business.
“Trust in the data and subsequent AI models is critical to truly embrace a data driven DNA across the organisation and this trust in the data layer is missing in the majority of organizations today” Ullrich Loeffler, CEO of Ecosystm commented.
“To truly embark on their transformation journeys, organizations need a strong data management ecosystem as the foundation. Kyndryl’s deep expertise in data Management and AI can help them achieve this — starting with consulting through to execution and ongoing management of their data landscape,” Wilson Go, Managing Director, Kyndryl Philippines concluded.
