05 January 2026
At the start of 2026, technology is no longer just a driver of innovation — it has become a key factor in resilience and performance. Artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data governance, digital sovereignty… Which trends should we anticipate to continue evolving sustainably in an uncertain world? DEEP sheds light on the subject.
Today, organisational performance depends on the ability to integrate technology effectively. Yet building “future-ready” companies in a world where innovation is constantly accelerating is anything but simple. In this “Never Normal” world, as bestselling author and renowned speaker Peter Hinssen describes it where uncertainty has become the rule, he explains that every organisation must continuously evolve around three essential pillars: anticipating, adapting and building resilience.
But what do these concepts really mean in practice? Adaptation is about strengthening the ability to act quickly and to execute strategic decisions fast, in order to stay aligned with an ever-changing reality. Resilience — widely discussed in recent months with the tightening of requirements linked to DORA and NIS2 regulations enables organisations to absorb shocks and continue moving forward despite turbulence.
In an unpredictable world, where volatility is becoming the norm, technology can be a powerful ally. But only if it is approached wisely: by putting it at the service of people, aligning information technologies with ethics, and adopting a responsible digital mindset.
To help organisations strengthen themselves through the opportunities offered by technology, DEEP teams conduct continuous market and technology monitoring. But which trends will truly shape 2026? Let’s take a closer look.
Artificial intelligence will, unsurprisingly, be at the heart of most corporate initiatives. One of the main challenges will be to turn it into a genuine performance driver, rather than a source of vulnerability. Poorly managed, AI can weaken IT environments and, by extension, business operations themselves. At the same time, criminal organisations are already exploiting it without hesitation to compromise systems and deceive users of digital services.
In this context, many companies are slowing down their investment plans. According to Forrester, nearly 25% of the AI-related spending initially planned could be postponed until 2027. Creating real value means moving beyond experimentation or isolated employee use, and integrating AI at the very core of business processes in a structured and secure way.
Among the major trends expected in 2026, Gartner anticipates the growing adoption of multi-agent systems (MAS), in which specialised AI agents collaborate to automate complex processes. While these agent-based platforms are promising, their implementation remains demanding.
The key challenge lies in their orchestration: relying on a documented strategy, aligning IT and business functions, and integrating legal, compliance, risk management and financial considerations. This approach takes time, but it is essential to ensure a measurable return on AI investments, which remains difficult to achieve today.
Leveraging AI requires significant upstream work on data so that it becomes genuinely AI-ready. At an organisational level, this means implementing structured data platforms, adopting sound data-management practices, and establishing governance models adapted to AI-driven use cases.
According to Forrester, many data-related challenges can be addressed through decentralised, domain-oriented and highly automated architectures. In the development space, Gartner also anticipates the rise of AI-native platforms capable of accelerating application delivery, enabling the emergence of “small teams”, and reshaping the economic balance between SaaS solutions and custom developments. However, these productivity gains depend on the creation of dedicated teams and the implementation of appropriate security safeguards.
In line with this shift, we are also seeing the emergence of specialised language models Domain-Specific Language Models (DSLM). Tailored to a specific sector, role or function, these models offer greater accuracy, lower inference costs and enhanced explainability. They provide a pragmatic answer to the limitations of general-purpose models, provided that high-value use cases are clearly identified and data governance is strengthened.
The widespread adoption of AI solutions, whether developed in-house or provided by third parties, raises a new question: how can AI systems themselves be secured? AI Security Platforms (AISP) address this challenge by offering a unified approach that covers both the control of AI usage and the cybersecurity of the applications that rely on it.
These platforms make it possible to monitor data flows, prevent non-compliant use and protect models against targeted attacks. In 2026, organisations will increasingly benefit from choosing solutions that integrate seamlessly into their existing security ecosystem, rather than adding yet another isolated security layer.
In a context where AI-generated content is proliferating, trust has become a central issue. Digital provenance aims to guarantee the origin and integrity of software, models, data and media assets.
It relies in particular on the implementation of Software Bills of Materials (SBoM), attestation databases, watermarking mechanisms and digital rights-management solutions. These tools help combat misinformation, secure software supply chains and meet increasingly stringent regulatory requirements.
Given the growing sophistication of cyber-attacks, often amplified by AI, a purely reactive approach is showing its limits. In 2026, pre-emptive cybersecurity is emerging as a major development: the goal is no longer just to detect and respond, but also to prevent, disrupt or mislead attackers.
These strategies are based on advanced controls that can reduce the effectiveness of attacks upstream. For CIOs and CISOs, the priority is twofold: to test these technologies through pilot projects, and to raise awareness among executive leadership of their business impact — directly linked to the organisation’s overall resilience.
Another major structural trend is the rise of purpose-built platforms. Unlike generic infrastructures, these platforms are designed from the outset to meet a clearly defined objective, whether performance, security, compliance or a specific business need.
This approach is particularly evident in industry clouds, which combine cloud services, sector-specific data, regulatory frameworks and best practices tailored to a given industry. In the same vein, the Service as Software model is redefining the relationship with software: the objective is no longer simply to pay for access to a solution, but for concrete outcomes, enabled by automation, AI and deep integration into business processes.
Resilience is no longer confined to IT. In 2026, risk management is evolving towards an integrated, enterprise-wide approach that combines technology, processes, governance and human factors.
Intelligent automation is making it possible to move gradually from rigid systems to guided autonomy, capable of adapting rapidly to disruption. This logic also extends to technology supply chains, which must become more diversified, flexible and reliable in order to reduce dependency on individual suppliers or geographic regions.
Finally, geopolitical and regulatory issues are prompting organisations to rethink where their data and workloads are located. Geopatriation, or sovereign computing, refers to the relocation or protection of certain workloads to meet sovereignty, compliance or security requirements.
In practice, this means assessing workloads according to their criticality and considering hybrid approaches that combine public cloud, sovereign cloud and on-premises infrastructures. Sovereign cloud offerings such as those implemented by DEEP in partnership with OVH — represent a credible way to reconcile performance, compliance and risk control.
The technology challenges of 2026 balancing risk and opportunity are both complex and exciting. More than ever, sustainable performance depends on an organisation’s ability to make informed decisions, structure its digital usage and embed technology within a broader strategic vision.
In a Never Normal world, anticipating change, adapting and strengthening resilience are no longer optional. They are the foundations for turning uncertainty into a driver of value creation. The multidisciplinary teams at DEEP, bringing together a wide range of expertise, support you in exploring the opportunities of the digital age helping you evolve with greater agility in an ever-changing environment.
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