Cisco’s third annual AI Readiness Index finds AI pacesetters in the region reaping the full potential of AI, proving that readiness leads directly to value.
According to the Cisco AI Readiness Index 2025, organizations that are ready to harness the full potential of AI are able to measure the true value of adoption, and are setting the pace for other organizations to follow suit.
Some key findings for Asia Pacific, Japan and China (APJC) from the report include:
- While the majority of companies are already seeing tangible improvements and reporting exceeded expectations from AI, only 13% — the “pacesetters” — are truly ready to unlock its full potential and drive measurable business outcomes.
- 84% of organizations in APJC already have plans to deploy AI agents, and nearly 37% expect them to work alongside employees within a year. But for the majority of these companies, AI agents are exposing weak foundations — systems that can barely handle reactive, task-based AI, let alone AI systems that act autonomously, and learn continuously.
- DespiteAI optimism, the silent accumulation of compromises, deferred upgrades, and underfunded architecture could erode the value of AI over time. Some early warning signs are already visible: 42% expect workloads to rise by over 30% within three years, 62% struggle to centralize data, only 26% have robust GPU capacity and fewer than one in three can detect or prevent AI-specific threats.
