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Industry Market Trends: European Governments, 2026

Ravikant Sharma, Claudia Medina, Nigel Wallis — Mon, 18 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Presentation provides IDC’s European governments market trends for 2026, which aims to provide technology vendors with an overview of the key business trends shaping the European government industry in 2026. This document offers a foundation of industry knowledge to:

Develop a compelling narrative that resonates with European government clients
Align product and service offerings with European government priorities
Show European government clients how technology implementation contributes toward the achievement of their goals
Design short-, medium-, and long-term approaches to working with European government clients

Technology vendor executives in marketing, sales, product strategy, market intelligence, and channel management can leverage the insights from this document as a starting point to organize their activities.

“European governments are entering 2026 with a sharper focus on operational resilience, sovereign digital control, and AI readiness. Technology investment is shifting beyond modernization alone toward enabling trusted, compliant, and outcome-driven public services at scale,” says Ravikant Sharma, research director, IDC Government Insights.

Americas Retail Market Trends, 2026

Fri, 15 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Presentation aims to provide technology vendors with an overview of the key business trends shaping the retail industry in 2026. The document offers a foundation of industry knowledge to:

Develop a compelling narrative that resonates with retail clients
Align products and service offerings to retail priorities
Show retail clients how technology implementation contributes toward the achievement of their goals
Design short-, medium-, and long-term approaches to working with retail clients

Technology vendor executives in marketing, sales, product strategy, market intelligence, and channel management can leverage the insights from this document as a starting point to organize their activities.

"Americas' retailers are facing a perfect storm of challenges from rapidly changing market conditions and volatility, while the customer continues to push retailers to the limit, forcing their hand to adapt to heightened expectations and fast-changing behaviors. Retailers looking to compete effectively in this environment are investing in data and AI-infused solutions to boost agility and intelligent decision-making." — Margot Juros, research director, IDC Retail Insights

Early Efforts to Win on the Agentic Web and Key Points of Failure

Gerry Murray — Fri, 15 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective explores the rise of the agentic web, which is emerging as a machine-to-machine internet layer where AI buyer agents autonomously discover, evaluate, and transact on behalf of humans. It details seven macrotrends reshaping buyer discovery, outlines five essential CMO capability initiatives, and provides a readiness diagnostic. The document argues that marketing must lead this transformation with IT, CISO, legal, and so forth to ensure they build structured, trusted, and agent-accessible presence that will dominate the next era of digital commerce.

"There are two ways to win on the agentic web. The most effective way is the brands' influence is strong enough that buyers mention your products in most of their requests to agents. That captures intent. Failing that, deals go to the brand with the first matching offer. That means your tech stack is your brand. Unfortunately, today's tech stacks are architected around a database marketing model that does not apply on the agentic web, which is all about intent-based marketing," Gerry Murray, research director, Enterprise Marketing Apps and Agents at IDC

IDC Survey: Early Adopters of Agentic AI Use Cases Within the Sales Function, 2026

Michelle Morgan — Fri, 15 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey finds that sales organizations are moving beyond initial agentic AI experimentation and into operational scaling, with AI agents already in production across multiple implementation approaches. As agentic AI shifts sales from task automation to workflow orchestration, pipeline intelligence, seller effectiveness, governance, and ecosystem readiness emerge as the critical battlegrounds for turning early adoption into measurable commercial impact.

Industry Market Trends: Asia/Pacific Manufacturing, 2026

Stefanie Naujoks, Heriberto Roman, Nigel Wallis — Fri, 15 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Presentation gives technology vendors a grounded view of the key business trends shaping the manufacturing industry in 2026. It offers a foundation of industry knowledge to:

Develop a compelling narrative that resonates with manufacturing clients
Align products and service offerings to manufacturing priorities
Show manufacturing clients how technology implementation contributes toward the achievement of their goals
Design short-, medium-, and long-term approaches to working with manufacturing clients

"In 2026, Asia/Pacific's manufacturing companies are facing a complex, multifactorial, adversarial situation that continues to evolve. They are turning to new technologies to drive operational discipline but also reinvent their processes to gain share in their global value chains. Tech vendors that enable secure, data‑driven, and AI‑ready operations will shape the next chapter of Asia/Pacific manufacturing competitiveness," says Stephanie Krishnan, associate VP, IDC Manufacturing Insights.

The CMO Guide to Agentic Buyers: From Reach to Response

Gerry Murray — Fri, 15 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective is written for CMOs preparing to compete in the agent-mediated markets by 2030. It examines the emergence of autonomous, AI buyer agents transacting on behalf of individuals and organizations and the implications for enterprise marketers. It covers the agentic shopping maturity model, infrastructure landscape, B2B and B2C marketplace developments, and a 24-action implementation road map.

"Agentic shopping is the first digital channel that makes database marketing practices and infrastructure obsolete. IDC forecasts AI agents will drive $500 billion in U.S. digital commerce, representing 25% of U.S. retail digital commerce by 2030. I would not want to be in the position of a CMO that is unprepared as 25% of revenue shifts to a channel I cannot compete in," said Gerry Murray, research director, Enterprise Marketing Apps and Agents at IDC.

Asia/Pacific Utilities Market Trends, 2026

Jean-François Segalotto, Nigel Wallis, Heriberto Roman — Thu, 14 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Asia/Pacific Utilities Industry Market Trends 2026 report provides technology suppliers with a concise overview of the key structural forces and business trends shaping utilities across the region. The analysis reflects how utilities are responding to rapid demand growth, electrification, evolving regulatory models, and increasing operational complexity.

The report is designed to help technology providers:

Develop messaging that aligns with utilities' priorities around operational efficiency, resilience, and growth
Position products and services against high-impact use cases such as grid intelligence, operational AI, and asset-centric digitalization
Demonstrate how digital technologies deliver measurable improvements in reliability, cost-to-serve, and capital efficiency
Structure short-, medium-, and long-term engagement strategies tailored to diverse APAC market conditions and maturity levels

Across APAC, utilities are balancing infrastructure expansion with cost discipline while selectively scaling digital capabilities that deliver clear operational ROI. Investment is increasingly focused on integrating data, automation, and AI into core processes rather than pursuing standalone innovation initiatives.

Technology providers can use this report to refine their go-to-market strategies, prioritize investment areas, and align with utilities' transition to more intelligent, efficient, and customer-centric operations in a rapidly evolving energy landscape.

Industry Market Forecast: European Utilities, 2026

Gaia Gallotti, Claudia Medina — Thu, 14 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Presentation is our Industry Market Forecast for digital transformation (DX) spending by utilities in Europe. It provides technology suppliers with an overview of regional utilities' spending on DX and insights into the market context influencing that spend for 2026. It helps technology suppliers understand regional utilities' DX spending in the context of total DX spend. It also highlights how utilities are investing across industry-specific DX use cases in the region.

By looking at the size of the regional market and the largest use case by spend, tech supplier 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 tech providers gain a competitive advantage with utilities in Europe.

"Growing at 14% annually, digital grid simulation is quietly becoming one of the most consequential investment areas for European utilities. As renewable penetration deepens and cross-border power flows grow more complex, the ability to model the grid before you operate it is no longer a planning luxury; it is a risk management necessity. Utilities that build high-fidelity simulation capabilities today are laying the decision-making infrastructure for the energy transition, giving themselves the analytical headroom to integrate more DERs, stress-test network configurations, and move faster on capital commitments with confidence," said Gaia Gallotti, research director, IDC Energy Insights.

Industry Market Trends: Asia/Pacific Financial Services, 2026

Dr. Chris Marshall, Michael Sek Pheng Yeo, Nigel Wallis, Jose Ignacio Diaz — Thu, 14 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Asia/Pacific Financial Services Market Trends 2026 document aims to provide technology vendors with an overview of the key business trends shaping the financial services industry in 2026. The document offers a foundation of industry knowledge to:

Develop a compelling narrative that resonates with financial services clients
Align products and service offerings to financial services priorities
Show financial services clients how technology implementation contributes toward the achievement of their goals
Design short-, medium-, and long-term approaches to working with financial services clients

“Financial services in Asia/Pacific are struggling to both continuously innovate and stay resilient in challenging global macroeconomic headwinds. New AI technologies also pose both an opportunity and a challenge. Leadership in Asia/Pacific banking and insurance ecosystem demands support from technology providers that can implement scalable, secure, and AI-powered solutions that effectively bridge the gaps between legacy systems and the new opportunities AI offers,” says Dr. Chris Marshall, VP, IDC Financial Services Insights.

Industry Market Trends: Worldwide Government, 2026

Ravikant Sharma, Nigel Wallis, Claudia Medina — Thu, 14 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Presentation aims to provide technology vendors with an overview of the key business trends shaping the government industry in 2026. It offers a foundation of industry knowledge to:

Develop a compelling narrative that resonates with government clients
Align products and service offerings to government priorities
Show government clients how technology implementation contributes toward the achievement of their goals
Design short-, medium-, and long-term approaches to working with government clients

“Across the world, governments are navigating geopolitical uncertainty, fiscal pressure, and accelerating digital transformation. As a result, priorities are shifting toward resilient infrastructure, sovereign data control, and AI-enabled innovation. Technology providers that align with these national priorities will be critical partners in enabling the next phase of government modernization,” says Ravikant Sharma, research director, IDC Government Insights.