Building business with emerging technology

As 2026 gains momentum, several emerging trends are beginning to take shape. For mid-sized businesses, the technology conversation is shifting. The discussion is no longer about whether to adopt AI, automation or cloud but how to do so safely, fairly and at scale, without creating new risks along the way.

 

AI agents are beginning to move from experimentation into day-to-day operations. At the same time, ransomware attacks are becoming more disruptive, businesses are reassessing strategies and uncomfortable gaps are emerging in who benefits most from new tools at work.

 

What ties these developments together is a growing focus on control, resilience and governance. As the year progresses, these emerging trends highlight where that shift is already happening, and what leaders need to consider as technology becomes less of a standalone function and more of a core business capability.

 

 

AI agents are moving from advice to action

Gone are the days when AI agents were limited to suggesting answers or drafting content. Today, they’ve started to manage practical tasks. Whether handling HR queries, monitoring stock levels, or reconciling finance data with minimal human intervention, AI agents are redefining the way organisations operate.

 

While this makes the businesses highly efficient with less human intervention required, there are risks that organisations need to mitigate. The core challenge is no longer model capability, but oversight. Business leaders need to understand what agents are doing, which systems they can access, and how decisions are being made in real time.

 

There’s also the issue of data freshness and safety. AI agents operating on outdated or poorly governed data can cause operational errors at speed. As a result, the industry is seeing early demand for tools that can manage multiple agents centrally – enforcing access controls, tracking activity and maintaining human visibility. AI agents will scale, but only where governance scales with them.

 

 

Gender gap in AI adoption is becoming a business risk

Alongside adoption, a quieter but more concerning trend is emerging: a growing gender gap in workplace AI use. According to a Harvard analysis of 140,000+ individuals worldwide, for every 100 men using GenAI tools, only 78 women do. Similarly, as per the Microsoft New Future of Work Report 2025, men were more likely than women (29.1% vs 23.5%) to use generative AI for work.

 

For mid-sized companies, this isn’t a social issue alone – it’s also a structural one. If AI becomes embedded in how work is done, uneven adoption risks widening existing gaps in progression, influence and pay.

 

Left unaddressed, AI could reinforce inequality rather than reduce it. The businesses that succeed will be those that treat AI adoption as a change management challenge, not a technical rollout. That means targeted training, leadership role-modelling and active monitoring of who is, and isn’t, using these tools.

 

 

The expanding role of zero trust

Zero trust isn’t new, but it’s expanding. It’s no longer just about users and devices. APIs, machine identities and now AI agents are all being brought under zero-trust principles. This underscores a fact that modern environments are no longer defined by a clear perimeter. Anything that connects human or machine represents potential risk.

 

As a result, legacy VPNs are being phased out in favour of continuous authentication, behaviour monitoring and identity governance across all connections. For mid-market firms, zero trust is moving from best practice to baseline. Insurers, partners and regulators increasingly expect it, particularly as UK legislation going through Parliament places greater emphasis on supply chain cyber risk. Trust is no longer assumed; it must be constantly proven.

 

 

Shifting ransomware tactics 

Ransomware tactics are shifting. It’s less about encryption now, more about full disruption and public data exposure – operational shutdowns, data theft and public exposure. Recent high-profile incidents affecting organisations such as M&S, Harrods, Co-op and JLR underline this shift. The reputational and operational damage often outweighs the immediate financial cost.

 

For mid-market businesses, this changes the defensive priority. Prevention still matters, but resilience is now critical. That means robust disaster recovery plans, clean offline backups and regular testing to ensure recovery processes work under pressure. The ability to recover quickly and confidently is becoming as important as the ability to prevent attacks in the first place.  

 

 

Automation era is almost here 

Hiring is still tough, and mid-sized firms are feeling it. In response, many are turning to automation not as a replacement for people, but to relieve pressure. Processes such as invoice handling, onboarding administration and customer communication follow-ups are increasingly automated. Around 44% of organisations are already using automation, with more than half planning to expand it.

 

This isn’t blind faith in AI as a cure-all. It’s a focused effort to do more with existing teams, reduce friction and free people to focus on higher-value work. Automation is being adopted as a workforce strategy, not just a technology upgrade.

 

 

The bigger picture: Control, confidence and capability

Taken together, these trends point to a broader shift. The next phase of technology adoption in the mid-market isn’t about chasing the newest tools. AI, automation and zero trust remain powerful enablers. However, they need to be paired with strong governance, inclusive adoption and operational resilience. 

 

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Rob Hankin is CTO of Cybit

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com and courtneyk