{"id":135962,"date":"2026-01-07T13:08:41","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T13:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/?p=135962"},"modified":"2026-01-07T13:08:41","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T13:08:41","slug":"ibm-unveils-the-technologies-defining-the-global-and-uae-business-landscape-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/2026\/01\/07\/ibm-unveils-the-technologies-defining-the-global-and-uae-business-landscape-in-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"IBM unveils the technologies defining the global and UAE business landscape in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) has unveiled Five Trends for 2026, a new report identifying the forces that will redefine competitive advantage for organisations in the UAE and around the world in the year ahead. As 2026 begins, the research shows that uncertainty isn\u2019t slowing business down \u2013 it\u2019s accelerating transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To thrive, companies are doubling down on technologies that provide speed, resilience and insight. AI has shifted from experimental to essential, redefining decisions, roles and customer expectations at an unprecedented pace. Enterprises are moving towards operating with AI at the core and soon, quantum will help tackle their most complex problems.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe findings point to a fundamental shift in how organisations are approaching growth and competitiveness in 2026,\u201d said Shukri Eid, General Manager, IBM Gulf Levant and Pakistan. \u201cIn the UAE, leaders are accelerating decision-making, embedding AI at the core of their operations and strengthening resilience and sovereignty across their technology environments. At the same time, there is a clear focus on building trust – with employees, customers and partners – as AI becomes more deeply integrated into everyday business. Together, these priorities are shaping organisations that are better prepared to adapt, collaborate across ecosystems and take advantage of emerging technologies such as quantum.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast decisions turn disruption into opportunity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the executives surveyed in the UAE, 95% say they increasingly need to make fast decisions and all believe the highest-stakes decisions they made in 2025 were the right ones \u2013 that\u2019s 4% above the global average. Uncertainty can become the greatest business asset for those who embrace it, with 63% of the respondents saying economic and geopolitical volatility will create new business opportunities for their organisations in 2026. The report notes that 93% of UAE executives fear they\u2019ll lose their edge if they can\u2019t operate in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employees are ready to embrace AI-driven role changes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research shows that employees no longer fear AI \u2013 they want to embrace it, even if that means their roles will change significantly. Globally, 81% are confident they can keep up with new technologies and 61% think AI makes their job less mundane and more strategic. Across all generational groups \u2013 from digital natives to seasoned veterans \u2013 at least twice as many employees would welcome rather than resist greater use of AI by their employers in 2026. In addition, 63% would work with an AI agent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumers are excited about AI, but transparency is mandatory<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While consumers don\u2019t need AI to be flawless, they do need to be in the loop. Easy-to-understand explanations of how AI is using their data are what make consumers most comfortable engaging with it. Among the consumers surveyed worldwide, 89% want to know when they\u2019re interacting with AI and four in five say they would trust a brand less if it intentionally concealed AI use. Two-thirds would switch brands \u2013 and half would even pay more \u2013 to avoid hidden AI. Meanwhile, 95% of global executives believe consumer trust in their AI will define the success of new products and services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI resilience and sovereignty become essential<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the face of growing uncertainty, AI resilience and sovereignty \u2013 an organisation\u2019s ability to control and govern its AI systems, data and infrastructure at all times \u2013 have become mission-critical. In the UAE, 98% of executives say AI resilience and sovereignty must be part of their 2026 strategy and 63% worry about overdependence on compute resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quantum will require deep ecosystem collaboration<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quantum demands resources no single entity can realistically maintain alone \u2013 in short, it takes an ecosystem or several. Quantum-ready organisations (QROs) worldwide are three times more likely to participate in multiple ecosystems than their least ready counterparts. In the UAE, four in five executives (80%) say ecosystem partners help accelerate technology adoption, while 88% believe these partners enable their company to limit the impact of disruption and an equal number agree that partner data improves business outcomes. The findings indicate that enterprises forging the best ecosystem alliances today are positioning themselves to lead in the quantum era.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) has unveiled Five Trends for 2026, a new report identifying the forces that will redefine competitive advantage for organisations in the UAE and around the world in the year ahead. As 2026 begins, the research shows that uncertainty isn\u2019t slowing business down \u2013 it\u2019s accelerating transformation. To thrive, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4189,"featured_media":135970,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[809,332,13,185],"tags":[19962,18182,3355,16911,16933,908,5465,21622,464,12954,6351,17841,20075],"class_list":["post-135962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-more-news","category-software","category-top-stories","category-uae","tag-ai-governance","tag-ai-strategy","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-business-resilience","tag-consumer-trust","tag-digital-transformation","tag-enterprise-strategy","tag-five-trends-for-2026","tag-ibm","tag-ibm-institute-for-business-value","tag-quantum-computing","tag-technology-trends","tag-uae-technology"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4189"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135965,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135962\/revisions\/135965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}