From Data to Advantage: Why 2026 Is the Year Information Must Work Harder
By Richard Ndebele
By 2026, access to data is no longer a differentiator. Across markets, organisations now operate with extensive digital systems, satellite-derived insights, sustainability metrics and analytical tools. What increasingly separates leaders from followers is not who has data, but who converts it into consistent competitive and operational advantage.
This distinction matters. In an environment shaped by tighter capital, climate volatility and rising stakeholder expectations, decisions carry higher consequences. Information that does not meaningfully improve decision quality quickly becomes a cost rather than an asset.
When data stops adding value
Many organisations are rich in indicators but poor in insight. Dashboards multiply, reports grow thicker, yet strategic choices often remain unchanged. This is not a technology failure. It is a utilisation challenge.
High-performing organisations treat data as part of their decision architecture — embedded in planning cycles, investment appraisal and performance review. Others treat it as an output. The difference is subtle, but the impact is substantial.
In 2026, value increasingly accrues to those who design systems around decisions, not data collection.
Credibility in sustainability information
Sustainability and ESG information have moved firmly into the mainstream of business analysis and capital markets. The next phase of maturity, however, is credibility.
Geospatial technologies — including GIS and remote sensing — provide a powerful means of strengthening confidence in reported information. Environmental exposure, land-use change, infrastructure location and climate-related risk can be independently assessed and tracked over time.
Organisations that integrate spatial verification into their sustainability and risk frameworks move beyond narrative compliance toward decision-grade intelligence. This shift is already influencing how long-term risk is priced and how capital is allocated.
Intelligence requires context
Advanced analytics and artificial intelligence continue to evolve rapidly. Yet their usefulness remains closely tied to relevance. Models perform best when grounded in accurate, localised and spatially coherent data.
Experience across sectors shows that simpler models, well aligned to operating realities, often outperform complex systems built on weak assumptions. In practice, better intelligence is less about sophistication and more about fit-for-purpose design.
Leaders recognise that insight improves when analytics reflect how systems actually behave, not how they are assumed to behave.
Seeing investment clearly
One of the most effective — and underutilised — applications of data lies in linking financial decisions to physical outcomes. Spatially enabled analysis allows organisations to visualise where assets are located, how they perform, and how risks cluster geographically.
This clarity supports better prioritisation, more disciplined execution and stronger accountability. It also improves resilience by revealing exposure that is not obvious in purely financial datasets.
As capital becomes more selective, visibility of outcomes increasingly matters as much as the availability of funding.
A leadership moment
The defining opportunity of 2026 is not technological. It is managerial. Organisations that lead will be those that recalibrate how information is used — shifting focus from accumulation to application, from reporting to reasoning.
This does not require more data. It requires clearer questions, stronger integration and disciplined use of insight at decision points that matter.
In that sense, 2026 marks a quiet but important transition: from data abundance to data advantage. Those who recognise this early will shape outcomes rather than react to them.
About the Author
Richard Ndebele is Manager: Technical, Research and Quality Assurance at the Chartered Governance and Accountancy Institute in Zimbabwe (CGI Zimbabwe), and serves as Country Champion for the PAFA Sustainability Centre of Excellence. He writes on governance, sustainability and public financial management, with a focus on strengthening decision-making and institutional performance in African economies.
Contact: rndebele@cgizim.org
