AI ecosystem partnerships: Key to future-proofing PH firms
With the Department of Trade and Industry reporting that generative artificial intelligence (AI) could unlock $79.3 billion in productive capacity for the Philippines, the question is no longer whether businesses should adopt AI, but how to do so effectively and sustainably.
As organizations shift toward more domain-specific, open AI-driven solutions, no single vendor can address these demands alone.
Partnerships are now essential for delivering scalable business outcomes—a reality embraced by many technology leaders through extensive partner ecosystems.
The recent PwC 2025 Global CEO Survey confirms this shift, revealing that 65 percent of Philippine CEOs have formed partnerships with organizations like universities and managed services providers in the past five years.
By working with tens of thousands of partners, developers and digital marketplaces—where collaboration between technology vendors and local domain experts helps organizations overcome AI implementation challenges—IBM has identified three key enablers of AI success: aligning AI investments with business outcomes (ROI), leveraging ready-to-deploy solutions for faster execution and expanding the AI expertise ecosystem to address the skills shortage.
Cracking the AI ROI code
There is a striking 25-fold cost difference between various AI deployment approaches, meaning that task selection, cost-efficient AI models and deployment strategies can impact cost per inference by up to 25x.
Different markets also prioritize different aspects of AI returns. For instance, companies in Indonesia focus on rapid innovation (34 percent), while those in Singapore place greater importance on productivity time savings (27 percent) as the key measure of AI ROI.
For Philippine businesses, the APAC AI Outlook highlights three key challenges: limited use cases (43 percent), integration and scaling difficulties (40 percent), and the lack of a comprehensive AI strategy (37 percent).
These barriers hinder organizations from unlocking AI’s full potential, despite significant investments.
Fast-fracking AI adoption and interoperability
PwC’s study found that 88 percent of Philippine CEOs expect AI to be integrated into their business processes and workflows within the next three years, with the same percentage anticipating its use in their technology platforms.
While Philippine tech leaders collaborate with local and regional partners to access cutting-edge solutions and deep expertise, the key challenge for accelerating AI adoption is the lack of ready-to-deploy solutions that address immediate pain points and deliver quick ROI.
AI solutions that integrate across multiple vendors, offering flexibility and openness, are also crucial for businesses in complex technical environments.
Ecosystem of AI expertise
Recognized as the BPO hub of Asia, the Philippines’ economic momentum will rely heavily on growing its AI talent pool, especially with Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto attracting business interest in AI investments at the recent WEF Annual Meeting.
However, 28 percent of Philippine CEOs report a shortage of skilled workers, and nearly 70 percent believe their businesses won’t remain economically viable beyond the next decade if they continue on their current trajectory.
To address this challenge urgently, upskilling the existing, business-ready AI workforce is essential—combining global enterprise AI expertise with ecosystem partners’ domain knowledge and local market insights.
Through initiatives like the FutureProof Academy, IBM provides specialized training to equip its partners with the technical skills required to deploy impactful AI solutions. This ecosystem can be further expanded to tech communities and universities through collaborations.
The combination of global AI expertise, local insights and upskilling will be essential for helping Philippine businesses overcome skills gaps and competitive disadvantages.
Quick wins in the Philippine tech ecosystem
Through our FutureProof initiative, one of the first steps in the Philippines has been to simplify and accelerate AI adoption.
Together with our business partners, we create ready-to-deploy solutions that address real business needs, helping businesses—large and small—tackle ROI challenges by automating and optimizing investments with tools like Planning Analytics and Cloudability.
For those struggling to prove AI returns, high-performance and cost-efficient platforms like IBM FlashSystem help deliver quick, tangible wins.
Our business partner eBiZolution is currently developing an AI-powered HR tool utilizing watsonx with the aim to provide recommendations personnel for government bid opportunities while addressing critical privacy and ethical concerns.
As speed and productivity drive market leadership, future-proofing with AI is a strategic necessity for Philippine businesses aiming to thrive globally. Today, we are witnessing firsthand how ecosystem partnerships are key to driving AI adoption and transforming Philippine organizations.
Chetan is Vice President, Ecosystem and Digital Sales, IBM Asia Pacific
