Question 1

What should an AI strategy include in 2026?

Accepted Answer

An AI strategy should go beyond selecting tools or automating individual tasks. It should connect AI investment with business strategy, workflow design, workforce planning, cost management and measurable business outcomes. The strongest approach asks not only where AI can be used, but what should change in the organisation because AI now makes new ways of working possible.

Question 2

How should leaders decide whether to build or buy AI capabilities?

Accepted Answer

The decision should depend on the strategic importance of the capability, the cost of building and maintaining it, speed to value and whether owning it creates a competitive advantage. As AI makes internal software development faster and more accessible, leaders may need to reassess assumptions about which capabilities should be purchased externally and which are valuable enough to develop in-house.

Question 3

How can businesses improve ROI from AI investment?

Accepted Answer

Higher AI spending does not automatically produce stronger returns. Leaders need visibility into AI operating costs, clear measures of business impact and discipline around which initiatives should be scaled, changed or stopped. The article’s central argument is that stronger returns are also more likely when organisations redesign workflows around AI rather than simply adding AI to existing processes.

Question 4

Why is workflow design important for AI transformation?

Accepted Answer

Workflow design determines whether AI creates genuine organisational value or simply makes individual tasks faster. When leaders reconsider handovers, approvals, responsibilities and decision points, AI can change how work moves through the business rather than merely automate isolated activities. This is one of the major differences highlighted between AI high performers and other organisations.

Question 5

What skills will become more important as AI changes the workplace?

Accepted Answer

As AI handles more routine production and information-processing tasks, human capabilities such as judgement, creativity, problem-solving, leadership and strategic decision-making become increasingly important. Workforce planning therefore needs to consider not only which tasks AI can perform, but what employees should become better at when those tasks change.

Question 6

What is the biggest AI question senior leaders should be asking?

Accepted Answer

A useful starting question is: If AI changes the economics of the work, what should our business look like as a result? That opens a broader conversation about what to build or buy, where to invest, which workflows need redesigning, how roles should evolve and where the organisation wants to create value. In that sense, AI strategy increasingly becomes part of business strategy itself.

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