5 trends for 2026
Progress is a double-edged sword. It solves yesterday’s problems and creates new ones people don’t yet understand.
Each breakthrough comes with unknown implications. The faster an organization transforms, the more unknowns multiply. With organizations moving at the speed of generative AI and agentic AI—and soon, the speed of quantum—seeking out stable ground becomes an exercise in futility.
Instead, forward-thinking leaders are looking for the fissures. Cracks in existing markets are where new openings will emerge. The secret to capturing these opportunities isn’t a perfect forecast. It’s developing an appetite for ambiguity.
How can leaders build strategies that will bend—not break—as the business landscape shifts? How can they sustain progress, profitability, and growth?
With organizations moving at the speed of AI—and soon, the speed of quantum—seeking out stable ground becomes an exercise in futility.
To find out, the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBM IBV) partnered with Phronesis to ask more than 1,000 C-suite executives how economic and geopolitical factors would influence their decision-making in 2026, how they plan to approach AI-driven business models, and which strategies they expect to drive success. We also talked to 8,500 global consumers and employees, in partnership with Suzy, about their economic outlook, how they interact with artificial intelligence—personally and in the workplace—and how they feel about the real-world changes that have come along with AI.
The perspectives in these two surveys don’t always align. What they do share is a sense of enthusiasm about digital transformation and the AI moment. Both groups see opportunity in uncertainty.
Executives express a sense of resilience: While only one-third are optimistic about the outlook of the global economy, 84% have a positive outlook on their organization’s future performance. In the face of geopolitical risk, 95% of executives say they must increasingly make fast decisions. Still, 96% say the highest-stakes decisions they made last year turned out to be the right ones.
Despite uncertainty, executives are optimistic about 2026.
Percentages reflect executives who have optimistic, neutral, and pessimistic outlooks for 2026.
Employees and consumers are also hopeful. 81% are confident they’ll be able to keep up with future advances in technology in the workplace. This is despite the fact that 61% of employees expect their job role will change significantly in 2026 due to emerging technologies, such as new AI models or AI agents—and almost half are concerned that technology will make their job obsolete by 2030.
Employees are ready to lead with AI.
Percentages reflect employee agreement with statements about workplace technology.
In this moment of possibility, what opportunities might be waiting? Based on our research, we’ve identified five strategic technology trends impacting the business landscape that we think every executive should watch in 2026.
Trend 1
Uncertainty will be your greatest asset—if you embrace it.
74% of executives say economic and geopolitical volatility will create new business opportunities for their organization in 2026. What does creating success amidst disruption look like? Our research reveals that executives who say adaptive AI agents fuel better, faster decision-making are more than twice as likely to see opportunity in volatility.
90% of executives say they’ll lose their edge if their organization can’t operate in real time.
Trend 2
Employees will want more AI—not less.
At least twice as many workers across age groups say they would embrace—rather than resist—greater use of AI by their employers in 2026. For many employees, AI-powered tools aren’t the enemy—they provide an escape hatch. 61% say AI makes their job less mundane and more strategic. When employees use AI, whether they’re AI native or playing catch up, it releases them from monotony and gives them more time to do high-value work.
48% of employees say they’d be comfortable being managed by an AI agent.
Trend 3
Customers will hold your AI accountable.
What makes consumers most comfortable engaging with a brand’s AI? Easy-to-understand explanations of how AI is using their data, the ability to remove their data, details on how AI applications will improve their experience, and the ability to opt-in to AI, rather than opt-out. Consumers don't need AI to be perfect. In fact, 56% say they're so excited about cutting-edge, AI-enabled services that they'd accept flaws. But they do need to be in the loop.
Two-thirds of consumers would switch brands if a company intentionally concealed AI’s involvement in their experience.
Trend 4
Global AI resilience will require a local safety net.
How can organizations protect business continuity in 2026? To ensure data and AI resilience, 93% of executives say they must factor AI sovereignty—an organization’s ability to control and govern its AI systems, data, and infrastructure at all times—into their 2026 business strategy. Transparency and trust remain essential for AI resilience, as well. As both regulators and consumers ask organizations to explain how AI agents come to specific decisions, organizations must design agents that can show their work, for even the most complex outputs.
AI sovereignty is an organization’s ability to control and govern its AI systems, data, and infrastructure at all times.
Trend 5
Quantum advantage will demand strength in numbers.
Recent research indicates that quantum advantage is likely to emerge by the end of 2026. What is quantum advantage? It refers to the point at which a quantum computer can provide a solution to a problem with demonstrable improvement over any classical method or resources in terms of accuracy, runtime, or cost requirements. But here’s the catch: At scale, quantum workloads demand resources no single organization can realistically maintain alone. It takes more computational muscle, richer datasets, and deeper pools of expertise. In short, it takes an ecosystem—or maybe a few.
Quantum-ready organizations are three times more likely to belong to multiple ecosystems than the least ready organizations.
Download the report for more data and insights related to these five business and tech trends—and steps you can take to capture fleeting opportunities before they disappear.
