CIOs face intense pressure to deliver business growth through digital innovation. CEOs, despite economic uncertainty, are expecting their CIOs to provide a clear innovation roadmap for competitive advantage. In practice, this means that IT must directly fuel revenue, efficiency and market differentiation.
The stakes are high: Gartner’s latest survey reveals 94% of CIOs anticipate major changes to their plans and desired outcomes within 2 years, yet only 48% of digital initiatives today actually meet business targets. In other words, half of IT projects aren’t delivering the value they promised, a gap that CIOs must urgently close in 2026.
Why the shortfall? A perfect storm of factors, from economic volatility and geopolitical shifts to the whiplash pace of AI advancements, is constantly upending even the best-laid IT strategies. Static annual plans won’t survive. CIOs are expected to pivot fast, seize new tech opportunities, and do all of this while improving productivity and efficiency; in fact, 57% of CIOs are under pressure to boost workforce productivity and 52% face pressure to cut costs at the same time. The CIO mandate is clear: Do more, with less.
We’ve outlined our 5 key trends that CIOs should be aware of moving into 2026 and beyond.
Agentic AI refers to autonomous systems that execute tasks, make decisions, and learn from feedback with minimal human input. Unlike basic chatbots that only respond to prompts, these agents can initiate actions within defined guardrails. For example, the sales team might use an AI agent to analyse CRM data and draft personalised follow-up emails. In short, agentic AI senses, decides, and acts toward a goal, functioning like a digital team member. Gartner describes this as a “virtual workforce” that augments human work, moving beyond query-and-response bots to self-driven process orchestration.
Gartner actually named Agentic AI the #1 strategic tech trend for 2025 and beyond. The reason: it has become feasible to deploy AI agents in core business workflows, and companies that leverage them stand to gain a huge efficiency and speed advantage. Adoption is accelerating fast – Gartner predicts 40% of enterprise applications will have integrated AI agents by the end of 2026, up from less than 5% in 2023. This means we’re reaching a critical point: CIOs have a narrow window (the next 6–12 months) to define their agentic AI strategy or risk being outpaced.
By offloading routine tasks to AI, humans are able to focus on strategic, value-creating work. Gartner predicts that within a few years, at least 15% of all day-to-day work decisions could be made autonomously by AI agents – leading to faster cycle times and the ability for businesses to capitalise on opportunities (or mitigate issues) far more quickly than competitors.
Early adopters of agentic AI will be able to handle greater scale and complexity in their operations, supporting business growth without an equal spike in complexity for their human employees.
Critically, CIOs must pair AI adoption with human readiness. Success with AI isn’t only technical; it requires upskilling teams and managing behavioural impacts. Organisations that treat AI as a collaborative partner (with proper governance and training) will amplify human potential; those that don’t may see AI initiatives stall or even erode workforce skills.
CIOs are stepping beyond traditional IT boundaries to become strategic business leaders. By working hand-in-hand with fellow C-suite executives, they’re harnessing technology to support operations and streamline efficiency. This evolution positions CIOs as pivotal drivers of business success.
Gartner’s latest CIO Agenda highlights that 57% of CIOs are under pressure to improve workforce productivity, and 52% face pressure to reduce costs. Across Gartner, Forrester, McKinsey and others, there is a clear and growing mandate that IT investments must demonstrably translate into business outcomes. CIOs are no longer encouraged to link tech spend to value; they are being required to do so by CEOs, CFOs and boards as we head into 2026. This trend is in direct response to the “do more with less” mandate.
Most enterprises have accumulated a large stack of digital tools over the years. On paper, each tool might serve a niche need. But in practice, too many tools can create chaos instead of efficiency.
Before its transformation, Robert Walters – a global recruitment consultancy – had over 350 different business applications in use, with data sprawled across 3,000+ SharePoint sites. Employees found it incredibly difficult to find what they needed or know where to pay attention. Important updates were getting lost in the noise. This was a major impetus for change.
Read the full case study to see how Robert Walters have consolidated their digital workplace tools.
By consolidating tools and streamlining workflows, CIOs reduce operational costs and free up resources for innovation. This enables IT to deliver measurable improvements in productivity and customer experience, key drivers of revenue growth. As seen in the Robert Walters case, simplifying the digital workplace directly impacts employee efficiency and business agility, allowing organisations to scale without unnecessary complexity.
Leadership is moving into an AI-native era. Instead of decisions relying solely on experience and hierarchy, AI is democratising access to insight and expertise, putting real-time analysis and decision-making in the hands of every manager. Gartner predicts that by 2028, 40% of employees will receive AI-based training and coaching when they step into new roles, up from 5% today.
At the same time, the World Economic Forum forecasts that 44% of workers’ skills will be disrupted between now and 2028 as AI reshapes how work gets done. For CIOs, that makes the digital workplace a leadership arena as much as an IT platform: it’s where future leaders will learn, be coached by AI, and make augmented decisions that drive growth.
The future belongs to leaders who embrace AI as a partner, not a threat. Those who combine technological fluency with human-centred leadership will set the pace for growth.
AI-augmented leadership accelerates decision-making, empowers managers at all levels, and ensures organisations can adapt rapidly to change. By investing in both AI tools and human-centred leadership, CIOs create a culture of innovation and resilience, foundations for sustained business growth. The digital workplace becomes a platform for developing future-ready leaders who can drive transformation and competitive advantage.
For decades, knowledge management meant storing documents in a central repository and hoping employees would find them. In 2026, that approach is obsolete. Today’s CIOs face a different reality: hybrid work, AI-driven tools, and relentless compliance demands. The challenge isn’t where knowledge lives, it’s how quickly and confidently employees can act on it.
A modern digital workplace redefines knowledge management, moving beyond static document repositories to deliver a seamless, action-oriented experience for every employee. Here’s what “good” looks like for CIOs leading this transformation:
When information is easy to find and well-governed, people are able to make smarter decisions, and work moves faster. Strong governance also cuts down on outdated or conflicting content, reducing risk. But the real shift happens when knowledge is available in the flow of work; teams stop wasting time and start focusing on work that actually moves the needle.
In 2026, CIOs who prioritise knowledge management as part of the digital workplace strategy will be the ones who gain a genuine competitive advantage.
If this sparked questions about your own digital workplace plans, let’s continue the conversation. Our digital workplace experts can help you identify where these shifts could have the greatest impact for your organisation moving into 2026 and beyond.
