4 trends that will reshape the autonomous workspace in 2026

In my many discussions with customers this past year, one thing is clear: work is being shaped by AI, and there’s a growing expectation for leadership to deliver more efficiency, speed and scale to compete.  

As a result, businesses that embrace IT consolidation, integrate AI-driven automation, and empower employees to do their most critical work— seamlessly and securely — will gain a true advantage. By aligning operational efficiency with employee productivity and security, organizations can create a foundation for long-term success. 

Looking ahead, here are four pivotal trends that I expect will shape this transformation during 2026 as we enter the era of the autonomous workspace. 

Trend 1: The case for IT consolidation will shift from cost to security and productivity 

For many years, the primary driver of IT consolidation has been cost savings. However, in 2026 this focus will shift significantly. As businesses adopt more AI-driven platforms, consolidation will become a critical strategy for improving security and driving productivity.

Reducing complexity in IT environments will no longer be about cutting costs but about embedding security into every layer of systems. As the technology landscape continues to evolve, high-performing organizations will embrace this dual focus on cost reduction and security, recognizing that successful consolidation is not just about saving money; it’s also about ensuring productivity gains, secure systems, and optimizing employee experience in the process. 

This perspective is echoed by Omnissa Tech Insider Jens Hennig: 

"Consumers want a reduction of tools - therefore we will see a consolidation of workspace, identity, security, and device management into a single platform. This consolidation will create cost savings for enterprises, but also faster deployments and higher chance for automation."

The organizations that succeed in this space will be those that view consolidation as an opportunity to enhance overall security infrastructure rather than as a compromise. 

Trend 2: AI will be a driver of employee experience transformation 

As AI becomes increasingly embedded in workplace operations, its ability to enhance the employee experience will be one of its most significant impacts.  

In the year ahead, AI’s contextual intelligence will continue to eliminate the tedious workflows, manual processes, and antiquated systems that often bog employees down. Endless forms and disjointed workflows will be replaced by dynamic, AI-driven systems that adapt in real time to an organization’s needs, creating a more cohesive and seamless experience for employees.  

For example, today, the employee onboarding process is disjointed and full of antiquated processes. In the year ahead, thanks to AI’s ability to adapt and infer in real time, these existing processes will become obsolete. 

AI’s contextual intelligence will allow onboarding systems to tweak themselves dynamically creating a streamlined, frictionless experience for new employees while significantly boosting operational efficiency. 

Employee experience will only grow in importance as AI becomes more prevalent, and IT leaders will need to prioritize and optimize its efficiency. By fostering responsible AI practices while balancing innovation with oversight, IT can ensure AI enhances employee experiences without introducing unnecessary risks. 

Trend 3: Demand for data sovereignty will grow as data, AI and regulation converge 

Data has become one of the most valuable assets enterprises own, and in 2026, protecting and controlling it will only grow in importance.  As regulations evolve and AI adoption accelerates, organizations are facing increasing pressure to understand where their data lives, how it is used, and how it is governed across environments.  

AI amplifies this challenge.  Growing data volumes, increased sensitivity, and stricter regulatory expectations are pushing organizations to rethink long-standing assumptions about infrastructure, cloud usage, and data control.  

As a result, many organizations are reassessing where critical workloads should run, weighing flexibility and performance against sovereignty, compliance and trust, and, in some cases, revisiting decisions made during earlier cloud-first initiatives. 

As Matt Coppinger, CTO for EMEA at Omnissa states: 

“After years of decommissioning on-prem estates, businesses will begin repurposing—not retiring—their data centers. The rise of private AI is forcing a strategic rethink: organizations want to train models on their own proprietary data rather than feed sensitive processes into public systems. Customers are already turning existing virtualized infrastructure into AI training and inference hubs, sweating assets they once intended to scrap. In 2026, AI will flip the long-running cloud-migration trend, driving renewed investment in private compute as companies seek competitive advantage through model ownership and data sovereignty.” 

Trend 4: IT leadership will become a balancing act between innovation and trust 

In 2026, IT leaders must prioritize transparency and accountability in AI usage in order to mitigate the risks of shadow AI – the unauthorized use of AI tools without IT’s knowledge or approval. Our own Mitch Berk, senior director of product management at Omnissa and someone deeply immersed in this work every day, believes this means ensuring that all tools align with enterprise policies and security standards. This will require a cultural shift within organizations, emphasizing the importance of responsible AI practices and ongoing education for employees.  

Mitch says: 

“Data seeping through the cracks with shadow AI usage will be a continued challenge for IT teams as they look to keep their data protected. The onus will increasingly fall on IT teams to strike the right balance between innovation and security when establishing responsible AI practices. A reactive approach to AI won’t cut it anymore. IT leaders must reframe their role — becoming the enablers of AI within the organization by providing approved, secure alternatives and educating teams on responsible usage. It’s about trust and enablement, not enforcement.” 

As IT leaders start to reframe their role, the EUC function within an organization will become more dynamic, strategic and cross-functional. I believe this will be necessary for unifying efforts across HR, IT, and security to ensure technology empowers employees rather than bringing rigidity.  

In this new context, successful EUC leaders will act as pattern-matchers, balancing AI and human expertise. They’ll intuitively know when to automate at scale and when human judgment is required.  

Those who shift toward collaboration and alignment across teams will thrive, while leaders clinging to rigid, siloed, command-and-control approaches will struggle to adapt. 

Looking ahead to 2026 

The future of the autonomous workspace is being shaped by AI, but it’s not just about technology. It’s also about empowering the humans at the center of it all, and helping people do their best work without any unnecessary complexity. 

To truly thrive in this evolving landscape, businesses must adopt a mindset of adaptability and innovation. This means rethinking how IT leads, using AI to improve the employee experience, simplifying and securing the digital environment, and maintaining trust through strong data governance and sovereignty.   

As we navigate this era of transformation, the opportunity is clear: organizations that lead with purpose, prioritize their people, and channel AI’s capabilities strategically will be positioned to grow, innovate, and set the standard for others to follow. At Omnissa, we are committed to helping our customers thrive in this quickly changing world.