2026 stories

In 2026, AI agents move from pilots to the enterprise core, forcing firms to prove measurable value under tight governance.

Global ransomware attacks jump 50% to 7,874 in 2025, with industrial firms bearing the brunt as criminal groups reshuffle their tactics.

Mastercard opens 2026 fund in Canada, offering CAD $10,000 grants and support to help women-owned small firms grow amid economic uncertainty.

Connected packaging sheds its fad status as record executive backing, rising budgets and compliance pressures push it firmly into the boardroom.

CISOs slow-roll agentic AI in defence, even as they brace for more advanced, AI-boosted attacks and rising personal liability risks.

Aviva has named Chris Cochrane as its next group Chief Information Officer, with his appointment due to take effect in summer 2026.

Crypto enters 2026 swinging as regulation, stablecoins, Bitcoin and DeFi trade blows in a defining bout for digital finance's future.

Fleet operators cautiously trial AI to tame rising costs as ageing vehicles and maintenance bottlenecks drive up downtime and service spend.

Big firms edge away from VMware after Broadcom deal, shifting select workloads to cloud while keeping core systems in place for now.

CFOs shift from hiring to hardware, funnelling bigger budgets into tech, AI and sales while HR, headcount and pay growth lose momentum.

Camunda appoints Chris White as Chief Revenue Officer to drive sales and partner growth as demand for agentic AI orchestration accelerates.

AI is reshaping PR, but leaders warn the winners in 2026 will be those who keep strategic communications firmly human-led.

Brightcove maps 2026 AI push and major UX overhaul, promising faster innovation, richer accessibility tools and smoother video operations.

WD maps a path to 100TB-plus hard drives, unveiling faster, lower-power designs as cloud data centres scale storage for AI workloads.

OpenAI will levy a 4% fee on Shopify merchants for sales made via ChatGPT's integrated instant checkout from late January 2026.

Data Privacy Day warns AI and cloud adoption is racing ahead of data governance, as boards and regulators demand proof of control.

Forward Networks debuts Forward AI, a digital twin-powered agentic assistant promising safer, verifiable automation for network operations.

Actionstep launches AI-powered Trace to automate time capture for law firms, backed by its acquisition of passive tracking startup Traced.

OpenSilver 3.3 lets developers embed native Blazor components directly into XAML apps, unifying web and desktop UI workflows.

SCALA partners with Optilogic to formalise use of its AI-driven Cosmic Frog platform for advanced supply chain network design and risk analysis.