Businesses Optimize for Uncertain Market Environment by Investing in Customer Experience and Supply Chain Efficiency

January 20, 2025 – Amidst economic uncertainty, a new report from the Capgemini Research Institute reveals that business leaders are becoming increasingly confident about their organizations' outlook. Despite concerns over tariffs and trade disputes, executives are prioritizing investment in customer experience, supply chain transformation, and sustainability to drive growth, efficiency, and resilience.

According to the report "Navigating Uncertainty with Confidence – Investment Priorities for 2025," released today, 62% of business leaders feel optimistic about their organization's prospects for 2025. This optimism is driving increased investment in areas such as:

• Customer experience: nearly 8 in 10 executives plan to increase investment, focusing on enhancing the overall customer experience through personalization, digital transformation, and innovation.
• Supply chain transformation: with supply chains playing a critical role in addressing concerns over tariffs and trade disputes, 63% of executives expect to increase their spend on supply chain transformation.

To adapt to an uncertain market environment, executives are investing heavily in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI. In the US, business leaders are expected to outpace their peers in terms of tech investments in 2025, with nearly 3 in 4 executives ranking AI/generative AI as one of their top three priority technologies.

The report highlights that sustainability investment is becoming increasingly important, with 62% of executives planning to increase their sustainability budgets by 10.5% on average. Climate tech, including hydrogen, renewables, batteries, nuclear, and carbon capture, is a key area of focus, followed by sustainable R&D and product development, biodiversity protection, and water conservation/management.

"Business leaders are navigating uncertainty with confidence and resilience," said Aiman Ezzat, CEO at Capgemini. "Technology has a critical role to play in improving competitiveness, productivity, and efficiency while reducing costs. By focusing on innovation, supply chains, and sustainability, leaders will set themselves up for success in an uncertain environment and build resilient, adaptable organizations."

Read the full report: https://www.capgemini.com/insights/research-library/investment-trends-2025

Key Findings:

• 62% of business leaders feel optimistic about their organization's prospects for 2025.
• 63% of executives expect to increase spending on supply chain transformation.
• AI and generative AI are expected to be priority technologies in 2025, particularly in the US.
• Sustainability investment is becoming increasingly important, with a focus on climate tech and emerging areas such as sustainable R&D and product development.