Top 5 Unstructured Data Management Predictions for 2026

Enterprises across industries are storing more data than ever. More than 5 petabytes (PB) is the new normal and more than 10PB is increasingly common. The theme for unstructured data management in 2026 is more of everything: more data, more investment, more pains and more AI security and risk concerns. Unstructured data growth is being driven by accelerated AI adoption, exploding digital exhaust and massive increases in rich media and sensor data. Yet more data also means more potential opportunity, if enterprises can efficiently identify, filter and classify data for the right use cases while also mitigating risks from AI. Next year, we predict that as AI inferencing adoption grows, organizations will realize the critical role unstructured data curation plays in AI ROI.

Here are the 5 leading trends that we see playing out in the coming year:  

1. Uncontrolled data growth creates a perfect storm for dramatic change

Unstructured ...