IT leaders are being encouraged to address legacy systems and reduce their technical debt in order to better manage the rising risks and uncertainty facing businesses globally. Forrester’s recent report, 2026 Budget Planning: Prepare for Even More Volatility, emphasizes the need for organizations to 'declare bankruptcy on legacy tech debt' before it becomes unsustainable.

The analyst firm points out that remaining on a 'tech debt treadmill' can hinder progress. While IT departments may invest time and resources to address technical debt, new liabilities may constantly accrue, making it difficult to move forward. Analysts warn that growing technical debt raises IT costs, increases risk, and slows the rollout of new services and innovations.

To solve this, Forrester recommends IT leaders consider outsourcing support for legacy technology, enabling their teams to focus on building a modern, adaptive, and AI-powered ecosystem. By entrusting the legacy tech stack to proven service providers, organizations can achieve operational stability while allocating more resources to innovation and future growth.

The report also underscores the importance of developing a disciplined, long-term IT strategy. Looking ahead, Forrester reports that 86% of technology executives expect their IT budgets to increase in 2026, with 14% predicting double-digit growth. Key areas for investment include generative AI, product analytics, and threat intelligence.

Forrester suggests that IT departments should experiment with new technologies using low- or no-cost methods, preparing the organization for swift adoption when the time is right. Even technologies not ready to deliver immediate value could become essential in future years.

Among emerging innovations, agentic AI is highlighted. The report recommends starting by automating tasks with AI agents within a single application, prioritizing analytical apps to minimize risk. As these capabilities expand, it is important for IT leaders to monitor how agents within business intelligence platforms communicate with those in enterprise resource planning (ERP) or customer relationship management (CRM) systems to enable insight-driven actions.

Attention is also drawn to evolving standards for multiplatform agent orchestration, such as various inter-agent communication protocols. Additionally, IT and business leaders are encouraged to weigh the benefits and challenges of using synthetic data, which can accelerate customer insights when data is limited or participant recruitment is complex.