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IDC Survey: How Energy Retailers and Suppliers and Water Utilities Are Approaching Innovation — Insights from IDC’s 2026 Energy and Utilities Industry-Specific Tech and Innovation Survey

Gaia Gallotti — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey examines a portion of IDC’s 2026 Energy & Utilities Industry-Specific Tech and Innovation Survey, a landmark study covering utilities worldwide. It was conducted in February and March 2026.

The survey included 800 respondents, of whom 531 are utilities respondents from the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, the UAE, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

This presentation extrapolates and analyzes select data from 67 energy retailers and suppliers and 88 water suppliers worldwide. It focuses on the following areas:

Business transformation and innovation areas where adoption is most advanced
Processes and operations innovation priorities
Asset management innovation priorities (water suppliers)
Forward investment momentum vs current adoption (planning rates)
Differences and similarities between energy retailers and suppliers and water suppliers

IDC’s Worldwide Services Contracts Database Taxonomy, 2026

Supriya Kamath, Stacey Soohoo — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC study provides a detailed description of IDC’s worldwide services contracts database taxonomy and methodology. It is intended as a companion document for clients and analysts using IDC’s services contracts database. The taxonomy establishes consistent classification standards for contract-level analysis, enabling users to filter, compare, and analyze deal activity across service types, geographies, and buyer industries.

“IDC’s services contracts database taxonomy establishes the definitional boundaries that determine what counts as a services contract, how it is classified, and how its value is measured. For any organization using services contracts database data to inform vendor strategy, competitive positioning, or market sizing, the taxonomy is the analytical foundation on which every insight in the database depends on,” said Stacey Soohoo, research director, IDC’s Data and Analytics.

“IDC’s services contracts database taxonomy provides a standardized framework that ensures every contract we track is consistent and comparable across all geographies and service categories. It gives clients methodological transparency to confidently analyze deal trends, benchmark vendor performance, and identify services opportunities in an increasingly complex market,” said Supriya Kamath, senior research manager, IDC’s Global Services and Market Trends.

IDC Survey: How Transmission and Distribution Operators Are Approaching Innovation — Insights from IDC’s 2026 Energy and Utilities Industry-Specific Tech and Innovation Survey

Gaia Gallotti — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey deck examines a portion of IDC’s 2026 Energy and Utilities Industry-Specific Tech and Innovation Survey, a landmark study covering utilities around the world. It was run from February to March 2026.

The survey covered 800 respondents, of whom 531 are utilities respondents from the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, the UAE, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

This presentation extracts and analyzes data for 277 electricity and gas transmission and distribution operators across four segments: electricity transmission (n = 65), electricity distribution (n = 117), gas transmission (n = 25), and gas distribution (n = 70).

This presentation focuses on the following areas:

Business transformation and innovation areas where adoption is most advanced
Processes and operations innovation priorities
Asset management innovation priorities
Forward investment momentum versus current adoption (planning rates)

IDC Survey: How Water Utilities Are Prioritizing IT Solution Investments — Insights from IDC’s 2026 Energy & Utilities Industry-Specific Tech and Innovation Survey

Gaia Gallotti — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

The survey covered 800 respondents, of whom 531 are utilities respondents from the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, the UAE, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

This presentation extrapolates and analyzes select data for 88 water utilities worldwide. It focuses on IT solution investment intentions across 10 core software categories relevant to water utilities. The analysis covers the following areas:

Investment intentions across operations and network control solutions, including SCADA for plant and treatment operations, network operations management, and meter data management
Investment intentions across asset and work management solutions, including enterprise asset management, asset performance management, computerized maintenance management, field service and mobile workforce management, and geographic information systems
Investment intentions across customer and compliance solutions, including environment, health and safety, and customer information and relationship management
The balance between first-time investment, upgrades, and replacement activity across each solution category

IDC Survey: IDC’s Worldwide Retail Media and Connected TV Overlap Survey + Gap Analysis Results, 2Q26

Alex Holtz — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey explores results from IDC’s Worldwide Retail Media and Connected TV Overlap Survey and gap analysis for non-surveyed regions. IDC’s 2026 Worldwide Media and Entertainment Trends and Investments Survey quantifies how senior buy-side advertising decision-makers expect dollars to flow between retail media networks (RMNs) and connected TV (CTV) over the next three years, and sizes the 2026 total addressable market (TAM) for CTV, RMN, and the RMN×CTV overlap. The survey covers n = 260 buy-side respondents across North America (NA) and Europe; results are reconciled with published benchmarks to extend the view across Asia/Pacific and Latin America for a full worldwide picture.

In detail:

Market size and structure. Buy-side respondents’ size 2026 RMN at $42.3 billion and CTV at $28.9 billion within NA + Europe. Reconciled to a worldwide view, 2026 RMN totals $167.3 billion and CTV totals $66.3 billion — a $233.6 billion converged opportunity. RMN outgrows CTV in surveyed markets at roughly 22% versus 18% per year.
The converged opportunity. Respondents say approximately 13% of RMN spend already overlaps CTV; survey-anchored 2026 overlap is $17.4 billion (~60% of survey CTV TAM, ~41% of survey RMN TAM). Once APAC and Latin America are included, the worldwide 2026 overlap reaches $42.3 billion, growing to $76.9 billion by 2030. The unlock is closed-loop measurement — flagged by 49% as the top CTV challenge and 47% as the top RMN challenge — not creative or scale.
Reconciliation to a global view. Including China and broader APAC lifts 2026 RMN TAM from $42 billion (survey) to $167 billion (published) and CTV from $29 billion to $66 billion. China alone is approximately $65–75 billion in RMN — the world’s number 1 market — and platforms such as Douyin and Taobao Live fuse RMN and CTV by design.
Regional dynamics. Latin America posts the highest growth rates worldwide (RMN 22%/CTV 19%/overlap 31% CAGR through 2030) off a small base. APAC RMN matures as China saturates, while Latin America and EMEA each pick up roughly 1 point of share. The total worldwide market will reach $363 billion by 2030 at a 12.0% CAGR.

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.

The Agile Finance Function: Automation Is Working; the Workforce Strategy Isn't

Kevin Permenter — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Perspective examines a structural disconnect taking shape inside the office of the CFO. Finance automation is delivering on its technology promises, but the workforce strategy meant to operate alongside it has not kept up. As repetitive transactional work (the traditional training ground for financial judgment) is automated away, the apprenticeship pathway that built capable finance professionals is collapsing. CFOs cite talent as a top operational concern even as automation ROI improves, signaling a mismatch rather than a surplus. For technology suppliers serving finance, this gap is both a risk to customer realization and an opening: the next competitive divide will be fought on workforce enablement, exception-aware design, and shared accountability for capability outcomes. Suppliers that move first to embed learning, expand the buyer coalition to HR, and track workforce signals in their customer success frameworks will build a durable advantage in an office-of-the-CFO market that increasingly rewards more than software alone.

"The finance function that fails to redesign its talent model alongside its technology stack will find itself with sophisticated tools and an insufficient workforce to run them well," says Kevin Permenter, research director, IDC Finance Technology Practice.

Worldwide Electronic Design Automation Software Market Shares, 2025: AI-Driven Design Flows and Foundry Collaboration Propel EDA Market Surge

Nina Turner — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC presentation examines the 2025 market shares of the leading vendors in the electronic design automation (EDA) software market.

The global EDA)software market was valued at approximately $13.7 billion in 2025, growing 21% from 2024. The market serves as a foundational pillar of the semiconductor and electronics ecosystem, enabling the design, simulation, verification, and manufacturing of increasingly complex integrated circuits. Key growth drivers include AI-enabled design flows, closer foundry–tool collaboration, cloud-based capacity for advanced verification, and automotive functional safety mandates.

“The EDA market is at an inflection point, driven by the convergence of AI-native design tools, cloud adoption, and accelerating semiconductor complexity. As design cycle times shorten and chip architectures grow more sophisticated, EDA vendors are looking to utilize AI to create more integrated, intelligent platforms spanning simulation through sign-off to capture sustained, long-term growth across automotive, consumer electronics, and high-performance computing endmarkets.”

commercetools Sharpens API and AI Commerce Discourse with a Proposed Split Between Autonomous and Agentic Models

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

At Shoptalk Europe in Barcelona, on June 9, 2026, commercetools announced its entry into a new market category called "Autonomous Commerce" and unveiled commercetools Sphere, its unified enterprise commerce platform for the AI era. While commercetools is far from the only company to go to market with a stake in autonomous commerce, its method is built on the foundation of its industry-renowned APIs, the key to headless, agentic, and now autonomous commerce.

Beyond Triage: The Additive Settlement for Digital Operations

Shannon Kalvar, Amy Loomis, Ph.D., Archana Venkatraman — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective introduces the additive settlement — a deliberately negotiated operating model that redefines the relationship between human authority, machine-scale action, and institutional governance. Enterprises that invest in AI-assisted operations often discover they have made triage faster without escaping it, compressing chaos while leaving human talent trapped in reactive work. This document examines what changes in daily work across four operational roles, makes the human-machine boundary explicit as a governance instrument, and identifies the predictable fragilities that lead to developmental and strategic starvation.

"The question is no longer whether AI can handle operational complexity. It is whether the enterprise has negotiated a settlement that makes human judgment genuinely strategic rather than permanently reactive," said Shannon Kalvar, research director, Enterprise Systems Management, Observability, and AIOps at IDC.