The quantum train – Second station: getting on board

The reflex is almost always the same… When a new technology appears, organizations start by looking at the available products. They compare vendors, assess costs, analyze features, and try to determine the best time to invest. Quantum computing is no exception to this logic. Yet this approach risks leading many companies into a dead end.

Getting on board the quantum train does not mean buying a quantum computer. In reality, the vast majority of organizations will probably never own one. As is the case today with large computing centers, they will use capabilities offered remotely, embedded in services or hidden behind platforms they already use. Real boarding begins well before the technology itself. It starts when an organization accepts that some of the certainties on which it built its digital environment will gradually be called into question.

For several decades, IT security has rested on a simple assumption: the computing power available made certain mathematical problems practically impossible to solve within a reasonable time. This assumption is at the heart of a large part of the cryptographic mechanisms that today protect our communications, our financial transactions, our critical infrastructure, and our digital identities.

The arrival of quantum computing does not mean that all these mechanisms will suddenly become useless. It does, however, force organizations to recognize that they cannot remain unchanged indefinitely. It is precisely this realization that marks the true beginning of the journey.

The best-prepared companies are not those that invest first in the most expensive technologies. They are the ones that begin asking the right questions, such as:

• What are our most critical digital assets?
• Where is our most sensitive data stored?
• Which cryptographic mechanisms currently protect our systems?
• How long will some of our information have to remain confidential? Five years? Ten years? Twenty years?
• Which technology dependencies risk becoming problematic as standards evolve?

These questions may seem technical. They are, however, deeply strategic. A company that does not know its dependencies cannot truly measure its risk exposure. It moves forward without knowing where its points of fragility lie. Getting on board also means preparing people.

Every technological revolution is often presented as a matter of machines. Experience shows, however, that the real challenges are almost always human. Organizations will have to train their teams, develop new skills, rethink certain practices, and accept that professions will evolve. Today's experts will not become obsolete; they will simply have to enrich their expertise in order to keep creating value in a different environment.

It is also essential to understand that preparation does not concern IT departments alone. Executive management, boards of directors, risk officers, legal counsel, compliance specialists, intellectual property managers, and cybersecurity teams will all have a role to play. Quantum is not a technology project. It is a transformation that will gradually affect the entire organization.

That is why waiting until the first commercial solutions are widely available would be a mistake. By the time they reach maturity, the most advanced organizations will already have identified their priorities, established their roadmap, begun migrating their most critical systems, and developed the skills needed to support this evolution. The others will only then start wondering where to begin.

Quantum Beyond relies on preparation to deliver maximum return, rather than acting in reaction. Getting on board is not about running toward the locomotive. It is about choosing your car, planning your itinerary, and understanding where the journey will take the organization over the coming years.

The quantum train is in motion. The first organizations have already left the platform. For the others, there is still time to get on board. But every month that passes further reduces the time available to calmly prepare for what promises to be one of the most significant technological transformations of our era.