AI WILL BECOME THE MOST IMPORTANT TECHNOLOGY FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS BY 2030*
"Companies need a culture of collaboration—at all levels and exemplified daily by the board of directors. In addition, all departments should be able to recognize the value of data."
A reality check on today’s most important technologies
In the corporate world, AI continues to be the most discussed and dominant technology. However, when looking specifically at its current significance for corporate success, the statements of the decision-makers surveyed do not reflect this dominance (see Figure 1). AI is not the only technology that plays a major role in the success of today's companies. Cybersecurity technologies and cloud computing are also crucial. With 82 percent of respondents currently considering the cloud to be important for the success of their companies, it is a key issue.
It is also interesting to look at the technologies that are considered least relevant to success by decision-makers. These are virtual and augmented reality, blockchain, and the metaverse. But even though these technologies are at the bottom of the importance ranking, blockchain and the metaverse, for example, are still considered important for current business success by slightly more than three-fifths of respondents. In this respect, potential is still seen in these technologies. Although there have been two major attempts in recent years to establish the metaverse in the market (Second Life, developments surrounding the renaming of Facebook to Meta Platforms), these have so far been unsuccessful. To date, there is a lack of value-adding use cases. The same applies to blockchain.
"I don't believe that companies will be able to remain competitive in the future without the use of AI. The technology is absolutely central and will manifest itself everywhere in companies. No one will be able to escape it."
From trend to necessity: AI becomes crucial for success
When asked about the importance for business success in the next five years – i.e., until 2030 – blockchain and metaverse are still at the bottom of the ranking, but now, with more than two-thirds, slightly more respondents consider these two technologies important for success. Blockchain and the metaverse may therefore still play a role in the future. However, the top technologies are more decisive. And here, AI ranks first. 86 percent of respondents believe that AI is crucial for future business success. AI is thus the trend technology for 2026. In last year's analysis, the technology ranked only third in terms of importance. This was justified by the uncertainties that still existed. In the meantime, companies now see the potential of AI more clearly and now clearly regard it as crucial to success. The top three are rounded out by cybersecurity technologies and cloud computing. Cyberattacks continue to pose a major threat, and cybersecurity therefore plays a key role in securing the existence of companies. Cloud computing is the basis for many other digital technologies.
Furthermore, it appears that, with the exception of cloud computing, all technologies are considered more important for future success than for current success by more respondents. In the ranking, however, there are only minor shifts. The most striking improvement is in AI and virtual and augmented reality, which moved up two places, and a similar decline in green IT. There are differences in assessment between the individual industries. Although AI is one of the three most important technologies for future business success in all industries, it is not always the most decisive technology in this regard. This is now the case in the automotive, logistics, and manufacturing industries. Here, most respondents consider AI to be important for future business success.
