By 2026, approximately 50 percent of medium-sized enterprises in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) will be leveraging Generative AI (GenAI) applications. These applications are expected to revolutionize and streamline marketing and sales processes, enhancing efficiency and automation.
The insights, derived from IDC’s 2023 Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey Wave 6, reveal that 47 percent of midmarket businesses in APEJ are actively exploring or investing in GenAI technologies. Among these companies, a significant 43 percent anticipate that GenAI will exert the most substantial impact within marketing applications.
Companies operating in the small and medium-sized business (SMB) and midmarket sectors in APEJ are acknowledging the transformative potential of GenAI across diverse industries. However, many are still in the exploration phase, seeking ways to harness the benefits of this advanced technology.
To navigate this landscape, businesses are relying on technology providers and suppliers embedding GenAI into their offerings, allowing access to ongoing support and updates without the need for substantial internal resource investment.
The IDC report emphasizes that, in the coming year, cloud providers are poised to emerge as the most strategic GenAI technology partners for over 40 percent of midmarket companies in APEJ. Additionally, it highlights that 48 percent of midmarket enterprises with employee sizes ranging from 500 to 999 are significantly investing in GenAI, with established spending plans for training, GenAI-enhanced software acquisition, and consulting services in the next 12 months, according to IDC’s 2023 Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey, Wave 7.
AI-driven predictions for the region include expectations that, by 2028, half of SMBs will utilize services from vendors leveraging GenAI for easier access to its benefits. In 2024, 70 percent of SMBs in APEJ are anticipated to demand case studies, clear ROI evidence, and spending guardrails to unlock their investment in GenAI technologies for generic productivity use cases.
In the near term (2024-2026), digitally native SMBs are anticipated to be more open to investing in AI technologies due to their enhanced understanding of the potential benefits.
The report also outlines key trends that SMBs and midmarket companies should closely monitor, including investments in sustainability technology solutions for energy efficiency, the use of data analytics for evaluating cloud investments and DevOps spending, and the increasing prevalence of cyberattacks targeting SMBs, which is expected to drive proactive risk mitigation measures.
Furthermore, the report highlights that investments in public cloud technologies among APEJ SMBs are projected to increase by 18 percent in 2024, with a focus on SaaS applications to enhance agility and resilience. Additionally, medium-sized businesses are expected to boost investments in analytics by 40 percent by 2027 to leverage consumer data for improved business outcomes.
Supriya Deka, Senior Market Analyst, SMB, Midmarket, and Digital-Native Business Program at IDC Asia/Pacific, states, “SMBs and midmarket segments are turning to transformative technologies like GenAI, cloud, 5G, and analytics. Further, GenAI will revolutionize the way businesses operate by automating complex tasks and generating creative solutions in areas such as marketing, sales, and customer experience.”
