2026 TECH BUYERS GUIDE

We live in an era of rapidly changing and improving technologies. In just the last few decades, the world has evolved substantially thanks to the advent of smartphones, universal internet and social media. How we conduct business, consume content, shop and exist socially has forever transformed. We have all had to adapt to this new digital normal.

Now comes another emerging technology that requires our attention: artificial intelligence. AI has already significantly altered our culture— especially the way that we work— and will continue to make a progressively larger impact on our everyday lives. Ignore this movement at your own danger.

The sudden, dramatic proliferation of AI reminds me of the start of social media. I graduated from college in 2008 and immediately went to work as a newspaper reporter. Facebook was just then moving out of college campuses and into the broader world. I wrote extensively on the topic, predicting that social media would one day soon touch every aspect of our lives. I launched and maintained a number of Facebook and Twitter profiles for the paper that employed me, accounts that continue today.

Obviously, I was not alone in foreseeing that social media would one day soon swallow us whole. But there were folks who remained skeptical. One editor at the newspaper tragically exclaimed, during a staff meeting, that she believed Facebook was a fad.

She was a good person and a fine editor, and I do not mention this moment— or her unfortunate fate— to mock her. During the next round of layoffs, she was let go. Such a divide emerged at my old newspaper, and most other media businesses. Employees who learned social media stayed, while those who resisted adapting had a harder time holding onto jobs.

I think AI will cause a similar shakeout in the general workforce. Staff who figure out how to maximize efficiency through artificial intelligence will rise to the top, while those who stubbornly resist will fall behind. I believe strongly in this line of thinking: You will not be replaced by AI; you will be replaced by someone who knows how to use it.

So, adapt. The time is now. Learn the new technologies reshaping all industries. Look through the pages of our 2026 Tech Guide, and reach out to companies that can help you and your business remain on the cutting edge. Embrace change. Otherwise, you risk mistaking a revolution for a fad.

Kyle Swartz Editor, Off-Premise