Philippine companies are increasingly adopting artificial intelligence (AI), but fragmented systems and unmanaged “shadow” integrations are emerging as obstacles to scaling AI projects beyond the pilot stage, according to a Boomi executive.
In an exclusive interview with PhilSTAR Tech, David Irecki, chief technology officer for Asia Pacific and Japan at Boomi, a data activation company, said organizations often underestimate the systems behind their AI deployments.
“When you look at why some organizations are scaling AI successfully while others remain stuck in pilots, the differentiator is rarely the model itself,” Irecki said.
Nearly two-thirds of Philippine organizations remain in the proof-of-concept stage, Irecki said, as companies face difficulties when expanding AI projects across multiple business units, applications and processes.
An AI Infrastructure Readiness Study commissioned by ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) with research partner Ecosystm found that 71% of organizations in Asia remain in the “Building” stage, where they are caught between proofs of concept and production value. Only 17% have reached the “Integrating” or “Leading” stages.
The study drew responses from more than 600 professionals across nine Asian countries, including 62 from the Philippines.
For Philippine companies, Irecki pointed to data and integration as particular challenges.
An Omdia study commissioned by Boomi found that 73% of Philippine organizations already have active AI initiatives, while 50% have adopted a platform-led integration approach.
Nearly nine in 10 Philippine firms also reported problems involving unmanaged or “shadow” integrations, according to the study. Irecki said these unofficial connections can affect data quality and confidence, making AI initiatives harder to scale.
The issue could become more significant as businesses move toward AI systems capable of triggering workflows or taking action, rather than simply generating recommendations.
Irecki said AI may identify a dissatisfied customer or an emerging supply chain problem, but the business still needs to act on that information.
“The challenge is to operationalize that intelligence,” he said.
The Omdia study found that 93% of Philippine firms expect to move from fragmented point solutions toward a unified enterprise AI-ready platform, while 92% are seeking to reduce technology sprawl.
More than nine in 10 also expect AI-enabled automation to significantly affect their business processes over the next two to three years, while 96% plan to maintain or increase investments in data integration, preparation and orchestration.
