The Future of Senior Living Technology Is Taking Shape… and It Looks Familiar
Ziegler Link-age Funds and LeadingAge CAST’s second annual CTO Hotline report confirms something senior living leaders are experiencing every day: technology is no longer simply an IT function. It is becoming part of organizational strategy, workforce experience, resident experience, cybersecurity, operations and long-term sustainability.
The 2026 CTO Hotline surveyed more than 100 professionals representing not-for-profit senior living and care organizations. Across the report, one message comes through clearly: the industry is moving beyond simply buying technology and toward building an intentional technology culture.
That distinction matters.
The report describes a future in which technology works behind the scenes to make organizations more efficient while creating more time for human connection at the front of the house. It points to stronger technology governance, strategic planning, better infrastructure, cybersecurity, AI readiness, integration and support for both employees and residents.
At Parasol Alliance, that vision feels very familiar.
We have long believed that transforming technology in senior living requires more than fixing computers or implementing the latest application. It requires strategy, infrastructure, security, operational alignment and people who understand the unique needs of senior living.
Here are some of the most important signals from this year's CTO Hotline and how Parasol supports the vision behind them.
1. Technology strategy is becoming organizational strategy
What the CTO Hotline shows
Technology leadership is moving closer to the center of executive decision-making. More than half of responding organizations said their most senior technology decision-maker is a member of the C-suite, and more than half of those leaders report to the CEO.
Just as importantly, strategic IT planning is becoming standard practice. Only 11% of respondents reported having no strategic IT plan, while more than half update their plans at least annually. The report specifically warns against disconnected investments that become what one respondent called “random acts of technology.”
How Parasol supports that
This is exactly why Parasol begins with strategy rather than products. Our Strategic Technology Assessment and 3-Year Roadmap connects technology decisions to the organization's larger goals. Rather than evaluating individual applications in isolation, we look across infrastructure, business systems, cybersecurity, staffing, resident technology and future initiatives.
A roadmap creates a common direction for leadership. It helps organizations determine what needs attention now, what can wait and how investments should build upon one another over time.
Technology should not have its own strategy sitting beside the business strategy.
Technology should help execute the business strategy.
2. The goal of technology is better outcomes
What the CTO Hotline shows
The most common motivation for new technology initiatives was operational efficiency, selected by 77% of respondents. Quality of care followed at 48%, with AI opportunities, resident experience, resident safety and cost savings also driving investment decisions.
The report's broader vision is especially important: use technology to reduce administrative burden and improve decision-making so employees have greater capacity for meaningful interaction with residents and families.
How Parasol supports that
Parasol's focus has never been technology for technology's sake.
Our business systems team works with senior living organizations to optimize the systems they already own, improve workflows, reduce duplicate processes, strengthen integrations and support new implementations.
Our project management, network and systems engineering, security and onsite teams work together because a successful technology initiative rarely belongs to one department.
The question is not simply:
Did we install the technology?
The better questions are:
Did it improve the workflow? Did employees adopt it? Did it eliminate unnecessary work? Did it make information easier to access? Did it improve the resident or employee experience?
That is the difference between deploying technology and transforming technology culture.
3. Infrastructure has become part of the resident and employee experience
What the CTO Hotline shows
Wi-Fi is no longer viewed as an amenity. It is foundational infrastructure.
In the survey, 49% of organizations described their campus Wi-Fi as very strong and consistent campuswide, while another 33% described it as pretty strong and consistent. The report connects reliable connectivity directly to both resident expectations and employees' increasing reliance on mobile technology.
It also makes an important recommendation: evaluate connectivity before investing heavily in new technologies. Otherwise, organizations risk placing innovative solutions on top of an infrastructure that cannot reliably support them.
How Parasol supports that
We see technology infrastructure as the foundation beneath everything else.
Reliable networks, appropriate Wi-Fi coverage, secure systems, lifecycle planning and properly designed environments make business applications, resident technology, cybersecurity and emerging innovations possible.
Before asking, “What new technology should we buy?” senior living organizations should be able to answer a more fundamental question:
“Is our technology foundation ready for where we want to go?”
4. AI readiness is becoming a leadership and governance issue
What the CTO Hotline shows
AI competence is increasing rapidly. In 2025, only 13% of respondents reported having some teams with meaningful AI capabilities; in 2026, that jumped to 55%. At the same time, no respondents described their organizations as having extensive enterprise-wide AI competence.
Investment is accelerating as well. Nearly two-thirds of respondents identified large language models as an investment priority for 2026, making LLMs the most-selected category in the report. Data analytics ranked second at 52%.
That combination tells us something important: enthusiasm is growing faster than enterprise maturity.
How Parasol supports
AI cannot be treated as a standalone software project.
Organizations need the infrastructure, security controls, data governance, policies, integrations and workforce education necessary to use AI responsibly and effectively.
For senior living leaders, the opportunity is significant. AI can help remove administrative work, make information easier to find, improve analysis and create more capacity for employees to focus on the people they serve.
But the technology still needs governance.
Parasol helps senior living organizations approach innovation through the same strategic lens we apply to other technology decisions: What problem are we solving? What data is involved? What risks need to be managed? How does this integrate with existing systems? And what does successful adoption look like?
5. Cybersecurity is foundational and the human element still matters
What the CTO Hotline shows
Cybersecurity remains one of the industry's clearest priorities. Eighty-one percent of respondents described their organizations as having a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy, up from 73% the year before.
Yet the report also highlights where the challenge is shifting.
Two of the top three cybersecurity challenges were human-related: difficulty training staff and residents and lack of internal IT expertise. As phishing and AI-enabled attacks become increasingly sophisticated, technology controls alone are not enough.
How Parasol supports that
Cybersecurity has to operate as an ongoing program rather than a one-time project. Parasol helps senior living organizations strengthen their security posture through both Cybersecurity Assessments and ongoing protection through Guardian Cybersecurity, our Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) solution.
A Cybersecurity Assessment gives leadership a clearer view of the organization’s current security posture, helping identify vulnerabilities, areas of risk and opportunities to strengthen protections. From there, Guardian Cybersecurity provides the ongoing monitoring and security support needed to address evolving threats, phishing, vulnerabilities, HIPAA-related risks and the growing complexity of cybersecurity operations.
Just as importantly, cybersecurity has to work within the reality of a senior living organization across clinical systems, business applications, networks, employees, vendors and residents.
The strongest security program is not simply the one with the most tools. It is one that combines assessment, strategy, ongoing protection and education so technology, processes and people work together to reduce risk continuously.
6. Technology adoption succeeds or fails with people
What the CTO Hotline shows
When respondents identified their greatest barriers to technology adoption, the leading answers were not a lack of interesting technology. They were staff capacity or expertise, funding and time constraints, followed closely by resistance to change, integration challenges and difficulty quantifying impact.
The report makes an equally important observation about support: when technology support is easy to access, responsive and positive, even employees who initially resist new technology can begin to see its value.
How Parasol supports that
This is one reason Parasol's MSP model goes beyond a remote help desk.
Our partnerships include hands-on onsite support so employees have people in their communities who understand their environment, their systems and how technology affects their work.
It is also why our model is flat-fee and all-inclusive. Technology leaders should not have to hesitate before asking for help because they are worried that every call, escalation or onsite need will produce another surprise invoice.
Technology culture changes when people trust the people supporting them.
And we believe something very simple: happy employees lead to better client outcomes.
7. Resident technology support cannot remain an afterthought
What the CTO Hotline shows
The report found a notable disconnect in resident technology support.
Residents increasingly expect help navigating rapidly changing technology, yet the percentage of responding organizations providing resident technology support fell from 86% in 2025 to 79% in 2026. Among organizations providing support, most rely on internal staff, while outsourced technology-support organizations and volunteers supplement those efforts.
That gap is likely to become more important as everyday life becomes increasingly digital.
How Parasol supports that
Parasol's Tech@Home program was built specifically for this need.
Tech@Home gives residents approachable, hands-on help using technology safely and confidently without shifting that responsibility onto already-busy community employees.
Resident technology is not separate from the senior living experience anymore. Connectivity, smartphones, video calling, online services, streaming, security and digital communication have become part of daily life.
Supporting residents in that environment is part of creating a community prepared for the future.
The bigger message
Senior living needs technology partners, not just technology vendors
Perhaps the most encouraging message in the 2026 CTO Hotline is that senior living organizations are becoming more intentional.
They are building strategic plans. Strengthening infrastructure. Investing in cybersecurity. Exploring AI. Improving integrations. Thinking more carefully about governance. And recognizing that technology must support employees and residents rather than create additional complexity.
The report also shows how difficult that work can be. People, time, expertise, funding, integration and change management remain significant barriers.
That is precisely where partnership matters.
Parasol Alliance was built exclusively for senior living and is owned by providers. Our role is larger than keeping technology running. We help organizations create a strategy, build the right foundation, protect their environments, optimize business systems, implement change, support employees and residents, and continually move their technology programs forward.
The future described in the CTO Hotline will not be achieved by purchasing more technology.
It will be achieved by transforming technology culture in senior living.