Your 2026 budgeting and headcount planning may be done, but where will your competitors be spending in the year ahead? What technologies, tactics, and talent are your peers focusing on? And who’s really winning with AI?
Eliassen’s 2026 Technology Leadership Pulse Survey will answer those questions and more in the new year. But in the spirit of giving this holiday season, we’re sharing three key early-access findings that can help shape your thinking ahead of 2026.*
After years of almost limitless year-over-year growth, tech budgets seemed to stagnate in 2025. And while those days of booming budgets may not return for some time, our 2026 survey found that tech spending seems to be on the upswing again — at least somewhat.
In 2024, 37% of leaders reported substantial budget growth, but that number dipped to just 11% last year as budgets stalled across the board. As we head into 2026, the number of leaders anticipating significant budget expansion ticked up again to 16%.
The percentage of leaders who reported more moderate budget growth, however, has grown sharply year over year. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of leaders in our 2026 survey reported moderate budget growth — almost twice the number who said the same just two years ago. Those reporting shrinking budgets, on the other hand, dropped from 15% in 2024 to just 4.4% in 2026.
In short, budgets are still growing, just not at the same rate they once did. 2025 may have been a shock to the system for some leaders accustomed to substantial year-over-year growth, but the long-term stagnation some may have feared didn’t seem to materialize.
Few will be surprised to learn that AI is the top area of focus for tech leaders heading into 2026, but the degree to which AI outstrips other priorities may be surprising indeed.
More than half (54%) of leaders — the highest cohort — selected it as a main area of focus for the year ahead. Enhancing cybersecurity remained a distant second (34%), followed by software testing improvements and/or test automation (32%).
This focus on AI above all else is indicative of the current AI arms race happening across industries, as companies scramble to leverage artificial intelligence to find efficiencies, shave costs, and gain a competitive edge.
Meanwhile, just 31% said they were focusing on process improvements and operational efficiencies in 2026, sharply down from 48% last year. This pivot away from last year’s mandate to find efficiencies and do more with less may be a result of budgets opening up again following a cautious 2025. With more money to spend, many leaders are again free to focus on mission-critical technology initiatives — and less on dollars and cents.
Cybersecurity budgets grow year over year largely because they must, as the cost of keeping pace with new threats and implementing strategies like zero-trust architecture continue to rise. But cybersecurity budget growth has slowed in recent years, and our 2026 Technology Leadership Pulse Survey revealed that that trend isn’t likely to change in the year ahead.
In 2026, the share of leaders spending at least 8% of their total tech budgets on cybersecurity fell to 78%, down from almost 85% in 2025. Meanwhile, the share of those spending 7% or less rose to 23%, up from 15% the year previous.
While these aren’t seismic changes, they may indicate that a growing number of security functions believe that they can keep pace with new threats without breaking the bank.
AI may play one or more roles in this scenario: Given that many security vendors now offer threat detection and response solutions powered by AI, some teams have been able to become leaner and more efficient. These teams — with fewer credentialed cybersecurity professionals managing a wider range of AI-powered solutions — may be able to achieve similar security outcomes with less spending on headcount. On the other hand, the number of AI-powered threats is increasing exponentially in both volume and sophistication, leading some teams to add more headcount to combat the threat.
Which of these will become the norm in 2026 and beyond? It’s too early to tell, but keep an eye on the relative success or failure of AI-driven threat detection and response solutions as the year progresses. High-profile successes will likely lead organizations to trim headcount and increase reliance on third-party solutions. High-profile failures, on the other hand, may have the opposite effect.
These findings are just a sample of the many insights our 2026 Technology Leadership Pulse Survey is sure to provide. We’re already uncovering new trends, including:
To see these insights and more, keep an eye on Eliassen’s Resource hub, and follow us on LinkedIn and X for updates in the new year.
*The findings published here are based on preliminary analysis of 2026 survey data. All data and interpretations are subject to change and correction.