Future value creation will require speed, adaptability and sustainable execution

Q&A with Rémi Pesseguier, CEO and Founder of Singulier, a digital, data, and AI strategy and transformation consultancy based in Paris, London, and Munich. Trusted by some of the industry’s leading private equity groups, Singulier combines value creation advisory with leading digital and technology expertise to drive due diligence and business transformation.

IPEM: What is the most misunderstood aspect of value creation in your area of expertise today? 

RP: There are three main misconceptions I see repeatedly.

First, people underestimate how much organisation and governance needs to evolve for a full digital and data transformation to succeed. It is not just about technology or AI adoption. Instead, it is about equipping teams with the right skill sets and empowering faster decision-making. More importantly, the CEO must lead from the front for it to be credible and lasting.

Second, there’s often a tendency to chase “advanced” use cases before fixing the fundamentals. Strong data governance, data quality, and a robust business intelligence foundation are the bedrock. Without these basics, organisations lack the trusted information needed to make good decisions at pace. 

Third, digital, data, and AI are sometimes treated as secondary to core strategy, when in fact they are now critical to the sustainability of business models. This is especially true pre-deal: some deal teams still fail to investigate whether a target has the digital maturity, governance, and data infrastructure required to scale. That’s why digital, tech, data, and AI due diligence is as essential as commercial due diligence today.

IPEM: Where are you seeing the biggest gap between boardroom ambition and execution on the ground? 

RP: Ambition is usually high in the boardroom, with strong motivation to digitise, adopt AI, and transform. The gap is in execution and change management. Too often, organisations underestimate how hard it is for teams to change how they work while still running day-to-day operations.

What matters is orchestrating expertise effectively through aligning internal teams with external support. You need to give the right mandate and sponsorship. Without this, even the best strategies falter. In practice, successful transformation depends less on tools and more on creating the environment where teams can genuinely adapt their ways of working. 

IPEM: What capability or mindset shift will define the next generation of value creation? 

RP: Tomorrow’s value creation will be defined by speed, adaptability, and sustainability in execution. The leaders who win will diagnose and frame priorities faster, and will demonstrate excellent execution alongside the agility to adjust when something isn’t working 

This requires a mindset shift: viewing transformation not as a long, linear programme but as an iterative cycle. Strong data foundations, AI-enabled insights, and flexible governance are what allow organisations to adapt with speed. Value will increasingly be created by those who can execute, learn, and re-execute faster than their peers.

IPEM: If you could embed one question into every due diligence process, what would it be?

RP: “How does the company’s technology, data, and AI foundation enable scalable value creation, and how quickly can the organisation adapt?” 

This reveals whether the business has the maturity and agility to turn strategy into results; not in theory, but in practice.

IPEM: How do you think the operational value-creation playbook might evolve in the coming years?

RP: The playbook will become increasingly AI-enabled and execution-focused.

AI will accelerate analysis and supplement judgment, but the real shift will be in how quickly organisations move from insight to action.

Transformation will no longer be about lengthy roadmaps, it will be about diagnosing, executing, and adjusting faster. As reflected by our work in Singulier, data foundations will be non-negotiable, digital excellence will be crucial, but the real differentiator will be how effectively organisations combine them with agile execution.