Fractional CMO for Engineering & Industrial Companies | Off-Highway Machines | Power & Decarbonisation | AI | Marketing
If you’ve just come out of a strategy meeting and AI wasn’t a serious part of the discussion… you have just wasted two hours. September is the start of “strategy season.” Across our industry, leadership teams will be gathering to decide the priorities for 2026. But if those conversations don’t include AI, then we’re missing the most important driver of change in engineering companies today. The real questions are: - How can we squeeze more juice out of the same lemons - How can AI shorten our design cycles? - How will it reshape supply chains? - How can it help us serve our customers better? - What new competitors will emerge who use AI to move faster and cheaper? - How will customer expectations for speed, value, and innovation rise? - Do our teams have the growth mindset to adapt—or are we still clinging to “the old way”? I’m not saying every answer is obvious. But if we’re not even asking these questions, we’re running blind. 👉 This September, make sure AI isn’t treated as a side topic. In industrial markets, it’s not just another tool—it’s the lens through which strategy should now be viewed.
Oliver, some great questions to ask, but AI initiatives should be there to solve a problem. The 1st step should be knowing where your pain points are, or what step changes are need in key growth areas, and then asking how could AI be used to solve this. In addition, businesses need to ensure they understand the technology, data and systems readiness, risk around privacy and they have some form of governance framework in place to support their needs, and if not, plan activities to build these foundations.
Performance optimiser | Change | Six Sigma
3d‘If we’re not even asking these questions we’re running blind’ is spot on. Many are running blind. In my view having AI on the agenda as a single item is still too myopic. The kind of questions you’ve posed open thinking more and can be expanded to other areas like how will AI change the kind of people we hire in the coming years? how will it improve our forecasting etc . In short how can we use this technology to improve everything we do. My (controversial?) opinion is that the foundations for a company to successfully build AI into its strategy are for it to have a clear and meaningful purpose (why the company exists) and clarity on how it does what it does (processes). Too many companies are weak in these two areas and look to AI either as a threat or as a magic answer.