The technology industry is fascinating because while moving at a frenetic pace, it also continuously revisits well-worn themes. A futurist once put it best, noting that all the industry promises eventually come true, but not on the originally anticipated timelines. So it is for AI, which conceptually is old news. Only since 2023 has AI moved decisively from drawing board to practical reality. Along with this now-ubiquitous technology, we look at some of the top themes and trends likely to make 2026 a standout year.

• Rapidly maturing AI services are shifting to agentic/multi‑agent solutions with AI‑native development platforms. Pilot projects are rolling into production (including among several of our clients), with integrated, governed, measurable AI becoming part of enterprise workflows and workloads.

• At the same time, there’s a value reset: CFOs demand ROI, governance and risk controls; Forrester Group notes that this, in part, is why up to 25% of planned AI spend won’t happen this year, but in 2027 unless projects prove business value (something we are very clear on as a necessity for launch).

• Among its anticipations of tech trends for the year ahead, industry body IEEE flags near‑term adoption of AI agents as standard in business. We’re seeing this among several of our customers.

What This Means For You:

• The pivot from ‘try GenAI” is underway, with highly functional AI agents deployed in service, finance, sales ops, and support environments. Powered by Microsoft and/or AWS services, these agents are governed, auditable, and tied to KPIs.

• You might prefer pragmatic, packaged use‑cases (e.g., inbox triage, meeting/action captures, ‘research assistants’ in healthcare and professional services, RFP drafting agents) over custom builds. IDC describes this as easy‑to‑deploy, ROI‑proof AI.

How Lancom Helps:

• We’ve learned what AI means to you through multiple GenAI roundtables and direct engagements and have an internal GenAI Council guiding responsible adoption; this credibility underpins customer workshops and delivery. That’s also resulted in the introduction of our Gen AI Service offering and strong delivery for multiple clients.

2. Copilot For SMB and AI‑Ready Productivity Becomes Mainstream

• As highlighted in our Ignite summary, Microsoft released M365 Copilot Business for SMBs (up to 300 seats) and discounted Business + Copilot bundles. This puts Copilot (arguably one of the most accessible/useful AI agents available today) within reach of most SMBs.

What This Means For You:

• Copilot is one of those tools you never knew you needed but cannot do without after trying it just once. Lower cost = higher adoption. Give it a go = continuous use.

• Low‑friction accessibility of Copilot inside the applications you already use (Outlook/Teams/Word) drives almost immediate time‑to‑value (e.g., meeting summaries, draft responses, catch‑up in channels).

• Expanding AI capabilities to more teams, bringing AI to the core of your employee experience.

• Eliminating ‘shadow IT’ and user-introduced AI point solutions.

How Lancom Helps:

• Copilot is the new productivity baseline. We know because we rely on it ourselves, and scores of our customers love it. Combined with considered deployment with enablement + guardrails (DLP, Purview, access hygiene) and bundled onboarding, Copilot becomes a ‘no brainer’.

3. Security: Pre‑Emptive, Identity‑First, And “Baseline‑Plus”

• The hacks keep coming, with New Zealand’s Manage My Health and Australian carrier Qantas among the recent victims. Gartner points out the necessity for Preemptive Cybersecurity, AI security platforms, confidential computing, digital provenance—shifting from reactive controls to anticipatory defence and verifiable trust.

• No business is immune, and there is no such thing as 100% secure. Threat pressure is intensifying: AI‑powered phishing, deepfakes, identity attacks must be mitigated, while countermeasures include insurance/compliance overhead.

What This Means For You:

• Minimum viable security requirements are higher than a year ago. Cyber insurers, auditors, and supply chains expect MFA everywhere, device compliance, backup immutability, privileged access controls, and response playbooks.

How Lancom Helps:

• Lancom Technology’s Managed Services safeguards the environments of every client with a set of capabilities that lift security posture, provide best practice maturity, and reduce risk. In a cloud first environment, Lancom Technology partners with the world’s leading vendors for comprehensive security.

• We are ISO27001 certified for Information Security Management Systems. This is your assurance that our people are trained and our organization audited as enforcing rigorous data management practices.

4. Cloud Modernization & FinOps ROI Scrutiny

• Along with agentic workflows and serverless growth, we’re seeing FinOps emerge as a continuous practice, and sustainability/edge priorities. Why? Clouds can and do sprawl. Managing cost means more budget rubber hitting the productivity road (waste is always bad).

What This Means For You:

• Cloud spend will be routinely challenged; with unit economics and right‑sizing evidence, your spend is accurately matched to value. FinOps maturity encompasses the priorities of both finance and IT leaders.

How Lancom Helps:

• With a track record of more than two decades supporting A/NZ and global organizations to adopt, grow and expand their capabilities through cloud computing, we architect solutions aligned with budget efficiency. Our Finops services find and eliminate waste, overprovisioning, and inappropriately specified services.

Technology is a movable feast. Working with a partner you can trust means identifying and applying new developments that help achieve desirable outcomes like productivity gains, improved convenience, and reduced reliance on manual processes. At Lancom Technology, we believe these four trends are likely to have the most impact in 2026, and beyond.