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Advise and Protect: How Cybersecurity Consulting and Advisory Providers Can Close the CISO D&O Insurance Gap

Philip D. Harris, CISSP, CCSK, Craig Robinson, Cathy Huang — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Perspective draws on IDC's 2026 Enterprise Security Platform Buying Preferences Survey (n = 886) to examine the gap between director and officer (D&O) liability coverage and the personal risk facing chief information security officers and frames it as a growth opportunity for cybersecurity consulting and advisory service providers and for technology vendors with advisory practices. It shows that the real opening is a confidence gap as much as a coverage gap, one that varies meaningfully by region, industry, and security budget; profiles the CISO-specific insurance products now entering the market; and offers a practical build sequence for a coverage gap advisory offering aimed at the board, not just the CISO. It also addresses the regulatory line between insurance advice and risk governance advice that providers need to observe when building this offering.

"Our survey found that 96% of security leaders are confident their D&O coverage would protect them personally, but only 38% actually have that protection in writing," says Philip D. Harris, research director, Governance, Risk, and Compliance Solutions at IDC. "That gap between confidence and coverage, not the insurance product itself, is the opening. The providers that already own the cyber-risk conversation with clients are best positioned to close it, if they build the offering before their competitors do."

IDC Market Glance: EMEA AI-Fueled Workspace, 3Q26

Leonardo Freitas, Gala Spasova — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Glance is a taxonomy document intended to visually depict a concise current-state view of the AI-fueled workplace ecosystem in EMEA. It maps the vendors across three layers: building management, workforce enablement, and services. IDC's take is that European specialists are redrawing the regional map, and that digital sovereignty and ownership changes now shape how buyers should evaluate vendors.

India Case Study: Building Nugget — How Zomato Scaled Its Conversational AI Platform to Production on Amazon Web Services

Rajiv Ranjan — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective documents the stages of Zomato's modernization to develop Nugget, a robust, modern conversational AI–enabled CX platform. The case study discusses Nugget's development, its usage internally by Zomato employees, and its launch to the external market and adoption. It also highlights what value Amazon Web Services (AWS) provided in building and launching Nugget and why enterprises should consider Nugget.

"Conversational AI platforms can help organizations modernize fragmented, legacy CX processes into a unified, multichannel, and multilingual experience that delivers personalized interactions and scales on demand to support a growing customer base," says Rajiv Ranjan, associate research director, IDC.

Managing Risk when Financing IT Assets Given AI Demand's Reshaping of Hardware Markets

Lara Greden — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective helps technology leaders and procurement professionals negotiate IT asset financing in a market where AI demand is making residual values and refresh timing less predictable, with guidance on pricing each asset class separately and maximizing flexibility in lease terms.

"With AI reshaping hardware supply and pricing, fair market value of used assets now varies distinctly by asset class," said Lara Greden, senior research director, Infrastructure Services, IDC. "Technology leaders who price each asset class on its own and use leasing contracts to build in flexibility will be better positioned to manage cost and risk as market conditions change."

Payment Data and Its Value to Merchants

Aaron Press — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective argues that payment data is a strategic asset for merchants, offering far more value than its traditional use in reconciliation and reporting. The most forward-thinking merchants work with their payment partners to leverage payment data to inform business operations, optimize payments, and support AI-driven use cases. As agentic commerce matures and software agents begin to transact on behalf of customers, the need for clean, connected payment data will only intensify. Merchants that invest in data quality and integration will be best positioned to recognize, authenticate, and serve their current and future customers.

"Payment data isn't just a record of transactions. That data is the most reliable, untapped intelligence merchants have to outpace fraud, optimize AI, and drive smarter growth," says Aaron Press, research director, Worldwide Payment Strategies, IDC.

Takeaways in Digital Production and Large Format Printing from PRINTING United 2026

Tim Greene — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC study highlights some of the major observations from the recent PRINTING United 2026 event. Held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the event brings together many of the world's leading suppliers and printing companies and serves as a stage for many of the newest products and technologies affecting the printing industry.

"There were many new product and technology announcements at PRINTING United that will influence the printing market toward more automated and productive solutions," says Tim Greene, research director, Industrial and Large Format Printing, IDC. "We see vendors aggressively moving to integrate technologies such as AI along with advancements in hardware and ink to facilitate production advantages."

Worldwide Semiconductor Market Outlook 2Q26

Nina Turner — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC study provides an update to IDC's semiconductor market outlook for IDC Semiconductor Technology Supply Chain Intelligence (STSI) subscribers.

This presentation provides a five-year semiconductor market outlook through 2030 as well as a long-term outlook through 2038. This also includes commentary on the memory market conditions and their impact on the market.

The IDC STSI service provides clients with semiconductor market shares by vendor and market forecasts by system application. Both vendor market shares and market forecasts are further segmented by industry segment, device type, and region. Selected revenue and production data for foundry, electronic design automation (EDA), intellectual property (IP), outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT), materials, and front- and back-end equipment markets are also included in this service.

Dreamforce 2026 Sees AIforce Unveiled as a Bold Opportunity for Both Salesforce and Its Partners

Douglas Hayward — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC study shares the takeaways from Salesforce’s annual Dreamforce customer conference, held September 15–17 in San Francisco, California, United States. During the event, the company introduced AIforce, a live interface layer that enables users to access Customer 360 and Data 360 via Slack, Claude, Agentforce Coworker, and custom apps, signaling a shift toward intuitive, conversational enterprise software. Revised Agentforce pricing, deferred partner license charges, and the FDE Partner Network aim to deepen partner collaboration and reduce implementation risks, creating new opportunities for CX services providers to deliver value through data readiness, workflow design, and multisurface integration. “What if the future of enterprise software is not about logging in, but about intelligent conversational interfaces delivering business value from outside of the traditional app environment? That is the direction of travel for at least some users, and Salesforce’s services partners must plan accordingly,” says Douglas Hayward, senior research director for CX Strategies and Services at IDC.

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Supply Chain Planning for CPG Industries 2026 Vendor Assessment

Eric Thompson — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC study for Manufacturing Insights uses the IDC MarketScape model to provide an assessment of 18 providers participating in the worldwide supply chain planning market for consumer packaged goods. The IDC MarketScape is an evaluation based on a comprehensive framework and a set of parameters that assesses providers relative to one another and to those factors expected to be most conducive to success in a given market during both the short term and the long term.

"Supply chain planning is a critical capability in a resilient consumer packaged goods supply chain. The ability to pair a promotion-aware demand forecast with a credible supply-side plan, while optimizing necessary inventory positions and respecting shelf life, and then agreeing to a consensus plan through S&OP are all critical components in managing an efficient and effective supply chain," says Eric Thompson, research director, Worldwide Supply Chain Planning at IDC.

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Supply Chain Planning for Discrete Industries 2026 Vendor Assessment

Eric Thompson — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC study uses the IDC MarketScape model to provide an assessment of providers participating in the worldwide supply chain planning market for discrete industries. The IDC MarketScape is an evaluation based on a comprehensive framework and a set of parameters that assesses providers relative to one another and to those factors expected to be most conducive to success in a given market during both the short term and the long term.

"Supply chain planning is a critical capability in a resilient discrete industry supply chain. The ability to plan demand and supply, while optimizing inventory positions, and then agreeing to a consensus plan through S&OP, are all critical components in managing an efficient and effective supply chain," says Eric Thompson, research director, Worldwide Supply Chain Planning at IDC.