AI and uncertainty: Can Singapore enterprises turn risk into resilience?

Singapore enterprises are facing mounting external disruptions and AI could help manage these uncertainties whilst strengthening decision-making, resilience, and competitiveness.

Businesses in Singapore are navigating an increasingly volatile landscape, marked by external disruptions such as tariffs, shifting trade politics, regulatory changes, supply chain disruptions, and global crises.

This heightened uncertainty is pushing leaders to rethink traditional approaches and seek new ways to buffer against volatility, knowing that inaction risks slower growth, eroded competitiveness, and reduced resilience amidst the fast-changing environment.

In the face of these uncertainties, artificial intelligence (AI) offers organisations an opportunity to transform business processes and enhance productivity. By leveraging data and AI, firms can strengthen their agility and resilience whilst gaining a competitive advantage.

Businesses are aware of this shift. The IDC FutureScape 2025 report predicts that in the next three years, AI spend in Asia Pacific will grow 1.7 times faster than overall digital technology investments.

But whilst AI adoption is widespread, AI spending amongst Singapore enterprises in 2025 has been reduced to an average of 11.5% of tech budgets despite government support, according to the "Enterprise AI Maturity Index 2025" report by ServiceNow in partnership with Oxford Economics.

This dynamic underscores why Singapore’s National AI Strategy (NAIS) and the Smart Nation Initiative are so critical. NAIS lays out a government-driven roadmap to position Singapore as a global leader in impactful AI by 2030, not just as a tech hub but as a resilient digital economy. From workforce upskilling to supporting infrastructure, these national strategies aim to help enterprises go from pilot projects to enterprise-wide transformation, ensuring that AI investments pay off amidst evolving external challenges. 

Enterprises must overcome integration barriers for full AI realisation

In Singapore, AI is already increasingly seen as the foundation of competitive advantage. 

Fujitsu’s Technology and Service Vision 2025 (FT&SV 2025) reveals that AI is already producing tangible business outcomes, with over 60% of companies that use AI reporting productivity improvements exceeding 10%.

Yet, many Singapore enterprises struggle to unlock AI’s full value because scaling remains a major hurdle. Whilst early AI pilots may deliver incremental wins, without a clear roadmap for integration across departments and partners, many leaders are uncertain how to move from exploration to enterprise transformation.

Questions persist about AI’s longevity. Whilst many business leaders believe the focus on AI will continue for more than 12 months, more than half see it as hype, discouraging scaling.

Companies also cited the lack of professionals with the required AI skills, with 47% of business leaders noting that the current talent pool is insufficient.

AI serves as a competitive differentiator

Whether firms consider AI as hype or true progress, it is clear that it is seen as a long-term imperative. It is no longer a tool but a reimagination of business.

An impressive 81% of leaders expect half of their processes to integrate AI by 2030 and 79% expect their workforce to be AI-assisted within the same timeline.

With the pace at which AI is moving, leaders who fail to build AI capabilities today risk falling behind in innovation and competitiveness in the future. Many organisations enhance productivity by using generative AI to support routine tasks and automate customer service. But forward-looking AI leaders are going beyond that, already extending its use to more advanced and transformative areas, such as research and other complex business processes.

Success requires more than a limited adoption of AI; it demands a structured, organisation-wide approach. Only by integrating AI across all aspects of the business can an organisation truly unlock its full transformative potential.

Notably, these productivity gains are also linked to financial returns, with 97% of leaders reporting boosted revenue and operating profit compared to the previous year, indicating improved return on AI investments and better financial outcomes.

Regardless of whether AI is perceived as a bubble or not, it is clearly delivering both productivity gains and strong financial outcomes, positioning companies that integrate it into their processes at a true competitive advantage.

Fujitsu ActivateNow returns to Singapore: Building intelligent ecosystem for resilience

The challenge now lies in scaling these successes. 

Fujitsu is bringing back its flagship event, Fujitsu ActivateNow Southeast Asia, to showcase how artificial intelligence can transform decision-making and build business resilience.

Happening on 23 October, this year’s theme, “Transformation Beyond Boundaries,” highlights the urgent need for organisations to move beyond exploration and adopt AI at scale, enabling them to respond with agility to disruption and complexity.

An opening keynote by IDC will examine how organisations in Singapore are progressing on their AI journeys, highlighting the challenges of moving from proof-of-concepts into production. Drawing on survey findings and regional case studies, IDC will outline how companies can overcome barriers around data, skills, and workforce redesign to unlock innovation, transformation, and long-term competitiveness.

The event also features two immersive tracks: “From AI Exploration to Realisation” and “Building Intelligent Ecosystems.” The tracks will showcase the building blocks of AI transformation, guiding enterprises from initial exploration to developing intelligent ecosystems. Such ecosystems enable organisations to respond swiftly to disruptions such as political and regulatory changes, strengthen supply chains and drive sustainable growth. Using real-world scenarios, attendees will have a firsthand opportunity to experience a truly intelligent ecosystem, from digital supply chains to autonomous operations with multi-agentic AI and enterprise orchestration.

Backed by 90 years of innovation and expertise, Fujitsu ActivateNow serves as a catalyst for action. To turn AI ambitions into measurable outcomes, join Fujitsu ActivateNow Singapore by registering here. For any inquiries, please contact [email protected].