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AI's Impact on Pricing Models for Business Consulting Services Buyers — Detailed Perspective Version

Bill Latshaw — Thu, 21 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective examines the commercial dynamics shaping how buyers of business consulting services evaluate, price, and contract for AI-enabled engagements. Drawing on IDC's November 2025 AI-Powered Services Pricing Model Survey (n = 178, North American buyers), it finds that buyers are willing to pay a meaningful premium for AI-enabled consulting when AI can be shown to improve analysis, strengthen recommendations, and support better business decisions. Discount pressure rises when AI is perceived primarily as a delivery efficiency tool. The document explores premium and discount dynamics, packaging preferences, value measurement practices, and the role of trust and governance in AI adoption decisions, with practical guidance for technology buyers on how to structure commercial relationships that deliver measurable AI value over time.

"The pricing data from this survey tells a story providers need to hear: buyers are not asking whether AI belongs in consulting but asking whether providers understand what they are actually buying when they invest in AI-enabled advice. The answer to that question is what separates the firms that will define the next generation of consulting from those that will simply describe it." — Bill Latshaw, research director, Business Consulting Services

Ad Holding Companies Are Redefining Their Role in the Marketing Ecosystem

Gerry Murray — Thu, 21 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective discusses ad holding companies that are redefining their role in the marketing ecosystem. Major advertising holding companies are fundamentally transforming their business models from traditional media buying and creative services to AI-driven systems integration, proprietary identity data, and autonomous agentic execution.

“The agency’s role is no longer defined by media buying or creative talent. It’s being redefined around AI-powered platforms. The new competitive moats are data, identity, orchestration, compression, and activation,” according to Gerry Murray, research director, Enterprise Marketing Apps and Agents.

Best in Security and Trust: Taiwan Business Bank Leads the Way in Redefining Fraud Defense for the Digital Banking Era

Sakshi Grover, Charles Cedric Joshua Tamayo — Thu, 21 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective discusses the Best in Security and Trust Award winner from the IDC Future Enterprise Awards in Asia/Pacific and showcases Taiwan Business Bank's Smart Antifraud Network and its role in advancing identity-centric, AI-driven fraud prevention to strengthen digital trust in banking.

"Taiwan Business Bank believes that digital trust starts with intelligent protection and human-centered design. The Smart Antifraud Network reflects this philosophy, combining AI detection, cross-sector collaboration, and user-centric innovation, such as the App Senior Version and Transfer Limit Lock, to proactively protect every customer. However, technology alone is not enough. That is why the bank also invests in employee education, AI alert systems, and more than 150 fraud education campaigns every year, ensuring that protection extends beyond tools into awareness and resilience. The bank's vision is clear: to build a zero-fraud society in which everyone — from seniors to youth, investors to entrepreneurs — can enjoy a secure and trusted digital banking experience," says Lawrence Tsai, general manager, Taiwan Business Bank.

"In an era defined by synthetic identities and AI-powered fraud, digital trust is being redefined at the intersection of identity, intelligence, and real-time decisioning. Taiwan Business Bank's Smart Antifraud Network demonstrates a shift from fragmented, control-based security to an integrated, identity-centric architecture that combines real-time behavioral analytics, AI-driven detection, and cross-ecosystem intelligence. By embedding controls across the log-in, transaction, and device layers and leveraging federated learning to enhance fraud detection without compromising data privacy, the bank establishes a scalable model for addressing synthetic identity and AI-driven fraud. This approach reflects how financial institutions can operationalize trust by aligning security, user experiences, and ecosystem collaboration into a unified, intelligence-driven framework," says Sakshi Grover, senior research manager, cybersecurity products and services, IDC.

CMO's Guide to Agent Identifiable Information, Part 1: A Data Schema for the Agent-Mediated Customer

Gerry Murray — Thu, 21 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective is the first one in the four-part CMO guide to agentic identifiable information (AII). It defines agentic identifiable information and specifies the data schema that the rest of the AII operating model depends on. It positions AII as a subset of PII; introduces the knowledge graph view of customer, agent, account, device, payment, content, and consent relationships; and lays out schema principles, AII data domains, and the minimum viable AII profile that should govern every investment in capture, processing, and activation.

"Like PII, AII will be foundational to determining which brands gain or lose share in agentic commerce and marketplaces; brands will be unable to compete without it. AII is structurally different than PII and will require new data fields and schema to operationalize, and given the unpredictable but certainly near-term dawn of agentic commerce, most brands will be hard pressed to prepare fully, leading to some awkward conversations in the boardroom for CMOs," according to Gerry Murray, research director, Enterprise Marketing Apps and Agents, IDC.

Corporate Social Responsibility Technology

Zachary Chertok, Dan Versace — Thu, 21 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) technologies are now essential for aligning business objectives with social, environmental, and compliance outcomes. With 93% of companies acknowledging institutional responsibility for CSR, these platforms are critical for tracking commitments, improving employee satisfaction, and enhancing brand value. Adoption is strongest among large organizations, driven by compliance, operational efficiency, and stakeholder engagement, though challenges remain around buy-in and standardization. Effective CSR technology investment — recommended at 1–5% of employee experience and 1–3% of operational budgets — delivers measurable value, including improved ESAT, collaboration, and revenue outcomes. Key metrics for success include cost optimization, efficiency, quality, and audit readiness, with centralized platforms enabling transparency and compliance across diverse geographies. However, risks such as fragmented integration, compliance failures, and IT talent shortages can undermine impact if CSR is treated as an add-on rather than a strategic pillar. Success depends on embedding CSR into executive strategy, cross-functional collaboration, robust technology adoption, and effective partner selection. Leading solutions, such as Benevity, Blackbaud, Goodera, and CyberGrants, exemplify the market. Ultimately, CSR must be core to business transformation, driving measurable value and brand strength in an environment where responsibility is nonnegotiable.

"When CSR is treated as an add-on, its impact is diluted — true business transformation demands CSR be embedded at the core, driving measurable value, compliance, and brand strength in a world where responsibility is no longer optional," says Dan Versace, research analyst, Environmental, Social, and Governance Business Services.

IDC ProductScape: Worldwide Observability and AIOps Platforms, 2026

Shannon Kalvar — Thu, 21 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC ProductScape offers a comprehensive guide on the key functionalities of observability and AIOps platforms, featuring products from vendors ranging from Amazon to Zoho. The status of each functionality is categorized as fully supported, partially supported, partner provided, road map, or not supported, aiding technology purchasers in quickly identifying which vendors align with their changing requirements.

Red Hat Summit 2026: Stable Infrastructure in an Unstable AI World

Adam Resnick — Thu, 21 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

At Summit 2026, Red Hat made the case that the infrastructure layer is where enterprise AI either scales or stalls, and that its platform is designed for that moment. In a model and tooling environment that is moving faster than most enterprises can absorb, Red Hat’s pitch is that a stable, vendor‑neutral infrastructure stack is the durable asset. For platform engineers and IT automation engineers, the announcements describe a redefinition of the role, from executing operations to governing the agents that execute them. Governance maturity and platform engineering capacity remain the variables that will determine how quickly enterprises can capture the value Red Hat is describing.

Digital and AI Business Scorecard, 2025–2026: Empowering Enterprises to Achieve Business Outcomes

Martina Longo, Xiao Liu — Wed, 20 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC study provides IDC's Digital and AI Business Scorecard analysis, based on survey data from 1,729 senior IT and business leaders worldwide. The Digital and AI Business Scorecard evaluates the correlation between levels of business outcome improvement and levels of digital business model, data and AI, operational processes, and organizational capabilities to calculate an overall status assessment, and then differentiates leading enterprises from their peers based on these capabilities and as overall digital businesses.

AI is driving a global wave of business reinvention. Organizations are moving beyond traditional digital transformation (DX) to redesign business and operating models with AI at the core, reshaping processes, accelerating decision-making, and creating new sources of value. However, many organizations continue to struggle with measuring the business impact of AI and other digital initiatives, balancing short-term efficiency gains with long-term growth ambitions, and establishing clear ROI frameworks and use case prioritization models.

"This year's Scorecard analysis reveals that organizations across the globe still have significant margin for improvement across all four key capabilities," says Martina Longo, research manager, AI-Fueled Business Strategies at IDC. "While the average worldwide score of 43 places most organizations in the developing stage, leading organizations have decisively pulled ahead through integrated architectures, robust data governance, and enterprisewide process standardization that create compounding advantages across every capability dimension."

"Agentic AI is fast becoming the clearest differentiator of digital and AI maturity," adds Xiao Liu, research manager, AI-Fueled Business Strategies at IDC. "Nearly three-quarters of leading organizations worldwide are already investing significantly in agentic AI, compared with fewer than 20% nascent organizations. The gap that will only widen as foundational data and architecture advantages compound over time."

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Life Sciences R&D Strategic Consulting Services 2026 Vendor Assessment

Nimita Limaye — Wed, 20 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Health Insights study is a refresher of the life sciences R&D IDC MarketScape, which has a specific focus on strategic consulting in the life sciences R&D space. This document seeks to compare major service providers with each other based on criteria that should be important to life sciences companies when considering the selection of a strategic consulting partner to help provide guidance for strategic, operational, and tactical transformation issues within the R&D space. The IDC MarketScape assessment of strategic consulting outsourcing in life sciences R&D was previously performed in 2011, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021, and 2023.

"The life sciences strategic consulting market is undergoing a fundamental reset — driven by the convergence of agentic AI, mounting execution pressure, and a sharply more demanding buyer. Organizations are seeking business transformation partners that can close the AI-to-value gap, navigate regulatory complexity, and align their commercial models to client outcomes. The firms that can bridge a blend of scientific depth, digital fluency, organizational change capability, and a willingness to share risk will define the next era of strategic consulting," said Dr. Nimita Limaye, research VP, Life Sciences R&D Strategy and Technology, IDC Health Insights.

MCP Is the Most Important Infrastructure Standard for Marketing in the Era of Agentic Buyers

Gerry Murray — Wed, 20 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) has rapidly become the foundational infrastructure standard for scaling AI agent deployments in marketing and commerce. By solving integration fragmentation, MCP enables real-time access to enterprise data and tools, transforming personalization, campaign optimization, and agentic shopping. CMOs must prioritize MCP readiness to remain competitive in the evolving agentic economy.

"When a buyer agent arrives at your storefront, it needs real-time pricing, product data, and current promotions in milliseconds. CMOs that build low-latency, MCP-connected data infrastructure now will be closing deals with agentic buyers. CMOs that fail to prepare will watch their digital commerce revenue shift to a channel in which they cannot compete," says Gerry Murray, research director, Enterprise Marketing Apps and Agents, IDC.