Twelve percent of Philippine firms identified as AI ‘Pacesetters’, says Cisco

About 12% of businesses in the Philippines are considered the most prepared for artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, outpacing their peers in integrating AI into operations and likely to reap more measurable value from it, according to a 2025 Cisco AI readiness Index.

They are called the “Pacesetters,” representing 13% of their global counterparts, and have shown a consistent pattern of outperforming their peers across every measure of AI value.

“They’re six times more likely to move pilots into production and 30% more likely to realize measurable value,” Zaza Soriano- Nicart, managing director of Cisco Philippines, said in a statement.

“As organizations now move toward deploying AI agents, their success depends on their readiness, discipline, and action.”

The findings of the index also show that Pacesetters in the Philippines demonstrate stronger readiness for AI adoption compared to other local firms.

About 61% of organizations have a defined AI roadmap, while 27% have a change-management plan. Only 16% prioritize AI as a top investment, and 44% have both short- and long-term funding strategies.

In terms of infrastructure, 34% are investing in new data-center capacity, while 41% expect their AI use cases to generate new revenue streams.

On security readiness, 52% are aware of AI-specific threats, 33% integrate AI into their security and identity systems, and 50% are fully equipped to control and secure AI agents, indicating that while progress has been made, the country still has significant room for growth in overall AI readiness.

The 2025 Cisco AI Readiness Index, now in its third year, is based on a double-blind survey of 8,000 senior information technology and business leaders in charge of AI strategy at organizations with more than 500 employees across 26 industries.

Fourteen of the 30 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Philippines, were covered in the survey, Ben Dawson, Cisco’s president of sales for Asia Pacific, Japan, and Greater China, said during a roundtable on Wednesday.

“The index is weighted across a number of pillars of readiness, from some of the business aspects such as strategy and governance, to the technology side involving infrastructure and data, and of course, the cultural aspects,” Mr. Dawson said.

He also added that although many firms have high ambitions to embrace AI, only 13% globally say they are fully ready for it. — Edg Adrian A. Eva