Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) emerges as #1 APAC priority for CIOs, but implementation is slow.

Lenovo recently commissioned IDC for study, with the insights presented in its global 2025 CIO Playbook entitled It’s Time for AI-nomics – a report that helps businesses learn more about AI adoption, investment priorities, and key spending for advancing AI-ready business agendas in 2025. The company has also developed its AP CIO Playbook 2025 for the APAC region.

According to the report, business leaders and IT decision-makers confirm the accelerating shift toward ROI-driven AI investments as organizations increase AI spending by 3.3x in Asia Pacific and 2.7x in ASEAN.

The Playbook is based on a global study of 2,900+ respondents, including 900+ IT and business decision-makers (ITBDMs) from 12 APAC markets.

Other findings include:

  • Delivering ROI for AI is a long-term endeavor that requires balancing AI experiments with those that can be scaled. APAC organizations expect a 3.6x ROI on average from their AI projects, which requires a measured approach to scaling AI and building internal capabilities.
  • Ethical issues and biases remain the top AI risks this year, yet only 24% of organizations globally and 25% in APAC have fully enforced AI GRC (governance, risk, and compliance) policies. This underscores the urgent need for a structured approach to what has become the #1 priority for businesses in APAC.
  • GenAI is set to transform enterprise workflows. In APAC, IT Operations emerged as the top use case, while in ASEAN, Customer Service took the lead.
  • 65% of organizations in APAC are opting for on-premise or hybrid solutions to power AI workloads. This preference is driven by the need for secure, low-latency environments, and operational flexibility. Meanwhile, 19% still rely on public cloud services.
  • AI-powered PCs are gaining traction in APAC, with 43% of organizations seeing significant productivity gains. While awareness is increasing, local adoption remains slow across markets. In ASEAN, 65% of organizations are already in the planning stage for AI-powered PC adoption. As the technology matures and demonstrates ROI, the adoption curve will accelerate driving more digital workplace solutions.
  • With organizations scaling their AI efforts, 34% of APAC CIOs and 44% of ASEAN CIOs are actively leveraging professional AI services to navigate complexities in data management, talent shortages, and cost efficiency. 

For a visual representation of the findings, download this infographic now!

Infographic