A new global survey by Cloudera reveals that nearly all enterprise IT leaders are planning to expand their use of AI agents within the next year. Of the 1,500 respondents across 14 countries, 96% indicated they would be increasing deployment, with half aiming for large-scale, organisation-wide implementation. AI agents are being used in areas such as performance optimisation (66%), security monitoring (63%), and software development assistance (62%).
These intelligent systems represent the next phase in enterprise AI development. Unlike traditional automation, AI agents can reason, adapt, and act independently in real-time. When deployed effectively, they help businesses improve agility, lower operational costs, and enhance customer engagement. According to the findings, 83% of surveyed organisations view AI agents as vital to staying competitive in a rapidly evolving market.
Singapore shows strong readiness but higher concerns over bias
The report, titled The Future of Enterprise AI Agents, highlights that Singapore is among the top countries in Asia-Pacific in terms of readiness for AI agent implementation. Around 87% of Singaporean business leaders believe their prior investments in generative AI have adequately prepared them for this next step. This places them behind only India (95%), Indonesia (91%), and Australia and New Zealand (89%).
However, concerns about bias and fairness are more prevalent in Singapore than in neighbouring markets. A significant 71% of enterprises in Singapore cited these issues as major challenges. This is in contrast to lower levels of concern in Japan (46%), Korea (35%), Indonesia (32%), and China (32%). To mitigate these risks, 45% of Singaporean organisations have already put in place measures such as human review processes, more diverse training datasets, and fairness audits.
Industry-specific adoption and deployment strategies
The survey also examined the most common use cases for AI agents across industries. In Singapore, the finance and insurance sector is leading adoption, with fraud detection highlighted by 60% of respondents. Other high-priority areas include claims processing, investment advisory, property valuation, underwriting, and real estate matching—each cited by 50% of respondents.
In manufacturing, inventory management was the most widely adopted application (54%). For retail and e-commerce businesses, customer service took the lead (63%), followed by inventory and supply chain management. In healthcare, 71% of organisations cited patient monitoring as the top use case. Meanwhile, the telecommunications sector reported equal focus across infrastructure maintenance prediction, performance monitoring, and quality assurance, each named by 40% of respondents.
Across all industries, AI agents are being used to automate routine processes, enhance decision-making, and improve service delivery. In finance, they assist in detecting fraud and simulating risk scenarios. In manufacturing, agents help with quality control and logistics. Healthcare providers are using them to manage appointments, support diagnoses, and process medical records. In telecoms, agents enable instant issue resolution, protect networks, and enhance the customer experience.
Infrastructure, costs, and data privacy still barriers
Despite the strong interest in expanding AI agent usage, significant barriers remain. Data privacy is the top concern for 53% of respondents, followed by integration with legacy systems (40%) and high implementation costs (39%). Cloudera’s analysis points to a common root for these challenges—the lack of unified data management and governance.
Most organisations are choosing a hybrid deployment model. Around 66% are building AI agents using their enterprise AI infrastructure, while 60% are leveraging capabilities already embedded in existing core systems. This approach ensures scalability, security, and proximity to data—factors that are crucial for sustainable implementation.
Cloudera recommends that organisations start with small, high-impact projects—such as internal IT support agents—that can deliver quick returns and establish a foundation for broader rollout.
“AI agents have moved beyond experimentation—they’re now delivering real automation, efficiency, and business results,” said Abhas Ricky, Chief Strategy Officer at Cloudera. “In 2025, agentic AI is taking centre stage, building on the momentum of generative AI but with even greater operational impact. Cloudera is enabling this transformation through a robust Enterprise AI Ecosystem, helping global organisations design secure, scalable, and integrated AI workflows that turn data into action.”
