Data security, privacy remain barriers to AI adoption

Manila, Philippines - Philippine businesses are rapidly embracing artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance productivity, yet data security and privacy continue to be significant obstacles to further adoption. According to a survey conducted by Taiwan-based technology company Synology, seven out of ten business respondents cited data security and privacy as key challenges in AI implementation.

The survey found that 90 percent of Philippine businesses consider AI-ready infrastructure essential for boosting productivity and workflow efficiency.

Synology's findings suggest that AI's effectiveness hinges not only on the applications themselves but also on organizations' ability to access, manage, and secure the data that powers them across various systems. The survey also highlighted the need for organizations to address critical data-management issues as they increasingly rely on AI.

Claire Huang, Synology's Philippines country manager, emphasized that as businesses expand their data infrastructure, they must also ensure confidence in the recovery of essential services during disruptions.

The survey revealed that nearly 47 percent of respondents faced challenges in data quality and availability, while 40 percent reported that their data is dispersed across different environments. Additionally, about 40 percent of survey participants stated that they lack visibility into how information submitted to third-party AI tools is managed. Notably, 72.4 percent of respondents expressed confidence in recovering from a ransomware attack using protected backups, while a quarter said they were very confident.

Interestingly, 74 percent of businesses preferred on-premise or hybrid infrastructure over the public cloud, which was favored by only 9.9 percent. Antoine Yang, Synology's Southeast Asia head, explained that AI generates value by enabling employees to work more efficiently and helping businesses respond effectively to customer needs. Synology aims to help organizations maintain these gains as AI adoption expands, ensuring they have access to trustworthy data and a reliable path to recovery in the event of disruption.