Our survey of 600 IT and project leaders working in UK organisations with 500+ employees reveals that four priorities dominate this year: increasing efficiency (50%), maintaining quality (40%), accelerating digital transformation (40%), and improving data management and security (37%).
Leaders are leveraging AI and automation to optimise routine tasks, streamline day-to-day operations and implement leaner ways of working.
Aligning business function strategies with wider organisational goals and objectives ensures that initiatives to effectively maintain the quality of products and services can be met.
Cloud, AI, automation and other technologies continue to reshape the business landscape. To remain competitive and relevant, organisations must keep adapting how they operate, deliver services and create value.
Data now sits at the centre of how organisations operate and is essential for enabling data-driven decision making, supporting successful AI adoption, and analysing behaviour for personalising customer experiences.
But delivering on all four depends on something our data shows is under significant strain: the organisational capability needed to execute sustainable business transformation effectively.
Download the report which sets out what our data shows, what a practical response looks like, and why human oversight is essential for realising the value of AI and wider technology investments.
Economic uncertainty is challenging for 64% of businesses
Balancing costs with continuous innovation is an issue for 57% of businesses
Talent shortages in specialised roles is a struggle for 56% of businesses
Difficulty balancing short term gains over the longer-term business strategy is affecting 50% of businesses
Download our report to learn how you can shape your plan by:
• Prioritising transformation activity against business value
• Closing critical capability gaps
• Protecting long-term progress while managing short-term pressure
• Increasing organisational agility
Project management, along with programme and portfolio management, provides the structure, coordination and control needed to deliver strategic initiatives. While change management helps embed those initiatives successfully across the organisation, turning transformation goals into successful adoption, realised benefits and measurable value.
Project, programme and portfolio management skills are a top priority for 75% of businesses
Transformation initiatives are misaligned with strategic priorities within 49% of businesses
Change management is still seen as a ‘nice to have’ rather than an essential part of business transformation for 46% of businesses
Developing leadership skills will enhance project delivery within 45% of businesses
Download our report to learn how you can shape your plan by:
• Establishing clear direction
• Strengthening governance and control
• Building change management into project delivery
• Tracking progress and value more effectively
Cyber Security
Quality Assurance
Data Analysis
Artificial Intelligence
Project, programme and portfolio management
Transformation sets the direction; projects, programmes and portfolios provide the structure; priority skills enable successful delivery; and change management helps embed adoption and realise lasting business value. Learn more in our report.
AI is now influencing every part of business transformation. It is raising expectations around efficiency, decision-making and productivity, while also increasing the pressure on organisations to adapt operating models faster.
It is also not creating a separate set of problems for cyber security, data management, technical debt, and AI governance; rather it is making existing weaknesses and vulnerabilities harder to ignore.
The question is no longer whether AI matters. It is whether your organisation has the data, systems, controls and capability to use it with confidence. Read our new report to discover how to shape your plan by:
“The quality of our program delivery and all support functions has drastically improved following training from ILX, and I’m very happy with the training they’ve delivered.”
Asma Khanam
Global Change Manager, Amazon
The skills, governance and human judgement defining sustainable business transformation in 2026
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