Highlights from Define Tomorrow 2026: Innovate, Transform, Protect

On February 3rd, 2026, the technology community gathered at Ashton Gate Stadium What a day! On February 3rd, we brought the tech community together at Ashton Gate Stadiumfor our landmark 10th-anniversary event, Define Tomorrow. As a strategic Managed Service Provider (MSP), Kascade’s mission for the day was clear: to move beyond ‘IT fluff’ and provide a roadmap for businesses to utilise every investment to its maximum capability.

The event centred on three core pillars: Innovate, Transform and Protect.

Whether you were there with us in person or you’re catching up from the office, here are the big ideas you need to know from a day spent decoding the fast-moving digital landscape.Here are the key takeaways from a day dedicated to navigating the rapid evolution of the digital landscape.

The age of agentic AI: Human-led, agent-operated

One of the biggest talking points was how AI is moving way beyond being just a helpful assistant…A major theme of the day was the transition from AI as a simple assistant to the rise of the ‘Frontier Firm’.

Microsoft keynote: Nico Charritton, Microsoft’s Director of AI Business Solutions, introduced a framework for organisations to become human-led and agent-operated.
Copilot as the UI: Copilot is now the primary interface for AI, directing specialised agents to achieve business outcomes.
Agent 365: We explored the new ‘Agent 365’ platform, a control plane designed to manage all organisational agents – whether they are third-party marketplace tools or custom builds created in Azure AI Foundry.
Data is knowledge: A recurring message was that ‘data becomes knowledge’. You cannot successfully implement AI without a solid data strategy and a ‘built-in’ security foundation.

Redefining the hybrid cloud with Azure Local

Lisa Clark, Microsoft MVP from Dell, gave us the inside track on Azure’s adaptive cloud and how Azure Arc keeps everything connected.shared insights into Azure’s adaptive cloud approach, underpinned by Azure Arc.

Consistency everywhere: Azure Arc brings consistency to workloads regardless of where they run – in the public cloud, at the edge, or in your own data centre.
Azure Local: We showcased Azure Local as a cloud-connected infrastructure solution for on-premises locations, offering automated, repeatable cloud deployment and enhanced security.
Kascade Managed Cloud: In response to these shifts, we were proud to announce the refresh of our Azure Managed Services Managed Azure service to Kascade Managed Cloud.

Security in 2026: Built-in, not bolted-on

With cyber-attacks jumping by a massive 129% this year, we didn’t just talk about security — we made it a main focus.

With significant cyber-attacks rising by 129% in the past year, security was a critical focus.

CTO predictions: Christopher Fielder, Field CTO at Arctic Wolf, shared security predictions for 2026, highlighting the rise of deepfakes, voice reconstruction and social engineering.
Incident response: Ian Heptinstall from Druva challenged attendees on whether their incident response plans are truly ready, noting that 77% of organisations currently lack one.
The human element: Our expert security panel discussed that while technology is often the easier part, the ‘people and process’ side of security remains the biggest barrier to improvement.

Turning AI vision into reality

We spent the afternoon getting practical.The afternoon sessions focused on practical application. We introduced the Kascade ‘Guide to AI’ and our proprietary framework: Aspire > Assess > Architect > Act > Advance.

Real use cases: We demonstrated how quickly value can be added, such as Megan Warren’s ‘HR Policy Agent’, which was created in just 30 mins using SharePoint documentation as a knowledge base.
Kascade Journey: We also officially announced Kascade Journey, a strategic collaborative planning tool designed to help our clients track their IT milestones and ensure technology aligns with their business goals.

What’s next on your journey?

If there’s one thing to take away from Define Tomorrow, it’s this: it’s time to get strategic.The overarching message of Define Tomorrow 2026 was to be more strategic than ever before. Don’t let business-as-usual (BAU) be your downfall; instead, embrace iterative change – the Kaizen concept – to tackle cloud, AI and security in bite-sized chunks.