Somehow, another year has passed and we’re back again to deliver our Trends Outlook for 2026. As Qlik’s first milestone of the year, it’s a busy but exciting time that hugely energizes me after the holiday break.
We weren’t short of inspiration. The world has given us a far from a blank canvas on which to illustrate our Trends and in particular, conversations around AI have firmly evolved from future-gazing to wrestling with the formula for harnessing its power. But if the year 2026 looks like something out of a sci-fi movie, the context for this year’s key themes comes from the history books.
Centralization vs decentralization
Consider the ‘Current War’ of the late 1800s, which saw the battle of ideologies between Thomas Edison’s centralized, DC system and Nikola Tesla’s decentralized, AC system. Although it has played out in many ways throughout history, the tension between needing control and craving agility is reflected in how enterprises manage their data.
As AI use cases become more tangible, data, analytics and AI leaders don’t have the luxury of switching between these two states to satisfy isolated needs. The pendulum is breaking under the pressure of scale, speed and autonomy.
Electricity only became a global utility when the AC and DC systems were combined. That’s what it will take for AI to reach the same status – a utility harnessed best by those who can intelligently wire the core and edge together. It’s a neat analogy for the problem, but we want to cut through the noise to help guide our customers.
The DARE Intelligence Grid
In this year’s edition, we bring our Trends to life through the lens of the DARE Intelligence Grid. It’s a framework that maps four key pillars across that integral core, the innovative edge and an interoperable grid that knits them together:
Data is everywhere and flows across every system, device and network
Agents are emerging, increasingly autonomous and ready to act within their own context
Roles and responsibilities are shifting, as every employee becomes their own digital CEO, managing personal agent swarms
Execution and empowerment are evolving as innovation outpaces policy and governance
So, join us on Wednesday, January 14 when we will reveal our 2026 Trends outlook.
Register here to get ahead of the competition and discover how to orchestrate your data architecture for impactful AI. Don’t miss out!
In this article:
By Trends