Synology ASEAN survey highlights growing demand for AI-ready infrastructure, stronger data management and cyber resilience
Philippine businesses are increasingly looking to artificial intelligence (AI) to improve productivity and workflow efficiency, but concerns surrounding data security, privacy and infrastructure remain key considerations in expanding adoption, according to a Synology ASEAN survey.
More than 90% of Philippine respondents consider AI-ready infrastructure important to workflow efficiency and productivity, while 70% identify data security and privacy as major challenges to AI adoption.
The findings underscore a growing business priority: as organizations integrate AI into daily operations, the ability to manage, access and protect the data powering these applications is becoming increasingly important.
Synology presented the findings during its Annual Media Event 2026, where the company outlined its approach to data infrastructure, cyber resilience and AI-powered productivity amid the continued adoption of AI across businesses.
“AI creates value when it helps people do their work better and enables the business to respond more effectively to its customers,” said Antoine Yang, Southeast Asia Head at Synology. “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.”
Data Management Emerges as a Key AI Consideration
The survey identified several data-related challenges that businesses face as they expand their use of AI.
Around 47% of respondents cited data quality and availability as challenges, while 40% said their data is distributed across different environments. Nearly 40% also expressed concerns about limited visibility into how information submitted to third-party AI tools is managed.
These challenges highlight the role of data infrastructure in supporting AI initiatives. Beyond deploying AI applications, organizations must also consider how information is stored, accessed, integrated and protected across increasingly complex IT environments.
Infrastructure strategy is likewise emerging as an important consideration. Approximately 74% of respondents favor on-premises or hybrid approaches, compared with 9.9% who prioritize public cloud, reflecting continued demand for greater control over business data and IT environments.
Cyber Resilience Remains Critical
As AI adoption grows, businesses are also placing greater attention on their ability to maintain operations and recover from cyber incidents.
The survey found that 72.4% of respondents are confident in their ability to recover from ransomware using protected backups. However, only 25.4% describe themselves as very confident, pointing to room for organizations to strengthen their recovery strategies.
“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.
Building Infrastructure for the Next Stage of AI
In response to these evolving requirements, Synology is focusing on three areas: scalable data infrastructure, cyber resilience, and AI-powered productivity with greater control over business data.
The company’s 2026 portfolio includes the PAS7700, an active-active NVMe all-flash storage solution designed for mission-critical workloads, as well as new FS and RS series systems. Synology Tiering, combined with data reduction capabilities in DSM 7.4, is designed to help organizations manage increasing data volumes and infrastructure demands.
For data protection and cyber resilience, Synology’s ActiveProtect appliances provide centralized backup management, immutable data protection and automated isolation. ActiveProtect Manager 2.0 expands support to Nutanix AHV and Proxmox VE, as well as Amazon EC2, Azure VM and Google Workspace, while introducing cross-platform recovery and expanded cloud recovery capabilities.
The DP5200 adds a compact 1U option to the ActiveProtect portfolio, targeting growing organizations and remote offices that require additional data protection capabilities.
Bringing AI Into Everyday Business Operations
Synology is also incorporating AI capabilities into workplace applications, including Synology Office Suite, ChatPlus and Meet, with the goal of integrating AI into everyday collaboration and productivity workflows.
For surveillance environments, the DVA7400 provides AI-powered video search and analytics for on-premises deployments. The company also previewed upcoming scale-out storage and hybrid surveillance solutions aimed at enterprise environments.
As Philippine organizations continue exploring AI, the survey findings suggest that productivity gains will increasingly depend on the underlying infrastructure supporting these initiatives.
“When businesses can trust how their data is managed and protected, they are better positioned to turn AI initiatives into lasting business results,” Huang added
