Readiness becomes key as Philippine businesses adopt AI

• IN PHOTO: (left) Antoine Yang, Southeast Asia Head, Synology (right) Claire Huang, Philippines Country Manager, Synology

Philippine businesses are increasingly looking to AI to improve productivity, but concerns around data security and privacy remain a major challenge to wider adoption, according to a new Synology survey.

More than 90% of Philippine respondents said AI-ready infrastructure is important to improving workflow and productivity, while 70% identified data security and privacy as key challenges to adopting AI.

The findings were presented at the Synology Annual Media Event 2026 in Makati, where the company discussed how businesses can prepare their data infrastructure as AI becomes part of everyday operations.

The survey also found that businesses are dealing with several data management challenges as their use of AI grows.

Around 47% of respondents cited data quality and availability as concerns, while 40% said their data is spread across different environments. Nearly 40% also said they have limited visibility into how information submitted to third-party AI tools is managed.

“AI creates value when it helps people do their work better and enables the business to respond more effectively to its customers. Our focus is to help organizations sustain those gains as adoption grows, with data they can trust and a dependable path to recovery when disruption occurs,” said Antoine Yang, Southeast Asia Head at Synology Inc.

The survey also showed that businesses are looking beyond public cloud infrastructure. About 74% of respondents favor on-premises or hybrid setups, compared with 9% who prioritize public cloud.

As more businesses use AI, Synology said data protection and recovery also need to be part of their AI plans.

The survey found that while 72.4% of respondents are confident they can recover from ransomware using protected backups, only 25.4% described themselves as very confident.

“As businesses expand their data infrastructure, they also need confidence that essential services can recover when disruption occurs,” said Claire Huang, Philippines Country Manager at Synology.

Synology is positioning its data management and protection tools as part of this preparation, with its 2026 portfolio covering storage, backup, recovery and AI-powered productivity.

The company’s PAS7700 active-active NVMe all-flash storage solution is designed for mission-critical workloads, while its new FS and RS series are aimed at growing data requirements. Its ActiveProtect platform provides centralized backup management and recovery across different environments.

Synology is also adding AI to its own products, including Synology Office Suite, ChatPlus and Meet, while its DVA7400 brings AI-powered video search and analytics to on-premises surveillance.

“When businesses can trust how their data is managed and protected, they are better positioned to turn AI initiatives into lasting business results,” said Huang.

The survey highlights a growing focus among Philippine businesses on AI readiness, where adopting AI tools is only one part of the process. Having reliable, accessible and protected data infrastructure is also becoming an important part of putting AI to work.