StackAdapt, the leading AI advertising and orchestration platform, has released its global AI Delegation Gap report, revealing APAC marketers are adopting AI faster than any other region. Despite this, two in three respondents say their leadership’s expectations are ahead of what their organisations are ready for.
Based on a survey of 500 marketing and advertising professionals across North America, EMEA and APAC, supplemented by insights from 187 StackAdapt customers, the report examined where marketers are handing decisions to AI and what guardrails need to be in place to ensure accountability.
The findings reveal that 92% APAC respondents are using AI in some form, with marketers becoming increasingly comfortable with AI recommending actions and preparing work for approval.
At the same time, there is still considerable apprehension around the technology—81% of APAC respondents feel at least moderate pressure to increase AI usage, and 67% say leadership expectations may be ahead of readiness.
The report highlights two barriers contributing to this mismatch, which stems from the foundations of how AI is incorporated into the business. Over 40% of respondents cited fragmented data pipelines and disconnected CRM or first-party data as major infrastructure hurdles to AI integration.
A further 50% of respondents cited ownership confusion as a key issue, with the majority of teams unsure who should be responsible for deploying and governing AI tools, making delegation difficult.
When it comes to accountability, 66% of APAC organisations see AI issues as a shared team issue. By contrast, 15% believe AI failures should be considered the responsibility of a single operator.
“Business leadership, with an eye on raising productivity, is understandably seeing AI as a major opportunity for growth and creating a competitive advantage. But for teams at the coalface, the technology is moving fast. That’s why getting the right foundations at the operation level is essential,” said Alessandra Alessio, Marketing Director APAC at StackAdapt.
“The first step is defining exactly where it is appropriate for AI to make recommendations. After this, key considerations should be where AI can prepare actions for approval, and where it can act within clearly defined rules.
“Best practice means ensuring teams have clear ownership structures and agreed approval processes. If AI recommends a budget change, for example, who reviews it? What information do they need to see? Can the decision be reversed? And who ultimately owns the outcome? These are all important considerations.
“Our advice would be to start the process of establishing ownership now, and maintain an experimental mentality, doubling down on the things that are working and dispensing with those that aren’t,” Alessio added.
about stackadapt
StackAdapt is the leading technology company that empowers marketers to reach, engage, and convert audiences with precision. With 465 billion automated optimisations per second, the AI-powered StackAdapt Marketing Platform seamlessly connects brand and performance marketing to drive measurable results across the entire customer journey. The most forward-thinking marketers choose StackAdapt to orchestrate high-impact campaigns across programmatic advertising and marketing channels. For further information, visit www.stackadapt.com.