Survey of 1,000 C-level executives: AI will determine competitiveness by 2030
Munich, February 04, 2026: No future without artificial intelligence (AI)? A new study conducted by digital consultancy valantic in cooperation with the Handelsblatt Research Institute (HRI) delivers a clear answer: companies that fail to systematically deploy AI technologies will lose their competitive edge by 2030. Four out of five decision-makers (79 percent) agreed with this statement in the new C-level survey Digital Excellence Outlook 2026 – AI at Scale. The analysis also examines companies’ levels of AI maturity, addressing key questions such as how AI can be embedded in business strategy, how employees can be enabled to use intelligent applications, and how AI transformation affects users’ digital sovereignty. The study is based on a survey of 1,000 C-level executives and IT decision-makers from the DACH region.
In most boardrooms, artificial intelligence is now regarded as the decisive technology of the future. At 86 percent, the overwhelming majority of the 1,000 decision-makers surveyed view AI as critical to their company’s success through 2030. As a result, AI now clearly tops the trend ranking in the Digital Excellence Outlook 2026 by valantic and HRI—a marked shift from the previous year—and ranks ahead of other priority topics such as cloud transformation, investments in cybersecurity technologies, and the Internet of Things.
Many respondents also see a direct link between AI transformation and near-term competitiveness. 79 percent believe that companies will lose their competitive position as early as 2030 if they fail to integrate AI into their core processes. The study further provides insights into other key questions surrounding AI transformation.
For example:
- What is the current level of AI maturity among companies in the DACH region?
- Which use case clusters deliver tangible value in which industries?
- How is the role of leaders changing in conjunction with AI?
- What specific measures are companies taking to increase their digital sovereignty when using AI?
Maturity in Focus: Is AI Strategically Embedded and the Workforce Empowered?
While AI is widely recognized as a critical future technology, the study results also indicate that many companies’ AI maturity levels still have significant room for improvement. To assess AI maturity, respondents were asked to provide a self-assessment: a high level of AI maturity was defined as having deeply embedded AI transformation into the business strategy and having comprehensively enabled the workforce to use the relevant technologies.
The result: Just over one-third of companies (36 percent) rate themselves as having a high level of AI maturity and are already well positioned to deploy intelligent applications successfully and generate tangible value (AI frontrunners). Another 55 percent have reached a medium level of maturity and are progressing toward this goal (AI midfield). However, nine percent still face significant challenges. These companies currently lack either a strategic vision for AI, the necessary capabilities, or both (AI laggards).
High AI Maturity Drives Measurable Value
Clear differences emerge when AI maturity is correlated with other aspects of the study. Companies with a high level of AI maturity are already achieving significantly greater measurable benefits from AI—such as time savings, increased efficiency, and improved quality.
Frontrunners also evaluate the importance of individual success factors in AI deployment differently from laggards. While both groups view a quality-assured data foundation as critical for AI applications, frontrunners place much greater emphasis on factors such as cross-departmental collaboration between data teams and business units, robust governance structures, and comprehensive employee enablement.
"Artificial intelligence takes processes to a new level"
Dr. Sven Jung, study lead at Handelsblatt Research Institut, states: “The joint study with valantic highlights the critical importance of AI transformation for companies in the DACH region. What is particularly striking is not only the wide variation in AI maturity among the surveyed companies, but also to see what impact a high level of maturity has on business success through the use of AI.”
Laurenz Kirchner, Managing Director and Lead of the Data & AI Practice at valantic, says: “The stringent use of AI takes processes to a whole new level. Companies that successfully implement AI can simultaneously increase process speed and achieve better results with less effort, thereby improving process quality. No other trend technology today can positively influence all three of these dimensions simultaneously. Our study shows how companies can harness these opportunities to their full potential.”
Study Design
The results of the Digital Excellence Outlook 2026 are based on both quantitative and qualitative interviews. The quantitative analysis was based on a survey of 1,000 decision-makers from companies in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (the DACH region) employing more than 100 staff. Among these, one-third represent companies with over 1,000 employees, while around 11 percent are from organizations with more than 5,000 employees. The quantitative survey was complemented by eight exclusive in-depth interviews with executives from international organizations, including firms listed on the DAX, MDAX, and SMI.
The survey was conducted in November 2025 in collaboration with the market research institute techconsult. Respondents were primarily C-level executives. The study focused on the automotive, pharmaceuticals, retail, manufacturing, telecommunications, logistics, and utilities (electricity, gas, and water) industries.
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