AI at work: what are Singapore CEOs prioritising and finding a challenge?

To dive deeper into the study, Choy handed the time over to Cindy Anderson, global executive at IBM IBV, who shared about the mindset shifts necessary to navigate AI-led transformation as well as the top priorities and challenges of CEOs in Singapore and globally. 

In the study, a key mindset shift put forward to senior leaders is to be risk-taking. In fact, more than 60 per cent of the CEOs surveyed stated that this was the safest course to take right now in order to maintain a competitive advantage over the competition. In doing so, however, “77 per cent of Singapore CEOs say they’re being forced to implement AI tools before fully understanding the benefits,” Anderson noted, highlighting a sense of urgency coupled with a lack of clarity.

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She also raised that senior leaders should see how using the most suitable AI model for their company can transform not just one aspect of the business, but every aspect—from product development to customer engagement. 

The study also stated the importance of a company leveraging its data to unlock the potential of AI. This is key to obtaining forecast accuracy, which has emerged as the top priority for CEOs in Singapore and globally in 2025. Anderson elaborated that this priority, previously ranked lower in the last two years, now dominates as leaders seek data-driven predictability in a volatile world. 

Hans Dekkers, general manager of IBM Asia Pacific, stressed that most enterprises have yet to unlock AI’s full value due to data inaccessibility. “99 per cent of enterprise data is still untouched by AI because the vast majority is unstructured,” he said. 

Ken Mandel, regional managing director and head of GrabAds and Enterprise at Grab, who attended as a guest, also added to this: “Unstructured data is the enemy of progress with AI. Even for us [at Grab], we have this challenge. The good thing with AI is that it can help with that unstructured data problem as well.”

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Another guest, Ervin Yeo, group chief strategy officer and CEO of commercial management at global real asset manager CapitaLand Investment, concurred and shared his company’s need for a way to analyse and leverage customer data while respecting privacy. 

To tackle this issue, Dekkers shared that the data models IBM creates for its clients are decentralised and controlled by the companies themselves. “We don’t rationalise [their] data”, he said, highlighting that the data is left where it resides—whether it’s on the edge or in a client’s data centres. 

Instead, IBM “harmonises the data [from] end-to-end,” he said. “Without moving the data, we can access it, even if it’s unstructured. We then put an orchestration layer on, which includes governance, cultural sensitivities, local laws and so on. We help our clients use [their data] in a way that’s controlled, without passing borders.”

The roundtable also delved into the tension between productivity and profitability—the second-biggest priority of CEOs this year as reported in the study. Juhi McClelland, managing partner at IBM Consulting Asia Pacific, illustrated how AI can address both. “We think that AI and the data that enables AI will get you more productivity and lower your cost of operations,” she said. “With the savings, you can innovate and grow your revenue.”

Citing what IBM has done itself, “We achieved 95 per cent productivity in human resource and 85 per cent in technical support using AI within the company,” she shared, adding that this has helped IBM achieve billions of US dollars worth of productivity.

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Yet, participants emphasised that success in AI isn’t purely technological—it’s cultural. “The hardest part is not the tech. It’s the people and processes that [determine if] the tech fails or succeeds,” remarked See Yoong Hwee, the group head of tank management at energy company YTL PowerSeraya. 

He also spoke about the need to acknowledge that the technology isn’t a “silver bullet”, while fostering AI literacy and reframe it as “assisted intelligence” that enhances employee capabilities rather than replace them.

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In closing, the roundtable underscored that AI adoption is not a linear journey. As organisations in Singapore and Asia-Pacific grapple with balancing risk and reward, the path to AI-powered growth requires a blend of strategic foresight, people-first leadership and a pragmatic approach to data and governance.

As Anderson aptly put it, “Success isn’t going to come from doing the same things better or faster—it means your business will have to change.”

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