Business leaders and IT decision-makers confirm the accelerating shift toward return on investment-driven-AI investments as organisations increase AI spending by threefold in Asia Pacific and fourfold in Australia and New Zealand, according to the third edition of Lenovo’s CIO Playbook 2025 – It’s Time for AI-nomics. Commissioned by Lenovo, the research is based on a global IDC study of 2,900 plus respondents, including 900 plus IT and business decision-makers from across Asia Pacific.
Despite the increasing spends, AI adoption in Australia and New Zealand remains in its early stage, with 58% of organsations either evaluating or planning to implement AI in the next 12 months. This is higher than Asia Pacific (56%) and global (49%), with return on investment emerging as the key barrier to quick adoption.
Delivering a return on investment for AI is a long-term endeavour that requires balancing AI experiments with those that can be scaled.
Interestingly, AP organisations expect a 3.6x ROI on average from their AI projects, which requires a measured approach to scaling AI and building internal capabilities. Australia and New Zealand’s gradual pace reflects a focus on driving digital innovation, enhancing decision-making, and reducing cyber threats while overcoming business challenges such as data quality issues, unrealistic expectations and IT infrastructure costs.
Evolving business priorities each year reflect a deeper understanding of what it takes to drive AI growth, bringing greater awareness of its risks as well. Ethical issues and biases are the top AI risks this year, yet only 24% globally and 25% in Asia Pacific have fully enforced AI governance, risk, and compliance policies. In Australia and New Zealand, 21% of CIOs report fully implemented enterprise AI GRC policies. This highlights the urgent need for a structured approach for what has emerged as the top priority for businesses in Asia Pacific.
Effective AI governance requires explainability, ethical frameworks, accountability, model governance, improved privacy, security and integrated human oversight.
“Business priorities are shifting in Asia Pacific,” said Lenovo’s Sumir Bhatia.”For 2025, governance, risk, and compliance have jumped 12 spots to become the top priority, highlighting the focus on secure and responsible AI. Employee productivity has also climbed from number seven to two, underscoring its growing importance.”
GenAI is set to transform enterprise workflows, commanding 38% of AI implementation spend in 2025 in Australia and New Zealand. Key takeouts from the report include:
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IT Operations remain the top use cases in both Asia Pacific and Australia and New Zealand;
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There is more focus on cybersecurity and software development in Asia Pacific; and
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For Australia and New Zealand, sales and finance take precedence.
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The report reveals that 65% of organisations in Asia Pacific are opting for on-premise or hybrid solutions to power AI workloads. This preference is driven by the need for secure, low-latency environments and operational flexibility. Meanwhile, 19% still rely on public cloud services.
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Australia and New Zealand reflects a similar trend, with 66% using hybrid or on-prem, while the remainder depend on public cloud.
“Hybrid architectures offer the best of both worlds – scalability and control,” said Lenovo Australia’s Silke Barlow. ” Globally, 63% of organisations choose on-premise and hybrid infrastructures for AI, with Australia and New Zealand leading the way, surpassing both the global and Asia Pacific averages with a higher adoption rate. This alignment demonstrates a clear focus on driving innovation while staying secure and compliant for the unique demands of AI.”
AI-powered PCs are gaining traction in AP, with 43% of organisations seeing significant productivity gains. While awareness is increasing, local adoption remains slow across markets. In Australia and New Zealand, 63% of organisations are already in the planning stage for AI-powered PC adoption. As the technology matures and demonstrates a return on investment, the adoption curve will accelerate, driving more digital workplace solutions.
With organisations scaling their AI efforts, CIOs in Australia and New Zealand are ahead, with 37% actively leveraging professional AI services compared to 34% in Asia Pacific. This enables them to navigate complexities in data management, talent shortages, and cost efficiency. Interestingly, an additional 46% of CIOs in Australia and New Zealand are exploring or planning to engage these services in the near future. These collaborations help bridge internal capability gaps, enabling organisations to focus on upskilling their teams and building long-term resilience.
“AI adoption is not just about the short-term gains,” said Lenovo’s Fan Ho. “Organisations need to invest in the efficiency of the design, deployment and integration of AI solutions to their operations that enable tracking of the impact. Professional AI services play a key role here and help organisations successfully adopt AI through outcome-led approach.”
You can read the full report here.
