The Future of Global Technology Leadership

2026 will not be for the faint of heart — or the weak on a budget. Tech leaders are about to face a year that’s part roller coaster, part chess match and part comedy. According to Forrester research, most CIOs will have more budget, but also more headaches, more volatility and more pressure to prove that every dollar spent is worth its weight in gold-plated AI chips. Here are three of our predictions for 2026 to help you chart your course:

• A quarter of CIOs will be called upon to rescue business-driven AI failures in their organization. Representative systems promise to automate tasks and empower employees, but when adoption delays and accuracy errors mount, CEOs will turn to their CTOs to fix failed AI projects. Already, 39% of AI decision makers say their CIO or CTO leads their AI technology strategy, and 21% lead their AI business strategy. These numbers are set to double as organizations realize that technology leaders are better positioned to coordinate the teams needed for successful AI agents. CIOs will need to establish governance, curate data and insights, design user experiences, and manage the quality of outcomes. CEOs cannot wait for a high-profile ethics or policy failure to take action. Technology leaders need to strengthen governance and scenario planning now to avoid costly mistakes.
• Two-thirds of CIOs will need to justify budgets by linking technology spending to business value. CIOs drive business value with their technology strategy, but communication with CEOs and business leaders often gets lost in translation. Matching technology services to the business capabilities that support strategy is difficult — only about a third of businesses do so today. As technology spending grows faster than inflation due to artificial intelligence, the cloud and security, the C-suite will force technology leaders to focus on value. CIOs should adopt IT funding frameworks such as technology business management, matching total technology spend to business capabilities and practices such as FinOps, to drive variable costs such as cloud. AI can accelerate this mandate by using agents to automate mapping and rendering. In 2026, CIOs must be fluent in the language of business value.
• One-third of CIOs will adopt gig-worker protocols and agents to support multitasking IT employees. CIOs will adapt to new team structures made up of AI agents, gig workers and employees with multiple jobs. Due to job dissatisfaction, layoff volatility, and AI automation threats, IT employees will seek to maximize compensation and security by multitasking. CIOs will respond by creating a vision that leaves no worker behind, scaling the use of AI-assisted development agents, and establishing gig-worker protocols that meet enterprise standards. Leadership teams will need to optimize human expertise alongside the AI ​​reengineering process. The best CIOs will support job security and demonstrate that they will not shed valuable employees as automation increases. Coping with workforce pressure will require stronger engagement, career development and competitive compensation.

Volatility: The only sure thing in 2026

If there’s one thing tech leaders can count on in 2026, it’s that nothing will stay the same for long. Volatility isn’t just a buzzword. is the dominant theme of the current era. Whether you’re talking about AI projects that have started, budgets that need to be justified in three languages, or your best developer as a gig worker (and maybe an AI agent on the weekends), unpredictability will be the norm.

So what’s the survival kit for this wild roller coaster ride? First, keep your governance toolkit handy for those surprise AI rescues. Second, learn to speak “business value” fluently, because your CFO will want more than smoke and mirrors. And finally, embrace the new normal: your workforce will be a mix of humans, robots, and gig workers. Managing this workforce mix will require an increased focus on your team’s leadership skills.

2026 will reward leaders who treat volatility as a feature rather than a bug. If you can laugh when your AI bot schedules a meeting with your office factory, pivot when your budget is challenged, and keep your team together even when half of them are working from a beach somewhere, you’re ready for what’s next. The future is unpredictable, but with a little flexibility (and maybe a sense of humor), you’ll be set to thrive.

This was written by VP, Director of Research Mark Moccia and originally appeared here.