Global Finance News
14 Jan 2026, 20:15
Cloudflare warned that organizations relying on legacy technology face a “technical glass ceiling” that is limiting artificial intelligence gains and increasing cybersecurity risks, according to its newly released 2026 App Innovation Report.
The report found that companies prioritizing application modernization are three times more likely to achieve clear returns from AI investments, while those burdened by technical debt struggle with rising costs, security vulnerabilities, and shortages of skilled developers. Nearly all leaders surveyed said modernizing software was critical to improving AI capabilities, with security-aligned modernization making organizations significantly more likely to reach advanced AI maturity.
Cloudflare said the findings highlight a growing divide between companies that modernize to integrate AI at scale and those that delay updates until after security incidents, arguing that modern infrastructure has become a core competitive requirement rather than a purely technical objective.
Source: Cloudflare, Inc., Business Wire, January 14, 2026
The report found that companies prioritizing application modernization are three times more likely to achieve clear returns from AI investments, while those burdened by technical debt struggle with rising costs, security vulnerabilities, and shortages of skilled developers. Nearly all leaders surveyed said modernizing software was critical to improving AI capabilities, with security-aligned modernization making organizations significantly more likely to reach advanced AI maturity.
Cloudflare said the findings highlight a growing divide between companies that modernize to integrate AI at scale and those that delay updates until after security incidents, arguing that modern infrastructure has become a core competitive requirement rather than a purely technical objective.
Source: Cloudflare, Inc., Business Wire, January 14, 2026