Argon & Co surveyed over 800 C-suite leaders globally, spanning procurement, logistics, supply chain, and manufacturing to uncover how rising costs, technological acceleration, and workforce strain are shaping their priorities, challenges, and resilience strategies for 2026 and beyond.​

Across regions and industries, the findings point to an underlying issue. Resilience is not being tested by a single factor, but an accumulation of workforce strain, cost pressure, and technological complexity. The organisations that confront these pressures today will be better positioned to withstand future disruption and remain competitive.​

In a year shaped by accelerating volatility, leaders are dealing with rapid technological change, rising operating costs, escalating cyber risks, and workforce fatigue, while being expected to strengthen resilience and deliver strong performance. With nearly half (46%) of C‑suite leaders citing technological changes like AI and automation as their biggest challenge and (43%) grappling with rising costs, the strain on organisations is clear, making proactive resilience‑building more important than ever. ​

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In this context, strategies built for stability collapse under the weight of constant change. Resilience can no longer be a reaction, it must be designed into the very fabric of the organisation.

“Adaptive business design” provides a solution. It shifts the focus from protecting against disruption to harnessing it. It embeds adaptability at the core of the organisation. Adaptive business design enables organisations to turn turbulence into momentum – to become faster, stronger, and more aligned precisely because today’s environment demands it.

Leading organisations are already proving the point. They are using adaptive business design to rewire decision-making, to scale with speed, and to align their people, processes and technologies to immediate new realities. The results are profound: greater adaptability, sharper execution, and a stronger competitive edge.

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Today’s tech-focused business leaders face a testing dilemma. AI promises a cure-all for a vast range of operational challenges, potentially futureproofing enterprise tech stacks for generations to come. But information overload and a lack of clearsighted guidance causes information paralysis. As hesitant organisations are left languishing with legacy SaaS systems while AI-savvy competitors forge ahead, how can you ensure you’re not left behind?

IRIS is Argon & Co’s specialist Data and AI team. Operating globally, we help enterprise clients across a vast range of verticals apply AI prudently and strategically – solving the most pressing business problems and rapidly delivering demonstrable ROI.

Our research reveals four cross-cutting forces complicating AI investment decisions for enterprise budget holders. But understanding these four forces provides decision makers with a framework for focused investment. This crystal-clear roadmap closes the gaping abyss of AI overwhelm and unscrambles marketing hype-cycle chaos.

Organisations that combine these learnings with our carefully calibrated predictions for the cultural move away from Saas in the next five years can make their next moves with confidence. By deploying targeted, flexible enterprise AI, they’ll move the needle now – rather than stalling at the starting grid.

The future of enterprise AI is unwritten. Yet our proven experience, deep expertise and robust results mean no IRIS client needs to work with a blank slate.

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At Argon & Co, we take a different approach.

We help organisations unlock meaningful, sustainable savings by targeting inefficiencies in operational and non-labour spending without compromising workforce strength. Optimising back-office and support function costs isn’t about cutting budgets. It’s about reinvesting in what drives growth, resilience and strategic agility.

Our proven methodology combines deep benchmarking insight, robust data analysis and structured governance to deliver cost optimisation that sticks. From procurement to finance, IT to HR, we work across functions to ensure cost reductions go hand-in-hand with operational continuity.

The impact of strategic cost optimisation stretches beyond quick wins to help build a smarter, more competitive business. By making cost optimisation a strategic priority, leaders gain greater visibility, align budgets with enterprise goals and strengthen their ability to respond to change. When executed the right way, cost control becomes a competitive advantage rather than a financial necessity.

Argon & Co specialises in helping organisations make this shift by turning cost pressure into opportunity, and inefficiency into measurable impact.

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Sustainability presents a generational opportunity for businesses to create long-term value and form deep-rooted, future-proof foundations. A shift in mindset for leaders and employees can help businesses reap the long-term benefits – and at Argon & Co, we’re already helping businesses on this path.

A shift in strategy to make sustainability all-encompassing is crucial to turning it into a value-add. Minor, incremental changes won’t have the same impact as large-scale innovations. Equally, the broad efforts need to be based on a select number of material priorities. Rather than trying to do everything, the transformative changes across a business should be strategic and targeted to ensure maximum impact. This is where a transformation toolkit can serve as a guide to develop a new mindset and drive consistent behaviour across your key strategic efforts.

Here’s a summary of the key takeaways that we discuss in this whitepaper to help you turn insights into actionable strategies for sustainable success:

• Shift the mindset: Treat sustainability as an opportunity, not a challenge. Highlight its benefits – like stronger partnerships, operational efficiency and new revenue streams – while engaging employees with inspiring success stories.
• Integrate sustainability into the strategy: Embed sustainability as a core strategy flowing into all areas of business, not something separate. Expect bold, proactive actions and comprehensive changes to operating models.
• Focus on high-impact priorities: Avoid spreading efforts thin; concentrate on a few key initiatives that deliver the most value, using tools like the 80/20 rule to maximise impact.
• Leverage collaboration: Align sustainability goals with partners and stakeholders to foster mutual benefits, co-develop solutions and tackle shared challenges.
• Commit to bold actions: Go beyond incremental improvements; drive innovation and ensure sustainability is a foundation for long-term success and market leadership.

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As confidence in AI grows and adoption increases, two types of AI have emerged: narrow AI and general-purpose AI. The potential commercial benefits to both are significant: the highly specialised narrow AI can help businesses resolve fundamental resourcing issues, taking labour-intensive administrative work off the desks of their teams and utilising their time more effectively, while the rapid adaptability of general-purpose AI offers fast, flexible support to address a broad range of tasks.

Although the two aren’t mutually exclusive and can both work for different areas of a business, in this whitepaper we cover the key differences that must be acknowledged if businesses are going to realise the full potential of AI. 

There’s no doubt that AI is transforming the future of business. How it can transform yours depends on whether you have set up your organisation for success – and that starts by recognising the challenges you need to solve, and the AI tools you need to solve them. 

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While the optimisation of accounts receivable and payable are the most obvious lever, other levers, less financial and more operational, appear to be more challenging to address.

Capital expenditure is generally dealt with by stopping investment altogether, coupled with operational excellence initiatives aimed at producing more without CAPEX.

Inventory management stands out as a critical area, fraught with complexities stemming from uncertain demand, lead times, and product variety. Successful inventory management necessitates collaboration across departments and functions, striking a balance between cost efficiency and customer satisfaction.

These programs can typically reduce inventory by 15-30%, and avoid the costs associated with ownership, warehousing, and depreciation.

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Engaging a diverse organisation to embrace change is daunting. Leading that change as the head of a business can be a lonely task, yet leadership is precisely what is needed to maximise the chance of success. Nearly two decades of helping leaders to drive change has given Argon & Co insight into the characteristics of successful transformations. It is common to try to minimise the risk of failure, but the best transformations are those that focus on maximising the chance of success.

In the report, we take a close look at our own experiences and what leading thinkers have to say about the drivers for transformational change. We also look at the critical get rights to succeeding, and the reasons for failing to achieve objectives.

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Traditionally, the focus of forecasting has been on the technical aspects, with forecasters valued for their techniques and processes. However in the wider business, forecasting is often a heavily politicised and damaging process, with blame for inaccuracies being directed at forecasters, leading them to focus on avoiding ‘being wrong’ rather than striving to maximise their contribution to the business.

It is of course possible to not forecast at all and simply react to customer requirements.

This is exactly the philosophy that underpins the Kanban approach, where supplier replenishment orders are directly linked to customer demand, with buffer stock held to deal with the volatility of demand until the replenishment order is received. This is equivalent to using the previous period’s actual sales as next month’s forecast, something known as a naïve forecast.

That said, this approach is not an effective solution for the majority of businesses because the volatility of sales would require high levels of working capital – dead cash being tied up instock.

For forecasters to add value they must be able to anticipate this demand volatility to reduce the burden of buffer stock, while maintaining the same level of customer service. Amazingly though, in our experience, 30-50% of product forecasts are typically found to be value destroying, i.e. worse than a naïve forecast…

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According to Stuart Williamson, Principal at global supply chain consultancy Crimson & Co, as business transformation projects become more complex, simply relying on the technical reputation of a consultancy is no longer a guarantee for success. Instead, companies must be prepared to delve deep into the capabilities of any external party to be sure that they possess the necessary attributes and skills to carry out a transformation project as effectively as possible.

Stuart suggests that people capabilities are critical when selecting a consultancy, and the relationship needs to be more than just transactional. It needs to be built on empathy, trust and humility:

“Board and C-level executives are increasingly looking for support to optimise business performance, covering leadership, strategic direction, and practical implementation. Many are unable to do this on their own and therefore enlist outside support. The reality though is as the need to transform becomes more complex so is the need to understand and engage with the people aspects delivering transformation.

“Traditionally, consultants have leveraged tried and tested methods to support transformational projects but as these projects are increasingly complex and multifaceted, this experience on its own is not enough.”

Stuart continued: “Increasingly, the need to be ‘people focused’ is essential in forming effective relationships, built on empathy, trust and humility – in action this might be the ability to bring in technical solutions, ‘the what’; driving transformational human relationships ‘the how’; and how they work with the entire organisation to empower transformation, ‘the why’. Typically, this centres around three roles –  the transformation partner, the coach and the mediator.

The transformation partner places a greater emphasis on strong change management skills. Traditional transformation processes often fail as the executive teams remain rigid within traditional improvement programmes which are safe and familiar. For those looking to breakdown these barriers a consultant must have the ability to alter mindsets and address problems in which there is no immediate solution. There is a need for strong, intimate relationships built on credibility and authenticity, not purely contractual arrangements. Being able to demonstrate these qualities will instil trust and support leaders in navigating new transformations.

“The role of the coach is to push and motivate people outside of their comfort zone. Engaging in any transformation can be unsettling, leading to resistance or discomfort from an organisation. An effective consultant should adopt a ‘coach-like’ approach to prepare them for the challenges of transformation and support them along the way. Their flexibility and awareness of uncertainty should instil confidence in leaders and their teams to trial new ways of working and experiment with new ideas.

“Finally, an effective transformation consultant should be able to address the considerations and concerns of an entire organisation, essentially acting as a transformation mediator, not only to the executive team. They can empathise with people across organisations to instil a collective self-confidence; inspiring people at every level to challenge the status quo – play their part, get on board and even lead change. It is this third and final element, of aligning people and integrating new practices, that is crucial to sustaining transformation.”

Stuart concluded: “The future for transformation is to optimise the balance between traditional technical change approaches and introducing and developing adaptive change skills. Consultants enlisted to support this need to maximise their impact by teaming up with people that can articulate ‘why’, people who know ‘how’ and people that can ‘do’. This will be the key to leading and delivering successful long-term transformation programmes for the future.”

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In this report we identify the current levels of process maturity and review seven areas that can unlock S&OP’s real potential.

“All areas of the S&OP process, right from the data level used, to the cross-functional working behaviours exhibited, are significantly underdeveloped.”

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