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IDC Survey: The Martech Stack in Transition — AI-Native Vendors’ Race to Catch Budget, Buyers, and the Baton

Roger Beharry Lall — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey examines how U.S. organizations are transitioning from traditional martech stacks toward AI-native marketing platforms. Drawing from an online survey of over 100 senior marketing, advertising, and IT/data leaders across small, midmarket, and large organizations, the survey focused exclusively on those already using, piloting, planning, or evaluating AI-native marketing applications. The research maps current stack composition against the trajectory organizations expect over the next 12 months.

The study identifies the drivers pulling organizations toward AI-native tools and the barriers holding broader adoption back, and it quantifies how far marketing budgets are shifting from traditional to AI-native vendors, now and a year from now. It also maps where AI-native adoption is strongest and weakest across core marketing functions, examines the rise of internally built AI tools alongside vendor-supplied ones, and looks at preferences for orchestration and workflow architecture as the stack evolves.

For technology vendors, services firms, and marketing leaders, the findings provide a benchmark for where the midmarket stands on the path to AI-native martech, and they pinpoint where budget is migrating, which use cases each segment is adopting first, what continues to hold deployment back, and which layer of the stack is best positioned to take on the orchestration role.

Industry Go-to-Market Handbook: Worldwide Retail, 2026

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Presentation contains the IDC Worldwide Retail Go-To-Market Handbook 2026, which is designed to support technology vendors in building their industry-focused narratives and go-to-market strategies. This handbook should be used to tailor marketing messaging to industry-specific business priorities, sharpen portfolios, and create sales campaigns that resonate with prospects and customers. It helps tech suppliers to:

Align their company value propositions and messaging with key business priorities, challenges, and investment drivers in the retail industry
Leverage the priorities and emerging business needs of existing customers and prospects to develop competitive messaging and campaign themes
Showcase how their companies' products and services solve concrete business challenges within this value chain
Understand the significance and investment horizon of key programs and use cases, map them with their company capabilities, and translate into go-to-market action plans

The priorities, programs, and use cases discussed in this Industry Go-to-Market Handbook are selected by senior IDC analysts based on in-depth and ongoing IDC research and conversations with key stakeholders in the worldwide retail sector. Account-based actions must consider that individual company strategic business priorities and initiatives might differ based on specific subindustries or organizations' individual digital maturity.

"By 2026, leading retailers are moving AI from the pilot phase to routine execution, scaling personalization, unifying in-store and digital experiences, and governing them within a modern and secure architecture," said Filippo Battaini, research manager, IDC Retail Insights. "For technology providers, the opportunity lies in aligning messaging and portfolios with the evidence-based investments retailers are making in the short, medium, and long term."

IDC Survey: The State of Energy Transition: Strategy, Investment, and Early Outcomes — IDC Energy Transition Survey, 2026

Roberta Bigliani — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey is based on IDC's 2026 Energy Transition Survey, which examines how large organizations across the manufacturing, buildings, transportation, construction, and datacenter sectors are shaping their energy transition programs. The survey also quantifies target maturity, investment trajectory, drivers, expected reductions, benefits achieved, and payback expectations. The findings inform the go-to-market strategy for technology suppliers and service providers active in decarbonization, energy efficiency, and asset optimization.

The presentation analyzes how organizations are moving from targets and commitments to funded action and measurable outcomes. The analysis covers:

Formal net zero and interim targets: Prevalence, definition, dated commitments, and regional patterns
Drivers and investment trajectory: What is pushing spend, where budgets are heading, and by how much they are expected to change
Emissions reduction expectations: The reductions organizations expect from current investments
Early outcomes: Cost savings, efficiency, emissions cuts, regulatory positioning, and other benefits already realized
ROI and payback expectations: The timeframes over which returns are anticipated

Industry Conversation Handbook: Worldwide Financial Services, 2026

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Presentation is designed to provide general and synthetic knowledge to support technology suppliers’ salespeople when they first approach a buyer from financial services. This IDC Industry Conversation Handbook is aimed at igniting meaningful customer engagement, addressing these questions:

What is the industry structure, and what are the key business processes?
How can you improve your sales approach to better address the needs of potential buyers?
Learn about how specific technologies interact with the industry and how to position your offerings to meet industry requirements effectively.
Communicate competently with buyers by using language that resonates with them, initiating conversations, and asking questions that are relevant to their interests and needs.
Showcase the most appropriate products/services that meet the buyer’s needs, illustrating with real-life examples how they can be advantageous to the buyer.

The topics discussed in this Industry Conversation Handbook are selected by IDC analysts based on in-depth and ongoing IDC research about the key technologies applied to operations within the financial services industry.

The handbook equips sales professionals with basic information concerning the financial services industry to contact buyers with confidence. It provides a toolkit to spark discussions, helping salespeople show preparedness and stimulate interest in technology buyers with significant conversational teasers and examples. It does not provide an in-depth analysis of the industry or of buyer personas, nor does it seek to present a comprehensive sales strategy.

“Worldwide financial services institutions are simultaneously modernizing core platforms, scaling AI, and meeting heightened resilience and regulatory expectations. Technology providers that align their propositions to these intersecting priorities — with governance, evidence, and measurable outcomes — will earn durable seats at the C-suite table,” says Chris Marshall, vice president, IDC Financial Insights.

IDC MaturityScape: Enterprise Architecture 2.0

Serge Findling, Rob Baigert — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC MaturityScape provides a comprehensive framework for guiding the evolution of enterprise architecture (EA). Designed for CIOs, C-suite executives, senior IT executives, enterprise architects, and business leaders, it defines five stages of EA maturity — from ad hoc (architecture in silos) to optimized (adaptive architecture) — assessed across five critical dimensions: vision, strategy, and value realization; adaptive architecture and delivery; technology platforms and digital ecosystems; trusted processes, risk, and resilience; and people, collaboration, and EA operating model. This framework allows organizations to assess their current state and chart a purposeful path to reach their desired maturity level.

"Architecture maturity is ultimately measured by one key factor: pivot velocity. This refers to the speed at which an enterprise can reallocate its technical assets, redefine strategic targets, and adapt smoothly to changing market demands," explains Serge Findling, adjunct research advisor for IDC's IT Executive Programs (IEP). "Effective CIOs utilize enterprise architecture to transform technology from a series of projects into a unified capability for growth, resilience, and innovation."

Market Share: Worldwide Creative Applications Shares, 2025

Roger Beharry Lall — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC presentation provides a detailed breakdown of vendor revenue, share, and growth across the creative applications market in 2025. The worldwide creative applications market reached $22.0 billion in 2025, growing 17.2% as generative AI accelerated content production economics and expanded the buyer base well beyond traditional creative departments. The market remains highly concentrated at the top, yet competitive dynamics below that tier are shifting, with several challengers posting growth rates well above the market average on the strength of accessible, AI-native platforms.

“Generative AI is restructuring the underlying economics of content production in this market, and today’s share rankings still reflect yesterday’s workflows. Established vendors have earned their positions and are not going anywhere, but the next wave of growth will be contested at the margins by a new generation of vendors rewriting the rules of creative production.” — Roger Beharry Lall, research director, Advertising Technologies and SMB Marketing Applications, IDC

Worldwide Manufacturing Conversation Handbook, 2026 – IDC Manufacturing Insights: Industry Intelligence

Jonathan Lang, Stephanie Krishnan, Nigel Wallis, Heriberto Roman — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Presentation is designed to provide general knowledge to support technology suppliers' salespeople when they approach manufacturing buyers. The IDC Industry Conversation Handbook is aimed at igniting meaningful customer engagement, addressing the following questions:

What is the industry structure and what are the key business processes?
How can you improve your sales approach to better address the needs of potential buyers?
Learn about how specific technologies interact with the industry and how to position your offerings to meet industry requirements effectively.
Communicate competently with buyers by using language that resonates with them, initiating conversations, and asking questions that are relevant to their interests and needs.
Showcase the most appropriate products/services that meet the buyer's needs, illustrating with real-life examples how they can be advantageous to the buyer.

The topics discussed in this Industry Conversation Handbook are selected by senior IDC analysts based on in-depth and ongoing IDC research about the key technologies applied to operations within the manufacturing industry.

The handbook equips sales professionals with basic information concerning the manufacturing industry to contact buyers with confidence. It provides a toolkit to spark discussions, helping salespeople show preparedness and stimulate interest in technology buyers with significant conversational teasers and examples. It does not provide an in-depth analysis of the industry or of buyer personas, nor does it seek to present a comprehensive sales strategy.

"Manufacturing leaders prioritize partners that can translate technology into measurable outcomes across value chains," said Jonathan Lang, research director, IDC Manufacturing Insights. "Vendors must demonstrate how their solutions integrate across IT and OT environments to drive real-time visibility, coordinated action, and continuous optimization. Success depends on aligning capabilities to production realities, from factory floor execution to supply chain variability. Those that can connect data and systems to their decisions in a unified operational model will define the next phase of manufacturing competitiveness."

Industry Market Forecast: Asia/Pacific Retail, 2026

Filippo Battaini, Margot Juros, Cristiano Quattrini, Luciano Ramos, Nigel Wallis — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This Industry Market Forecast for Asia/Pacific (APAC) retail in 2026 provides tech vendor product managers and market intelligence leads with an overview of retail digital transformation (DX) spending and insights into the regional retail market context. It highlights how retail organizations are investing in industry-specific DX use cases in the region in 2026.

By looking at the size of the regional market and the fastest-growing use cases, technology vendor executives can better evaluate:

Investment areas in product or service development
Sales and marketing campaign prioritization
Market penetration

Used in combination with the other IDC Industry Intelligence reports, this document can help technology vendors to gain a competitive advantage in the Asia/Pacific region.

"Retail in Asia/Pacific continues to lead in digital innovation, with accelerated adoption of AI, platform-based business models, and hyper-connected ecosystems. Retailers are investing in intelligent supply chains, unified commerce, and real-time engagement to meet highly digital, mobile-first consumer expectations. At the same time, the diversity of market maturity across the region is driving demand for scalable, flexible, and localized solutions," says Filippo Battaini, research manager, IDC Retail Insights. "Vendors that align with regional platforms, support rapid innovation cycles, and deliver AI-driven outcomes will be best positioned to capture growth in this dynamic market."

A CMO’s Guide to Google’s 2026 CX Strategy

Gerry Murray — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective discusses Google’s 2026 CX strategy, which ushers in agent-driven commerce, integrating AI-powered agents, Universal Commerce Protocol, and persistent shopping experiences. Google aims to mediate and monetize the customer journey. CMOs must adapt by enhancing product data, enabling real-time decisioning, and redefining brand roles within Google’s ecosystem to ensure visibility, seamless interoperability, and consistent customer experience across both Google and owned channels.

“In the era of agentic shopping, first-mover brands that adapt to the new rules of agentic commerce will gain structural share advantages,” says Gerry Murray, director of Enterprise Applications and Agents at IDC. “Product visibility through commerce AEO will be equally or more important than brand visibility via content AEO.”

Market Forecast: Worldwide Sales Force Productivity and Performance Software Forecast, 2026–2030 — Steady But Slowing Growth for a Mature Market

Michelle Morgan — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC presentation provides worldwide sales force productivity and performance software market forecast for 2025–2030. The sales force productivity and performance market is forecast to reach $35 billion in 2030, demonstrating a mature, predictable market that continues to attract sustained vendor investment and buyer confidence. The Americas' share, which declined from 61% in 2025 to 57.6% in 2030, suggests that the historically dominant revenue engine for sales force productivity and performance vendors is losing momentum. Without proportionally faster growth in APJ and EMEA to offset, overall market expansion may continue to face headwinds.

"The sales force productivity and performance market is growing at a consistent pace — 8.9% CAGR this year versus 8.8% projected last year — which is either a sign of a well-understood market or a sign that the models have stopped learning much from new data. Probably some of both. What is more interesting is the regional rebalancing: The Americas still holds 61% of the market in 2025, but that share is forecast to slip to 57.6% by 2030, while APJ and EMEA each add more than a point. That is a slow shift; but in a market forecast to decelerate toward 8.4% annual growth by 2030, where the next wave of buyers comes from matters. The vendors that have been treating international expansion as an afterthought may want to revisit that posture." — Michelle Morgan, senior research manager, Sales Force Productivity and Performance