Published on the 12/05/2026 | Written by Heather Wright

Outcomes trump uptime as mandates expand…

Tech leaders are no longer being judged on whether systems remain online, instead, they are increasingly expected to demonstrate measurable business outcomes and enterprise value.

That’s according to Deloitte’s 2026 Global Technology Leadership Study, which surveyed more than 660 senior technology executives globally, with 31 percent APAC based.

“The gap between a tech leader’s expanded mandate and their organisation’s ability to execute is where competitive advantage can be won or lost.”

It says a new era of technology leadership is here, but warns that expectations have reset faster than organisational structures. While the tech leaders find themselves being held accountable for shaping strategy, leading change, building AI-ready teams, turning tech ambition into business results and driving enterprise-wide outcomes, many enterprises are still operating governance, funding and operating models designed for an earlier era of IT. That mismatch is leaving tech leaders caught between the ambition of an AI-driven world and the structural reality of legacy operating models, talent and budget.

While it might all sound like a headache in the making, the respondents aren’t despondent. In fact, more than seven in 10 say they’re inspired or determined about the future of their role, recognising that, while creating additional complexity, AI also creates an opportunity to step forward as ‘architects of enterprise advantage’, Deloitte says.

Driving outcomes, driving business

The report shows 79 percent of the tech leaders surveyed said driving measurable business outcomes was a top priority for 2026, reflecting a decisive move away from traditional operational metrics.

Within that shift, leaders identified growth, productivity and customer impact as key outcomes areas shaping how success is measured. These priorities now sit ahead of the traditional focus on infrastructure stability, availability and delivery performance that previously dominated tech leadership.

Other strategic priorities also featured prominently. Ensuring compliance with evolving digital regulations and embedding cybersecurity and digital resilience across the organisation were each cited by 77 percent of respondents as a key area of focus, highlighting how the scope of responsibility continues to widen, extending into regulatory readiness, enterprise risk and organisational resilience.

The results signal technology leadership’s central role in enterprise performance, governance and risk, rather than operating as a support function sitting alongside the business.

Deloitte frames the change as a move ‘from uptime to outcomes’ and a fundamental reset of the technology leadership mandate.

According to the study, AI adoption is a major driver. As the technology becomes embedded across business processes and decision-making, expectations around the role of technology leaders have expanding. Boards and CEOs are increasingly focused on how digital and AI investments translate into tangible business value, rather than whether technology has simply been deployed successfully.

“The era of the operational technologist is over,” says Deloitte Consulting’s Anjali Shaikh, managing director and leader of the global CIO and US tech executive programs. “This shift has been building for over a decade, and AI is the catalyst bringing that into focus. Today’s CIO isn’t just leading technology; they are being asked to redesign the very fabric of how the business runs.”

The survey also suggests this change is reshaping how performance is assessed across the technology leadership spectrum, and how leader are prioritising their agendas, which are consistently anchored around AI. Forty-six percent of CIOs say AI adoption and value realisation is the measure which will most define their success over the next two years, a result which underlines how closely the CIO role is now tied to turning AI initiatives into demonstratable business impact, rather than simply enabling adoption.

For CDAOs the priority is gaining tangible business value from data and AI assets, reflecting the growing emphasis on monetisation, insight and decision support. CISOs identified integration of security into AI initiatives as the key measure of success, highlighting the increasing convergence of cybersecurity, risk management and AI deployment. And for CTOs, AI-enabled automation and innovation velocity topped the list of measures defining success, signalling pressure to accelerate delivery while modernising platforms and architectures.

Despite the increasing focus on AI, the study shows leaders are not shedding their existing responsibilities. Tech executives remain accountable for a broad set of outcomes, including resilience, compliance and sustained enterprise value – on top of the expanded AI-related mandates.

Structural constraints

While the expectations placed on tech leaders continues to grow, the study makes clear that many organisations have yet to adjust the structures around them to support this shift.

Governance models, funding mechanisms and operating structures often remain rooted in an era where IT was primarily responsible for delivery and support. As a result, leaders are expected to take on broader strategic and transformational responsibilities without corresponding changes to the structural fragmentation from an expanding tech C-suite, constrained and misaligned funding models and outdated operating models that constrain them.

The gap between ambition and execution is a recurring theme, with Deloitte noting that while 81 percent of surveyed leaders say their current operating model can deploy and govern AI enterprise-wide, 75 percent also say their organisation must change its operating model within the next 12-18 months to drive greater value.

“This disconnect suggests that while organisations have established models to deploy and govern AI, they are still working through foundational questions around ownership, prioritisation, and integration needed to truly capture value,” Deloitte says.

“The gap between a tech leader’s expanded mandate and their organisation’s ability to execute is where competitive advantage can be won or lost,” Deloitte says. “The organisations that empower their leaders to close this gap – by redesigning how work gets done, how decisions are made and how value is created – can define the next decade.”