The CIO job isn’t what it used to be. Keeping the lights on, patching servers, staying out of sight, that’s in the past. Today, the CIO has to be visible. We need to understand how the business runs, manage risk, and help drive growth.

Most of us have already done the heavy lifting. We’ve modernized infrastructure. We’ve improved security. We’ve built stable IT operations. All of that was necessary, but let’s be honest, it’s expected now. Nobody claps for it.

So as we plan for 2026, the question is simple: what’s next?

For me, the answer is people, process, and data. That’s where technology moves from “support” work to visible business value.

People: Make Tech Work With Them, Not At Them

Tech fails when people don’t buy in. Rolling out another tool doesn’t matter if employees don’t understand why it’s there or how it helps them.

The business has to be part of the design. If they don’t bring problems and the reasons behind them, IT ends up guessing. That’s how you end up with three tools doing the same job and nobody happy with any of them.

In my own teams, I’ve seen this play out when IT rushed ahead without business input. We thought a new tool would “fix” a problem, but the users saw it as just another login screen. Adoption lagged until we sat down with them, listened, and redesigned together. Once they had a voice in shaping it, the system finally stuck.

Do our people really understand the systems they use every day? Are we bringing the business in early, before decisions are made?

I’ve seen it both ways. When IT and the business design together, adoption takes off. When we don’t, tools gather dust.

Process: Stop Settling for “Good Enough”

Processes are where the work gets done. The problem is that many of them haven’t been questioned in years. They survive because they “work fine,” not because they’re the best way forward.

2026 is the time to stop settling for “good enough.” Automation and AI give us the chance to rethink.

Back in 2022, McKinsey reported that companies redesigning processes with automation were already seeing 20 to 30 percent efficiency gains. Three years later, those numbers still hold up, which tells us this isn’t hype, it’s proven impact.

In my experience, I’ve seen too many “spaghetti” processes created by designing around tools instead of first asking what the most efficient process should be. It’s backwards. This problem shows up often in construction, where the “buy” side of products drives decisions. The result is complexity, not efficiency.

If we had to rebuild this process today, would we keep it the same? Where could automation cut wasted steps?

It’s not easy to challenge a process that seems fine. But if it won’t scale, it’s holding us back.

Data: Stop Hoarding, Start Using

If people are the drivers and processes are the roads, data is the fuel. And right now, too many companies are driving on bad fuel.

The problem isn’t that we lack data. It’s that it’s messy, siloed, or nobody trusts it. When leaders don’t believe the numbers, they fall back on gut calls. When data is clean and structured, the conversation changes.

In my past, working with many organizations in both consulting and as a tech leader, I’ve seen this especially in project reporting. Two teams pull numbers from different systems, and leadership ends up debating which version is “right” instead of acting. Once we built a single trusted source, those meetings shifted from arguing over data to making decisions with it.

In 2023, Gartner predicted that by 2026, more than 80 percent of enterprises would be using generative AI APIs or models².

Now that we’re at the doorstep of that year, the question for every CIO is simple: are we part of that 80 percent, or not?

Is our data unified or still stuck in silos? Can leaders trust it enough to act on it? Is it ready for AI, or will bad inputs just give us bad outputs?

Data doesn’t have to be perfect, but it has to be good enough that business leaders believe it.

The CIO Job Now

Infrastructure and security will always matter. But they no longer set us apart. They are expected. The real job now is showing how technology drives growth. That means:

• Giving people tools they’ll actually use.

• Challenging old processes.

• Making data useful, not just collected.

That’s the difference between running IT and helping run the business.

Looking Ahead

As we head into 2026, CIOs have a choice.

We can keep maintaining what we’ve built, or we can step up and lead. The foundation is solid. The question is whether we’ll use it.

Technology matters when it helps people do their jobs better, makes processes smarter, and turns data into decisions.

CIOs who focus here won’t just keep up with change. They’ll set the pace.