Mitch Ashley, VP and Practice Lead for Software Lifecycle Engineering at Futurum, shares insights on why platform engineers will be central to 2026 AI adoption and what organizations must prepare for as agentic development accelerates.
Futurum's Mitch Ashley,
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Mitch Ashley, The Futurum Group, "Platform Engineers Critical To AI Adoption In 2026," December 8, 2025. https://trial.futurumgroup.com/press-release/platform-engineers-critical-to-ai-adoption-in-2026/
Austin, Texas, USA, December 8, 2025
Futurum Survey Data and 2H 2025 AI Innovations Signal the Importance of Platform Engineering in 2026
There is more in store for platform engineering in 2026 than self-service developer portals, streamlined CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure-as-code. Major vendor AI announcements in the second half of 2025 indicate multiple new technologies that platform engineering teams will address over the next year.
Organizations need cloud and internal platforms capable of hosting, orchestrating, and governing agents that participate directly in applications, software development, and operations. That shifts platform engineering from an efficiency function to a strategic discipline that shapes how development teams adopt and scale AI across the software development lifecycle.
Futurum Research data shows that nearly half of platform engineering groups are already using AI-assisted tools or task agents. Additionally, platform engineering is quickly maturing within organizations. 38% percent of organizations are standardizing their approach, 32% are operationalizing platform engineering, and 19% are in the mastering stage—these levels of maturity position platform teams to take on additional AI roles.
Figure 1: Strong AI Adoption by Platform Engineering
Mitch Ashley, VP and Practice Leader at Futurum, says, “2026 will be the year platform engineering shifts from automation to agent-based and agentic workflows. These teams will be instrumental in determining how agents operate, interact, and comply with organizational controls, influencing how quickly and how far enterprises can take AI.”
As enterprises enter 2026 with aggressive AI goals, platform engineering becomes an AI force multiplier, accelerating the implementation of agent orchestration, agent control planes, security guardrails, and agent observability in SDLC processes and underlying software.
Figure 2: 2026 Success Criteria Will Align Closer With AI
“2026 AI metrics will sit alongside 2025 platform engineering indicators. Success expands beyond productivity, standardization, and cost containment to the successful deployment of AI applications and solutions,” Ashley said.
As organizations prepare for 2026, platform engineering becomes a central enabler of AI adoption. It provides the structure, governance, and integrated workflows required to move from experimental AI use to operational systems in which agents participate as trusted development teammates.
Read more in the reports “State of the Market Report: Software Lifecycle Engineering, Q4 2025” and “Agentic AI Expansion Across The SDLC – Building Trust In AI” on the Futurum Intelligence Platform.
About Futurum Intelligence for Market Leaders
Futurum Intelligence’s Software Lifecycle Engineering IQ service provides actionable insight from analysts, reports, and interactive visualization datasets, helping leaders drive their organizations through transformation and business growth. Subscribers can log into the platform at https://app.futurumgroup.com/, and non-subscribers can find additional information at Futurum Intelligence.
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Published by Futurum.
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