Innovation isn’t a nice-to-have anymore. It’s the price of staying relevant.
Across industries, organisations are evolving fast. The World Economic Forum reports that more than 85% of businesses now see frontier technologies as the main driver of transformation. A 2024 survey by McKinsey & Company found that nearly two-thirds of organisations had adopted cloud and edge technologies, while more than half reported using artificial intelligence (AI) —clear evidence that these technologies are moving from ambition to action. Meanwhile, a 2025 report by Boston Consulting Group notes that Asia-Pacific has become one of the fastest-advancing regions in generative-AI adoption, with organisations moving quickly from experimentation to deployment.
The message is clear: digital transformation isn’t optional. But getting there is harder. The pace of change has outstripped most playbooks, leaving teams caught between ambition and uncertainty – even as innovation promises sharper efficiency, lower costs, and stronger customer reach.
In F&B, Whale helped Amanaia, a fast-growing Indonesian restaurant group, move beyond gut feel. Scaling across outlets meant instinct could only take them so far. They needed data to understand who was walking through the door and what kept them coming back. In advanced manufacturing, hydrogen fuel-cell innovator Sydrogen turned to Innowave to apply AI in a market with few proven partners. And in Singapore’s digital infrastructure sector, where reliability leaves no room for error, Iron Mountain worked with Red Dot Analytics (RDA) to optimise energy use through its DCVerse platform.) to optimise energy use through its DCVerse platform.
Different sectors, same pattern: the right partnerships make innovation less of a leap and more of a step forward.
Why So Many Organisations Still Struggle to Start
For many organisations, the hardest part of innovation isn’t cost or complexity. It’s clarity. Everyone agrees that AI has potential, but too few know what to do with it.
The market is noisy, full of possibilities that sound transformative but feel distant. Without proven, sector-specific examples, even bold teams hesitate. Pilots stall, ROI stays hypothetical, and innovation ends up as a slide deck instead of a strategy.
A recent IBM Global AI Adoption Index found that 42% of enterprises have stalled or delayed AI projects due to integration complexity and unclear ROI frameworks, underscoring that hesitation isn’t about interest, but translation.
In Indonesia, the restaurant group Amanaia found itself in that space between curiosity and confidence. Working with Whale, they built demographic insights that turned intuition into evidence. “Amanaia wanted to understand whether guests came alone, with family, or in groups,” said Whale — insights that sharpened both offers and operations.
Sydrogen, meanwhile, had to start from a blank slate. Their collaboration with Innowave began almost by chance but quickly turned into a study in co-development. “We were figuring out how AI could pair with Sydrogen’s domain knowledge,” Innowave recalled. “It allowed us to combine their materials expertise with our semiconductor-grade AI.”
And in Singapore’s digital infrastructure ecosystem, where uptime and compliance define the margins of risk, Red Dot Analytics (RDA) faced a similar question of proof. The company’s DCVerse platform was designed to help data centres optimise energy use while maintaining stability. “The data centre industry requires energy optimisation, carbon footprint reduction and operational efficiency,” RDA said. “In response, Iron Mountain chose DCVerse to optimise chiller units and data halls.”
McKinsey projects that by 2030, global data-centre power demand will triple, driven by AI and compute-intensive workloads. Google’s DeepMind AI famously cut data-centre cooling energy by up to 40 % in live environments back in 2016, proving that intelligent systems can achieve both savings and a sustainable digital economy.
Different sectors. Same hesitation. Whether you’re managing restaurants or global infrastructure, the challenge is rarely ambition. It’s translation.
That’s where IMDA’s ecosystem plays its quiet but crucial role. Platforms like the Tech Acceleration Lab (TAL) help businesses move from concept to clarity, giving them a place to test ideas safely and build confidence before scaling.
When Reliability Becomes the Deciding Factor
Even when organisations are ready to adopt new technology, one question often halts progress: can we trust it? Enterprises want vendors that are reliable, secure, and explainable — and confidence their procurement teams can defend those choices.
According to Accenture’s 2024 Buyer Experience in Industrial B2B report, nearly 7 in 10 B2B enterprises say they would pay more for a supplier that demonstrates greater trustworthiness and reliability. In today’s market, capability isn’t enough. Vendors must prove consistency, credibility, and staying power.
Whale saw that hesitation early in its partnership with Amanaia. “As a government-backed signal of compliance and capability, the IMDA Accreditation Programme reduced friction in our early conversations,” said Whale. The credential reassured Amanaia’s leadership and helped the project move faster from trial to rollout.
Sydrogen faced a similar hurdle in a young market with few proven vendors. “Trust was established early by sharing data and samples; Innowave’s responsiveness gave confidence this could be a long-term partnership,” Sydrogen explained. The IMDA Accreditation Programme reinforced that confidence: “Third-party accreditations are definitely useful. Our procurement teams aren’t used to AI; this layer helped highlight strong foundations and push the project through.”
In the digital infrastructure sector, reliability is non-negotiable. “DCVerse uses a special framework called the Dual-Loop Control Framework to make sure that AI can be used reliably in important data centres,” explained Red Dot Analytics (RDA). The system connects a live data centre with its virtual twin, allowing AI decisions to be tested safely before execution – a safety-first approach similar to DeepMind’s autonomous cooling trials which uses virtual feedback loops to validate decisions before live action.
Across these industries, the pattern repeats. Enterprises aren’t resisting innovation. They’re protecting trust. Trust, however, isn’t one-dimensional. Reliability is one part of it; the other is fit.
Finding the Right Fit
When every company claims to have an “AI-driven” solution, the challenge for buyers isn’t abundance – it’s discernment. The market is crowded, and sorting credible innovators from generalists drains time, energy and trust. Global vendors often overlook cultural context and business nuance. In Singapore and across ASEAN, SMEs cite cultural and contextual alignment as a key barrier to successful digital adoption. According to a 2024 survey by the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), many local firms continue to face high costs, limited skilled staff, and capability gaps as the biggest hurdles to adopting digital technologies.
In advanced manufacturing, Sydrogen found that the right partner doesn’t just speak the same language; they think in the same logic. When comparing vendors, generic vision systems couldn’t meet the specific needs of hydrogen-cell production. Innowave’s materials expertise bridged that gap. “That gave us a common language — microscopy, pattern recognition — and made the partnership viable,” said Sydrogen.
In Singapore’s digital infrastructure sector, Red Dot Analytics (RDA) saw first-hand how industry-specific networks help credible innovators stand out. “Yes, IMDA and SGTech strongly support RDA to organise a data centre industrial-level symposium,” said the company. “The participants are data centre owners and industry thought leaders. There will be an upcoming symposium this year focusing on this fast-evolving industry and the topic will be around AIDC.” These gatherings are more than discussion platforms. They connect innovators with enterprise buyers, turning visibility into trust.
Amid the noise of competing claims, the IMDA Accreditation Programme offers a signal buyers can rely on. Its directory and demand platforms surface vetted, domain-relevant providers, giving organisations the confidence that they are choosing from a curated pool of best-in-class innovators, not just the loudest voices in the room.
When the Process Slows the Progress
Even when the right solution has been chosen, momentum can falter in the handover from decision to deployment. Procurement cycles stretch for months, weighed down by compliance and approvals. By the time implementation starts, enthusiasm has cooled – not from hesitation, but from process.
Enterprises need guardrails, but those same safeguards can make it difficult to move quickly. The result is familiar: drawn-out pilots, delayed returns, and projects that lose steam before impact is proven.
Globally, the average enterprise AI pilot now takes between 7 to 18 months to move from testing to production, according to Deloitte’s 2024 State of AI report—proof that the challenge isn’t enthusiasm but execution speed.
Whale helped Amanaia avoid that fate by keeping implementation simple. Based in Indonesia, the team installed lightweight AI hubs to connect with existing CCTV, enabling real-time insights without major systems overhaul. “A key success factor was Amanaia’s willingness to integrate insights into daily operations,” said Whale. The approach worked because it focused on adaptation, not disruption.
For manufacturers like Sydrogen and Innowave, speed and precision had to coexist. “We ran several PoCs to meet both AI accuracy and strict cycle-time requirements — iterating until we hit 99% inspection accuracy at line speed,” said Innowave. For Sydrogen, this modular approach was key: “We needed a middle ground — move beyond manual eyes now, without massive upfront CapEx, and scale later.”
For Singapore’s data centre operators, Red Dot Analytics (RDA) found that accreditation can smooth not only trust but also timelines. “Having Accreditation allowed us to meet key vendor qualification criteria, fast-track procurement approvals, and remove common administrative hurdles that startups often face,” the company explained. “The IMDA Accreditation Programme, together with TAL support, also helped accelerate pilot projects by reinforcing confidence in our technology stack and operational readiness through a visible demo on cloud.”
Across industries, the lesson is the same: innovation doesn’t have to start with transformation. Stepwise pilot projects, often backed by IMDA’s Tech Acceleration Lab, let enterprise buyers test ideas in the real world and scale in phases – avoiding costly overhauls and white elephant investments.
The IMDA Accreditation Difference
Digital transformation is rarely straightforward. But with IMDA Accreditation and its ecosystem of support platforms, the process becomes faster, safer, and far more achievable.
Accreditation isn’t a badge. It’s a bridge, giving enterprises access to a curated pool of high-potential startups, assurance through rigorous technical and business due diligence, and acceleration through initiatives like the Tech Acceleration Lab (TAL) and Green Lane, which help shorten proof-of-concept and procurement cycles.
It acts as a credibility signal within Singapore’s ecosystem, helping enterprises and public agencies identify dependable partners and scale faster through initiatives like TAL and Green Lane.
For Whale, early conversations with enterprises centred on data protection and localisation concerns. “Being IMDA-accredited, with due diligence already completed, helped us resolve these swiftly and move ahead with proof of concept.”
In advanced manufacturing, Sydrogen saw first-hand how third-party accreditation accelerates trust. “Our procurement teams aren’t used to AI; this layer helped highlight strong foundations and push the project through.”
RDA’s experience brings this impact full circle — showing how accreditation fuels both confidence and sustainability in Singapore’s digital infrastructure ecosystem. “It played a vital role in our digital adoption, as well as the Tech Acceleration Lab support.”
Businesses using the Tech Acceleration Lab have reported up to 4.5 times faster pilot project development, often completing pilots in just one to two months. Since launch, the lab has supported over 100 startups and 130 projects, while Green Lane has significantly shortened public-sector procurement.
The impact also extends to sustainability. The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that global data centre electricity consumption could more than double by 2030, driven by AI workloads and cloud computing demand — making innovations like RDA’s AI-driven data-centre optimisation platform especially critical. In one 5MW data centre case, RDA’s AI-driven policies optimised cooling and delivered measurable results: S$450,000 in cost reductions,1380 MWh energy reduction, and 550 tonnes of avoided carbon emissions. For Iron Mountain, this means 200,000 kWh/month of average energy usage savings.
By pairing assurance with measurable outcomes, the IMDA Accreditation Programme helps organisations adopt innovation confidently — whether they are scaling restaurant operations in Indonesia or pioneering hydrogen technologies for global markets.
Embrace Innovation with Confidence
Digital transformation has moved from option to obligation. The risk of waiting now outweighs the risk of trying. Yet for most organisations, the path forward still feels complex – marked by awareness gaps, digital trust concerns, and slow procurement cycles. That’s exactly where the IMDA Accreditation Programme makes the difference.
Across sectors, accredited public-private partnerships are proving what’s possible – from data-led decision making in F&B to trusted AI solutions in precision manufacturing and sustainable data-centre operations. The results: faster pilots, measurable impact, and greater confidence to scale.
The lesson is clear. The rewards of innovation — efficiency, growth, competitiveness — far outweigh the risks when enterprise buyers treat vendors as co-innovators and use the IMDA Accreditation Programme to validate, scale, and move faster. It connects enterprises with accredited startups, giving innovation a faster, safer runway to scale. Visit IMDA Accreditation to learn more.
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