Singapore's cyber frameworks and practices will become global gold standards, cyber-security leaders will scramble for talent, and chief information officers (CIOs) will find new love in agentic systems. The Straits Times takes a look at five interesting technology trends for Singapore enterprises in 2025.
1. CIOs Turn Their Attention to Agentic Systems
Autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) agents will start appearing in workflows, surpassing their predecessors, generative AI and chatbots.
These systems will operate without constant human prompting, collaborating with other agents to complete tasks while learning and making real-time decisions.
At its recent 2025 tech trends forecast session, consultancy firm Forrester's senior research director, Mr Fred Giron, provided an example: "They are building AI agents that can get onto calls and have interactions with humans who haven't paid their credit card bills, and try and convince them to pay up. Completely different ball game.
"This is probably the 1 per cent of the most difficult use cases out there, but these kinds of use cases are coming."
Tech firms such as Microsoft, Google, Salesforce and SAP have upgraded their software with these agents to help clients address talent shortages, boost productivity and enhance sales and customer services.
However, only the earliest adopters might reap value in 2025, noted tech policy consultant Bensen Koh. Most companies will likely still be laying the groundwork. This might include a data collection and management system that interfaces well with the new AI solutions, and a strategy to integrate agentic AI, Mr Koh said.
Firms will also need oversight mechanisms to deploy these independent bot agents responsibly, and to explain changes in management plans to employees and stakeholders, he added.
2. Wanted: More Cyber-Security Experts
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