Singapore has no shortage of AI ambition, but Synology says the data underneath is not ready for it. At its Annual Press Event 2026 in Singapore on November 4, the company shared survey findings on local priorities. Over 90 percent of respondents consider AI-ready infrastructure important to workflow efficiency and productivity.

Antoine Yang, Southeast Asia Head at Synology, said the models have matured, but the data has not kept up.

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

Yang said the data problem comes down to three hurdles that organisations face. The first is data silos, which leave AI with only fragments of the picture. Sales orders may sit in one system and the reason for a delayed shipment in an email. The systems show what happened. The email explains why. Yang suggests to consolidate data across systems and keep access controls in place, so AI only surfaces what each user is authorised to see.

The second is data gravity, which makes large and growing datasets costly to move. Pulling data from the cloud can cost four to six times more than storing it. Local rules add to this. The Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) limits where some data can go, and banks face the MAS technology risk management guidelines. Yang recommends private AI on infrastructure the business controls, with dedicated systems for steady workloads and the cloud for demand that rises and falls. Most organisations, he said, will need both.

The third is resilience. AI agents hold permissions and work fast, so a compromised account, a rogue agent or a simple mistake could change or delete data before anyone steps in. Some changes cannot be undone. Yang cited a Mandiant report that found attackers begin exploiting vulnerabilities in about seven days on average. He urged firms to build recovery into their plans from day one.

The survey shows the problem is felt locally. Data security and privacy was the most pressing concern, cited by 71.3 percent of respondents. Data quality and availability followed at 46.3 percent, and high implementation costs at 41.7 percent. Spending plans reflect this caution. About 58.7 percent prioritise hybrid or on-premises infrastructure, compared with just 9.7 percent who prioritise public cloud.

Government demand is also increasing. Asked about public sector projects during the Q&A, Yang and Oh said uptake is high, particularly on the enterprise side. They could not say which agencies Synology works with.

Recovery readiness is a weaker spot. “As businesses expand their data infrastructure, they also need confidence that essential services can recover when disruption occurs,” said Emily Oh, Singapore Country Manager at Synology. While 76 percent of respondents are confident they can recover quickly from ransomware with backup data protected, just 26.9 percent are very confident. Nearly 30 percent also have no visibility into how data submitted to third-party AI tools is handled.

Synology is focusing on three priorities. These are scalable data infrastructure, stronger cyber resilience, and productive AI adoption with greater control over business data. It launched the PAS7700, its first NVMe SSD storage solution for mission-critical workloads, alongside new FS and RS series models. Synology Tiering and data reduction in DSM 7.4 help organisations use storage more efficiently.

For cyber resilience, Synology’s ActiveProtect appliances offer dedicated backup with centralised management, immutable protection and automated isolation. ActiveProtect Manager 2.0 adds support for Nutanix AHV and Proxmox VE. The company’s new 1U DP5200 protects diverse workloads without recurring subscription fees.

On the workplace side, Synology Office Suite brings on-premises collaboration with AI assistance for revising documents, creating presentation content and finding spreadsheet formulas. ChatPlus and Meet cover messaging and online meetings. The DVA7400 surveillance appliance applies AI to detection and search. Synology also previewed upcoming scale-out storage and hybrid surveillance solutions.

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