The year 2024 has reshuffled the priorities of French companies. With a tightening European regulatory framework on artificial intelligence, stabilizing hybrid work models, and tight budgetary decisions, the entrepreneurial landscape no longer resembles that of two years ago. Here are the key areas that are truly shaping leaders’ decisions this year.
AI Act and training obligation: the regulatory constraint that companies are discovering
The European regulation on artificial intelligence (AI Act, EU Regulation 2024/1689) has introduced, via its Article 4, a requirement for AI literacy for every employee exposed to an artificial intelligence system in their professional activity. This provision has been in effect since February 2, 2025.
The text is not limited to a recommendation. The company must ensure a level of competence and understanding of risks proportional to the role of each employee. From August 2, 2026, national supervisory authorities will have the power to monitor and sanction this obligation.
To keep track of this type of subject continuously, regular monitoring of the news on Portail Entreprises allows for identifying regulatory deadlines before they become urgent.
This compliance dimension transforms AI training from a voluntary investment into a binding regulatory requirement. Human resources and legal departments find themselves on the front lines, while most internal training plans have not yet integrated this aspect. Feedback from the field varies on this point: some large companies have anticipated with dedicated modules, while others have not yet grasped the extent of the necessary adaptation.
Hybrid work in France: stabilization or regression?
Research conducted by Stanford University has predicted that about a third or more of office employees will continue to work in a hybrid manner in the long term. In France, this trend is confirmed, but it is taking a more structured form than in the United States.
Positions such as Chief Hybrid Officer are appearing in organizational charts. Companies like Meta, Doist, and GitLab have already integrated this type of profile to manage remote work organization. This role involves optimizing coordination between in-person and remote work, measuring actual productivity, and maintaining company culture despite the geographical dispersion of teams.
What employees are concretely expecting
The IWG study highlights stronger expectations from employees in 2024. Among the issues that are coming up:
- Childcare support from the company, an underestimated retention lever in French SMEs
- Designing spaces adapted to neurodiversity, with quiet zones and adjusted communication protocols
- The return of in-person lunch breaks as a moment of cohesion, rather than just a time obligation
Hybrid work is no longer an experiment but a social acquisition to be structured. Companies attempting a full return to the office are facing recruitment and retention difficulties, particularly in digital professions.
Cybersecurity and digital trust: a rising budget item
The McKinsey Technology Trends Outlook 2024 ranks cybersecurity among the investment priorities of leaders. The geopolitical context and the increase in ransomware attacks are pushing companies to strengthen their systems, including SMEs that previously thought they were less exposed.
The subject goes beyond pure technique. Digital trust is becoming a commercial argument: clients and partners demand guarantees on data protection before signing a contract. Certifications and security audits are multiplying, increasing the administrative burden but enhancing the company’s credibility in its market.
Leaders’ budgetary decisions
In an economic context where interest rates remain high and investments in certain technological sectors have slowed, leaders are balancing between digital transformation and consolidation. Generative artificial intelligence is capturing an increasing share of innovation budgets, sometimes at the expense of cybersecurity or the modernization of existing systems.
This tension creates asymmetric risks. A company deploying generative AI tools without securing its infrastructure exposes itself to data leaks or non-compliance with GDPR. The available data does not yet allow for precise measurement of the extent of this gap between AI adoption and security maturity, but warning signals are multiplying in feedback from CIOs.
Robotics, renewable energies, and industry: medium-term bets
Beyond AI and digital technology, two sectors are concentrating investments for the 2025-2026 horizon:
- Robotics and automation are gaining ground in the French industry, driven by the difficulty in recruiting for arduous positions and the desire to relocate certain productions
- Electrification and renewable energies are restructuring supply chains, with companies integrating these criteria into their calls for tenders and subcontractor choices
- Transitional management is developing as a lever to manage these rapid transformations, with companies preferring to hire experienced profiles for short missions rather than restructuring internally
These trends are not new, but their acceleration in 2024 is due to the conjunction of regulatory constraints (CSRD, AI Act) and international competitive pressures. French companies that do not integrate these issues into their three-year strategy are falling behind in a way that is difficult to catch up.
The landscape of 2024 is characterized less by spectacular breaks than by the accumulation of new obligations. AI training, structuring hybrid work, investments in cybersecurity, energy transition: each subject taken in isolation seems manageable. It is their simultaneous overlap that puts management under pressure, particularly in medium-sized companies where resources remain limited.