- Most IT teams are concerned about data security, especially around hybrid cloud
- The entire data base must be rewritten to increase quality and prepare for AI
- Companies are also struggling with talent shortages and legacy systems
More than two in three (69%) IT leaders agree that data security is their top modernization concern for 2026 per new Rocket Software research, and just under a third of them feel ‘extremely confident’ they will pass their next regulatory audit.
The report found that the strongest confidence comes in relation to insider threats – almost four in five (78%) believe they could detect these.
Instead, most IT leaders are concerned about the evolution of hybrid IT complexity, with half (51%) saying bridging cloud and on-prem environments is a core challenge.
Data security is a big focus, but it requires a lot of work
Currently, data quality (62%), access control (52%), secure data movement (50%), governance consistency (46%) and rising storage costs (45%) all present obstacles to hybrid cloud security.
Then there’s the fact that insufficient modernization efforts so far only add to the pressure – 48% still rely on legacy systems for critical operations and 52% struggle to find skilled labour. Only 35% believe their teams have the right skills to support today’s systems.
Not surprisingly, Rocket Software launched AI tools as a potential solution, noting its perceived impacts across security and fraud detection, internal process optimization and customer experience.
But even that is not without its challenges, with only a quarter ‘extremely confident’ that their current infrastructure can support AI. So, along with investments in data security, two out of three companies also prioritize data availability for AI systems.
“This research makes it clear that IT leaders need integrated, secure ways to connect data and applications across core systems and the cloud,” concluded Michael Curry, president of the Data Modernization Business Unit.
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