Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo 2026 Orlando: Day 2 Highlights

We are bringing you news and highlights from Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo, taking place this week in Orlando, Florida. Below is a collection of the key announcements and insights coming out of the conference. You can read the highlights from Day 1 here.

On Day 2 from the conference, we are announcing the top strategic tech trends for 2027, explaining how to develop a sound AI governance strategy, tactics CIOs can utilize to craft their brand in the AI era and highlighting the CIO’s outlook around AI, sovereignty and other top trends. Be sure to check this page throughout the day for updates.

• Gartner Says AI Risk is Rising Faster Than AI Value
• Gartner Survey Finds Only 13% of CIOs Say Their Enterprise Has Realized Significant or Transformational Value from AI
• Gartner Says 44% of CEOs Struggle to Demonstrate AI Financial Returns as Technology Becomes Central to Growth
• Gartner Identifies the Top Strategic Technology Trends for 2027

Presented by Gene Alvarez, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner

Technological breakthroughs are accelerating like never before. In this session, Gene Alvarez, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner, highlighted the game-changing technologies every CIO should know to face the future with confidence and agility. 

• “CIOs need to safely lead their organizations into the autonomous era. To do so they must leverage the Non-Textual AI Frontier, govern the Autonomous Agent Platform, and architect Durable Agility. Gartner’s top technology trends for 2027 will help CIOs build the strategic boundaries needed to deliver trusted outcomes.”
• World Models: “World models establish a physics-first paradigm shift that allows machines to comprehend space, time and causality, enabling autonomous agents to simulate potential future states, predict outcomes and understand the consequences of their actions before execution.”
• AI Agent Identity: “By 2028, 25% of enterprise security breaches will trace back to AI agent abuse due to unmanaged machine privileges and legacy credential practices.
• Applying dynamic identity controls allows organizations to replace high-risk static credentials with dynamic, policy-controlled access.”
• Sovereign Tech: “Sovereign tech (SovTech) refers to hardware, software, databases and AI models designed to provide realistic exit strategies from critical providers while remaining perpetually available to prevent lock-in and ensure complete operational continuity.”

Learn about the remaining top strategic technology trends and explore each in more detail in the Gartner press release Gartner Identifies the Top Strategic Technology Trends for 2027.

Journalists can receive additional information and/or request an interview with Gene Alvarez by contacting Matt LoDolce at matt.lodolce@gartner.com.