Bottom line: CTOs must prove in 2026 that AI investments deliver tangible business results instead of launching more pilots, while simultaneously maintaining security, compliance, and digital sovereignty.
After years of pilot projects, enterprises expect concrete business outcomes from their AI investments in 2026. The “CIO Outlook 2026” study by Experis reveals a mixed picture: over half of surveyed IT leaders report positive impacts, yet many struggle with the practical integration of AI into existing processes.
Experis surveyed nearly 2,000 IT leaders worldwide for the “CIO Outlook 2026” study. Key finding: AI is no longer viewed as a future technology, but as a strategic component of business development. The central challenge lies in integrating AI solutions sustainably and securely into existing processes and demonstrating their business value. Particularly high returns are currently being achieved with cloud infrastructure as well as automation and AI applications.
A striking trend concerns IT leaders’ priorities: for the first time, alignment between corporate strategy and IT ranks first. Nearly half of respondents identify close integration of business and technology objectives as the most important task. Simultaneously, communication gaps are evident in management levels: a large portion of CIOs report that other management members still do not sufficiently understand their role and responsibilities.
The greatest practical burden is the rapid pace of innovation itself. Nearly half of respondents cite the speed of technological change as the biggest obstacle in their daily work. Added to this are the challenge of demonstrating business value, internal resistance to change, compliance requirements, and modernizing legacy IT systems.
Cybersecurity remains indispensable but is not moving entirely into focus: security and digital sovereignty rank among the areas where enterprises most frequently want to increase budgets. Notably, however, there is a decline: the percentage of enterprises conducting regular security training has slightly decreased.
A central conflict of objectives emerges on the topic of digital sovereignty: the vast majority of IT leaders consider it highly important, yet simultaneously expect to become even more dependent on external services and platforms in the future. This conflict between control and technological dependence is likely to gain relevance especially for European enterprises when security requirements, regulatory mandates, and dependencies on international providers compete with one another.
Source: www.it-daily.net · Published 26 June 2026
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