2026: The year Technology Leaders turn foundations into future-proof power

The technology and business landscape is moving, not just spinning, and for Senior Technology Leaders, 2026 demands a shift from chasing shiny objects to demonstrating the value they are adding.

At Daemon, we see tech not as a silver bullet, but as a movement powered by people and a clear vision. So, what actually matters in 2026? We sat down with Kyle (Chief Growth Officer)  and Steve (Chief Client Officer)  to get their take.

What should technology leaders care about in 2026?

Kyle (Chief of Growth): AI isn’t a silver bullet; it’s a magnifying glass. It amplifies what’s already there. Good engineering makes AI shine; weak foundations make noise. 2026 is about getting your house in order: standardising, institutionalising, and centralising what “good” looks like so AI and third-party partners can plug into it consistently and deliver value.

Steve (CCO): Exactly, and you don’t get there by accident. Like Cloud a few years back, you need a pragmatic maturity assessment so teams can walk before they try to run. That sequence avoids skipping steps that come back to bite delivery later.

The Verdict: Stop wishing for magic. Start building the rock-solid ground that lets the magic happen.

Tooling changes weekly. How should our clients choose without getting locked in?

Kyle (Chief of Growth): Start with sovereignty and flexibility. Most enterprises will anchor in Microsoft or Google. The trick is building feedback loops so you can swap tools as the landscape shifts. Technique beats tooling: context engineering and disciplined use patterns usually unlock more value than chasing the “hottest” model of the month.

Steve (CCO): We still recommend a sensible toolkit across the big clouds plus proven pillars, observability (Grafana, New Relic, Prometheus), data tooling, and safe AI services. Then stress-test the total cost of ownership. LLMs look cheap until token costs scale across high-throughput workflows. Design for affordability and scalability from day one.

The Verdict: Your tooling needs to flow with the landscape. Flexibility is the ultimate authority.

What about the digital core and legacy platforms?

Kyle (Chief of Growth): Many Financial Services and Enterprise estates still run critical mainframes and heritage systems that hold the real business logic. Priority one is re-engineering the digital core and integrating it cleanly, so modern AI and data flows can reach the places where value actually lives.

Steve (CCO): AI is excellent at code discovery and remediation. Let agents map sprawling repos, surface risks, and recommend optimisations. Then, engineers review and apply changes that measurably improve performance and reliability.

What about Cloud costs and the ‘conflict of interest’ no one talks about?

Kyle (Chief of Growth): AI-driven optimisation increasingly finds things providers would rather you didn’t—idle services, mis-configs, waste. We’ve saved clients six- and seven-figure sums with a single configuration change. That capital should fund better engineering, experimentation and innovation, not drift.

Steve (CCO): Guardrails are non-negotiable: spend limiters, alerts, enforced configs, and clear accountability. A few days of focused cost hygiene pays for itself many times over.

The Verdict: Stop paying for air. Reclaim that capital and reinvest it in your future. That’s just Can-Do common sense.

What needs to change with Organisational design and talent in 2026?

Kyle (Chief of Growth): Developer Experience is a force multiplier. Invest in internal developer platforms, golden paths, and frictionless environments. In a market where optionality is high, great DX attracts and keeps great engineers.

Steve (CCO): And proximity still matters. Remote is powerful and offers much-needed flexibility, but trust and speed accelerate when people spend deliberate time together. Relationships widen the information pipe you need to deliver fast and right.

The Verdict: Great engineering attracts great engineers. Build the best track for your team to run on, and watch the velocity flow.

Has AI changed delivery timelines and team sizes?

Steve (CCO): Yes, there’s pressure to turn six-month projects into six weeks with half the people. But more importantly quality is key. If corners get cut or too much AI is used without understanding the implications of the changes, then vulnerabilities can surface through not understanding how AI adoption has been implemented. Crucially, quality remains paramount. Hasty shortcuts or excessive reliance on AI without a clear grasp of the implications can introduce vulnerabilities, especially if the implementation of AI adoption is not fully understood. 

Kyle (Chief of Growth): Efficiency comes from process redesign plus upskilling, not blunt headcount cuts. The smart move is investing in AI change managers and targeted training so teams move up the value chain while operating costs stay under control.

The Verdict: It’s not about doing less with less; it’s about inspiring your people to do more with smart tools.

Net-net—where do we drive the most value right now?

Steve (CCO): Make money, save money, protect money. Acceleration against competitors, elimination of waste, and resilient, secure systems.

Kyle (Chief of Growth): Do the brilliant basics brilliantly. Then use AI as the multiplier.

The future isn't out there; it's waiting to be built inside your organisation with clear vision and people-first engineering.

Kyle, Steve, and the whole Daemon team have the heavyweight experience from being there, seeing it, and doing it. Ready to stop guessing and start building your future-proof power?