BENGALURU: The primary focus of artificial intelligence (AI) investments for Indian organisations in 2025 will centre around enhancing customer experience, followed by planning and strategy and optimisation of IT functions. A new 'APAC AI outlook 2025' study by IBM points out that to realise these goals, organisations must address key challenges, including data accessibility issues (46%), limited AI skills (42%) and difficulty in integration and scaling (38%).
The study reveals that Asia-Pacific enterprises are moving beyond AI experimentation to a hard-headed assessment of project return on investment (ROI), and the push towards a more AI-powered future will set the stage for agentic AI, establishing a new equilibrium within organisations between humans and technology.
“In 2025, AI is set to be the game-changer for Indian enterprises, revolutionizing productivity and enabling unprecedented scalability,” said Sandip Patel, managing director, IBM India & South Asia. He added that the focus will be on leveraging AI responsibly to drive real business value—moving beyond low-risk experiments to strategic initiatives that provide a competitive edge and improved ROI.
Patel said the rise of small, high-performing AI models will redefine efficiency, delivering task-specific results that rival larger models at a fraction of the cost.
According to the study, the five strategic trends shaping the region’s AI future are:
1) Strategic AI approach: Organisations will adopt a 'Strategic AI' approach in 2025, prioritising projects based on feasibility and business impact. The challenge is how to scale AI through use cases that maximise revenue opportunities and ROI.
2) Smaller specialised open-source models: Purpose-built models will be in demand, including those designed for local languages, nuanced regional contexts and simpler computational tasks.
3) Use of new tools: Asia-Pacific organisations will increasingly leverage open-source AI models to drive innovation and efficiency.
4) Redefining the future of work: Enterprises will increasingly devise agentic workflows, powered by AI agents, to autonomously execute tasks, collaborate with human workers and drive value across the business. The 'Agentic AI,' combining AI with automation, has the potential to achieve significant gains in operational efficiency, customer experience and decision-making. However, organisations need to establish internal guardrails, and regularly evaluate underlying models to ensure ethical and responsible use, the study says.
5) Human-centred innovation: While productivity tools have been a major focus of AI adoption, the future lies in leveraging AI to enhance human experiences and capabilities. 'The Human-Centric AI approach' will become a powerful tool for employees to augment their roles, automate routine tasks, and unlock new opportunities for creativity and innovation.
“Human beings are indispensable in the evolution of AI. People need to be involved at every stage of the technology – this includes maintaining oversight of critical applications,” said Ullrich Loeffler, CEO of Ecosystem. “The purpose of AI should always be to make a positive impact on the world, fostering a culture of trust, collaboration, and co-creation. Progress should be premised on the idea that AI enhances rather than replaces humans, with both working and growing together," Loeffler added.