IT trend topics for 2026

In an interview with IT-Welt, EDITEL CIO Alexander Schaefer explains why companies need to act now.

“Anyone who still believes in 2026 that IT trends are only about technology will have a compliance problem by 2027 at the latest,” says Alexander Schaefer in an interview with IT-Welt. The year ahead will be heavily shaped by new requirements: NIS2, DORA, TISAX, the Data Act, the AI Act, and the Cyber Resilience Act are setting new minimum standards for businesses. Schaefer emphasizes that these requirements are much more than mere bureaucratic formalities.

They are increasingly determining whether supply chains work, business relationships remain stable, and products can succeed in the market.

Automation does not end at the company boundary

At the same time, the EDITEL CIO sees enormous potential in end-to-end process automation across company boundaries. The greatest efficiency gains arise where data flows smoothly between partners — through the combination of EDI, APIs, and web portals. “Companies that manage B2B integration like a product — with onboarding, monitoring, SLAs, and security — can scale successfully,” says Schaefer.

Those who treat integration as a one-off project, by contrast, will gradually lose speed and competitiveness.
 

AI in 2026: essential, but only with measurable value

Artificial intelligence will remain a dominant topic in 2026. However, Schaefer warns that many businesses have been stuck for years in a loop of proof-of-concepts. “If an AI use case has no measurable KPI, it is not a project — it is an expensive experiment,” he says.

What matters are clear goals, defined data ownership, quality measurement, and an operating model with monitoring and human-in-the-loop rules. Only then can AI evolve from a showpiece into a real driver of value.

Digital sovereignty needs a Plan B

Geopolitical developments are also shaping the IT strategy of many companies. Europe’s dependence on US providers is increasingly being viewed critically. Schaefer describes the situation as paradoxical: digital sovereignty is widely discussed, yet often bought as an extra package from the same provider. “Anyone without a Plan B is not cloud-first, but cloud-trapped,” he says. Companies need to make critical dependencies transparent and consciously decide where strong ties make sense — and where alternatives must remain in place.

FreightLogs: transport digitalization in practice

One of EDITEL’s highlights in 2025 was the launch of FreightLogs. With this solution, the company is opening up digital freight documents such as eCMR and the digital delivery note — a future-focused topic, as paper still dominates many road transport processes. Here, digitalization means something very practical: fewer errors, faster turnaround times, and better traceability across the entire transport chain.
 

EDITEL focus 2026: interfaces across the value chain

For 2026, EDITEL is focusing on an area where many companies still have blind spots: the interfaces between organizations. Many internal processes are already well digitalized, yet between customers and suppliers there are still media breaks, manual workarounds, and unnecessary friction.

The goal is clear: data should flow cleanly, in a standardized format, and in an automated way along the entire value chain — from raw materials to the end customer.

Lessons from 2025: security remains an ongoing task

From the IT year 2025, Schaefer takes away three key lessons: complexity slows down speed, security is not a one-time project but an ongoing task, and in 2026 AI will increasingly appear as embedded intelligence within products and services.

His wish for the future is clear: a world with fewer cyber threats and, above all, harmonized EU standards instead of 27 national special approaches.