In keeping with last year, managers at companies with more than 200 staff (half the sample) were more optimistic across nearly all metrics than those with 100 to 199 staff (the other half of the sample).

Asked for his gut feel about 2026, Nelson – who began as managing director on October 1 – said, “I’ve just spent 10 weeks visiting smaller locations like Nelson, New Plymouth, Hawke’s Bay and Tauranga, plus larger locations. My sense is that companies are much more optimistic.

“They’re actively saying that they’re finding it a little bit easier to generate some inbound interest for their products and services. And while that’s very early days, they are expecting that to translate into increased revenue over the year ahead.”

The 10 biggest threats

The business leaders saw the biggest threats as:

While cyber security had slid down the list of concerns, Nelson cautioned organisations about becoming blasé.

There was a danger some boards were experiencing “cyber security fatigue” as they heard repeated requests for more security investment from their chief security officer – but at the same time, AI was enabling more sophisticated attacks, at a higher volume, and much smoother phishing scams that were harder to spot.

Back to the office?

A majority of respondents (55%) said a hybrid work model (a mix of in-office and remote-working days) best described their company’s way of working, but the figure was down from 2024 (63%).

Respondents from companies with more than 200 staff (58%) were more likely to describe their business as a hybrid workplace than those under 200 (53%).

What should be the Govt’s top priorities?

The business leaders were also asked, “Going into 2026 (an election year), what do you believe should be the top three focus areas for the Government?” The results:

Climate change, which fell seven points to 9%, did not make the top five.

In December the Government boosted its tech and tech-adjacent efforts on several fronts, Nelson noted, including the launch of an app to make it easier to access government services (which will later be expanded to hold a digital ID in its “wallet”); the launch of a more digitised procurement platform, which will be progressively rolled out; and the associated announcement of a push for government agencies to share more common IT platforms to reduce duplication and improve inefficiency.

Brain drain a big concern

A separate question asked, “Is the so-called ‘Brain Drain’ a concern for your business?”

Of those surveyed, 42% said it was.

A follow-up question asked for examples of specific skillsets respondents felt were being impacted by the brain drain.

Anonymised comments included many variations on the following:

AI the biggest opportunity

AI adoption and implementation (51%) was seen as the top technology opportunity for 2026.

Nelson said many companies were now moving from pilot projects and small groups of hero staff to top-down rollouts – including his own firm, where all of its 6000 or so staff are now using AI.

Nelson, who became Datacom NZ managing director on October 1 through an internal promotion, told the Herald that in the technology’s early days, he set himself the goal of using it at least once a day.

In terms of training, the key element was to teach staff using real-life business scenarios from their regular workdays, which had often been discussed at “brown-bag lunch meetings”.

Datacom has been at the sharp end of things, using AI in coding as it creates new products, services and “agents” based around the new technology, including its AI Payroll Assistant.

He sees AI enabling companies to enter new markets or sectors that might have previously been beyond their reach.

Huge shortage of AI talent predicted

Challenges remain, however. A third of respondents said their tech infrastructure was not sufficient for AI, while the same number thought “dirty data” (that is, outdated or otherwise flawed in-house files) was one of their biggest challenges for the new year. Most viewed their AI governance as now sorted.

The prolonged economic slowdown and tech companies shedding jobs have put paid to general hiring fears.

Around a third also saw lack of knowledge or a skilled workforce as one of their biggest barriers to growth in 2026.

“That’s certainly something we’re hyper-sensitive to. So we are training as fast as we can to equip people with new skills,” Nelson said.

“I can see there will be a huge shortage of engineering talent that is either AI-native or very AI savvy, and how we address that in New Zealand in the next couple of years will be an interesting one.

“We’ve got to make sure we have access to good skills from overseas, as well as developing our own talent here.”

Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.