Capgemini positions 2026 as the “Year of Truth for AI,” arguing that corporate leaders, particularly in retail and e-commerce, need to move beyond proofs of concept and fully integrate artificial intelligence into core operations. The company frames this transition as a shift from innovation-focused pilots to strategic implementation that delivers measurable profit and operational gains. Daniel Zavalza, chief technology officer at Capgemini, says the main challenge with agentic artificial intelligence is not technical, but procedural, because it forces organizations to rethink long-established processes rather than simply layering new tools onto old workflows. The company underscores that artificial intelligence has moved from being treated as a research and development expense to becoming a financial imperative with a direct impact on the bottom line.
Capgemini reports that ROI for AI, depending on implementation and use case, averages 42%, with payback in just one to two years, and executives say this financial profile is driving more decisive board-level support, especially at publicly traded companies focused on operational spending and stock performance. The firm notes that generative artificial intelligence can initially boost employee productivity by 30-35%, but warns that the greatest value emerges when companies use the freed-up capacity for strategic reallocation of time rather than simple optimization. In customer-facing sectors such as e-commerce and financial services, Capgemini argues that competition has shifted from product features to overall experience, and introduces its concept of Cloud 3.0 as a new stage of cloud computing centered on intelligence, automation, and digital sovereignty. Martha Gonzalez, chief operating officer at Capgemini, describes a “paradox of technological sovereignty,” in which leaders must balance decisions on workloads, data control, and architecture while preserving flexibility and compliance.
Security is another pillar of Capgemini’s outlook, as the rise of artificial intelligence coincides with an escalation in cyberthreats. The company notes that in Mexico, cyberattack attempts have tripled, reaching 35 billion globally, and urges organizations to move from reactive defenses to resilient, proactive strategies based on anticipatory automation. Zavalza argues that waiting for an incident to justify security investments is no longer viable, and says that the choice of single-cloud or multi-cloud architecture directly shapes an organization’s technological sovereignty, especially in regulated sectors such as fintech. On the commercial front, Capgemini highlights agentic artificial intelligence as a quiet but powerful disruptor in e-commerce, with software agents capable of monitoring home inventories and automatically reordering products, reducing friction and opening new business opportunities. Alonso Yañez, consumer goods and retail leader at Capgemini, says this phenomenon turns previously effortful transactions into seamless experiences. The article points to retailers like Walmart, which is integrating OpenAI to manage 15% of online purchases in the United States, as evidence that artificial intelligence is becoming a primary engine for both search and transactions in digital retail.
