Our IT director shares three recommendations for optimizing your tech stack
By: Bryan Johnson, IT Director, Alliant National Title Insurance Company
With the new year upon us, it’s time again for my annual roundup of tech trends to watch in the months ahead. After over 20 years in software development and IT, I can safely say that technology best practices are changing all the time—often with blazing speed. It’s essential for businesses to stay aligned with the latest developments. By following these recommendations, you can do just that and ensure your technology stack fires on all cylinders in 2026.
Make 2026 the year you get AI right
While the constant stream of AI coverage has become overwhelming in the last few years, don’t tune it out. AI really can have a transformative effect on your business. Many have already recognized its potential, with three in four companies using AI to optimize at least one business function.[i] In 2026, this trend will only accelerate, with more businesses adopting AI agents to:
- Automate production workflows bysearching and summarizing documents, generating emails and tracking deadlines, all of which can accelerate closings.
- Boost security by flagging anomalies, verifying identities and maintaining communication, which enhances trust.
- Support compliance by using AI to check disclosures and maintain audit logs.
If you haven’t started using AI yet, you don’t need to be intimidated. To get started, just pick one or two high-volume, low-risk tasks where you can test out a pilot program. Assign a staff member to “own” the program, choose your tool and define your metrics of success. After 30 days, if you like what you see, you can expand the program. If not, simply retool and try something else.
Zero trust = fewer security issues
I’ve talked about zero trust a few times on this blog, but it remains a critical security protocol for agencies to adopt in 2026. For a while now, the cybersecurity field has basically adopted “Murphy’s law.” We assume data breaches are a matter of when—not if. This framework is smart because it prioritizes protecting identities and data when these inevitable breaches occur.
Agencies would be well advised to align with this security approach, as the data shows, breaches are becoming far more common. Sixty-five percent of organizations were, in fact, hit by a ransomware attack in 2024.[ii] If you are ever unlucky enough to be one of those statistics, you can mitigate the fallout if you have highly stringent security protocols in place, such as:
- Universal MFA adoption for email, production software, escrow platforms, remote access and cloud tools. Collectively, this reduces the likelihood of a stolen password compromising your entire operation.
- A strong “Zero Trust” mindset, which assumes every device, user and connection could be compromised, and that users should only be given the minimum access required to do their jobs.
- Thoughtful, cautious third-party controls that treat every IT vendor, platform and integration as a potential attack vector. To safeguard against potential vulnerabilities, agencies should ask vendors for security documentation, avoid shared logins, limit vendor access and make sure incident-response expectations are baked into any contracts.
Once you have security controls like these set up, you’ll be in a strong position to prevent wire fraud and reduce downtime. You’ll also demonstrate to stakeholders that your agency is taking cybersecurity seriously in 2026.
Go “digital first” in 2026
Perhaps the most substantive IT change over the past few years in the title industry has been the normalization of all-digital closings. Remote online notarization (RON) usage, for example, has dramatically surged, with one study showing an astounding 40% increase.[iii] Agencies that stay current with these shifting expectations will gain in 2026. Not only is it a great competitive differentiator, but digitizing your operations can also improve your operational efficiency, strengthen compliance and even expand your customer pool.
Just like with AI, digitizing your process doesn’t need to feel overwhelming. You can begin by tackling just one closing with one customer. Work with your IT team and/or provider to confirm what RON or e-signing tools you have at your disposal and how you can use them compliantly. Then, chart out your process and implement it.
Don’t forget to compile data on how digitalization impacted your turn times, what pain points you encountered and what feedback you received from your customers. That last part is arguably the most important, as you will need it to iterate for future improvement.
Be open to opportunity
The poet Edith Lovejoy Pierce once wrote, “We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called ‘Opportunity,’ and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” I think this is a good way to sum up what I’ve been trying to convey with this blog. We’ve covered just a few of the ways to improve your agency’s technology stack in 2026, and by extension, how you deliver for customers and grow your business. If you’re open to experimenting with new technologies and laying the groundwork for more secure systems, you can seize these opportunities as the holidays end and the new year begins. Rest assured, your customers will thank you for it.
[i] https://explodingtopics.com/blog/companies-using-ai
[ii] https://techaisle.com/blog/596-smb-contact-center-adoption-trends-and-action-plan-techaisle-survey
