55% of APAC firms push AI adoption without staff training: report

This comes at the risk of staff morale. 

More than one in two organisations—or 55%—in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region require IT staff to adapt to new technology without training, resulting in a 44% decline in staff morale and a 22% resignation rate, according to a Thoughtworks and IDC report.

In Singapore and the wider APAC market, 54% of companies use a piecemeal modernisation model. Steven Yurisich, Regional Managing Director, APAC at Thoughtworks, said in the report that intermittent modernisation is no longer viable for Singaporean enterprises.

It added that only 17% of respondents in the region say their modernisation approach delivers value.

The report also revealed that just 12% of global organisations have achieved AI-driven operations, whilst 90% of enterprises remain in reactive modernisation cycles.

Organisations that transition to continuous modernisation models report measurable performance gains, including a 45% increase in product and feature release speed. AI-driven vulnerability management contributes to a 48% reduction in risk exposure.

These organisations also reported a 36% improvement in system maintainability and scalability, the research noted.

The study highlights a shift in commercial structures for IT services, with 56% of organisations now requiring contracts tied to continuous improvement mandates.

A further 43% are seeking risk–reward sharing models. Performance metrics are also shifting away from uptime towards speed, resilience and customer experience.

Thoughtworks identified a move towards a human-in-the-loop model among Singapore’s digital leaders. In this framework, AI manages pipeline intelligence and automated security, whilst human staff focus on architectural judgement and resilience.

To address the maturity gap, the report recommends a 180-day action plan focusing on pipeline intelligence, AI-guided remediation, and team training in AI and machine learning literacy.

The report noted that these skills are now the top requirement across all sectors.