Investing in AI pays off in less than 2 years: S’pore business execs

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming software innovation from a technical activity into a powerful engine for growth, with Singapore business executives saying that investment in the technology pays for itself in less than two years.

- Lee Li Ying Correspondent

These insights are among the key findings from a survey called the Economics of Software Innovation. The report was commissioned by software company GitLab and released on Sept 18.

Conducted from April 25 to May 19, the survey polled 2,786 executives at the C-suite level with some decision-making authority over software at their companies. The executives were from eight different markets, including Australia, Japan and the US.

Insights were also gathered from 252 executives in Singapore, representing industries such as financial services, manufacturing and the public sector.

In Singapore-specific insights, the report found that investment in AI software innovation could unlock more than $6 billion in economic value.

In the survey, software innovation was defined as creating new or significantly enhancing existing software to introduce novel capabilities, improve efficiency or solve problems in new ways.

Business leaders here estimated that 710 hours, or 89 business days, have been saved over the past year as a result of investing in AI software innovation.

Using these time savings, the report estimated that companies could save costs of about $31,000 per developer. When this figure was multiplied by the nation’s 200,000 software developers, the $6 billion economic value was derived.