One in five employees in ASEAN lose a full work day each week switching between disconnected AI tools and systems.
SINGAPORE, August 12, 2026 - Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY), the enterprise AI platform for HR, finance, and IT today released new research showing that disconnected AI tools and enterprise systems are creating unnecessary friction for employees in ASEAN, limiting the productivity gains organisations hope to achieve from AI.
The report, “The Copy/Paste Economy: Why Task-Oriented AI Is Failing the Enterprise”, found that while many employees say AI helps them complete individual tasks faster, those gains are often offset by the time spent switching between systems, checking outputs and moving information across tools by hand. Around one in five ASEAN employees lose over seven hours a week moving information and reconciling data.
Employees are engaged, but buried in manual integration
Despite being heavily bogged down by manual integration and fragmented tools, nearly nine in 10 remain highly engaged and report a strong sense of progress, ownership, and connection to organisational goals.
- 86% of employees say AI has improved their day-to-day work experience
- 66% spend at least half their time translating and coordinating between systems and teams
- Only 30% of organisations have embedded AI into the core of their business
"The real friction is structural – unclear guidance, inconsistent outputs, and tools that don't integrate where work actually happens," said Jess O’Reilly, General Manager, ASEAN, Workday. "Organisations need to move beyond task-based AI use cases to an operating model where AI is integrated within the flow of work for greatest effectiveness."
The data points to a workforce that is engaged but also overburdened by the very technology intended to help them. While workers across the region remain optimistic about AI and believe it helps them complete individual tasks more quickly, 4 in 5 employees still say navigating processes and systems is a source of stress.
Administrative Friction Continues to Hold Employees Back
The research highlights several key challenges facing ASEAN’s workforce:
- Information silos: More than eight in 10 employees spend significant time moving information between systems.
- Disconnected workflows: 84% spend significant time coordinating work across teams or business systems.
- Conflicting data: 82% regularly spend significant time reconciling inconsistent information across multiple systems.
- Administrative burden: 76% say they spend time on administrative or bureaucratic tasks creating significant day-to-day friction.
- Stalled decision-making: Three-quarters of ASEAN employees say decisions are delayed when information is missing or unclear, and many teams (72%) often disagree over whose numbers are right.
Moving Away from the Copy/Paste Economy
Organisations in ASEAN markets can unlock greater value from AI by prioritising integration over standalone AI applications. When AI is embedded directly into core business platforms rather than layered onto fragmented technology stacks, employees spend less time manually moving information and more time on work that drives business impact.
For additional information
Download the full report: “The Copy/Paste Economy: Why Task-Oriented AI Is Failing the Enterprise”.
About the Report
The research was conducted online globally by The Harris Poll on behalf of Workday among 6,100 global professionals (including 50 in Indonesia, 100 in Malaysia, 100 in Singapore and 50 in Thailand) across HR, finance, IT and operations – all actively using AI at organizations with 500+ employees. The survey was conducted March 2-24, 2026.
About Workday
Workday operates at the heart of the enterprise – HR, finance, and IT – where the margin for error is effectively zero. By tightly coupling AI with the context, guardrails, and trusted processes that run the business, Workday goes beyond AI that assists work to agents that do the work and drive measurable outcomes. More than 11,500 organizations worldwide, including more than 65% of the Fortune 500, trust Workday to deliver. For more information about Workday, visit workday.com.