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Generative AI (GenAI) and AI will significantly transform industries in the future, according to 85% of Malaysian respondents (APJ: 85%; Global: 81%) to the Dell Technologies Innovation Catalyst Research. This rises to 91% for organisations reporting high (+25%) 2023 revenue growth and dips to 75% for those reporting low growth (1-5%), flat revenue or decline.

Based on responses from 6,600 IT and business decision makers across 40 countries, the research suggests that while there is broad optimism for AI and GenAI, the extent to which organisations are prepared for the rapid pace of change varies greatly. More than eight in ten (82%) – organisations in Malaysia say they are well positioned competitively and have a solid strategy (APJ: 80%; Global 82%). At the same time, nearly half (44%) of the Malaysian organisation respondents are uncertain what their industry will look like in the next three to five years (APJ: 50%; Global: 48%) and 45% report struggling to keep pace (APJ: 59%; Global: 57%);  43% of respondents in Malaysia cite the lack of the right talent (APJ: 41%; Global 35%), 44% reports data privacy and cybersecurity concerns (APJ: 36%; Global: 31%) and 28% of organisations in Malaysia reports of lack of budget (APJ: 31%; Global: 29%)  as challenges they face in driving innovation.

GenAI Moving from Ideation to Implementation

56% of respondents in Malaysia cite GenAI’s transformative or significant potential to deliver value in improving IT security posture (APJ: 51%; Global: 52%) and productivity gains (APJ: 53%; Global: 52%), while 59% of Malaysian respondents cite its potential to improve customer experience (APJ: 51%; Global: 51%).  They are also aware of challenges to overcome: Sixty-five percent of Malaysian organisations fear GenAI will introduce new security and privacy issues (APJ: 69%; Global: 68%) and 76% of Malaysian respondents (APJ: 76%; Global: 73%) agreed that their data and IP is too valuable to be placed in a GenAI tool where a third party may have access.

More broadly, responses suggest that organisations are working through GenAI practicalities as they transition from ideation to implementation, with 50% respondents from Malaysia saying they have begun implementing GenAI. As organisations increase adoption, concern centers around understanding where risks reside and who is responsible for them. Seventy-six percent of respondents in Malaysia agree that the organisations, rather than the machine, the user or the public, is responsible for any AI malfunction or undesired behaviour.

Saravanan Krishnan, Dell Technologies’ Country Manager for Malaysia shared: “Data shows that Malaysian businesses are recognising the transformative power of AI and GenAI, whereby there is significant potential to enhance productivity, improve security and elevate customer experiences. The challenge now is to move from ideation to implementation, and that is where building an ecosystem of trusted partners is crucial for organisations to build a secure, scalable infrastructure that supports innovation, while addressing key concerns like data privacy, talent shortages and sustainability.”

Organisations are Rising to the Challenge of Today’s Threat Landscape

Cybersecurity more broadly continues to be a pain point for organisations. These concerns are well-founded, as 87% of respondents in Malaysia say they have been impacted by a security attack in the past 12 months (APJ: 84%; Global 83%). The majority (93%) of Malaysian respondents are pursuing a Zero Trust deployment strategy (APJ: 90%; Global: 89%) and 77% of Malaysian organisations say they have an Incident Response Plan in place to recover from a cyberattack or data leakage (APJ: 78%; Global: 78%).

The top three cited issues included malware, phishing and data breaches. Issues with phishing are indicative of a wider problem highlighted in the report, which is the role employees play in the threat landscape. For example, 80% of Malaysian respondents (APJ: 72%; Global: 67%) believe some employees go around IT security guidelines and practices because they delay efficiency and productivity, and 66% Malaysian respondents say that insider threats are a big concern (APJ: 70%; Global: 65%). This indicates a need to focus on training as employees are the first line of defence.

The Right Technology Infrastructure will help Organisations to Succeed

The research also reveals modern data infrastructure’s critical role as technologies like GenAI gather pace and data volumes increase. Investing in a modern, scalable infrastructure was cited as the No.1 area of improvement for businesses to accelerate innovation. Most IT decision makers (73%) in Malaysia (APJ: 78%; Global 78%) say they prefer an on-prem or hybrid model, to address the challenges they foresee with implementing GenAI.

The ability to share data across the business is also a key part of the innovation puzzle, but only 34% of Malaysian respondents (APJ: 36%; Global 33%) saying they can turn data into real-time insights today to support innovation efforts. However, responses suggest organisations are acting on this challenge, with 86% of respondents in Malaysia (APJ: 84%; Global 82%) saying that data is the differentiator and their GenAI strategy must involve using and protecting that data. Almost half (49%) of Malaysian respondents (APJ: 47%; Global: 42%) also claim they anticipate that the bulk of their data will come from the edge in the next five years.

Other research findings include:

• Skills: Almost three-quarters (73%) of Malaysian respondents (APJ: 74%; Global: 67%) claim there is currently a shortage of talent required for innovation in their industry. Learning agility and desire, AI fluency, and creativity & creative thinking rank as the top skills and competencies for the next five years
• Sustainability: 56% of Malaysian respondents (APJ: 48%; Global: 42%) believe “driving environmentally sustainable innovations” is an important improvement area. Energy efficiency is high on the agenda, with 83% of Malaysian organisations (APJ: 79%; Global: 79%) experimenting with as-a-Service solutions to manage their IT environment more efficiently and 81% of Malaysian respondents (APJ: 76%; Global: 73%) actively moving AI inferencing to the edge to become more energy efficient (e.g., smart buildings)
• Making IT a strategic partner: Currently, 80% of business decision makers in Malaysia (APJ: 85%; Global: 81%) have reasons to exclude IT decision makers from strategic conversations, yet both departments ranked a stronger relationship as the second most important improvement area
• Productivity: 83% of Malaysian respondents (APJ: 79%; Global: 79%) believe that AI tools will augment human capabilities and productivity to reach new heights

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