ANZ companies accelerate AI agent deployment for 2025 market edge

Australian and New Zealand organizations are rapidly scaling investments in AI agents, with 97% of ANZ IT leaders planning expanded use within the next year, according to Cloudera's global survey of 1,500 enterprise decision-makers. The findings underscore a strategic shift toward agentic AI as businesses seek operational advantages.

Key Findings:

• 91% of ANZ respondents consider AI agent adoption vital for market competitiveness
• 89% credit prior generative AI investments with preparing them for this transition
• Top global use cases:
  • Performance optimization bots (66%)
  • Security monitoring agents (63%)
  • Development assistants (62%)

Sector-Specific Applications:

• Finance: Fraud detection (41%), risk assessment (59%)
• Healthcare: Diagnostic assistance (52%), appointment scheduling (48%)
• Manufacturing: Quality control (48%), process automation (39%)

Challenges Identified:

• AI bias concerns (69% in ANZ)
• Data privacy issues (54% locally, 53% globally)
• Integration with legacy systems (40% globally)

"AI Agents transform operations by enabling faster, data-driven decisions," noted Keir Garrett, Cloudera's ANZ VP, while emphasizing the need for "guardrails" around implementation. The company advocates for trusted data foundations to support AI deployments.

Implementation Trends:

• 66% build agents on enterprise AI platforms
• 60% leverage agentic capabilities within core applications
• 57% of global enterprises adopted AI agents in past two years

Cloudera's Chief Strategy Officer Abhas Ricky highlighted "real automation and business results" from production-scale deployments, predicting agentic AI will take center stage in 2025. Gartner has recognized the technology as a key trend for augmenting human productivity.

The report signals accelerated AI maturity in ANZ markets, with organizations progressing from experimental use cases to operational integration across critical business functions.