Page 19 - EngineerIT April May Issue 2026
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AI INTEGRATION
TREND 01: TREND 03:
The end of AI as a pilot project AI empowered hybrid employees
Companies toyed with the idea of AI While hybrid work has been on the agenda since 2020, AI was
and what it could do, but were stuck on expected to raise the floor but lower the ceiling, giving employees
managing data. Many were concerned access to data and capabilities that would make them more
about whether their systems and data were productive and effective. Those who were open to relying on AI
ready for AI or whether they could effectively to delegate work and became attuned to when to use it, when
benefit from the technology. not to, and how to add value gained more control and visibility in
their roles. They have also been able to work more effectively from
By the end of 2024, many South African anywhere and connect with intelligence to systems and people
companies were already moving away without many of the traditional hiccups that come with hybrid
from proof-of-concept tools towards using working environments.
AI as a differentiator.
That marked the moment AI became a part TREND 04:
of strategy and planning, and acceleration
was driven by familiarity. AI use normalised, Trust is a technical problem
and companies stopped marvelling at
outputs. Instead, they started to interrogate While the discussions around AI ethics remain abstract and in flux,
how those outputs were produced, governed one prediction was more specific: that trust would become an
and secured. operational challenge. Deepfakes, synthetic audio and fabricated
content have become catalysts for an entirely new enterprise
The reframing has defined the past year category. That is verification. AI is not only creating the trust deficit,
of enterprise AI more than any other single but it is also being used to close it.
model release.
Over the past year, the tension has sharpened as companies are
looking for ways to authenticate reality at scale. An emphasis on
TREND 02: AI-enabled security, watermarking and verification anticipated a
market change that is now underway.
Platforms replaced products
The AI as a tool category has collapsed The insights gathered by Braintree in their 2024 webinar, which
into consolidation around platforms. This led to this level of accuracy in AI predictions, came from long-
trend was predicted long before it became term exposure to enterprise architecture and platform economics.
mainstream as experts rapidly identified Working inside environments gave the company insight into
how Google, OpenAI and Microsoft had pressures facing companies on the ground, in real time.
stopped competing at a feature level
and instead moved to competition at an Looking ahead, these predictions are one step on the AI ladder. The
ecosystem level. The expectation was that technology will continue to create friction and value for companies,
AI would be distributed through platforms and introduce entirely new ways of working and thinking.
people already inhabited rather than sold as
a standalone product. In 2026, the prediction is that the key word will be convergence as
AI becomes more embedded with a greater emphasis on security,
Over the past year, this has played out governance and ethical use. A trend that’s already taking centre
exactly as AI has become more pervasive stage across corporate discussions and government regulations.
as a layer across documents, workflows,
collaboration tools, and analytics. And as for any other predictions? Wait and see.
19 | EngineerIT April/May 2026
