FMJ Facilities Management magazine providing industry-specific intelligence to FM and property professionals
By Nigel Dews, Managing Director of Restore Information Management
The story of 2026 is not about chasing the next breakthrough. Organisations aren’t abandoning innovation, but they are done with experimentation for its own sake. Big visions are being replaced by a focus on what works day to day. CIOs are under pressure to prove value, reduce risk, and keep the organisation running, not just to trial new technology. In our world of Information Management, trust, governance, and resilience matter just as much as innovation and increasingly determine whether it succeeds at all.
Over the past year, we’ve spoken extensively with organisations across sectors about their information management challenges and ambitions. Here’s what they told us and what we predict will be the trends in 2026
1: From AI Hype to AI Practicalities
With nearly nine in 10 organisations now using AI in at least one business function, the question for 2026 isn’t whether to adopt AI, we’ve actually been using it for years, but how deeply it should be embedded into everyday operations. The focus is shifting away from generic tools and toward AI agents designed to handle governance, data quality, retention, and optimisation quietly in the background.
Yet, at the same time, CIOs are more cautious than ever. Talking to our customers reveals a growing scepticism toward overhyped “AI” promises, particularly where accuracy, security, and accountability are unclear.
The message is consistent. AI must deliver practical value, operate transparently, and strengthen, not weaken compliance.
2: Legacy Foundations vs. Modern Expectations
Consumers want information at their fingertips; organisations want to differentiate via customer experience. Forcing organisations to access real time data around the clock and from anywhere.
But here’s the friction point. Many are trying to deliver real-time insight on top of fragmented, legacy-heavy environments. The ambition is there; the foundations often aren’t. This gap explains why incremental progress still dominates, even as the need for speed accelerates.
The challenge isn’t choosing the next shiny technology. It’s building an information management ecosystem that can adapt, comply, provide efficiency and access, helping to make quicker decisions and improve the user’s end experience.
3. From Cloud Adoption to Cloud Judgment
Cloud native platforms have shifted from being a bold choice to an expected part of modern IT. With most large scale data environments now running partly or entirely in the cloud, the question is no longer “Should we use cloud?” but “How do we use it in the smartest way?”
For many organisations, hybrid and multi-cloud strategies are emerging as the pragmatic middle ground, balancing flexibility, resilience, and regulatory demands. This mirrors what CIOs are telling us: wholesale replacement of legacy systems is rarely realistic. Controlled evolution is.
4. UK Data Sovereignty and the return to local service
UK organisations are becoming far more conscious of where their information lives, who can access it, and which legal frameworks ultimately govern it. Ongoing regulatory change, geopolitical uncertainty, and high-profile data breaches have sharpened awareness that data hosted or managed overseas can introduce risks that are difficult to see and even harder to control.
There’s a growing recognition that local service delivery matters. Information Management providers who combine UK infrastructure with on-the-ground service, deep understanding of local regulation, and the ability to support hybrid environments that blend digital and physical information securely provide more value than global ones.
5. Trust Becomes the Differentiator
Perhaps the most striking insight from our customer research is this: technology is no longer the deciding factor.
Organisations consistently prioritise reliability, service quality, and delivery confidence over cutting-edge features. After years of ambitious promises and underwhelming execution, trust has become the real currency of digital transformation.
In 2026, information management partners will be judged not by how futuristic their platforms sound, but by how well they understand sector-specific pressures, compliance realities, and operational constraints.
6. Sector Specific Pressures
In the public sector we will continue to see mandates for the NHS and Government for paperless and interoperable systems. Organisations will not only want to work with sector experts but trusted digital partners who can help them navigate legacy records and systems.
They will want direct access to multiple experts who not only understand the sector they are in, but where they can offer flexible ways to meet their needs.
7. Sustainability Continues to be a focus
Eighty-five per cent of companies increased their sustainability-related investments from 2023 to 2024, with green IT initiatives, paper reduction, and eco-friendly storage becoming standard considerations in information management strategies. This is a 10 per cent rise from 2023. Sustainable data management practices and ethical AI deployment will influence procurement decisions.
2026 is shaping up to be the year organisations stop talking about transformation and start embedding it into governance models, operating rhythms, and everyday decision-making. Automation, real-time insight, compliance, sustainability, and trust are no longer separate conversations. They are converging into a single mandate: control at scale.2026 isn’t a year of radical reinvention. It’s the year organisations finally make good on the promises of the last decade. As AI becomes business as usual, cloud strategies stabilise, and data sovereignty moves centre stage, the winners will be those who prioritise trust, governance, and real-world impact over hype.
Information management is no longer a supporting function; it is the backbone of operational resilience, compliance, and customer experience.
If 2025 was the year businesses talked about transformation, 2026 is the year they’ll be forced to prove it. Organisations that can’t control their information won’t control their future.
