Artificial intelligence will shift from pilot projects to becoming the core operating layer of enterprise technology in 2026, with “agentic” systems moving into day-to-day use across business functions from sales and customer management to supply chains and industrial maintenance, AHEAD India Managing Director Sumed Marwaha said.
Marwaha said organisations are beginning to move away from static, dashboard-led decision making towards more autonomous operations as AI systems take on a bigger role in executing tasks, recommending actions and coordinating workflows.
He said agentic AI will go mainstream as companies across industries identify practical use cases in customer engagement, supply chain planning and IoT-based proactive maintenance, areas where firms are looking to improve response times, reduce downtime and run operations at scale.
Cybersecurity will also be reshaped by AI in 2026, Marwaha said, as defenders deploy more intelligent detection and response capabilities while AI-enabled attacks, including deepfakes and automated social engineering, continue to escalate.
Enterprises will increasingly use AI to improve resilience
He said enterprises will increasingly use AI to improve resilience by helping security teams detect anomalies faster, triage incidents more effectively and automate parts of response. At the same time, he warned that the threat environment is evolving quickly as attackers apply similar tools to raise the speed and volume of attacks.
Marwaha also pointed to growing attention on quantum computing and the need for post-quantum cryptography, citing concerns around “harvest now, decrypt later” scenarios where data stolen today could be decrypted in the future as computing power advances.
On infrastructure, he said hybrid and multi-cloud deployments will remain the preferred model for enterprises seeking resilience, cost optimisation and reduced dependence on single vendors.
He added that organisations in India are expected to sharpen focus on data privacy, governance and the operational impact of compliance as enforcement and implementation of data protection requirements gather pace.
Supporting these shifts will be sustained investment in AI-ready, high-density data centres in India and globally, Marwaha said, alongside a renewed emphasis on ESG goals through energy-efficient infrastructure and carbon-aware computing.
