Team Autonomy and Control of the Numbers: the False Dilemma Facing CEOs in 2026

Every CEO wants two things:

• team autonomy, to reduce dependency on IT and accelerate execution,
• control, with a single, reliable version of the numbers.

Most organizations fail because they treat these two objectives as opposites. And that is where the problem begins.

The real issue: autonomy versus governance

When autonomy is not framed, it quickly turns into:

• “everyone has their own dashboard”,
• diverging figures across teams,
• a gradual loss of trust at management level.

On the other hand, overly rigid governance stifles initiative and recreates heavy IT dependency.

The solution is not to choose between autonomy and control. The solution is governed autonomy.

A simple and robust operating model

High-performing organizations clearly separate two domains.

What should remain free

To accelerate decision-making and enable business intelligence, teams must retain full freedom over:

• data exploration,
• client or portfolio segmentation,
• business-specific views,
• comments and analysis,
• scenarios and simulations.

This is where decision value is created.

What is non-negotiable

To protect data reliability and credibility, certain elements must remain strictly governed:

• official KPI definitions,
• calculation rules,
• reference scopes and perimeters,
• access and distribution rights.

Without these foundations, autonomy becomes a risk.

Why this is a strategic issue in 2026

The new generation of clients — and your own teams — expects:

• responsiveness,
• digital-first interactions,
• immediate answers.

If the organization cannot deliver reliable figures quickly, someone will do it on the side:

• Excel exports,
• local shadow files,
• parallel, non-governed reporting.

At that point, the CEO does not just lose consistency. Control is lost.

Governed autonomy: a leadership lever, not a compromise

This is exactly the approach supported by Integraal for Banking Intelligence:

• a business-driven catalog of official KPIs,
• clear and explicit governance,
• dashboards that business teams can adapt,
• without overloading or blocking IT.

The result: teams gain autonomy, management retains control, and the organization operates on a shared, trusted reality.