Jakarta.The end of AI FOMO (fear of missing out) is emerging as businesses move beyond experimentation and demand measurable returns from artificial intelligence, according to Salesforce ASEAN Senior Vice President and General Manager Paul Carvouni.

After a wave of generative AI adoption driven partly by fear of missing out, companies are increasingly asking whether AI can deliver concrete improvements in productivity, revenue and costs before committing more investment.

“A couple of years back, if we wind back to 2022, 2023, when we just had generative AI and ChatGPT and all that relates to that, I do think there's been a huge amount of FOMO,” Carvouni told The Jakarta Globe.

Salesforce saw companies launch numerous AI pilots and proof-of-concept projects that often became stuck in what Carvouni called “pilot purgatory.” But he said the conversation has shifted rapidly over the past year.

“We're moving away from that experimentation phase into real concrete business value and value realization,” he said.

From AI Adoption to Business Value
AI adoption in Indonesia continues to rise. According to a 2025 PwC survey of nearly 50,000 workers globally, including 812 respondents in Indonesia, 69% of Indonesian workers had used AI for their jobs in the previous 12 months, compared with 54% globally. However, only 16% of Indonesian respondents said they used generative AI (GenAI) daily.

The data also suggests that frequent use is associated with greater perceived benefits. Some 96% of daily GenAI users in Indonesia reported improved productivity, compared with 75% among infrequent users. Daily users were also more likely to report improved job security and salary gains.

For Carvouni, the challenge is now turning widespread adoption into business outcomes.

“CEOs, CMOs, I speak to, they want to know how is AI hitting the P&L (profit and loss) before they invest,” he said.

Carvouni cited Indonesian health insurer Mandiri InHealth as an example, saying its use of Salesforce's Agentforce service platform reduced the time required to process letters of guarantee by about 46% in its first three months, while chat response times improved by around 30%.

He also cited an insurance company in the Philippines that reduced the processing time for letters of authorization from about 20 minutes to 30 seconds, with the company handling between 20,000 and 40,000 requests a month.

Carvouni said successful enterprise AI adoption requires more than large language models. Companies need a combination of technology, people, processes and sustained adoption.

Large language models provide “raw intelligence,” he said, but businesses need to supply context and connect AI to their own data and workflows. Security, governance and safeguards are also critical.

FOMO Persists Among Smaller Businesses
The findings from Salesforce's own research among Indonesian small and medium-sized businesses illustrate both the enthusiasm and pressure surrounding AI. A 2024 survey of 150 Indonesian SMB leaders found that 77% were already using or experimenting with AI, while 97% believed AI implementation could increase business revenue. At the same time, 41% said they feared their companies would fall behind if they did not adopt AI.

That suggests FOMO has not disappeared completely, particularly among smaller companies. But the nature of the question is changing from whether businesses should adopt AI to how they can make the investment pay off.

Indonesia's ability to capture those gains will depend partly on its workforce.

The government estimates that Indonesia will need around 12 million digital talents by 2030, compared with about 3 million currently available. Deputy Communications and Digital Affairs Minister Nezar Patria has said accelerating talent development will be critical to supporting the country's digital economy and AI sector.

Carvouni said AI should be viewed as a tool to augment workers rather than simply replace them, although he acknowledged that the technology will disrupt some roles.

“There'll be displacement, dislocation in certain roles,” he said, arguing that new jobs and industries will also emerge as technology changes the way businesses operate.

He compared the transformation to previous technological shifts such as the automobile and the internet, which created entirely new occupations and business ecosystems.

For Indonesia, Carvouni sees an opportunity to become a regional AI leader because of its large population, growing digital economy and huge base of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

But he said infrastructure alone will not be enough. Indonesia also needs effective AI governance, trusted technology and large-scale workforce reskilling.

Salesforce is expanding its Indonesian operations as part of its broader ASEAN strategy, including support for Bahasa Indonesia, locally operated Hyperforce services and increased investment in its local workforce.

Ultimately, Carvouni's message to Indonesian business leaders is to resist adopting AI simply because everyone else is doing so.

“Start with the business outcome,” he said. “It's not about tech for tech. It's about tech for business outcomes or government outcomes.”

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