Digital Excellence Report 2027
Scaling Digital Excellence: from rewiring to value creation with AI
AI has moved from experiment to infrastructure. The organisations pulling ahead in 2027 won't be the ones running the most pilots. They'll be the ones turning speed into measurable value.
The central thesis
Triple the value, half the time
When data, applications and AI agents reinforce each other, value doesn't add up. It multiplies. That's the new maths of digital delivery, and the thread running through every chapter of this report.
This 50+ page report is not another trend overview
The strategic compass to help executives lead with clarity and confidence in the age of AI
For over 25 years, AE has been a trusted partner in Digital Excellence for more than 100 leading organisations in Belgium. With nearly 500 experts, we work alongside ambitious clients across industries, guided by a clear conviction: technology creates lasting value only when it is aligned with business goals and embraced by people.
Set aside ±45 minutes for a report packed with:
- five interconnected evolutions that will shape digital success over the next two to three years, each with clear implications for leadership.
- expert insights from 10 AE thought leaders in AI, data and digital transformation.
- actionable case examples that turn strategy into business impact.
The Digital Excellence Report at a glance
Chapter 1 - The numbers behind the magic: how AI creates value
AI adoption is everywhere, but measurable business impact remains much harder to achieve. Discover how to move beyond experimentation by choosing the right use cases, redesigning workflows and building an operating model that turns AI potential into measurable value.
Chapter 2 - Steering value at portfolio scale
As AI creates more opportunities, deciding where to invest becomes even more critical. Learn how value-driven portfolio steering helps you prioritise the right initiatives, adapt as conditions change and keep capital, capacity and leadership attention focused on measurable business outcomes.
Chapter 3 - How AI turns legacy modernisation into a series of safe steps
AI is changing the economics of legacy modernisation. Explore how agentic approaches can turn large, high-risk transformation programmes into smaller, measurable steps—making modernisation faster, safer and easier to scale.
Chapter 4 - The Agentic Software Delivery Lifecycle & AI-native apps
The AI model is only one part of building solutions that deliver value in the real world. Discover how compound AI systems, agents, orchestration, guardrails, evaluation and shared context are reshaping how organisations design, build and scale software.
Chapter 5 - Data as the last defensible moat
As technology and code become increasingly accessible, your organisation’s unique data and accumulated experience become powerful differentiators. Learn how to unlock that hidden knowledge and turn it into trusted, AI-ready data that fuels smarter decisions, stronger AI and new sources of value.
Read the Digital Excellence Report 2027
Get the full report
Five chapters on turning AI adoption into measurable value, from portfolio steering to legacy modernisation, the Agentic SDLC and the data moat only you can build.