According to one international sub-survey, medium- to large- sized organizations in the region were slightly more attuned to the trend

Based on data collected from March to April 2024 from 12,003 respondents across 20 nations and 28 industries* on generative AI (GenAI) trends, a multinational software firm has released some findings.

First, of the top quartile of respondents’ organizations with high revenue growth, 94% were more likely to put a moderate or strong priority on the adoption of GenAI trends, compared to 86% of organizations with lower revenue growth in the survey.

Second, within a sample population of 3,400 people in five markets in Japan and the Asia Pacific region (APJ) within the main survey, 92% of respondents indicated their organizations put a moderate or high priority on GenAI, while cybersecurity threats and addressing gaps in supply chains also received similar levels of priorities.

Third, 43% if the APJ survey respondents cited improving or expanding supplier and partner networks as a top priority for achieving growth. Of these APJ midmarket organizations*, high priorities were cited for AI to transform their data security and privacy (52%), and to drive accurate decision-making (50%). Other key priorities cited for AI included creating new business models (48%), improving customer experience (48%), enhancing training and skills (48%), and optimizing supply chains (47%).

Other findings

Fourth, 83% of respondents cited that AI was already in use “to a moderate or strong degree” to create marketing and sales content; to gather market intelligence; for app development and testing, and for customer or vendor interactions. Also:

  • 37% of APJ respondents noted “lack of quality data”, 33% noted “lack of integration between systems” (33%) as key internal challenges to growth, alongside “issues with supply chains” (40%) and “siloes in their business” (33%).
  • 36% cited the biggest risks to their company from AI were acting upon incorrect information; 34% cited “finding and retaining talent”’ 34% cited “lack of transparency in results”, and 31% cited “insufficient data size and quality”.

According to Utkarsh Maheshwari, Chief Partner Officer and Head of MidMarket, SAP Asia Pacific & Japan, the firm conducting the data collection and analysis, the benefits of GenAI are not restricted to large enterprises: “Organizations of every size can realize the opportunities that relevant, reliable, and responsible AI can provide… The better the quality and scale of your data, the better the results of your AI.”

*respondents were from organizations with between 250 and 1,500 employees holding director to C-suite titles. These organizations were defined as “midmarket businesses”.