If 2025 was the year we woke up to the sheer speed of technological change, 2026 is the year we stopped staring at the waves and started learning to swim.
By Rowen Pillai, co-founder and CEO of LeanTechnovations
In my work across sectors, from finance to industrial retail, I have watched the conversation shift dramatically. We have moved past the “wow” factor of GenAI demos. The hype cycle has officially ended, replaced by a demand for execution, efficiency, and tangible business value.
As we navigate this new landscape, the difference between organisations that merely survive and those that thrive isn’t just about who has the fastest algorithms. It is about who can translate technology into human impact and measurable returns.
In 2026, success depends on three strategic pillars: ruthless focus on specific KPIs, making the hard decision to build, buy, or borrow, and leveraging Agentic AI on a foundation of clean data.
What does ROI look like?
For a long time, AI projects were treated like R&D experiments – interesting, but disconnected from the profit and loss. That era is over. In 2026, AI is no longer a ‘let’s try it’ project; it is a hard-nosed business decision.
As a Lean practitioner, I have always believed that if you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it. This year, real ROI means tying AI directly to the KPIs that keep the lights on and the business growing.
It is not about vague ‘time saved’; it is about proving impact on revenue growth, cost reduction, risk control, or speed of execution.
We are seeing a shift where operational efficiency and cost reduction are no longer the only benchmarks. Leading organisations are now measuring success through revenue growth, customer experience, and risk management.
For example, if we deploy an AI copilot in customer support, we shouldn’t just look at ticket volume; we must track the cost per ticket and customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores. If we apply it to sales, we measure the win rate and deal cycle length.
However, there is an efficiency trap we must avoid. In the rush to automate, we cannot allow customer experience metrics to drop. ROI must account for the human element. The goal is to remove the robot from the human, not the human from the loop.
The strategic trilemma: should I build, buy, or borrow?
One of the most paralysing questions for leaders this year is how to acquire these capabilities. Should you build your own agents, buy off-the-shelf solutions, or borrow capabilities from partners? The answer lies in your data readiness and your risk appetite.
- Build: We see organisations building in-house when they need deep product differentiation or have high data sensitivity, such as in healthcare or finance. This path offers maximum control and ownership but requires advanced internal talent and a continuous evaluation mindset.
- Buy: When speed is the priority, buying pre-built agents is the pragmatic choice. This is ideal for standard functions like HR or basic IT support where you need immediate access to advanced capabilities without the R&D overhead.
- Borrow: For many of the mid-tier clients I work with, borrowing through partnerships is the smartest play. It allows companies to co-create agents with specialised partners, bridging the skills gap without the massive upfront capital of building from scratch.
In fact, the market is settling into a blended approach. Recent data suggests 57% of organisations now favour a mix of building and buying, integrating custom agents with specialised third-party modules.
Agentic AI and the data foundation
What separates the top 5% of companies, the high performers, from the rest? According to recent research, high performers are achieving an ROI of 4.5x on their tech investments, compared to just 2x for the average organisation. Their secret isn’t magic; it is discipline.
First, they are embracing Agentic AI. These aren’t just chatbots waiting for a prompt; these are automators and orchestrators that can coordinate complex workflows and act as digital teammates. By 2027, it is estimated that digital assistants will make up over a third of core technology teams.
But these agents are useless without a strong foundation. High performers treat data as a strategic currency. They are significantly more likely to prioritise data analysis, insights, and data-powered forecasting than their peers. They understand that AI can only be as powerful as the data powering it.
The human element remains king
As we look at the year ahead, I want to offer a reminder from my own experience in change management. Technology is the engine, but people are the steering wheel.
The companies winning in 2026 are those that invest in their people alongside their AI. They are upskilling their workforce to manage this new digital workforce and ensuring that automation serves to make jobs more meaningful, not just faster.
We must have the courage to fundamentally change how our organisations operate. The future belongs to those who can blend the precision of AI with the empathy and creativity of humans.
Let’s make 2026 the year we stop being overwhelmed by technology and start using it to build better, more human-centric businesses.