Nordic companies are increasingly prioritizing faster implementation and measurable outcomes in their AI initiatives, while industry leaders prepare to meet at IFS Connect Nordics 2026, taking place tomorrow.
The annual event brings together customers, partners and experts from across the IFS ecosystem and is expected to highlight how industrial AI is evolving from early experimentation to practical application within ERP and capital-intensive industries. For many organizations, the emphasis has shifted to how AI can create real value in day-to-day operations.
The question is no longer whether companies should adopt AI, but how quickly they can make it deliver value in real business processes, says Fredrik Wingren of Addovation, an IFS Premium Partner and gold sponsor of the event.
This shift is particularly clear in ERP environments, where companies want to embed AI capabilities directly into core systems rather than run isolated pilots. The goal is to increase efficiency, support decision-making and make better use of available data.
Events like IFS Connect play an important role in this transition by providing a platform to share practical experience and insights across industries. By gathering organizations facing similar challenges, the event accelerates learning and helps identify new improvement opportunities.
Addovation also notes a growing need to validate AI use cases more quickly.
“We see a clear change in expectations. Organizations are increasingly focused on testing concrete ideas and understanding their value early,” Wingren says.
In response, companies are adopting time-boxed innovation practices such as Addovation’s “AI in a Day,” which rapidly tests specific use cases and develops functioning prototypes.
This fuels a wider interest in iterative approaches, where solutions are developed and refined in shorter cycles rather than through lengthy exploratory projects. The aim is to reduce uncertainty while ensuring initiatives align with real operational needs.
At the same time, organizations continue to face challenges related to data quality, system complexity and organizational maturity, all of which can affect how quickly AI solutions are implemented and scaled.
As industrial AI matures across the Nordics, the ability to move efficiently from idea to implementation is becoming an increasingly important factor in realizing business value.