A Frost & Sullivan perspective on moving beyond experimentation
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at an inflection point. Enterprises across Asia-Pacific recognize that experimentation alone is no longer sufficient — transformation depends on scaling AI responsibly, securely, and with clear business outcomes.
Frost & Sullivan research finds that 89% of IT and business decision-makers in the region identify AI and machine learning as critical to achieving their organizational goals in efficiency, customer experience, and innovation (Frost & Sullivan).
As part of this article, I spoke with Manoj Prasanna Kumar, Chief Technology Officer at Singtel’s digital infrastructure arm, Digital InfraCo, to understand how enterprises can progress from pilots to large-scale AI deployments. His perspectives, combined with Frost & Sullivan’s analysis, illustrate the practical steps required for organizations to unlock value beyond proof-of-concept (POC).
However, the path from idea to POC to scaled deployment remains challenging. Many initiatives stall in the pilot phase due to unclear success criteria, limited ecosystem support, or lack of organizational readiness.
Based on Frost & Sullivan’s research, three pillars are essential to moving beyond experimentation — and Singtel’s initiatives provide tangible examples of how these pillars come to life.
Pillar 1: Define Clear POC Objectives
According to Frost & Sullivan, the leading cause of stalled AI projects is a failure to establish clear, measurable success criteria during the proof-of-concept stage. A POC should not be an experiment for experimentation’s sake; it must align with business priorities and deliver outcomes that can be quantified.
As Manoj Prasanna Kumar emphasizes:
“Scaling AI is about democratising access, making advanced capabilities available securely and responsibly to every enterprise. At Singtel, we enable this shift by providing the sovereign foundations and ecosystem that turn pilots into transformation.”
Pillar 2: Build on Ecosystem-Driven Outcomes
Frost & Sullivan’s research highlights that enterprises pursuing AI in isolation face limited impact. The most successful organizations leverage an ecosystem approach, combining infrastructure, partnerships, and industry-specific solutions to accelerate adoption.
Exemplifying this is Singtel’s RE:AI, a sovereign AI cloud platform offering AI-as-a-Service and GPU-as-a-Service, powered by world-class GPU technology through strategic collaborations with partners such as NVIDIA. By addressing the shortage of compute capacity in Singapore, Singtel enables enterprises in sectors such as healthcare, financial services, and public safety to train and deploy AI workloads securely. Importantly, this is not about building models for their own sake — it is about anchoring on customer outcomes, enabled by a trusted ecosystem that integrates connectivity, infrastructure, and sovereign AI cloud services.
Pillar 3: Scale from POC to Deployment
Finally, Frost & Sullivan stresses that organizational readiness is essential for scaling AI. Just like we explored in our previous articles and interviews, technical success is not enough; enterprises must secure stakeholder commitment, align resources, and operationalize models into everyday business processes.
This deliberate, staged approach ensures that AI evolves from isolated experiments into enterprise-wide transformation.
The Three Pillars of Scalable AI Transformation
In summary, Frost & Sullivan recommends that organizations anchor their AI strategies on three guiding pillars:
- Define clear POC objectives
- Build on ecosystem-driven outcomes
- Scale from POC to deployment
Continuing the Journey
This article builds on Frost & Sullivan’s broader thought leadership on AI transformation:
- Phase 1: AI Transformation: A Business Imperative
- Phase 1 Follow-up: Continuing the Journey: Unlocking ROI
- Phase 1 Insights: Decoding the Future of AI
- Phase 2: Adopting AI: Moving Beyond the Hype
- Phase 2: Navigating AI Transformation: From Business Value to Technical Readiness
Whether you’re refining your first AI use case or scaling deployment across the enterprise, Frost & Sullivan provides actionable insights and strategic guidance. Connect with us to learn how we can support your AI transformation journey.
