AI dominated the conversation in 2025, CIOs shift gears in 2026

Author: Richard Farrell, CIO at Netcall

After a year of rapid adoption and high expectations surrounding artificial intelligence, 2026 is shaping up to be the year CIOs apply a more strategic lens. Not to slow progress, but to steer it in a smarter direction.

In 2025, we saw the rise of AI copilots across almost every platform imaginable. From browsers and CRMs to productivity tools and helpdesks, the tech world raced to embrace assistance-on-demand. But while vendors marketed “magic,” CIOs were left with the clean-up. Multiple pilots. Multiple platforms. Multiple promises. Few results.

Now the honeymoon period is over. It’s time to assess what worked, what didn’t, and what truly matters. The role of the CIO is shifting from tech enthusiast to strategic outcome architect. That means moving from disconnected experiments to holistic thinking – aligning people, process, and technology to drive sustainable results. Process mapping will become an essential starting point: identifying pain points, inefficiencies, and areas for AI and automation that directly link to measurable outcomes. And that shift comes with a new set of priorities. Here are five that will define 2026.