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Configure Price Quote Applications Banner Book: CX Path 2026

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Pivot Table banner book provides the data set for the configure price quote (CPQ) applications category of IDC’s 2026 CX Path program.

The CX Path program includes a total of 14 application categories: advertising, marketing, sales, digital commerce, configure price quote, product information management/product experience management (PIM/PXM), contact center and customer service, voice of the customer (VOC), customer experience (CX) orchestration, content and experience management, customer data platforms (CDPs), customer and digital experience analytics, aftermarket service life-cycle management, and price optimization applications.

Coverage includes application adoption, deployment models, budget plans and replacement cycle timing, purchasing preferences and attitudes toward CX SaaS buying channels, packaging and pricing options, and generative AI and agentic AI adoption and use for CX use cases. In addition, the program provides in-depth vendor reviews, vendor ratings, spend, and advocacy scores for all 14 application markets.

Price Optimization Applications Banner Book: CX Path 2026

Nadia Ballard, Douglas Hayward, Tiffany McCormick, Eric Newmark, Aly Pinder — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Pivot Table banner book provides the data set for the price optimization applications category of IDC’s 2026 CX Path program.

The CX Path program includes a total of 14 application categories: advertising, marketing, sales, digital commerce, configure price quote (CPQ), product information management/product experience management (PIM/PXM), contact center and customer service, voice of the customer (VOC), customer experience (CX) orchestration, content and experience management, customer data platforms (CDPs), customer and digital experience analytics, aftermarket service life-cycle management, and price optimization applications.

Google Says AEO and GEO Are Still Just SEO: Practical Advice on How to Overcome Discovery FUD

Roger Beharry Lall, Heather Hershey, Tiffany McCormick — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective talks about Google’s May 2026 guidance, which dismisses much of the GEO and AEO consulting market. Here’s how to navigate the noise, protect your budget, and prepare your team for what’s actually coming. This document equips technology buyers with the practical actions needed to navigate the SEO landscape of today with confidence and without overcommitting to a single tech vendor’s playbook.

According to Heather Hershey, research director at IDC, “Digital commerce and marketing practitioners are frantically attempting to build a new foundation on quicksand during an earthquake. Separate signal from noise, trim the fat and refine the foundations of your SEO essentials and, above all, keep testing! At this stage, anyone who says they know everything about this topic is a charlatan; even the LLM providers themselves seem to be making things up as they go.”

Honor Magic V6 Goes Global

Francisco Jeronimo, Ramon T. Llamas, Nabila Popal — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Honor began the international rollout of the Magic V6 on June 4, 2026. First shown at MWC 2026 in Barcelona and on sale in China since March, the V6 leads with a 6,660mAh silicon-carbon battery, the largest fitted to a book-style foldable, features an 8.75mm folded frame, and runs on a Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and IP68/IP69 protection. After three generations spent chasing the thinness record, Honor has shifted its focus to durability and AI productivity. The Magic V6 aims to help Honor expand its market share in the premium foldables segment during the short window before Samsung's next Fold and Apple's first foldable iPhone reach the market in the second half of 2026. However, despite pioneering some of the thinnest smartphones launched, Honor's harder problems sit in distribution reach, software localization, and a category that still converts interest into purchase at a slow rate.

IDC ProductScape: Worldwide Retail Price Optimization and Management Solutions, 2025–2026

Ananda Chakravarty — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

The IDC ProductScape offers a comprehensive guide on the key functionalities of worldwide retail price optimization and management solutions, featuring products from Blue Yonder, Centric Software, Clear Demand, Competera, Daisy Intelligence, DemandTec, dunnhumby, Engage3, First Insight, Impact Analytics, Intelligence Node, McKinsey, Mi9 Retail, o9 Solutions, Oracle, RELEX, Revionics, SymphonyAI Retail, TCS, and Zebra. 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. The document serves as a tandem document to IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Retail Price Optimization Solutions 2025–2026 Vendor Assessment (IDC #US52989825, December 2025).

Salesforce Acquires m3ter, Adding Native Consumption Metering to Agentforce Revenue Management

Heather Hershey, Tiffany McCormick — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

On June 8, 2026, Salesforce announced signing a definitive agreement to acquire m3ter, a metering and rating platform purpose built for consumption-based monetization. m3ter will be integrated natively into Agentforce Revenue Management (ARM).

This acquisition will bring the following capabilities directly into Salesforce ARM's quote-to-cash stack:

High-volume usage mediation
Usage metering and rating

The acquisition gives Agentforce Revenue Management the ability to ingest product usage data in near real time, configure consumption-based and outcome-based billing scenarios dynamically, and automate monetization dataflows across CRM, ERP, and quote-to-cash systems without requiring third-party metering infrastructure.

The acquisition is timely: AI APIs are arguably the defining new use case driving the current wave of interest in usage-based pricing infrastructure, which is precisely why m3ter is a strategically logical acquisition for Salesforce right now. Companies with AI products are monetizing or testing monetization strategies. As vendors refine their models, many are moving toward usage-based billing where costs scale based on real-time demand rather than fixed rates. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of Salesforce's FY27, and the acquisition price was not disclosed.

AI Pricing Complexity Demands a New Monetization Stack: Zuora's AI Monetization Suite Announcement

Heather Hershey — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

On June 4, 2026, Zuora announced an expansion of its AI Monetization Suite. Zuora's expanded AI Monetization Suite is a meaningful step toward closing the gap between how AI products are priced and how the underlying commercial infrastructure operationalizes that pricing. For CROs and CFOs, the announcement signals that the quote-to-cash category is beginning to catch up to the realities of AI monetization.

It Is Happening: Smartphone Prices Rising Due to Memory Shortage

Ramon T. Llamas — Fri, 22 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective analyzes the current and future situation of rising smartphone prices amid memory shortages and new smartphone launches. It also includes guidance for smartphone vendors as they face a downturn in demand due to higher prices.

"Recent smartphone releases by some of the leading vendors have confirmed what IDC has been expecting: scarcity of memory will drive prices higher in 2026," says Ramon T. Llamas, research director, Mobile Phones Research Team, IDC. "In addition, Apple has signaled that it expects to use up its stockpiled inventory by June, and higher costs could be expected. Other companies can expect the same. What bears close observation is how smartphone vendors will manage customer relationships throughout the process. An increase in prices should not come as a surprise, so providing customers with options can help. This can range from supply stability and pricing transparency to offering flexible finance/service models and refurbished devices."

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

Pricing AI in Procurement Applications: Navigating the Monetization Maze

Patrick Reymann, Tiffany McCormick — Wed, 20 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Perspective examines the pricing strategies available to procurement application providers as they integrate generative AI and agentic AI into their platforms. Drawing on IDC’s 2025 Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending (FERS) Survey data, it analyzes buyer expectations around cost predictability; evaluates the merits and risks of subscription, consumption, outcome-based, and hybrid pricing models; and offers practical guidance for structuring AI monetization frameworks. The central finding is that procurement buyers demand pricing architectures that balance innovation with cost certainty, and that hybrid models combining predictable subscription bases with bounded variable elements represent the most viable path forward. This document provides a pricing design checklist, messaging recommendations, and data-backed guardrails for providers seeking to optimize AI revenue without alienating risk-averse enterprise buyers.

“AI is no longer the hard part; pricing it is. In procurement, the providers that turn AI from an experimental surcharge into a predictable, value-grounded line item will drive the next phase of adoption,” said Patrick Reymann, research director, Procurement Applications and Agents at IDC.