Pronto Software and the future of AI-driven ERP: Insights from IBM Think Singapore & APAC Analyst Insight 2025

September marked an important milestone for Pronto Software’s AI journey. Over two days in Singapore, IBM’s Think event revealed the technological possibilities AI is unlocking, while the APAC Analyst Insight 2025 highlighted the cultural, risk, and governance shifts businesses must embrace to realise that potential.

For us at Pronto Software, these sessions confirmed what we’ve already seen with our customers: AI isn’t a luxury, it’s a catalyst. It is the opportunity to turn untapped enterprise data into insight, to reshape processes with intelligent automation, and to build resilience in the face of new risks.

In this blog, we’ll share the most relevant insights from these events and explain how Pronto Software is applying them. The central question is no longer “why AI?” but “how can we deliver secure, practical, and trusted AI value to Australian businesses?”

Unlocking value in untapped data

At Think Singapore, IBM noted that 99% of enterprise data remains untouched by AI. For Pronto Software, this validates the path we are taking with Pronto Xi and our AI initiatives.

ERP systems like Pronto Xi capture rich data every day, from sales logs and inventory transactions to service notes, compliance records, and emails. Much of this is so-called dark data: collected during business operations but rarely used for decision-making.

Our goal is to help customers unlock this hidden potential. By embedding AI into Pronto Xi, we are turning dark data into actionable insights, enabling predictive analytics for demand forecasting, surfacing anomalies before they impact operations, and providing practical AI assistants that simplify complex workflows.

This isn’t about “AI for AI’s sake”, it’s about making every byte of data work harder for our customers.

Moving beyond experimentation to ROI

The APAC Analyst Insight 2025 event reinforced that organisations in the region are moving past experimentation and expect AI to deliver real outcomes. According to IBM’s APAC AI Outlook, over half of companies expect measurable results within 2–5 years.

Pronto Software’s focus aligns with this shift. We are not experimenting in isolation; we are embedding AI directly into customer-facing ERP solutions where the ROI is tangible:

• Intelligent scheduling to optimise resources in manufacturing and field service
• Predictive dashboards that highlight potential supply chain bottlenecks
• Natural language queries in analytics, so business leaders can ask questions and get instant answers

By integrating AI into the everyday user experience of Pronto Xi, we help customers see immediate gains, not just long-term possibilities.

Balancing risk with cultural change

A recurring theme at the analyst sessions was that risk appetite is evolving. Companies are becoming more open to innovation, but there is also recognition that security and governance must remain central.

At Pronto Software, we see AI adoption as a cultural journey as much as a technological one. Our customers often ask: How can we embrace AI without exposing ourselves to unnecessary risk?

We address this by:

• Designing AI capabilities that are explainable and auditable
• Ensuring human oversight is part of every AI-assisted workflow
• Building compliance into the design of AI features, not as an afterthought

By doing this, we help businesses innovate confidently, embracing change without compromising trust.

Closing the AI trust gap

IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach report highlighted how unprepared many organisations are: 97% lacked AI access controls, and 13% had already experienced breaches of AI models. This reinforces what we’ve prioritised at Pronto Software: security first.

Our approach to AI in Pronto Xi is built on:

• Role-based access and privilege management for AI features
• Comprehensive audit logs for transparency
• Monitoring and controls that prevent misuse of sensitive data

As AI capabilities expand, we are embedding these protections into our core product, so customers don’t need to manage the complexity themselves. For Pronto, trust and security are non-negotiable.

Adaptive governance for a new era

The rise of agentic AI and autonomous workflows introduces new governance challenges. TechRadar and IDC both stress that governance must become adaptive, bringing together cross-functional teams that include developers, security experts, compliance leaders, and business users.

At Pronto Software, we are building governance into our AI roadmap by:

• Testing and auditing AI features continuously in our development cycle.
• Collaborating with partners like IBM to align with global best practice.
• Ensuring Australian data sovereignty and compliance remain central for local customers.

This adaptive approach allows us to move quickly while keeping customers safe.

Our AI roadmap: practical steps for customers

Drawing on the insights from Singapore, Pronto Software’s AI strategy for customers is clear:

1. Data readiness – helping customers prepare structured and unstructured data for AI through Pronto Xi’s hybrid deployment and integration options
2. Customer-centric use cases – embedding AI where it adds immediate value, such as payroll compliance, demand forecasting, and anomaly detection in financials
3. Governance built in – every AI feature in Pronto Xi includes explainability, auditability, and compliance guardrails
4. Security by design – treating AI models as critical infrastructure, with the same level of protection as financial and HR data
5. Cultural enablement – providing education, guidance, and in-application support so staff can adopt AI confidently
6. Partnership leverage – building on IBM’s watsonx and hybrid cloud capabilities, while tailoring solutions for Australian and APAC businesses

The events in Singapore confirmed that AI is here to stay and that the ERP industry must move quickly to embed it responsibly. For Pronto Software, this isn’t a theoretical discussion. We are actively building secure, practical, and customer-focused AI into Pronto Xi so Australian businesses can benefit today.

The question is no longer why AI, but how to turn it into real value for your business. At Pronto Software, that means delivering trusted AI solutions that help you make smarter decisions, unlock hidden data, and innovate with confidence.