2026 Where ambition, innovation and reality collide

As the year goes on, one thing is becoming clear. Enterprise technology strategy has entered a far more consequential phase. The decisions organisations make today around AI, talent and infrastructure are no longer hopeful bets on the future, they are determining growth, resilience and competitiveness in real time.

At Expereo, we work with the world’s largest organisations, helping them connect, secure and scale their businesses globally. That vantage point gives us a front row seat to the current technology ambitions and reality of global enterprises. Today I am proud to launch the 2026 edition of our Enterprise Horizons report, produced once again in collaboration with IDC.

Where last year’s research was shaped by optimism and preparation, Enterprise Horizons 2026 reveals the realities of execution and the growing gap between innovation ambition and readiness.

This year’s research, based on insights from CIOs and technology leaders across the US, UK and APAC, reveals a striking pattern: enterprises are investing faster than ever, but cracks are forming where strategy, skills and infrastructure fail to keep pace. From AI investments racing ahead of readiness, to infrastructure constraints limiting execution, the message is unmistakable: execution now matters more than intent.

AI investment surges as boardroom pressure intensifies

AI investment has entered a new phase, one defined less by careful planning and more by urgency. Across global businesses, boardroom pressure to “keep up” is accelerating spending, often ahead of clear evaluation frameworks or measurable return.

This year’s research shows that 70% of organisations are investing in AI without careful evaluation or ROI analysis, with one in five (20%) admitting they are spending aggressively purely out of fear of being left behind. While AI is now the second most prioritised area of technology investment globally, with 51% of organisations planning spend over the next 12 months, adoption maturity remains uneven.

This disconnect is beginning to surface in results. Only a small proportion of organisations say their AI initiatives have exceeded expectations, with many reporting only partial success. Data quality (51%), higher than expected costs or missed ROI (47%), and underperformance of AI models (46%) are emerging as the most common barriers to value.

What this highlights is a shift in the nature of AI risk. Organisations are scaling investment faster than they are scaling the operational foundations required to support it, increasing complexity, cost and exposure without the systems needed to manage them effectively. In an environment shaped by competitive pressure and boardroom scrutiny, success will depend less on how fast organisations invest, and more on how effectively they translate AI ambition into measurable, sustainable outcomes.

AI ambition is running ahead of infrastructure reality

AI continues to dominate enterprise ambition, but its success is increasingly constrained by the foundations it relies on.

Just over half of organisations say their network is fully ready to support AI, while more than a third acknowledge their infrastructure will soon require significant upgrades. What’s clear from the data is that network and connectivity is now both a leading cause of AI failure and a critical enabler of success, meaning AI readiness is increasingly infrastructure readiness.

This helps explain the growing gap between spend and return. Only 24% say AI has exceeded expectations, while 47% report higher‑than‑expected costs or missed ROI. As AI moves from pilots to enterprise‑wide deployment, limitations in scalability, resilience and bandwidth are becoming harder to ignore.

For me the message is clear: AI programmes rarely fail because of the model, they fail because of the operational and infrastructure environment around them. Without resilient, scalable, cloud-optimised networks, even the most advanced AI strategies will struggle to deliver value.

Digital sovereignty becomes a boardroom priority

Alongside security and AI, control is re-emerging as a defining enterprise concern.

One third of organisations now rank digital sovereignty as a top priority, driven by growing concerns over data control, regulatory compliance and risk exposure. As AI adoption accelerates, these concerns are intensifying. Security, privacy and compliance are now actively constraining AI adoption for many organisations, while more than half worry AI could introduce new security risks if not governed carefully.

What’s emerging is a shift toward control first digital architectures, designed to support global operations, while ensuring data, workloads and infrastructure remain resilient, compliant and governed by the organisation itself. Sovereignty is no longer about retreating from globalisation, it’s about enabling it safely.

Looking ahead: Resilience will define the winners

The 2026 Enterprise Horizons report tells an important story. Enterprises are bold. They are investing. They are ambitious. But ambition alone is no longer enough. If 2025 was about preparing for change, 2026 is about proving it can be delivered, securely, at scale and with measurable return.

Cyber risk is draining revenue, skills shortages are slowing innovation and AI investment is racing ahead of readiness. On top of this, resilience, across networks, people and platforms, is emerging as the decisive factor separating leaders from laggards.

At Expereo, we believe the next era of enterprise technology will be defined by execution, resilience and control. By building high-performance, globally consistent and predictable networks that support AI, cloud and distributed operations, organisations can move faster with confidence, turning ambition into outcome wherever they operate.

I invite you to explore the full Enterprise Horizons 2026 report and join the conversation shaping the future of business technology.

Download the full report here and discover how global enterprises are navigating the realities of 2026.