A new global study by Cisco has revealed that only 12 percent of organizations in the Philippines are fully prepared to scale and extract value from artificial intelligence (AI), exposing a significant gap between AI ambition and operational readiness in the country.
Dubbed “Pacesetters,” these top-performing organizations demonstrate a disciplined, system-level approach to AI adoption — with strategic roadmaps, flexible infrastructure, and robust security frameworks already in place. Globally, Pacesetters make up 13 percent of the companies surveyed, indicating that the Philippines is trailing even in this elite group.
Despite widespread excitement around AI, most Philippine companies remain stuck in the early stages of readiness.
While nearly all Pacesetters globally have defined AI roadmaps and change-management plans, only 61 percent and 27 percent of local firms, respectively, have them in place. Moreover, just 11 percent of Philippine organizations consider their networks flexible or scalable enough to support evolving AI needs, compared to 71 percent of Pacesetters.
The consequences of this gap are already visible. While 90 percent of Filipino firms plan to deploy AI agents, many lack the infrastructure to support real-time, data-intensive, or autonomous applications. This is compounded by “AI Infrastructure Debt” — a term describing the long-term risks of deferred upgrades, fragmented data systems, and under-resourced AI strategies.
The result is a widening chasm between aspiration and execution. Fewer than one in five local organizations report robust GPU capacity, and only 14 percent have finalized their AI use cases. Meanwhile, global Pacesetters are six times more likely to move pilots into production and 30 percent more likely to see measurable returns on their investments.
The message is clear: AI is no longer an experimental tool — it is a competitive differentiator. For the Philippines to keep pace, organizations must shift from piecemeal AI efforts to integrated, strategic action. The cost of inaction is not just missed opportunity — it is falling further behind in an AI-driven world.
