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Tech Trends 2026 Report Released: Eight Emerging Trends Redefining the Future of IT, According to Findings by Info-Tech Research Group
Wednesday, October 15, 2025
As organizations face increasing uncertainty and rapid technological change, Info-Tech Research Group's annual Tech Trends report offers vital insights into the technologies, risks, and opportunities shaping IT's future. The comprehensive research report published for 2026 highlights eight key trends that will redefine IT strategy in the coming year, including supply chain resilience, AI-driven autonomy, and exponential IT transformation.
TORONTO, Oct. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ - Info-Tech Research Group, a global leader in IT research and advisory, has released its highly anticipated Tech Trends 2026 report. The firm's annual research-backed trends report reveals for the coming year how geopolitical instability, advances in artificial intelligence, and exponential transformations are forcing organizations to reimagine their technology foundations and leadership approaches.
Info-Tech's research findings show that technology leaders are increasingly acting as connectors of strategy, innovation, and risk. As agentic AI, quantum computing, and adaptive sensing innovations accelerate, CIOs will need to translate these forces into measurable outcomes. The global firm reports that in 2026, the CIO's mandate will extend well beyond traditional IT boundaries. The data also shows that IT leadership has already begun transitioning from siloed digital projects to enterprise-wide orchestration, driven by foresight, governance, and agility.
"2026 will mark a decisive shift in how IT leaders define success as they continue moving from operational efficiency to strategic foresight and measurable transformation," says Brian Jackson, principal research director and lead author of the report. "As global uncertainty intensifies and automation gains agency, IT leaders will need to move beyond managing disruption to orchestrating resilience and exponential value creation. The future belongs to those who can make the leap from now to next."
Drawing on insights from the firm's Future of IT 2026 Survey, which included responses from more than 700 IT decision-makers worldwide between May and July 2025, Info-Tech's Tech Trends 2026 report combines survey data with expert interviews and case studies from leading organizations. These inputs represent diverse regions, including North America, Europe, and the APAC region, as well as various industries such as financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, government, and the public sector. Together, they shape the eight trends grouped under three defining themes that will guide CIOs and technology leaders in the year ahead.
The Eight Tech Trends for 2026 Identified by Info-Tech Research Group
The trends in Info-Tech's Tech Trends 2026 report illustrate how IT leaders are shifting from managing isolated digital initiatives to leading enterprise-wide transformation as technology and business strategy become intertwined.
Within the report, Info-Tech classifies highly mature IT departments as "Innovators," representing organizations with advanced adoption, stronger performance, and higher confidence in emerging technology outcomes. Only about one quarter of IT departments identify as Innovators in the survey. In contrast, the report also identifies "Average" IT departments, often described as "Trusted Operators" or "Business Partners," which reflect mid-maturity organizations that advance more cautiously and exhibit lower confidence in delivering exponential value.
The following eight trends, divided into three main themes, capture that progression, showing the evolution from adapting to global uncertainty to steering intelligent automation and building organizations capable of sustained, exponential growth:
Theme 1: From Global Market to Multipolar Uncertainty
-- Trend 1 - Resilient Supply Chain Sourcing: Organizations are moving from
cost-driven global sourcing to diversified, resilient models amid
tariffs, geopolitical tensions, and vendor dependency. Leaders cite
tariff-driven cost volatility, increasing regulatory complexity, and
vendor price risk as the top disruptors, prompting a trend of
diversification and the adoption of sovereign AI approaches. A 481% rise
in the World Uncertainty Index since early 2025 underscores the
volatility behind these changes, with 54% of IT departments expecting to
increase spending in 2026 to modernize for agility and security.
-- Trend 2 - Integrated Organizational Resilience: IT is evolving from
reactive risk management to a strategic, enterprise-wide enabler of
foresight, governance, and adaptability. The firm reports that
innovators are nearly two and a half times more likely to have an
integrated risk structure, positioning them to turn disruption into
advantage through practices this year, such as AI-augmented risk
modeling and cross-functional scenario planning. Organizations with
integrated risk management were also found to be 2.5 times more likely
to deliver innovation value than those with siloed approaches.
Theme 2: From Digital Tools to Guided Intelligent Autonomy
-- Trend 3 - Multi-Agent Orchestration: Agentic AI marks a new stage of
enterprise automation, with multiple AI agents collaborating
autonomously to complete complex workflows. AI now ranks alongside cloud
computing and cybersecurity as a top enterprise investment. Innovators
demonstrate a strong intent to expand agent use for growth initiatives,
whereas average departments prioritize efficiency and gains in user
experience. The AI and machine learning investment index shows rapid
increases in year-over-year growth, with agentic adoption rising
quickly. As these systems mature, organizations will move from simple
workflow automation to AI-driven ecosystems capable of continuous
optimization and decision-making.
-- Trend 4 - Smart Sensing Networks: The convergence of
Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), quantum sensors, and edge AI
enables real-time, context-aware intelligence in manufacturing,
healthcare, and defense. Scaling IoT with intelligence at the edge and
energy-aware designs will continue to be a growing priority for
innovators, signaling a shift toward intelligent, self-regulating
environments that enable faster decision-making and operational
autonomy.
-- Trend 5 - AI as Adversary and Ally: AI is escalating the cybersecurity
arms race, empowering both attackers and defenders, and raising ethical
and strategic questions about autonomy and control. Most organizations
plan to increase cyber investment within the next year, with 85% already
invested in cybersecurity. 47% of Innovators expect to make significant
AI-focused security investments by the end of 2026, compared to 17% of
average IT departments.
Theme 3: From Back-Office Operator to Exponential IT
-- Trend 6 - Federated Data Governance: Organizations are shifting away
from centralized data lakes toward domain-specific data structures that
improve quality, accessibility, and compliance, enabling teams to own
and manage their data. Three in four organizations are already invested
in data management and plan to increase spending in 2026. One quarter of
organizations report uplifting or automating federated models, with
Innovators leading the adoption of data mesh architectures. This
evolution will help IT deliver faster insights, strengthen compliance,
and support AI-driven innovation in 2026.
-- Trend 7 - Purpose-Built Platforms: Infrastructure is shifting toward
purpose-built designs that align directly with business outcomes rather
than generic, one-size-fits-all solutions. Nearly half of organizations
have invested in AI-acceleration hardware, with Innovators more likely
to deploy on-premises GPUs to optimize critical workloads, highlighting
a growing focus on customized environments that improve performance,
reduce technical debt, and better support AI-intensive operations.
-- Trend 8 - Service as Software: Enterprises are evolving beyond SaaS
toward models where they pay for AI-driven outcomes instead of
applications alone. Innovators show a strong preference for
consumption-based pricing and are piloting agent-driven services that
align cost with delivered value. This shift marks a move toward
outcome-based IT delivery models that blur the line between software and
services, redefining how organizations measure value and manage
technology investments. Findings show that innovators strongly prefer
consumption-based pricing (64% vs. 18% for average departments), while
77% of organizations are investing in integration technologies such as
APIs to enable this transformation.
Info-Tech's Tech Trends 2026 report also emphasizes that organizations must align human adaptability with machine intelligence to navigate compounding uncertainties.
"Technology is only half the story," explains Jackson. "True transformation depends on leadership's ability to integrate foresight, governance, and innovation into every capability."
Each trend in the report is supported by recommendations and case studies, including examples of how organizations such as TSMC, Bell Canada, and Deutsche Telekom are addressing global supply chain disruptions and AI sovereignty concerns.
As organizations prepare for the next era of IT, Info-Tech's Tech Trends 2026 report provides IT leaders with the insights and guidance required to navigate complexity and drive measurable impact. From scaling AI responsibly to building resilient infrastructure and adaptive governance, the firm's report outlines how IT leaders can transform uncertainty into opportunity and position their organizations for sustained success in 2026 and beyond.
Download and read Info-Tech's Tech Trends 2026 report for more insights on the year ahead.
For media inquiries or interview requests with Brian Jackson, lead author of the 2026 report and an expert on emerging technology trends, please contact pr@infotech.com.
About Info-Tech Research Group
Info-Tech Research Group is the world's leading research and advisory firm, proudly serving over 30,000 IT, HR, and marketing professionals. The company produces unbiased, highly relevant research and provides industry-leading advisory services to help leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. For nearly 30 years, Info-Tech has partnered closely with teams to provide them with everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.
To learn more about Info-Tech's divisions, visit McLean & Company for HR research and advisory services and SoftwareReviews for software-buying insights.
Media professionals can register for unrestricted access to research across IT, HR, and software, and hundreds of industry analysts through the firm's Media Insiders program. To gain access, contact pr@infotech.com.
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SOURCE Info-Tech Research Group
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