Why 2026 will force Indian enterprises to rethink data, AI, and infrastructure strategy

As Indian enterprises head into 2026, the technology conversation is shifting from ambition to accountability. AI pilots are giving way to production systems, data volumes are exploding, and boards are demanding outcomes that are measurable, resilient, and compliant. Against this backdrop, infrastructure decisions are no longer just IT choices. They are business-critical bets that will determine how quickly organisations can respond to uncertainty, regulate risk, and scale innovation responsibly.

In this interaction with Dataquest, Hemant Tiwari, Managing Director and Vice President, India and SAARC Region, Hitachi Vantara, outlines the technology shifts that will shape enterprise priorities in the year ahead. From AI-ready platforms and Kubernetes-led hybrid architectures to sovereign-AI considerations and data resilience as a boardroom mandate, Tiwari explains why trusted data foundations and energy-efficient infrastructure will define competitive advantage in India’s next phase of digital transformation.

As India’s enterprise landscape becomes more data-intensive, what do you see as the most consequential technology shifts that will define 2026, particularly around AI-ready infrastructure, hybrid cloud, and data governance?

As uncertainty remains at an all-time high, agility becomes non-negotiable. In 2026, Indian enterprises will need to build organisations that can interpret market signals quickly and act decisively, aligning technology investments more tightly with business outcomes. AI will increasingly be treated as a practical tool for operational efficiency and innovation. High-throughput, AI-ready platforms will be critical to enable data preparation, fine-tuning, and inference at scale.

Hybrid cloud will anchor the future IT model, allowing workloads to move seamlessly across edge, core, and cloud environments with policy-driven automation ensuring performance and compliance. Kubernetes-led hybrid architectures will help blend the agility of public cloud with the control and regulatory assurance of private infrastructure.

Data governance will move into the spotlight, as it evolves from a compliance requirement to a competitive advantage. Organisations will prioritise trusted data foundations that integrate quality, lineage, and policy enforcement into operations. This will empower faster decisions, stronger insights, and measurable impact from AI initiatives while maintaining regulatory confidence.

With enterprises moving from experimentation to scaled deployment of GenAI and agentic systems, how do you see infrastructure architectures evolving in 2026 to support reliability, energy efficiency, and sovereign-AI requirements?

Infrastructure will evolve to support agentic AI systems that can operate reliably at scale. Optimised data pipelines and topology-aware architectures will be essential to ensure consistent performance while maximising throughput.

Energy efficiency will be central to infrastructure design, making compact, high-density, and flash-based architectures essential, reducing power consumption and freeing capacity for innovation.

Sovereign-AI requirements will influence architecture choices, prompting deployment models that keep sensitive data within local jurisdictions while ensuring compliance and trust. Federated platforms with policy enforcement close to the data will enable enterprises to innovate confidently while meeting regulatory obligations. As a result, secure, compliant, and energy-efficient data centres will become foundational for trusted AI development.

In 2026, Indian enterprises will bet on AI-ready, hybrid infrastructure that balances scale, governance, and operational efficiency.

Data resilience is becoming a boardroom priority. What new patterns are you seeing in how Indian enterprises are approaching data protection, cyber recovery, and trusted operations for the year ahead?

Enterprises are recognising that the future is breachable. They are embedding resilience into infrastructure from the outset, ensuring business continuity and predictable recovery. Automated processes are enabling rapid restoration of critical systems while maintaining transparency and auditability.

Intelligent, policy-driven automation is increasingly being used to manage operational tasks such as snapshots, tiering, and compliance checks. This approach allows organisations to maintain trusted operations while handling growing data volumes and AI workloads efficiently.

Additionally, resilience is now viewed as a strategic capability, enabling organisations to operate with confidence and adapt quickly to evolving demands and regulatory expectations.

Digital transformation budgets are tightening even as expectations rise. Where do you expect CIOs and CTOs to place their biggest bets in 2026, and how is Hitachi Vantara aligning its India strategy to these enterprise priorities?

CIOs and CTOs will prioritise investments that deliver measurable outcomes, focusing on infrastructure that enables scalable AI, reliable operations, and efficient resource use. Flexible consumption and managed service models will gain prominence, enabling enterprises to scale effectively while maintaining financial discipline and operational control.

At Hitachi Vantara, our global strategy is closely aligned with these priorities. We support enterprises by providing hybrid and sovereign-ready platforms, AI-optimised data solutions, and energy-efficient infrastructure for mission-critical environments. Our focus is on helping organisations integrate performance, governance, and resilience into their technology strategy, enabling them to scale innovation responsibly and extract measurable value from data and AI initiatives.

shrikanthg@cybermedia.co.in