“Harnessing the power of ICT to propel your enterprise forward: Five key trends you need to be across in 2026”
Harnessing the power of ICT by Navneesh Garg of Adactin
Mr. Garg alerts us to future turbulence by reference to the economists at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia who suggest that 2026 will be a “challenge”. In other words, just like this year and the year before that, probably like 2027 and the year after that. The dismal science never fails.
For those that put food on the table through technology a.k.a. “knowledge workers” in Australian bureaucracies and regulated institutions not normally exposed to the chill winds of the economy, it might well be true that “a change is a coming”. Or at least starting to come.
The dot.com bubble was blown on hope and smoke and mirrors – the hope that the new technology and resultant ease of communication built on software and data as-a-productive-asset would compensate for the loss of old-world wealth generation through manufacturing widgets. Clinton signed Main Street away with NAFTA and the brutal mercantilism of the P.R.C. was naively or greedily, depending on one’s point of view, perceived as an opportunity to exploit fresh fields by U.S. and European capital.
The “AI” bubble is a different beast. There is a fear abroad.
At Opex Week, Sydney 2025 it was noticeable that the participants at the day in “knowledge work” were far more exercised about the adoption of “AI”, for purposes as yet to be precisely defined than those at the pointy end. The anxiety was palpable, some presenters truly unsettled by the potential consequences; no I am not having a chip implanted in my brain.
Mr. Garg clearly identifies the key issues to be considered, keeping on the right side of technology “groupthink”. But questions remain: Does technology enable or mitigate organisational adaptability? Where is the measurable value? There are clearly never going to be 175 new data centres in Australia by 2030. Perhaps the frictions and compromises of “cloud” are starting to emerge. Was it wise to give AWS a monopoly?
On the other hand, if as Trend Micro’s Ryan Flores suggests, the industrialisation of cyber-attacks is with us, perhaps only “AI” based apparatus can save us from the burgeoning costs of cybersecurity.
References
Industrialised cyber crime in 2026, asserts Ryan Flores of Trend Micro