96% of APAC CIOs Say the Role Is Evolving Beyond Technical Expertise, As AI Implementation Surges 282% Globally

75% of APAC CIOs are upskilling in change management, but data trust remains a bottleneck – only 29% are confident in their data governance

SINGAPORE, 5 March 2026 – AI implementation surged 282% globally in 2025 compared to 2024, according to Salesforce’s second annual Chief Information Officer (CIO) study. In 2024, CIOs were still addressing data gaps, strengthening security, and running early pilots. Since then, they have moved beyond that experimentation phase and are scaling AI across their organisations. The era of experimentation is over; the era of scale is here.

To keep pace, CIOs say the skills required to lead this shift have changed. Technical expertise is still critical, but leadership, storytelling, and change management now determine whether AI adoption sticks. And this isn’t preference — 96% of APAC CIOs say scaling AI is forcing them to expand their skill sets.

This wave of enterprise adoption is also expanding the CIO’s role. CIOs have long partnered with the CEO, but as AI scales, that partnership is broadening — from preparing the tech to steering organisation-wide change. CIOs are now aligning executives, shaping adoption strategies, and ensuring AI is embedded into everyday workflows.

“AI is undergoing one of the fastest adoption cycles of any technology, fundamentally transforming the CIO’s mandate from just technical delivery orientation to primary architects of business transformation,” said Paul Carvouni, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Salesforce ASEAN. “For AI to deliver value in any organisation, CIOs must move beyond the infrastructure works to become change agents – bridging the gap between raw computational power and the human-centric strategies that drive organisational transformation.”

Their technical priorities have evolved as well. Last year’s work centred on data clean-up, governance, security, and legacy systems. In 2025, CIOs are focused on building agentic workflows, integrating AI into core platforms, and scaling AI safely across the business.

CIOs are also spending more time with customer-facing teams, particularly in services where AI agents are already delivering measurable impact. Consistent with 2024’s concerns around data and security, CIOs say they are leaning more heavily on trusted platforms and unified systems to ensure their AI investments scale securely and responsibly.

Detailed Findings: 

CIOs emerge as change leaders — not just tech leaders

CIOs report working most closely with CEOs (over other C-suite execs) as agentic AI has led to an increase in CIO scope and importance.

• 96% of APAC CIOs say AI agents have increased the need to expand their skill sets.
• CIOs are building unexpected skills in the workplace – focusing on soft versus hard technical skills.
  • Top skills CIOs have improved to prepare for agentic AI:
    • 53% of APAC CIOs have personally improved their leadership skills. 
    • 55% of APAC CIOs have personally improved their storytelling and narrative-building skills. 
    • 75% of APAC CIOs have personally improved their change management and communication skills. 

Data trust remains AI’s biggest bottleneck

• The number one fear regarding AI at their company is data security and privacy, followed closely by a lack of trusted data.
  • However, only 45% of APAC CIOs say they are working more closely with chief data officers as a result of agentic AI, and only 15% of their IT budget is dedicated to data security.
• Further, only 29% of APAC CIOs are completely confident they are investing in AI with built-in data governance.

CIOs move from hesitation to hands-on deployment with AI

• Full AI implementation has increased 282% since 2024, rising from 11% to 42%.
• AI budgets have nearly doubled, with APAC CIOs saying they are dedicating 29% of this budget to agentic AI.
• 98% of APAC CIOs say their company either currently uses or plans to use agentic AI within the next two years.

Enterprise confidence strengthens as AI maturity grows

• 86% of APAC CIOs feel more confident in their role now than they did a year ago.
• Unanimously, 100% of APAC CIOs say they know more about AI now than they did a year ago. 

Service becomes the proving ground for AI

• 84% of APAC CIOs say they are working more closely with their customer service organisation as a result of agentic AI – more than with any other function.
• CIOs rank customer service number one across key measures of agentic AI maturity, including strongestuse cases, most enthusiasm, most prepared, and highest adoption for agentic AI.
• This finding is consistent with Salesforce’s latest Agentic Enterprise Index. According to Agentforce usage data, the average number of customer service conversations led by an AI agent grew 22 times in the first half of 2025.

Scaling AI requires cross-functional alignment, but execution gaps remain

• 80% of APAC CIOs say AI agents increase the need to work more closely with other functions across the organisation, including HR, Finance, and Sales, yet less than half are currently collaborating at that level.
• 96% of APAC CIOs say successful adoption of AI agents in the workplace hinges on its integration within the flow of everyday work.
• 49% of APAC CIOs say they prefer investing in known vendors they already use – according to an APAC CIO in the life sciences industry, “proper integration of AI-related technologies into the broader technology ecosystem” is a critical advancement needed in the world of AI agents. 

“There has been more emphasis [in my role] on coaching and directing the business on the potential and limitations of AI. There is a great deal of hype, which is greater than several previous emerging technologies that need grounding in realistic applications within our business. A lot more education is needed to adopt and get the most out of it, or costs escalate far quicker without adding value. There is an even greater need to ensure strategic business alignment across functions to get the most out of the data and insight potential.” – CIO survey respondent in the retail industry

More information:

• Compare these insights with findings from 2024

###

Methodology:

In partnership with NewtonX, Salesforce conducted a double-blind online survey among 200 global chief information officers (CIOs) from 24 countries across AMER, EMEA, and APAC in October 2025.