Australian businesses are moving beyond AI pilots towards enterprise-wide deployment, with industry-specific intelligence, governance and measurable business value emerging as the next priorities. New research from Infor finds that 42% of Australian enterprises have reached full-scale AI deployment, while 85% are confident they can implement AI without disrupting daily operations.
The findings challenge the perception that regulation and operational complexity are slowing Australia’s AI adoption. The country also leads all markets surveyed in AI cost clarity, with 91% of respondents saying they understand the true cost of AI adoption. Australian enterprises report average efficiency gains of 34%, marginally above the global average of 33%, while 68% plan to increase AI investment over the next 12 months.
Another indicator of growing maturity is the relatively low need for manual intervention. Just 44% of AI output requires manual expert review in Australia, the lowest proportion among the Asia-Pacific markets surveyed and 16 percentage points below Singapore. On governance, only 6% of Australian businesses report having no owner for AI governance, risk and compliance, compared with 10% globally.
“Australia has reached the point where simply deploying more AI is no longer enough. The competitive advantage will come from applying AI to the processes that matter most, with the industry context to make the right decisions and the governance to give agents greater responsibility with confidence,” said Aidan Brecknell, Vice President and Managing Director, Pacific Region, Infor.
However, scaling AI does not automatically translate into better business outcomes. Seventy per cent of Australian enterprises say off-the-shelf AI tools do not adequately address their industry’s specific needs. The challenge is particularly evident in operationally complex sectors, where specialised workflows, industry data and regulatory requirements can limit the effectiveness of generic AI models.
In response, Infor has unveiled its Infor Industry AI architecture and the next evolution of its Velocity Suite. The platform combines industry-specific AI agents, enterprise connectivity, adaptive user experiences and embedded governance. Its architecture is designed to help AI agents operate with deeper business context while maintaining oversight, auditability and human-approval mechanisms.
Infor says its approach allows organisations to coordinate AI agents across enterprise processes rather than deploy isolated tools. The architecture also aims to connect with existing applications and orchestration platforms, reducing the need for businesses to replace their current technology environments.
The research draws on a YouGov survey conducted in August 2026 involving 2,111 business decision-makers across seven markets, including 263 respondents in Australia.
For Australian enterprises, the next phase of AI adoption will increasingly be measured by operational impact rather than the number of models or agents deployed. Converting current momentum into sustained productivity gains will require organisations to identify high-value processes, build industry-specific context into AI systems and ensure governance keeps pace with growing autonomy.