AI as the Backbone of Lean and Agile Business Operations in 2026

The year 2025 will be remembered by business leaders as a period of persistent uncertainty. Volatile global economic conditions, geopolitical tensions between major powers, inflation-driven pressure on household consumption, and increasingly unpredictable digital behaviours created an environment where long-term certainty was elusive.

Strategies that once took months to design often became obsolete within weeks. In Indonesia, these pressures forced organizations to rethink not only their marketing approaches, but the very way they run their businesses.

As organizations enter 2026, two strategic principles emerge as essential for navigating this uncertainty: Lean and Agile. While often discussed in the context of marketing, these principles increasingly define how entire business operations must be structured. At the center of this transformation is artificial intelligence (AI) not as a supporting tool, but as a core operational enabler.

 

Lean Operations: Doing More With Less, Powered by AI

Lean is no longer simply about cost cutting or operational efficiency. In the 2026 landscape, lean becomes a growth discipline, one th