Signal 74% expect volatility to create new business opportunities

Summary

The headline figure of IBM's first trend is that 74% of executives believe that geopolitical and economic turbulence will generate fresh business openings for their own organisation during 2026. Only about a quarter disagree. IBM calls this the bright side of an environment in which most leaders also report threats to their technology investments. The point it draws is that the advantage lies in noticing market openings as soon as they appear and exploiting them before they close. Doing so, IBM argues, depends on flexible infrastructure, data flowing to the right people and agents, and the use of agentic AI for faster decisions.