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      Navigating transformation in the age of AI

      Enterprise transformation has entered a new phase, as economies become increasingly intelligent, built on AI, trusted data, digital infrastructure, and interconnected ecosystems, it is reshaping how organizations operate and the capabilities required to compete.

      As intelligence becomes embedded across decision-making, operations, customer experiences, and workflows, enterprise transformation is no longer occurring through isolated initiatives. Change is unfolding continuously across the enterprise, creating a level of complexity most organizations were never designed to absorb. Organizations are now managing an average of 3.5 transformation initiatives concurrently, often spanning multiple functions and operating environments at once.

      What was once episodic has become continuous. The pressure to align priorities, coordinate execution, and sustain performance is increasing as transformation accelerates.

      Most organizations, however, are accelerating transformation faster than they are redesigning the enterprise to sustain it.

      This is not simply a transformation challenge. It is a leadership challenge.

      Based on a global survey of 1,750 senior transformation leaders across 20 countries, as well as perspectives from KPMG alliance organizations including ServiceNow, Workday, SAP, and Oracle, Transforming the Enterprise 2026 explores a critical shift. It examines why traditional coordination models are breaking down and why enterprise orchestration is becoming the defining capability for sustained performance in the enterprise of the future.

      Key findings

      Enterprise performance is not keeping pace

      Organizations are investing heavily in AI, digital capabilities, and operating model transformation. Yet enterprise-wide outcomes remain uneven, with many struggling to translate transformation activity into sustained enterprise performance.

      The capability gap is widening

      Organizations increasingly understand which capabilities will shape future competitiveness and long-term enterprise value creation. Few believe they have built them at enterprise scale.

      Trust is recognized as critical, but not consistently embedded

      60% view trust and governance as a strategic differentiator, and only 28% measure operational or revenue outcomes tied to trusted AI.

      Early AI gains are exposing deeper operational constraints

      AI is accelerating productivity and experimentation, but many organizations are layering AI onto fragmented workflows and disconnected systems. Sustained value depends on redesigning work, decision-making, and execution across the enterprise, supported by stronger enterprise AI strategy, enterprise AI governance, and enterprise trust.

      Enterprise orchestration is becoming the defining leadership capability

      Organizations pulling ahead are not necessarily transforming more than their peers. They are better able to align priorities, integrate execution, and direct transformation coherently across interconnected systems, workflows, and decisions.

      Three priorities for orchestrating enterprise transformation

      • Rebuild the foundations

        Strengthen the technology, data, trust, and governance foundations required to scale AI and enterprise transformation with confidence. Leading organizations are creating resilient, interoperable environments where intelligence, decision-making, and execution can operate seamlessly across the enterprise.

      • Redesign work

        Redesign workflows, operating models, and workforce structures around human and AI collaboration. Sustained performance depends on rethinking how work flows across functions, systems, decisions, and value streams, while adopting a total workforce approach that integrates people, AI agents, automation, and decision-making into a coordinated operating model.

      • Rethink the enterprise

        Move beyond coordinating initiatives toward orchestrating the enterprise as an integrated, continuously evolving system. Enterprise orchestration enables organizations to align priorities, integrate execution, and dynamically direct decisions, capabilities, and resources across interconnected activities as conditions change.

      Transforming the Enterprise

      Discover how organizations can unlock growth, speed, resilience, and competitive advantage 

      Download the report
      The defining challenge for organizations today is not whether they can transform. It’s whether they understand how value is created across the enterprise, and can ensure that transformation reinforces it.
      Adrian Clamp

      Global Head of Consulting Strategy & Investment

      About the research

      Transforming the Enterprise 2026 is based on a global survey of more than 1,750 senior transformation leaders across 20 countries, conducted in February 2026. Respondents include C-suite executives and functional leaders across Finance, Front Office, HR, Supply Chain, Risk, and Technology.

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      Get in touch

      Adrian Clamp
      Adrian Clamp

      Global Head of Consulting Strategy & Investment

      KPMG International