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Padraig Ryan from Navitise Consulting shares his 2026 outlook for businesses and talent and explores the strategic priorities that should be top of leaders’ agendas for the year ahead.
Three Business Challenges for 2026
- Competitiveness
The cost of doing business is likely to remain a challenge, creating pressure across industries, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises. Regulatory burdens are increasing. Requirements such as the pension auto-enrolment and newer regulations around migrant workers and minimum salaries add further pressure, particularly on smaller organisations.
Demonstrating competitiveness on a global scale will also be important. Implementing the Accelerating Infrastructure Report will be critical to both domestic and international growth. Projects like Metrolink will make Dublin more accessible and attractive, while the Greater Dublin Drainage project will enable future housing development.
- Attracting and Retaining Top Talent
This challenge is less about the quantity of talent and more about quality and engagement. While Ireland did not experience a “great resignation” on the scale seen elsewhere, employee expectations are changing. Today, people value more than pay and bonuses; they seek job satisfaction, opportunities for new challenges, and a healthy work-life balance.
This is happening against the backdrop of rising regulatory obligations, a higher cost of living, and a housing crisis. All of which makes attracting and retaining key staff costly and challenging.
Taken together, these challenges highlight that competitiveness and talent management are deeply intertwined. Housing, infrastructure, operational costs, and regulatory compliance all feed into an organisation’s ability to attract and retain talent, while also remaining resilient in a highly competitive business landscape.
- Global Volatility and the Impact on Investment
Brexit, COVID, the war in Ukraine, and the Trump presidency have forced businesses to adapt to changing environments, but not without pain and challenge. Volatility has become the new norm, and organisations recognise they can’t fully mitigate against volatility because nobody can predict what or when the next crisis will be.
While operations within Ireland are generally resilient, investment decisions made outside Ireland add a further layer of complexity. Ireland still performs well in attracting foreign direct investment. Still, decisions about whether to invest now, based on what we know today that we didn’t know 12 to 18 months ago, are being influenced by factors like tariffs in ways they weren’t previously. Projects may be paused, investment levels reduced, or alternative investment options outside Ireland considered as a result.
Top Three Priorities for Irish Businesses in 2026:
- Assess your Operating Model.
Build resilience into your organisation. Ensure your operating model is resilient to shocks, even when you don’t know what those shocks will be. While you can do some business continuity and scenario planning, stress-testing how well your organisation and wider value chain can absorb shocks is essential, followed by determining the actions you need to take to protect against them.
- Protect Top Talent
Talent acquisition and retention will remain critical. We are operating at high employment levels in Ireland. Protecting your top talent will be vital, especially because it links directly to resilience. Assess your culture, talk to your superstars, and understand what makes them stay and what they want from the organisation. Bringing them closer to leadership will be key.
- Strategically Invest in Technology
Organisations must assess the needs of the business and opportunities and choose a technology solution to meet their specific needs. Avoid chasing trends or investing in AI simply because your competitors are. Whether it is a new ERP system or an AI solution, ask the questions:
- Will our organisation actually get a return from this investment?
- Is this the right solution for our use cases and our organisation?
The key is to stress-test your organisational needs and not just follow the market.
Padraig Ryan (LinkedIn>>>) is the Managing Director of Navitise Consulting. Navitise is a boutique consulting firm that combines big-firm expertise with a personalised approach, delivering strategy, operational excellence and transformation solutions.