Veeam® Software announced the results of a global survey of more than 250 senior IT and business decision-makers, revealing the key trends expected to shape the IT landscape in 2026. The report revealed that cybersecurity threats and the growing impact of AI maturity and regulation will be the most significant disruptors for organizations in the coming year.

The findings reported that nearly 60% of respondents have reduced visibility into where their data resides due to expanding multi-cloud and SaaS environments. Meanwhile, AI-generated attacks were viewed as the most serious data security risk. Compliance pressures around data sovereignty were also highlighted, with 76% rating it extremely or moderately important, signaling a major shift in how organizations plan their cloud strategies.

Anand Eswaran, CEO of Veeam, said IT and business leaders are entering 2026 with unprecedented complexity. He stated that cybersecurity and AI are accelerating, and organizations must strengthen data resilience and compliance while continuing to innovate responsibly.

The survey reported that cybersecurity threats were identified by 49% of IT leaders as the biggest disruptor. AI maturity and regulation followed at 22%. Talent shortages accounted for 10%, while cloud complexity and costs reached 8%. When asked which risks they felt least prepared for, respondents cited cyberattacks at 29% and AI or automation missteps at 27%.
Furthermore, 66% said AI-generated attacks pose the biggest threat to data, compared to 50% who pointed to ransomware.

IT leaders revealed that their top priorities for 2026 include:
• Strengthening cybersecurity, selected by 45% as the must-win initiative.
• Increasing data resilience efforts, chosen by 24%.
• Boosting budgets for data protection and resilience, with 54% planning moderate or significant increases.

Data sovereignty is also shaping cloud strategies. The study reported that 46% of respondents consider sovereignty extremely important, while 30% rate it as moderately important. This reflects a shift where compliance and control over data location are becoming as critical as traditional security measures.

Despite increased cybersecurity investments, visibility and recovery confidence remain low. The survey showed that expanded IT environments have somewhat reduced data visibility for 44% of leaders and significantly reduced visibility for 16%. Only 29% said they are very confident in recovering critical data after a zero-day exploit, while 59% were only somewhat confident. In addition, 71% reported they are not confident or only somewhat confident in maintaining operations during a multi-day cloud outage.

Respondents said organizations must increase accountability to strengthen resilience. A majority said greater executive accountability would have a major (41%) or moderate (31%) impact on improving cybersecurity. Another 88% believe ensuring partners meet cybersecurity and data protection standards will be extremely or moderately important in 2026.
The study also revealed strong support for policy changes, with 72% backing a ban on ransomware payments and 51% strongly supporting the measure.

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