IDC: 50% of Asia/Pacific* Cities to Pilot GenAI in 2024

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• Louise Francis  Email: lfrancis@idc.com
• Ravikant Sharma  Email: rksharma@idc.com
• Miguel Carreon  Email: mcarreon@idc.com
• Michael De La Cruz  Email: mdelacruz@idc.com

IDC Reveals Smart Cities and Communities Predictions in Asia/Pacific* for 2024 and Beyond

SINGAPORE, 15 January 2024 – In a recent FutureScape report, IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Amart Cities and Communities 2024 Predictions — Asia/Pacific (Excluding Japan and China ) Implications, IDC predicts that in 2024, 50% of APEJC cities and states will pilot GenAI to improve efficacy in community outreach and customer service, procurement, staff recruitment and training, and software development.

The overarching theme of this year’s predictions was the substantial impact of AI on shaping investments and transformations across Asia Pacific’s smart cities and communities. According to the IDC Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey in September 2023, 49% of the region’s government agencies indicated they were already investing in or testing GenAI proof of concepts (POC). Although this lags the overall market trends, these trends indicate half of the agencies will be commencing pilots by early to mid-2024.

Although there are many disruptive factors in Asia Pacific’s subnational governments, there are several key levers of change that shape these predictions. These include digital citizen experience, building the next generation of digital skills, and creating balanced regulatory frameworks and policies that provide assurance without stifling innovation. Underscoring all these trends and predictions is the drive for ensuring cyber-resilience and digital sovereignty to address the volatile geopolitical risks cities will face over the next five years. These factors are becoming increasingly important for CIOs and city leaders to stay updated on all evolving trends and how each one will impact the success of civic initiatives.

IDC’s predictions highlight that AI is going to play a significant role enabling secure and effective delivery of digital change. In the near-term (2024-2026), the focus for AI will be on data preparation and providing contextualized citizen experience, while in the longer term (2027 onwards) it will shape how local governments confront the onslaught of cybersecurity risks generated through the technology. Below are other AI-driven predictions for the region:

• Unified Data Models: Only 15% of APEJC's medium-sized and large cities by 2024 will make data model changes required in their back-office application landscapes to prepare data for AI, advanced analytics, and collective decision making.

• Contextualized Government Interactions: To improve constituent engagement, by 2025, 40% of large cities in APEJC will pilot online journeys using voice and text conversations leveraging real-time contextual AI tools.

• GenAI as a Bad Actor: By 2027, cyberattacks and crimes caused by weaponized GenAI will impact 90% of local and regional governments driving adoption of new human-centered cybersecurity and public safety approaches.

“The rollout of the pilot phase for GenAI across the APEJC City Governments represents a strategic step towards harnessing AI for enhanced efficiency, service delivery, and development across multiple domains. Nevertheless, thoughtful consideration of potential challenges and responsible implementation is crucial to ensure success and maximize the benefits of this technology,” says Ravi k ant Sharma, Senior Manager, Government Insights, IDC Asia/Pacific.

The other trends that local government leaders in Asia Pacific must pay attention to are:

• Non-terrestrial networks to bridge the digital divide: With as-a-service models extending to space in multiple orbits, by 2025, 20% of states and provinces in APEJC will use satellite-based internet connectivity to bridge the digital divide and reach rural areas.

• Hybrid Cloud to Protect sensitive information: By 2025, 60% of subnational governments will deploy hybrid cloud to protect sensitive information while deploying multicloud for valued services, application development, and edge data integration.

• Extracting New Network Value: By 2025, 50% of local governments will struggle to realize benefits from new networking investments, from fiber to 5G, and will look to professional services firms to help drive utilization and value.

• Spatial Computing for Urban Planning and Emergency Management: By 2027, 25% of states, provinces, and large cities will deploy spatial computing to create immersive 3D models and digital twins to support environmental and urban planning and emergency management.

• Workforce Strategies to enhance employee experience: By 2028, 40% of major cities will upgrade back- and front-office technologies to improve employee experiences and recruit and retain workers with critical skills in major software and cloud platforms.

• Open Standards and Frameworks for smart transportation and climate action: By 2028, 60% of major cities will collaborate via regional ecosystems to standardize on ICT frameworks, leading vendors to adopt open standards and open APIs especially for smart transportation and climate action.

"This year’s predictions are a reflection of the very dynamic time in the local government sector across Asia Pacific. Policymakers are under immense pressure to balance strong regulatory guidance with the aspirations of a thriving digital economy," says Louise Francis, Head of Public Sector Research, IDC Asia/Pacific.

Each year, IDC releases its top technology predictions at worldwide, regional and country level through its IDC FutureScape Reports   and gives a crystal ball view of what is ahead for the rapidly changing IT industry. These predictions have been used to shape the strategies and business objectives of technology leaders and business executives in the next 1-5 years. All the predictions stated here cover Asia/Pacific implications.

Catch an on-demand replay of IDC's 2024 Predictions presentation that will be available as part of a series of FutureScape webinars addressing the IT Industry, AI and Automation, Digital Business, CIO Agenda, and Emerging Technologies. If you would like to attend any of these webinars, register  and learn more HERE.

Asia/Pacific Japan FutureScape Reports come with a complimentary report that provides specific recommendations for tech vendor sales and marketing leaders. Leverage on IDC insights to better understand clients’ priorities and enhance your storytelling and go to market plans, access the IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Smart Cities and Communities 2024 Predictions — AP (Excluding Japan and China) Implications: Positioning for Success — Opportunities for Tech Sales and Marketing Leaders market presentation HERE.

For more information about IDC FutureScape and other resources, please visit our regional FutureScape site. For sales inquiries on the IDC FutureScape framework and reports, please contact your IDC account manager or Tessa Rago at trago@idc.com. For media queries, please contact Michael de la Cruz at mdelacruz@idc.com    or Miguel Carreon mcarreon@idc.com.

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About IDC FutureScape

IDC FutureScape reports are used to shape IT strategy and planning for the enterprise by providing a basic framework for evaluating IT initiatives in terms of their value to business strategy now and in the foreseeable future. IDC's FutureScape reports are comprised of a set of decision imperatives designed to identify a range of pending issues that CIOs and senior technology professionals will confront within a typical five-year business planning cycle.

About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,300 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading tech media, data and marketing services company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDCAP and LinkedIn. Subscribe to the IDC Blog for industry news and insights.

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