IDC: Half of Asia’s Top Firms to Embrace AI-Driven Headless BI and Analytics by 2026

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A recent IDC FutureScape report, IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Data and Analytics 2024 Predictions — Asia/Pacific (Excluding Japan) Implications, highlights that by 2026, 50% of Asia/Pacific-based Top 2000 organizations (A2000) will adopt AI-driven headless BI and analytics with chat, Q&A, and proactive notification functionality, quadrupling the number of users with access to contextual information. This innovative approach enhances flexibility, scalability, and user experience, integrating features like chatbots, Q&A capabilities, and proactive notifications seamlessly into the analytics process.

According to the IDC Data-driven Intelligent Enterprise Survey 2023, 8% of organizations have industrialized AI/ML within their organizations and can leverage the technology for a wide variety of use cases. Most organizations, about 64%, are exploring ways to accelerate AI adoption and maturity. IDC expects Asia/Pacific including Japan (APJ) organizations to increase spending. 2024 is anticipated to be a positive year for AI/ML vendors.

Data valuation, geolocation convergence, and rapid change are expected to intensify with how dynamic the landscape of data and analytics is. The gap between AI-driven software releases and user adoption is likely to widen according to the following predictions:

• Data Valuation. By 2025, data valuation initiatives will become standard in quantifying internal data, AI, and analytics project ROI and in acquisition valuations but will be hampered by inconsistent methodologies.
• Location Intelligence. By 2026, the combination of geolocation and business analytics will be ubiquitously used by all A2000 companies, leading to greater precision and personalization of AI-enabled solutions.
• Pace of Change. By 2028, the differential in the velocity of tech vendors' releases and tech users' adoption of AI-driven data and analytics software will double spending on reskilling and change management in Asia/Pacific.

IDC data shows more than a third of APJ organizations prioritize becoming data-driven, and more than a quarter of APJ enterprises already have a data-driven strategy. GenAI's integration promises a transformative shift in APJ enterprise planning and the effective utilization of unstructured data in the region:

• Planning Harmonization. By 2027, GenAI will be deployed to spot inconsistencies across internal planning models and external economic forecasts, resulting in a doubling of new cross-functional enterprise planning initiatives in Asia/Pacific.
• Unstructured Data. By 2027, GenAI will help equalize spending on unstructured and structured data processing and analysis software, doubling unstructured data's productive use by Asia/Pacific organizations.

AI advancements, particularly in vector embeddings and graph databases, are rapidly improving model training. This progress accelerates the adoption of Large Language Models (LLMs) in knowledge management and decision intelligence, empowering organizations across APJ. The importance of a Chief Data Officer (CDO) role is growing, as business leaders recognize their crucial part in leveraging AI to create intelligence and value, likely leading to longer tenures for CDOs.

• Vectors and Graphs. By 2027, the need to combine dual representation of enterprise knowledge will lead 50% of A2000 to combine vector embeddings stored in vector databases with graph databases for AI model training.
• Ontologies and LLMs. By 2028, 60% of A2000 will use LLMs to speed development of ontologies, which in turn will guide firm-specific LLM training to enable knowledge management and decision intelligence.
• Tenure of CDOs. By 2028, the tenure of the average CDO will at least double, reflecting business executives evolving understanding of the path to greater enterprise intelligence, data, and AI value creation in Asia/Pacific organizations.

"Data is at the core of the AI story. There can be no real benefit from AI & analytics without getting the Data Plane in order and which is now transforming, with multi-modal capabilities becoming most critical for AI applications. We will see the rise of versatile technologies such as vector and graph databases to support the multimodal capabilities that are synonymous with AI and GenAI technologies.” says Deepika Giri, Head of Research, Big Data & AI, IDC Asia/Pacific.

"The dynamic realm of data analytics, AI, and GenAI embodies a fusion of human creativity and technological prowess, marking a new era of innovation. With GenAI, pioneers leverage data analytics and AI to unlock insights, drive discoveries, and catalyze transformative change. From revolutionizing industries to tackling complex challenges, GenAI leads a digital revolution, reshaping the future with ingenuity and limitless potential," she concluded.

Each year, IDC releases its top technology predictions at worldwide, regional and country level through its IDC FutureScape R eports  and gives a crystal ball view of what is ahead for the rapidly changing IT industry. These predictions have been used to shape the strategies and business objectives of technology leaders and business executives in the next 1-5 years. All the predictions stated here cover Asia/Pacific implications.