Over the past two years, conversations around AI have been dominated by adoption. Enterprises have focused on identifying use cases, evaluating technologies, launching pilots, and understanding where AI can create value. Across industries, leaders have invested significant time and resources in determining how these technologies can improve productivity, enhance employee experiences, strengthen decision-making, and accelerate business outcomes. Today, however, the conversation is becoming more nuanced.
As AI moves from experimentation towards enterprise-wide deployment, organisations are beginning to confront a new set of challenges. Questions around governance, workforce preparedness, leadership capability, organisational agility, and change management are becoming increasingly central to transformation efforts. The focus is gradually shifting from whether organisations are adopting AI to whether they are prepared to realise its potential at scale. This transition marks an important moment for organisations across the region and one that demands a deeper understanding.
Why have we launched SHRPA 2026?
At People Matters, we have spent the past year engaging with HR leaders, business executives, technology leaders, and transformation practitioners across APAC and the Middle East. While their industries, priorities, and organisational contexts may differ, a common theme continues to emerge.
There is significant momentum around AI adoption, but there is far less clarity around organisational readiness. Leaders are grappling with questions that extend beyond technology implementation. How should workforce capabilities evolve? What new skills will become critical? How should organisations govern AI responsibly? What investments are required to build readiness at scale? And perhaps most importantly, what distinguishes organisations that are successfully translating AI ambition into meaningful business outcomes?
These conversations have informed the conception of the SHRPA 2026 HR Tech & Transformation Research. Designed as a comprehensive regional study, SHRPA 2026 aims to examine how organisations are approaching AI-driven transformation, where readiness gaps exist, and what priorities are shaping the future of HR and work.
Mapping the state of organisational readiness
The research comes at a time when organisations are finding themselves at very different stages of maturity. Some have already embedded AI into core workflows and strategic decision-making processes. Others remain focused on experimentation and proof-of-concept initiatives. Many are actively evaluating how AI should fit within broader transformation agendas.
Yet adoption alone tells only part of the story. Understanding how organisations are preparing their people, processes, leadership teams, and operating models for this shift is equally important. Through SHRPA 2026, we aim to capture a more complete picture of organisational readiness across the region.
The study will explore areas including AI adoption across the employee lifecycle, HR technology investment priorities, workforce capability development, leadership preparedness, organisational change management, governance frameworks, and the relationship between AI adoption and business outcomes. By examining these dimensions together, the research seeks to move beyond isolated trends and uncover the broader patterns shaping enterprise transformation.
Building a regional benchmark
One of the most valuable aspects of large-scale research is its ability to create context. While individual organisations often have visibility into their own transformation journeys, they frequently have limited insight into how peers are navigating similar challenges. Benchmarking provides leaders with an opportunity to understand where they stand, what practices are emerging across the market, and where future opportunities may lie.
SHRPA 2026 seeks to create exactly that perspective. Bringing together insights from CHROs, HR leaders, business executives, transformation leaders, and technology decision-makers, the study aims to build one of the most comprehensive views of AI readiness and HR transformation across APAC and the Middle East. The findings will help illuminate not only where organisations are today, but also where they are heading.
SHRPA Tech and Transformation Research 2026: Business & HR Leaders Survey
The first survey brings together CHROs, HR leaders, business executives, transformation leaders, and technology decision-makers across organisations in APAC and the Middle East.
The survey will explore:
AI adoption and workforce transformation priorities
HR technology investment trends
Organisational readiness and capability development
Governance, change management, and leadership preparedness
The evolving relationship between AI adoption and business outcomes
This survey aims to establish a benchmark for how organisations are navigating the transition from AI experimentation to enterprise-wide transformation. Take the survey here.
SHRPA Tech and Transformation 2026: HR Tech Innovators & Investors Survey
The second survey focuses on the organisations shaping the future of the HR technology ecosystem, including HR tech providers, founders, innovators, product leaders, investors, consultants, and industry experts.
The survey will examine:
Emerging technology trends and innovation priorities
Market opportunities and investment patterns
Product evolution and customer demand shifts
The role of AI in shaping the next generation of HR solutions
Predictions for the future of the HR technology landscape
The goal is to better understand how the ecosystem itself is evolving in response to changing organisational needs and technological possibilities. Take the survey here.
Contributing to the next chapter of transformation
The defining challenge of the coming years may not be technological adoption alone. It may be the ability of organisations to prepare their workforces, leadership teams, and cultures for a fundamentally different future of work.
Understanding how organisations are responding to that challenge is the purpose of SHRPA 2026. As we bring this year's research to life, we invite leaders across the region to contribute their perspectives and help shape one of the most important conversations facing organisations today.