Microsoft shares IDC findings: 68% of Singapore firms report major AI gains

AI adoption is translating into substantial business gains for many Singapore organisations, according to IDC findings Microsoft presented on October 12, 2026. In the Microsoft-commissioned research, 68% reported significant or transformative outcomes, while 41% said AI was growing revenue or creating new revenue streams. The figures describe businesses’ reported results, rather than simply counting access to AI tools.

Microsoft shared the local findings at a Singapore event attended by more than 2,500 business and technology leaders. The research combines an assessment of how organisations use and manage AI with questions about the business outcomes they say it delivers. Its leading category, “Frontier Firms,” describes organisations with robust AI strategies and higher levels of maturity.

Maturity means more than using a chatbot

IDC’s maturity scale looks at spending discipline, the breadth of AI use, employee skills and confidence in addressing AI risks. It also considers outcomes and adoption of agentic AI—systems that can reason, plan and act with human guidance. Microsoft says the research associates greater maturity with higher levels of trust and governance.

The Singapore findings put 17% of organisations in the Frontier category, against 10% globally. The broader maturity comparison is closer: 73% of Singapore organisations reached the middle or highest levels, compared with 70% worldwide. Those are separate measures: the first isolates the leading group, while the second includes organisations further along the adoption path but outside that top category.

68%Significant or transformative outcomes

Singapore businesses reported AI outcomes they described as significant or transformative and not previously possible.

41%Revenue growth or new revenue streams

Singapore businesses said AI was growing revenue or creating new revenue streams.

From isolated uses to everyday operations

Alongside the findings, IDC identified four priorities for organisations seeking to advance. The recommendations address both how AI becomes part of work and how organisations oversee it. They pair wider deployment with trust, visibility into operations and measurement of value, rather than treating expansion of AI use as the only objective.

• Build for intelligence: embed AI in workflows, decisions and business operations.
• Operationalise trust and observability: make safeguards and visibility into AI operations part of everyday use.
• Advance agentic workflows: move toward systems that can plan and act with human guidance.
• Measure and optimise value: assess business outcomes as AI use spreads across the organisation.

CPF Board supplied an example from public services at the same Microsoft AI Tour. The agency, which administers Singapore’s social security system for retirement, housing and healthcare, described bringing AI into employees’ everyday work. Microsoft’s account says the aim is to help staff work smarter and focus on higher-priority tasks—a different kind of value from generating new revenue.

Two sample sizes need explanation

Microsoft’s research summary says IDC surveyed 200 respondents. Its footnote, however, cites a July 2026 survey with 5,204 respondents in an October 2026 IDC document. The summary does not explain the relationship between those sample sizes. That leaves a material question about the scope of the local results and their global comparison; the numbers should not be read as interchangeable.