Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming the operating layer of the digital economy. Businesses are using AI to automate customer support, improve marketing outreach, and analyse large volumes of data in real time. According to McKinsey, 88 per cent of organisations now use AI in at least one business function, a significant increase from just a few years ago.

Customer engagement is one of the areas changing the fastest. Gartner predicts that conversational AI agents could automate up to 70 per cent of customer interactions by 2027, fundamentally reshaping how companies interact with customers.

Across Asia, this shift is already underway. In Singapore, companies are increasingly using AI across marketing analytics, sales automation, and customer engagement as they look to manage growing volumes of digital interactions. However, as AI becomes embedded in everyday business operations, an important question is emerging. Who actually gets to participate in this AI-powered economy?

The answer will depend not only on access to data or talent, but also on something far less visible. It will depend on the infrastructure that allows businesses to deploy AI systems reliably at scale.

If access to that infrastructure remains limited to large technology companies, the AI revolution could reinforce existing inequalities in the digital economy. But if the tools to deploy AI become easier to access, a much broader range of organisations will be able to build and benefit from AI-powered services.

The infrastructure gap in AI adoption

Much of the global conversation around AI focuses on breakthroughs in large language models. However, turning those models into real-world applications requires far more than simply connecting to an API.

Real-time AI systems often require multiple technologies working together simultaneously. These include speech recognition, natural language processing, text-to-speech synthesis, and networking infrastructure capable of delivering responses instantly.

For many organisations, especially smaller companies and startups, integrating these systems presents a major technical challenge. A Gartner survey found that 85 per cent of customer service leaders plan to explore or pilot conversational AI, yet many organisations still struggle to move from experimentation to full deployment.

One reason is that real-time interactions place strict demands on infrastructure. Even small delays can make AI conversations feel unnatural. Systems must process speech, interpret intent, generate responses, and deliver audio output within milliseconds.

Technology platforms are beginning to address this complexity by combining these components into integrated systems. For example, communications technology provider Agora recently introduced a conversational AI agent solution that integrates speech recognition, large language models, and text-to-speech technologies within a single orchestration layer designed for real-time conversations. 

The platform also relies on a globally distributed real-time network designed to maintain low latency and stable communication across different network conditions. Infrastructure like this aims to remove some of the production challenges that have historically limited voice AI deployment.

Other companies, such as Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services, provide APIs and cloud services that allow developers to embed messaging, voice communication, and AI capabilities into applications without building the entire infrastructure stack themselves. By simplifying these technical requirements, such platforms may help more organisations experiment with and deploy conversational AI.

Also Read: Your biggest competitor might be the AI answer itself

Voice AI and the next interface of digital services

Voice-based AI agents are emerging as one of the most transformative applications of artificial intelligence.

Customer service, sales outreach, and digital support channels are increasingly powered by conversational interfaces that allow users to interact naturally with businesses. Instead of navigating complex menus or typing long messages, users can speak directly with AI systems capable of understanding requests and responding in real time.

This shift is already visible across multiple industries.

Banks are already deploying AI-driven systems to manage financial services and transactions. In Singapore, DBS Bank recently partnered with Visa to pilot Visa Intelligent Commerce, a platform designed to enable secure, agent-initiated payments where AI agents can make purchases or transactions on behalf of consumers with consent and authentication safeguards.

Singapore Airlines recently partnered with Salesforce to introduce AI agents that assist customer service teams by summarising customer interactions and recommending responses in real time, helping staff respond more efficiently during booking inquiries or travel disruptions. E-commerce companies are also exploring conversational and voice-based interfaces to support product discovery, customer support, and post-purchase assistance.

Voice interfaces also offer important accessibility benefits. Speaking is often more intuitive than navigating complex applications, particularly for users who are less comfortable with digital interfaces. However, building voice-based AI systems that feel natural requires extremely reliable infrastructure. Conversations must occur instantly without noticeable delays. Systems must maintain accuracy even in noisy environments or unstable network conditions.

These technical requirements have historically limited large-scale deployment. Platforms that provide real-time communication networks and integrated AI orchestration are attempting to change that by making voice AI easier to deploy across industries.

The future of work in an AI-driven economy

The growth of conversational AI also raises important questions about the future of work.

AI systems are increasingly capable of handling routine customer interactions such as appointment reminders, billing inquiries, and product information requests. Automating these tasks can help organisations manage growing service volumes while improving response times.

However, automation does not necessarily mean replacing human workers.

Also Read: What is zero-click AI visibility? Impact on digital strategy & conversions

Research has shown that AI assistance can significantly improve productivity for employees, particularly when AI helps workers resolve issues more quickly or provides real-time guidance. In customer service environments, AI agents can handle repetitive inquiries while human agents focus on complex issues that require empathy, judgment, or negotiation.

In sales environments, AI tools can assist with lead qualification and outreach while sales teams focus on building relationships and closing deals. Ensuring that workers benefit from this transition through training and new opportunities will be essential to building a more inclusive digital economy.

Equity requires accessible infrastructure

As artificial intelligence becomes embedded in nearly every digital experience, conversations about equity in the digital economy must extend beyond funding and talent.

Infrastructure plays a critical role.

Who has access to the platforms that make AI usable in real-world applications?

Who can deploy AI-powered services quickly and affordably?

And who is excluded when the barriers to adoption remain too high?

The next phase of digital innovation will not be defined only by breakthroughs in AI models. It will also be shaped by the infrastructure that allows businesses of all sizes to turn those models into real products and services.

If these tools remain accessible, the AI era could unlock opportunities across industries and markets. But if access to AI deployment infrastructure becomes concentrated among a few dominant players, the gap between digital leaders and everyone else may continue to widen.

Building equity into the digital economy ultimately means ensuring that the power of AI is not reserved for a select few but is available to the many organisations and innovators shaping the future of technology.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. You can also share your perspective by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of e27.

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At Echelon Philippines 2025, a panel moderated by Twwo Jaruthassanakul of Seedstars explored the evolution of the country’s venture ecosystem.

Speakers Joan Yao of Kickstart Ventures, Joseph de Leon of Manila Angel Investors Network, and Paulo Campos III of Kaya Founders reflected on how the once-fragmented startup landscape has matured into a more cohesive and dynamic ecosystem. Growth has been fueled by diverse talent, including the “sea turtle” phenomenon—Filipinos returning home after studying or building companies abroad.

Despite the regional funding winter, the Philippines has maintained steady investment activity, supported by a vibrant and increasingly organized community of angel investors helping nurture early-stage startups.

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FinAI has become the essential backbone to enable secure agentic commerce at scale as AI drives change across every part of the economy, said Jiang-Ming Yang, Chief Innovation Officer of Ant International.

Global shifts in commerce and payments

• The speed of consumer AI adoption has outpaced almost any other technology in history, with analysts forecasting AI-facilitated spend to reach nearly US$8 trillion by 2030 — nearly a quarter of all online sales.
• Consumers are embracing new payment methods. Digital wallets and other alternative payment methods (APMs) as well as open banking continue to grow in popularity, especially in emerging markets. Juniper Research expects the number of digital wallet users to grow to over 6 billion by 2030, covering over three quarters of the global population.
• Emerging markets are driving global growth, but merchants there face increasing foreign exchange volatility and high barriers to doing business on international e-commerce platforms.

Also read: Why WorldFirst’s latest move could change how digital platforms scale worldwide

FinAI paving the last mile for next-gen commerce

FinAI will be key in helping merchants navigate global payments systems and adapt to AI-driven commerce, Yang said. Payment firms will become one-stop FinAIaaS partners enabling businesses to engage customers more efficiently, immersively and securely.

According to Yang, Ant International provides five types of critical FinAI capabilities:

• One seamless checkout for cross-channel payments (card, digital wallets, and open banking),
• One agent partner to resolve global payment complexity,
• Customisable solutions for agentic payments and commerce,
• Embedded payments for extra value-added, and
• AI-powered payment security foundation.

Agentic fintech to businesses of all sizes

With AI, technology and operating know-how can be distilled into a single agent, enabling businesses to conduct end-to-end operations from onboarding to optimising payment success rates through one partner. Solutions such as Antom Copilot, which can reduce merchant payment integration time by up to 90% and improve dispute-handling efficiency by 46%, vastly expand access to growth opportunities.

“In the past, only large enterprises had the luxury of hiring large teams to handle the complexities of dealing with global expansion and different payment methods,” said Yang. “Now, AI can change the way we operate by giving businesses access to a single agent partner that is available 24/7.”

Ant International is already working with major players to support agentic commerce growth, collaborating with Google on its Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) and Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) standards, which guide how agents can operate across the entire shopping journey.

Also read: Eyes on the prize as biometrics reshape everyday payments

Trust as the foundation for growth

Alongside growth potential, AI also brings new challenges to merchants and consumers. Deepfakes, for example, have become a persistent problem. Ant International has developed an advanced anti-deepfake solution, which demonstrate detection rates of over 99%. Yang also highlighted the company’s SHIELD 3-in-1 Transformer model, which is able to identify high-risk transactions with over 95% precision, as key to providing a single trust layer for AI-driven payment security.

“AI-powered threats are no longer just theoretical, they are a reality that we face today. As technologies evolve, one thing does not change – trust will always be the foundation of payments, and will continue to be at the core of our FinAI development journey,” Yang added. He made the remarks in a case study address at The Economist’s Technology for Change conference in March 2026.

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Singapore-based Mozark, which helps organisations check how their digital services actually perform for real users in the real world, has raised US$40 million in Series B funding.

The round was led by IFC (World Bank Group) and RMB Capitalworks, with Kalaari Capital also participating.

Mozark sells what is essentially a reality check for digital products. Its platform runs scripted user journeys on real devices, across real networks and locations, then turns the resulting telemetry into a diagnosis of where performance breaks — from the app layer down to network infrastructure.

Also Read: Transformation tenet: The digital customer experience is key to “stickiness”

The company says it now works with more than 50 enterprise and government customers across 20 countries and has executed more than 25 million tests on several thousand live devices.

Why this matters for Southeast Asia

For Southeast Asia, the significance of the round goes beyond another sizable cheque in Singapore. It reflects a broader shift in the type of digital infrastructure attracting investment.

The region’s digital economy has grown rapidly, but reliability remains highly variable outside premium urban corridors. When apps slow down or fail, the consequences extend beyond user frustration. They can mean missed payments, failed logins, dropped telehealth calls, or unreliable access to government services.

Mozark’s proposition is straightforward: measure digital performance as experienced by real users, not as reported by dashboards inside a cloud region. In markets where regulators, telcos, and critical service providers need evidence of service quality across diverse geographies, that distinction matters.

It also helps explain why IFC’s involvement is notable. For development-focused investors, tools that measure digital reliability are increasingly viewed as part of the economic plumbing of emerging markets, rather than simply another DevOps layer.

Where the new capital will go

Mozark plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate expansion beyond Southeast Asia and deepen its technical capabilities.

The company says the funding will support:

• Expansion into priority markets, including the United States and the Global South
• Strategic acquisitions
• Deeper testing and measurement across what it calls the “AI-native stack”, spanning applications, networks, and AI infrastructure
• Development of agent-to-agent communication testing, designed for systems where AI agents — not just humans — exchange requests and execute tasks

According to founders Kartik Raja and Fabien Renaudineau, the need for real-world testing is growing as digital services become more complex.

“AI is accelerating digital services everywhere, but experience quality remains disparate and unreliable,” they said in a joint statement.

Mozark’s Chief Product Officer Chandra Ramamoorthy points to the underlying constraint: traditional testing approaches still depend heavily on controlled environments. “Testing remains constrained by physical infrastructure limitations,” he said, positioning Mozark’s real-device approach as a way to validate performance at scale under real-world conditions, rather than relying solely on lab simulations.

A market shifting from monitoring to proof

Digital experience monitoring has long relied on dashboards and synthetic checks running from data centres. But in the Asia Pacific, the core challenge is increasing variability.

Users frequently switch between Wi-Fi and mobile networks, rely on mid-range Android devices, and access services that traverse a complex chain of CDNs, telco routing, cloud regions, and third-party APIs.

This complexity is pushing enterprises toward tools that can answer more practical questions:

• How does this app behave on a specific handset model in a second-tier city?
• Is latency caused by the app itself, the CDN, the ISP route, or local congestion?
• Can regulators or enterprises independently verify performance claims?

In other words, the market is shifting from monitoring systems to providing user experience.

A growing but still fragmented market

Public analyst breakdowns typically group “digital experience monitoring” within broader application performance monitoring (APM) and observability markets.

Also Read: How Southeast Asian brands are reimagining the future of digital experiences

By those measures, Southeast Asia remains a relatively small slice of Asia Pacific spending, though growth is accelerating as banks, telcos, superapps, and governments digitise more workflows.

In practical terms, that places the regional opportunity in the hundreds of millions of US dollars annually, with further upside as AI-driven services increase the cost of outages or degraded experiences.

Mozark is positioning itself in the gap between traditional application monitoring, which often assumes stable infrastructure, and network measurement tools, which rarely capture full application journeys.

This positioning may prove particularly relevant in markets where sovereignty-ready deployments and independent verification are becoming increasingly important.

A competitive global arena

Mozark is entering a competitive field populated by well-funded incumbents and specialised measurement platforms.

Key players include:

• Dynatrace, Datadog, New Relic, and AppDynamics (broad observability and APM platforms)
• Catchpoint and ThousandEyes (Cisco) (internet and network experience monitoring)
• Akamai and Cloudflare (performance infrastructure with measurement capabilities)
• Network and mobile performance specialists such as Ookla and Opensignal

Mozark’s differentiation lies in combining real-device, real-network testing across multiple geographies with an emphasis on independent measurement and deployments designed to meet regulatory and data sovereignty requirements.

A rare Southeast Asian contender

Within Southeast Asia, many vendors provide QA testing or performance monitoring. But few homegrown platforms focus on large-scale, real-world device telemetry across multiple countries, serving both enterprises and regulators.

As a result, Mozark often finds itself competing with global platforms or with in-house monitoring solutions that struggle as systems become more AI-driven and interconnected.

The new funding gives Mozark the runway to prove that its model can scale globally.

The company’s broader bet is that digital experience will soon need to be measured as rigorously as uptime, not simply marketed.

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The cryptocurrency market advanced 2.15 per cent to reach a total capitalisation of US$2.44T on March 13, 2026. This gain stands out because it occurred while traditional risk assets faced severe pressure. Equities and bonds sold off sharply as Brent crude oil surged above US$100 per barrel for the first time since 2022. Escalating Middle East tensions and a critical blockage in the Strait of Hormuz triggered the move.

The crypto market’s weak correlation with the S&P 500 at -14 per cent and with Gold at -34 per cent signals a crypto-specific catalyst rather than broad risk-on sentiment. This divergence suggests digital assets are beginning to trade on their own fundamental narratives. Such independence represents a maturation I have long argued is essential for the asset class to evolve beyond a speculative adjunct to traditional finance.

The primary engine behind this rally is BlackRock’s launch of its iShares Staked Ethereum Trust, ticker ETHB, which debuted on Nasdaq on March 12. The product generated US$15.5M in first-day volume, a solid start for a novel instrument. This ETF allows investors to gain exposure to Ethereum’s price while simultaneously earning staking rewards. The design treats ETH as a productive, yield-bearing asset. This marks a profound shift.

For years, institutional adoption focused on Bitcoin as digital gold, a store of value. BlackRock’s move validates Ethereum’s utility as a foundational technology capable of generating cash-flow-like returns. By locking up ETH supply through staking, the product mechanically reduces sell-side pressure. This creates a favourable supply-demand dynamic. The critical metric to watch now is weekly ETF flow data. Sustained inflows would confirm that institutions are not just testing the water but are committing capital to this new yield-bearing crypto thesis.

Supporting this institutional momentum is a wave of regulatory optimism. Social media channels buzzed with reports that President Trump had confirmed a zero per cent tax on crypto transactions. Additional chatter highlighted the US Senate advancing measures to block a Central Bank Digital Currency until 2030. While these developments require official verification, the market is clearly pricing in a more accommodating policy environment. This narrative has fuelled a healthy rotation of capital into altcoins. The Layer 1 sector advanced 1.58 per cent.

Artificial intelligence tokens like Render surged over 11 per cent. Bitcoin dominance held steady at 58.78 per cent. This indicates that new money is flowing into the broader ecosystem rather than just fleeing to the largest asset. Such breadth is a positive sign for market health. It suggests investors are gaining conviction in specific technological narratives like decentralised compute and scalable infrastructure.

Also Read: Why crypto surged while stocks fell: The regulatory breakthrough changing everything

From a technical perspective, the market cap is now testing a pivotal level at US$2.44T. Immediate resistance sits at the recent swing high of US$2.46T. A clean break above this level could open a path toward the US$2.52T extension. Caution is warranted because the seven-day Relative Strength Index reads 74.39. This indicates overbought conditions in the short term.

The rally may need to consolidate before its next leg higher. The key support level to monitor is US$2.33T. A break below this floor would signal a loss of momentum and could trigger a deeper pullback. The next major catalyst will be the upcoming US ETF flow reports. Positive data could provide the fuel needed to overcome resistance. Disappointing flows might exacerbate a technical correction.

This crypto-specific rally gains additional significance when viewed against the backdrop of traditional market turmoil. On March 12, US indices posted broad declines. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 739.42 points, or 1.56 per cent, to close at 46,677.85. The S&P 500 dropped 103.22 points, or 1.52 per cent, to 6,672.58. This marked its lowest close since November. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 404.15 points, or 1.78 per cent, to 22,311.98 as technology stocks grappled with rising yields. The VIX volatility index settled at 24.23, reflecting elevated fear. The trigger for this selloff was the energy crisis. Brent crude surged over nine per cent to settle at US$100.20 per barrel.

The International Energy Agency warned of the largest oil supply disruption in history. This shock has forced traders to scrap expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2026. Soaring energy costs threaten to reignite inflation. Consequently, US Treasury yields are climbing. The 2-year yield jumped 11 basis points. The 10-year yield hit 4.27 per cent. Stress is also emerging in the US$1.8T private credit market. Funds like Morgan Stanley and Cliffwater LLC have capped withdrawals following a surge in redemption requests.

In this environment, crypto’s decoupling is not just a market curiosity. It represents a potential shift in how digital assets function within a diversified portfolio. My view has consistently been that crypto’s long-term value proposition hinges on its ability to offer uncorrelated returns driven by its own adoption cycles and technological progress. The current action supports that thesis.

The rally is fuelled by a structural product innovation from the world’s largest asset manager and a favourable regulatory narrative. It is not driven by a surge in liquidity from traditional markets. This is a more sustainable foundation for growth. Sustainability remains the key question. Can the crypto market maintain its upward trajectory if ETF inflows decelerate this week or if the macro backdrop worsens? The overbought RSI suggests a pause is likely. The underlying drivers remain intact.

Also Read: Crypto market surges to US$2.38T as Middle East tensions ease: What comes next

The path forward hinges on a few clear factors. First, institutional demand for the new staked Ethereum ETF must prove durable. Second, the regulatory narrative needs to translate into concrete policy actions to maintain confidence. Third, the market must successfully digest its overbought condition without breaking below the US$2.33T support. A failure on any of these fronts could lead to crypto re-correlating with traditional risk assets. Those assets are currently under severe strain from inflation fears and geopolitical instability. For now, the momentum is bullish, and the drivers are specific to the crypto ecosystem. This is a sign of maturation.

The market is beginning to trade on its own merits. This development aligns with the vision of a decentralised financial system operating in parallel with, and sometimes independently of, the legacy system. The coming days, with their focus on ETF flows and key technical levels, will provide crucial evidence on whether this independence can be sustained amid a global macro storm. Investors should watch the US$2.46T resistance and US$2.33T support as decisive boundaries.

A break above US$2.46T could accelerate gains toward US$2.52T. A drop below US$2.33T would signal a loss of momentum and invite a deeper correction. The US$15.5M debut volume for ETHB offers an initial benchmark, but sustained weekly flows will determine if institutional appetite remains strong.

With Bitcoin dominance at 58.78 per cent, the market retains room for altcoin expansion if the regulatory tailwinds persist. The 7-day RSI at 74.39 warns of short-term exhaustion, so patience may reward those waiting for a healthier entry point. In a world where Brent crude trades above US$100 per barrel and the 10-year yield touches 4.27 per cent, crypto’s ability to post gains on its own terms signals a new phase of market evolution. This phase demands careful monitoring of ETF data, technical levels, and policy developments. The US$2.44T market cap represents both opportunity and risk. Navigating this landscape requires discipline, clarity, and a focus on the structural forces shaping the next chapter of digital finance.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. You can also share your perspective by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of e27.

Join us on Instagram, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn to stay connected.

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