8:00 – 9:00am
Networking & Registration
9:00 – 12:30pm
Keynotes & General Session
Get a front-row seat to the agentic future as IDC experts unpack the changing technology landscape with data-backed research and discuss real-world challenges with industry leaders.
CEO Keynote: A New Era for Tech Intelligence
Enterprise AI is entering a new phase of acceleration — and the intelligence industry must evolve with it. Join IDC CEO Lorenzo as he outlines a bold vision for how trusted, citable intelligence must transform to power faster, more confident decisions in the AI economy — and how IDC is leading that shift. A ‘must attend’ session for understanding where the tech intelligence market is headed and what opportunities it creates for your organization.
Speaker:
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Lorenzo Larini, IDC CEO
The AI Supercycle: Where the Next Trillion in Tech Value Will Be Created
The technology industry is entering one of its most significant expansion cycles in three decades—but the drivers of growth are fundamentally different. This keynote examines the two phases of the AI supercycle: the massive global infrastructure buildout underway today and the enterprise adoption wave that will follow. Chief Product & Research Officer Meredith Whalen will share IDC’s latest forecasts on AI spending, the ripple effects across devices and software markets, and the shift toward agentic platforms and AI-driven services. As AI reshapes the technology ecosystem, value is moving to new layers of the stack, creating new winners and new risks for vendors. Attendees will gain a clear view of where value will accrue and how technology providers must position to capture it in the next phase of AI-driven growth.
Speaker:
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Meredith Whalen, IDC Chief Product & Research Officer
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Preparing for the Agent Economy
By 2029, IDC forecasts enterprise will collectively be running more than one billion AI agents, in turn reshaping IT, operations, and customer engagement. In this session, Alessandro Perilli explores what it will take for organizations to move beyond siloed use cases toward cross-functional, multi-agent environments, and why the tech stack needs to be rebuilt for acceleration, orchestration, and resiliency. Drawing on IDC latest AI agent research, he outlines where spending is shifting, which industries are leading adoption, and how technology vendors must evolve to compete in the agent economy.
Speaker:
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Expert Panel: Power, Risk, and Responsibility in the AI Era
An extension of his research keynote, Alessandro Perilli is joined by AI industry experts to explore what it truly takes to build, deploy, and govern AI at scale. The conversation will examine how organizations are moving beyond siloed use cases toward orchestrated agentic environments—and what that shift means for security, infrastructure, and enterprise operations. Panelists will share candid perspectives on both the opportunities and risks of widespread AI adoption, and what it takes to operationalize AI responsibly while driving sustained business value.
Speakers:
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Panel: Inside the Trends Driving the AI Economy
As AI transforms industries, new markets—and new data—are emerging just as quickly. In this session, IDC analysts share key insights from the firm’s newest research covering AI infrastructure, robotics and physical AI, AI agents, and the rapidly evolving global AI landscape. Walk away with practical insights and data on the topics shaping today’s most important technology conversations.
Speakers:
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Lightning Round: What to Watch in Emerging Tech
What’s emerging at the edge today will define competitive advantage tomorrow. In this fast-paced lightning round, IDC analysts spotlight the technologies beginning to reshape markets and consumer behavior—from quantum to robotics and smart devices to how AI is changing consumer engagement. Expect sharp insights, bold predictions, and clear signals on what to watch next.
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Special Lunch Session
When Consumers Lead: AI, Autonomous Discovery, and the Rewiring of the Digital Economy
AI is no longer just an application layer—it’s embedded in the devices, assistants, and invisible systems shaping what consumers see, trust, and buy. As AI disrupts the discovery-to-commerce journey through answer engines, curated recommendations, and conversational interfaces, consumers—not enterprises—are driving the shift. Join IDC’s Greg Ireland, Tom Mainelli, and Sandra Ng for lunch and a dynamic discussion on how the AI-powered consumer is rewriting the rules for B2C brands and platforms.
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Track 1: Marketing & Business Growth Strategies
Discover how AI is transforming marketing from prospect discovery and brand relevance to strategic go-to-market programs, plus what leaders must do to stay relevant and win in the year ahead.
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How AI is Shifting Marketing's Paradigm
AI is transforming marketing from a campaign‑driven function into a continuously intelligent, outcomes‑focused discipline. Join Laurie Buczek, IDC Research GVP, for an expert view on what it means for marketing priorities, operating models, and the path to real business impact.
Speaker:
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AI's Impact on Discovery, Advertising & Brand Marketing
How your brand is discovered, evaluated, and remembered has been turned upside down by AI. In this session, we’ll challenge long-standing assumptions about SEO/AEO, media, and brand building with the latest research and outline practical actions marketers can take to stay competitive in an AI-first market.
Speaker:
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Market Impact of AI-Fueled Business Transformation and Implications for the C-Suite
Join IDC experts in a thought-provoking discussion where they unveil insights into AI’s impact on enterprise strategy, inspect where companies are on their journey, and share what this means for how marketers can deliver value to the C-suite.
Speakers:
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The Age of AI Content Marketing & Human Creativity
AI is transforming the buyer journey and how content is created, distributed, and consumed. This session shows how marketing leaders can harness AI for speed and scale while keeping human insight and brand authenticity at the center – and what marketers need to do now to take action.
Speaker:
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Executive Panel: AI's Impact on Marketing Strategy and Execution
Marketing leaders are no longer debating if AI will transform marketing—they are navigating the realities of deploying it at scale, under real-world constraints. In this panel discussion, senior marketing executives share candid insights from the front lines, revealing what has worked, what hasn’t, and where expectations have diverged from reality.
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Track 2: Putting Data to Work
Learn how to strengthen data foundations with trusted platforms, security, and application integration to unlock AI value and reduce risk.
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Fireside Chat: Data's role in Finance Transformation
Join Stewart Bond and a special CIO guest for real-world lessons from a large-scale transformation project that’s success came from combining strong data foundations with application modernization. Designed for technology vendors, product marketers, and AR leaders, the session provides clear signals into how enterprise buyers evaluate data management capabilities and where true differentiation exists.
Speakers:
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Trust Before Autonomy: Data Control in the Age of AI Agents
As AI agents become central to enterprise software strategies, buyer expectations are shifting from isolated features to end-to-end trust in how data is discovered, interpreted, and governed. This session examines how autonomous agents expose the strengths and gaps of current data, security, and governance capabilities, and why traditional guardrails are no longer sufficient. Leave with a clearer framework for positioning agentic capabilities around trust, control, and enterprise readiness.
Speakers:
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Enabling Agentic AI with Data Platforms: From Databases to Data Products
Hear from IDC analysts on what it takes for data architectures to enable agentic AI in practice, regardless of operational maturity. The session will cover converged workloads, event-driven data, and data products as agent-consumable interfaces, plus the latest research on how organizations are balancing AI for data and data for AI.
Speakers:
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Data in Action: Agentic Application Success
Juxtaposing insights from data foundations and business strategy, this session will explore the transition from SaaS applications to autonomous intelligence. We’ll explore why data quality is a primary barrier to scaling AI agents and a practical look at actions users – and vendors – must take to ensure agentic success.
Speakers:
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Panel: Ask Me Anything About Future Data Directions
Ask the analysts anything about the future of data in this engaging, interactive panel session. Come with your questions – and all are welcome even if you did not attend prior track sessions!
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Track 3: Emerging Tech
Explore how agentic AI and emerging technologies like quantum, advanced connectivity, robotics and more are reshaping business models, industries, and competitive advantage.
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Agents at the Edge: The Role of Devices in an Agentic Future
Join IDC analysts Tom Mainelli and Bryan Ma for a conversation on why AI agents and edge-based inferencing could finally unlock the promise of on-device AI—and what that means for the next era of PCs, smartphones, wearables, and emerging form factors.
Speakers:
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Going Mainstream: Enterprise Pathways to Quantum Adoption
Quantum computing is no longer a futuristic concept for enterprises. Heather West, PhD, and special guests will highlight real-world adoption strategies, operational use cases, and the technologies enabling measurable business value today and into the future.
Speakers:
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Agentic AI Platforms: Lynchpin for Deployment and New Competitive Battleground
Enterprises want to evolve from one-off, pre-built agents into sophisticated agentic solutions that drive business transformation. Neil Ward-Dutton and Mickey North Rizza will explore the fast-moving agentic AI platform market, including the enterprise demand, competitive battlegrounds, and the tensions/opportunities for entrenched enterprise app providers.
Speakers:
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AI Unleashed: Powering the Next Wave of Innovation with 5G, Satellites, and Intelligent Networks
IDC analysts Jitesh Bhayani and Ahmad Latif Ali explore the convergence of next-gen connectivity solutions built on 5G/6G, LEO satellite networks, and AI-driven network automation – and how they’re helping enterprises unlock new business models for leadership in the digital era.
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Panel: When Agents Get Physical
Wrap up the day with an exciting panel debate on how emerging on-device AI, agent platforms, connectivity, and services will establish the pillars for making physical AI a reality.
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Track 4: AI-Ready Infrastructure
Learn how market leaders are modernizing infrastructure, cloud platforms, and data center strategies to support agentic workloads, optimize investments, and deliver resilience at scale
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AI Factories: Scaling AI-Ready Infrastructure
IDC analysts debate, compare and contrast how to maximize ROI when deploying AI-ready infrastructure. We’ll discuss how to scale, cloud vs on-premises vs hybrid approaches, and when each model wins.
Speakers:
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Panel: The Role of Silicon, Enabling Technologies and Networking in AI-ready Infrastructure
Sit down with IDC experts as they examine the role of silicon and network infrastructure in AI-ready environments. Moderated by Ashish Nadkarni, IDC’s global lead for enterprise infrastructure, this panel will discuss implications and opportunities for vendors plus how IT leaders should approach their buying strategies.
Speakers:
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AI-Ready Data Storage Infrastructure, Data Logistics, and Protection
Uncover what it means to implement an AI-ready data storage infrastructure. IDC experts will unpack the field of data logistics, protection, cyber recovery and data security, including how it differs from storage infrastructure and what vendors need to know now.
Speakers:
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Panel: Security, Observability and Cloud Ops in AI-Ready Infrastructure
Frank Dickson, IDC’s global lead for security and trust, will moderate a panel of IDC experts examining the implications and opportunities of operations, observability, agentic AI and security in AI-ready infrastructure.
Speakers:
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Tying it together: Considerations for AI-Ready Datacenters
Bring all things infrastructure together with a discussion on what IT leaders need to know to navigate the infrastructure landscape in the AI era and what tech vendors should be doing to help clients succeed.
Speakers:
1:30 – 4:30pm
Analyst 1:1s
4:30 – 5:30pm
Solution Showcase & AI Lab
4:30 – 5:30pm
Reception
Join us for IDC Directions 2026
April 8, 2026 | Boston, MA
Laurie Buczek
Group Vice President, Executive Insights, IDC
Laurie Buczek is the Group Vice President of Executive Insights at IDC, where she spearheads the global research initiatives that shape the industry’s understanding of digital business transformation, evolving buying behaviors, and technology investments. She leads IDC’s premier research practices, including the CMO Advisory Practice, C-Suite Tech Agenda, and Digital to AI Business Transformation.
Tom Meyer
Senior Group Vice President, GM, Services, Telecoms, Market&Business Intelligence, IDC
Thomas Meyer joined IDC in January 1999 and is currently responsible for managing IDC’s Research Division in EMEA. This includes Practices focused on Digital Transformation, Cloud, Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Blockchain, Intelligent Process Automation and Accelerated Application Development as well as Core ICT (Software, Services, Infrastructure and Devices) and Industry-specific teams (Financial, Manufacturing, Energy, Retail, Healthcare, Government and Telco Insights)
Meyer frequently speaks at IDC, industry, customer and CIO events such as IDC’s EMEA CIO Summit Series, IDC’s Datacenter and Cloud Conferences and the Mobile Commerce Conference. He often contributes to articles in publications across Europe, including the Wall Street Journal, Die Zeit, Focus, Le Monde Informatique, and IT Week, and has also appeared on the BBC World Business Report and Breakfast Business Update.
Matt Eastwood
Senior Vice President, Enterprise Infrastructure, Cloud, Security, ITOps and Developers, IDC
Matt Eastwood is Senior Vice President of IDC’s enterprise infrastructure, cloud, telecom, security, developers, channels and enabling technology research groups. Mr. Eastwood and his team research people, process and technology trends affecting the enterprise technology marketplace worldwide. Mr. Eastwood first joined IDC in 2000 as part of the server team and his responsibilities have evolved and expanded during his tenure. In his current role, he leads a team of more than 100 analysts providing insights and analysis to IT suppliers, buyers, investors, and distributors through more than 75 syndicated research programs. Mr. Eastwood also leads IDC’s BuyerView primary research programs which are focused on defining emerging trends in cloud, developers, service providers, edge, AI and security.
Kitty Fok
Managing Director, IDC China
As the managing director of IDC China, Kitty Fok manages over 80 specialized analysts and leads all research for the China region. Kitty’s expertise includes an in-depth understanding of the IT market, with a focus on emerging technologies, the impact of the Chinese government’s policies, and digital transformation, as well as the fundamentals of forecasting, business development, and strategic planning/analysis.
She is often invited to be a guest speaker in the industry’s leading events and is regularly interviewed by the mainstream media, including the BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, CCTV, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post, and China Daily.
In addition, she is a senior advisor to the Guangzhou Municipal Government Internet Industry Committee, an expert judge at the GSMA’s Global Mobile Awards and the Global Mobile Applications Development competitions, and an advisor for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
She joined IDC in 1996 with a master’s degree in Management (Operations Research) from Lancaster University.
Bob Parker
Senior Vice President, Enterprise Applications, Data Intelligence, Services and Industry Research, IDC
Bob Parker is a Senior Vice President responsible for several areas of research at IDC. Bob leads the global industry research teams which includes coverage of healthcare, government, retail, energy, manufacturing, and financial services as well as a cross industry group looking at emerging topics such as blockchain and robotics. Additionally, Bob leads our teams in the enterprise applications space, services, and the IDC coverage of data intelligence which includes coverage of artificial intelligence.
Jennifer Hamel
Senior Research Director, Enterprise Intelligence Services, IDC
Jennifer Hamel is a Senior Research Director for IDC’s Worldwide Services team, responsible for the Enterprise Intelligence Services research program. In this research, Ms. Hamel covers the life cycle of project-oriented, managed, and support services related to the deployment of technologies, such as data management, analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and automation, as part of enterprise intelligence initiatives. In particular, her research focuses on how services providers work with organizations to ensure investments in enterprise intelligence technologies result in improved business outcomes.
Stewart Bond
Vice President, Data Intelligence and Integration Software, IDC
Stewart Bond is Vice President of IDC’s Data Intelligence and Integration Software service. Mr. Bond’s core research coverage includes watching emerging trends that are shaping and changing data movement, ingestion, transformation, mastering, cleansing and consumption in the era of digital business. Having worked in the IT industry for over 30 years, from early experience in database and application development, through solution design and deployment, to strategic architectural consulting, Stewart has worked through some significant changes in the IT industry. His depth of field experience coupled with market insight gives him a unique perspective, valued by his customers and peers.
Mukesh Dialani
Research Vice President, Digital Engineering and Operational Technology Services, IDC
Mukesh Dialani is a Research Vice President for IDC’s Worldwide Digital Engineering and Operational Technology Services research. He is responsible for executing field research and custom research projects across the entire lifecycle of hardware and software products. Based on this background that included working with end customers in the engineering services domain, his core focus also includes operational technology and emerging technology areas related to Industrial IoT, Computer Vision, Robotics, AR/VR and digital transformation pertaining to engineering services.
Dave Pearson
Research Vice President, Compute, Storage, Converged and Hyperconverged Infrastructure, Infrastructure Software, Workloads, Performance Intensive Computing, IDC
Dave Pearson is Research Vice President within IDC’s worldwide infrastructure research organization and global research lead for the Storage and Converged Systems practice. Dave is also the research lead for IDC Canada’s Infrastructure Solutions practice. He manages a team of analysts that cover both research domains. For the storage and converged systems practice, Dave and his team provide global insights on storage, integrated, hyperconverged and composable infrastructure technology trends, vendor strategies, and market adoption. It includes storage for performance intensive computing use cases like high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, and analytics. It also includes cloud enabled infrastructure and infrastructure used for cloud deployments. For the Canadian infrastructure solutions practice, he and his team deliver region-specific inisights on compute, storage, networking, security, as well as contributing to edge, cloud, artificial intelligence and infrastructure software technology trends, vendor strategies, and market adoption.
Dave McCarthy
Research Vice President, Cloud & Infrastructure Services, IDC
Dave McCarthy is Research Vice President within IDC’s worldwide infrastructure research organiztion and global research lead for the cloud and edge services practice. Dave leads a team of analysts covering research on shared (public) cloud, dedicated (private) cloud, and edge deployments, services, adoption trends, vendor strategies and market dynamics. Benefiting both technology suppliers and IT decision makers, Dave’s insights delve into ways in which hybrid and distributed cloud platforms provide the foundation for next-generation workloads, enabling organizations to innovate faster, automate operations, and achieve digital resiliency. His research is available via syndicated research programs (subscription services), data products (IDC Trackers) and custom engagements.
Ashish Nadkarni
Group Vice President/GM, Worldwide Infrastructure Research, IDC
Ashish Nadkarni is Group Vice President and General Manager within IDC’s worldwide infrastructure research organization. Ashish oversees seven global research practices: infrastructure software platforms, cloud and edge services, storage and converged systems, performance intensive computing, compute infrastructure and service provider trends, enterprise and emerging workloads, and the future of digital infrastructure. Additionally, he oversees two regional research practices: Canadian infrastructure solutions, and Latin America enterprise infrastructure and cloud services. Ashish and his team also curate BuyerView, an industry leading portfolio of primary research products that provide a voice of the IT buyer on technology and services adoption trends including cloud and edge services, artificial intelligence (AI), high performance computing (HPC), security and networking, xOps, and software development.
Chris Barnard
Vice President, European Telecoms and Infrastructure, IDC
Chris Barnard is vice president, European Telecoms and Infrastructure, at IDC. He joined the company in 2000 and is responsible for European research covering all aspects of telecoms and IoT, datacenter infrastructure, networking, unified communications & collaboration, related professional services.
He is the author of numerous white papers and trade press articles on telecoms, professional services, convergence, unified communications, ebusiness, infrastructure, and networking strategies. He is widely quoted in the international technology and business press. In 2010, Chris was named telecoms analyst of the year by the Institute of Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR). He is frequently asked to speak at international industry conferences, customer events, and road shows.
Jeff Janukowicz
Research Vice President, Semiconductors and Enabling Technologies, IDC
Jeff Janukowicz is a Research Vice President at IDC where he provides insight and analysis on the SSD market for the Client PC, Enterprise Data Center, and Cloud market segments. In this role, Jeff provides expert opinion, in-depth market research, and strategic analysis on the dynamics, trends, and opportunities facing the industry. His research includes market forecasts, market share reports, and technology trends of clients, investor, suppliers, and manufacturers.
Lynne Schneider
Research Director, Data Collaboration & Monetization, and Location & Geospatial Intelligence, IDC
Lynne Schneider is Research Director leading IDC’s Data Collaboration & Monetization, and Location & Geospatial Intelligence market research and advisory practices. Ms. Schneider’s core research coverage in DaaS includes data sourcing and delivery services from traditional and emerging data providers along with evolving data aggregation and dissemination platforms. The breadth of coverage includes services that enable an organization to externally monetize data generated as part of the organization’s ongoing operations, value-added information derived from this data, and the marketplace for combining data with other solutions. This research analyzes the supply and demand side business and technology trends of this emerging category.
Phil Goodwin
Research Vice President, Infrastructure Software Platforms, Worldwide Infrastructure Research, IDC
Phil Goodwin is Research Vice President within IDC’s worldwide infrastructure research organization and global research lead for the infrastructure software platforms practice. He leads a team of analysts that provide detailed insights and analyses on evolving infrastructure software trends, vendor performance, and the impact of new technology adoption. Mr. Goodwin’s own research focuses on multi-cloud data management, data logistics, on-premises and cloud-based data protection as-a-service, cyber protection and recovery, and recovery orchestration. He takes a holistic view of these markets, and covers risk analysis, service level requirements and cost/benefit calculations in his research. Mr. Goodwin also contributes regularly to IDC’s CIO advisory practice.
Mark Leary
Research Director, Network Observability, Automation and AI, IDC
Mark Leary is Research Director for Network Analytics and Automation responsible for worldwide technology market research and analysis. Mark’s core research coverage focuses on the advancement and adoption of network performance management solutions (both on-premises systems and cloud-based services) and the development of network automation capabilities by both technology suppliers and enterprise operators. Sample key areas of interest include end-to-end visibility, predictive analytics, AI/ML-driven insights, digital experience management, open-source technologies, cloud service monitoring, and “programmed” automation as they apply to a secure, dynamic, and predictable network environment. Based on his current work and background, Mark’s research also examines the evolution of enterprise and cloud network technologies; adoption of cloud services and software-defined systems; buildout of professional support services and partner ecosystems; fortification of network management best practices; and the reformation of IT staff roles and skills in this demanding hyper-connected digital era.
Stephen Elliot
Group Vice President, Application Development and IT Operations, IDC
Stephen Elliot manages multiple programs spanning IT Operations, Enterprise Management, ITSM, Agile and DevOps, Application performance, Virtualization, Multi-Cloud Management and Automation, Log Analytics, Container Management, DaaS, and Software Defined Compute. Mr. Elliot advises Senior IT, Business, and Investment Executives globally in the creation of strategy and operational tactics that drive the execution of Digital Transformation and business growth.
Michelle Abraham
Senior Research Director, Security and Trust, IDC
Michelle Abraham is a Senior Research Director in IDC’s Security and Trust Group responsible for the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), Exposure Management and Related Artificial Intelligence Technologies practice. Ms. Abraham’s core research coverage includes SIEM platforms, exposure management platforms, attack surface management, breach and attack simulation, cybersecurity asset management, and device vulnerability management alongside AI-related security topics.
Frank Dickson
Group Vice President, Security & Trust, IDC
Frank Dickson is the Group Vice President for IDC’s Security & Trust research practice. In this role, he leads the team that delivers compelling research in the areas of AI Security; Cybersecurity Services; Information and Data Security; Endpoint Security; Trust; Governance, Risk & Compliance; Identity & Digital Trust; Network Security; Privacy & Legal Tech; and Application Security & Fraud. Topically, he provides thought leadership and guidance for clients on a wide range of security topics including ransomware and emerging products designed to protect transforming architectures and business models.
Andrew Buss
Senior Research Director, Digital and Datacenter Infrastructure Strategies, IDC
Andrew Buss is research director for IDC’s European Enterprise Infrastructure program. Based in London, he is responsible for driving IDC’s research covering present and future trends impacting servers, storage and networking and IT service delivery. Central to this is understanding how on-premises IT is evolving under the emergence of Open Source, Software-Defined Enterprise, multi-Cloud adoption and Cloud-native development practices, and how this will impact everything from the low level silicon underpinnings and system design, through to the design and integration of the different infrastructure components, up to the platform management and service delivery.
Tom Mainelli
Group Vice President, Device & Consumer Research, IDC
Tom Mainelli heads the Device & Consumer Research Group, overseeing a wide array of hardware and technology categories that cater to both home and enterprise markets. His team’s research spans PCs, tablets, smartphones, wearables, smart home devices, thin clients, displays, and virtual/augmented reality headsets. He also co-manages IDC’s supply-side research team, which monitors display and ODM production across various categories. IDC’s consumer research, anchored by the Consumer Market Model, employs regular surveys and proprietary models to forecast numerous consumer-focused activities and spending across hardware, software, and services.
Mickey North-Rizza
Group Vice President, Enterprise Software, IDC
Mickey North Rizza is Group Vice-President for IDC’s Enterprise Software. She leads the Enterprise Applications & Strategies research service along with a team of analysts responsible for IDC’s coverage of next generation of enterprise applications including digital commerce, employee experience, enterprise asset management and smart facilities, ERP, financial applications, HCM and payroll applications, procurement, professional services automation and related project-based solutions software, supply chain automation, and talent acquisition and strategies. In her role, Mickey and the team advises clients on these intelligent, modern, and modular enterprise applications for businesses of all sizes with an emphasis on the key trends, opportunities, innovation and the IT and Business Buyer concerns, requirements, and buyer behaviors.
Ahmad Latif Ali
Associate Vice President, Communications Service Providers, IDC
Ahmad Latif Ali leads IDC’s EMEA Telecommunications Insights program, directing research in this area as the telecommunications industry becomes an integral part of cutting-edge technology adoption. He provides strategic insight and perspectives on how European telcos are evolving from traditional CSPs to platform players at the heart of digital ecosystems — deciding where to operate in the digital value chain, who to partner with, and how to manage and orchestrate new technologies.
Jitesh Bhayani
Research Vice President, Communications Services, IDC
Jitesh Bhayani is a Research Vice President in the WW Network and Telecommunications group, serving as a Research Lead and Thought Leader across a diverse set of Telecom Services, collaborating across IDC’s team of telecom research analysts. He provides strategic direction and advisory services across a variety of disciplines such as wireless, wireline, voice, and managed services. Jitesh is a key collaborator with IDC’s Consulting Services Team and serves as a trusted advisor to multiple Communications Service Providers, Cloud Services Providers, and IT Solutions vendors.
Neil Ward-Dutton
VP AI, Automation, Data & Analytics Europe, IDC
Neil Ward-Dutton is vice president, AI, Automation, Data & Analytics at IDC Europe. In this role he guides IDC’s research agendas, and helps enterprise and technology vendor clients alike make sense of the opportunities and challenges across these very fast-moving and complicated technology markets. In a 28-year career as a technology industry analyst, Neil has researched a wide range of enterprise software technologies, authored hundreds of reports and regularly appeared on TV and in print media.
Heather West
Research Manager, Quantum and Analog Computing, IDC
Heather West, PhD, is Research Manager within IDC’s worldwide infrastructure research organization and part of the performance intensive computing (PIC) practice. She leads IDC’s quantum, analog and neuromorphic computing research and plays a supporting role in IDC’s research on artificial Intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure stacks and deployments. Dr. West is deeply engaged with her clients on their solutions and services, as well as on their business and technology strategies. Her domain knowledge of the quantum computing industry including proficiency in related workloads and use cases has made Dr. West a trusted advisor to several emerging quantum and analog computing vendors and positioned IDC as the go-to vendor for market research on Quantum Computing.
Rick Villars
Group Vice President, Worldwide Research, IDC
Rick is IDC’s leading analyst guiding research on the future of the IT Industry. He coordinates all IDC research related to the impact of Cloud and the shift to digital business models across infrastructure, platforms, software, and services. He helps enterprises develop effective strategies for using their diverse portfolio of cloud investments and applications. He supplies early guidance on implications of critical innovations such as the shift to cloud-based control platforms for deploying/managing infrastructure, data, and code delivery as well as the emergence of AI as a critical IT workload and part of all IT products/services.
Sarah Lee
Research Director, Manufacturing IT Strategies, IDC
Sarah Lee is Research Director for IDC Manufacturing Insights responsible for the IT Priorities & Strategies (ITP&S) practice. Sarah’s core research coverage includes IT investments made across the manufacturing industry and manufacturers’ progress with digital transformation. Based on her background covering the manufacturing space, Sarah’s research also includes an emphasis on the technology enablers that help manufacturing executives make better-informed operational decisions.
Bryan Ma
Vice President, Data & Analytics, IDC
Bryan Ma is Vice President of Client Devices research, covering mobile phones, tablets, PCs, AR/VR headsets, wearables, thin clients, and monitors across Asia as well as worldwide. Based in Singapore, Bryan provides insights and advisory services for both vendors and users, and coordinates his team of analysts in building IDC’s core market data, analysis, and forecasts in these sectors.
Andrea Siviero
Senior Research Director, MacroTech, Digital Business, and Future of Work, IDC
Andrea Siviero leads IDC’s European Digital Business and Future of Work Research group. The group provides market research insights to foster a purposeful and fair adoption of technologies supporting digital societies, businesses and workforce and empower tech providers in strategic decision making, planning and go-to-market activities. Siviero also co-leads the IDC Worldwide MacroTech Research program, focused on the intertwined connection between the Economical and Digital worlds – analyzing the impact key MacroEconomic factors have on the digital landscape and viceversa, how technologies are impacting economies around the world.
Tony Olvet
Group Vice President, Worldwide C-Suite and Digital Business Research, IDC
Tony Olvet is Group Vice President, Worldwide C-suite and Digital Business Research at IDC. His team’s global research focuses on the connection between business transformation and digital investments across enterprises. Tony’s analysis and insights help vendors, IT professionals, and business executives make fact-based decisions on technology strategy and digital business.
Jennifer Glenn
Research Director, Information and Data Security, IDC
Jennifer Glenn is Research Director for the IDC Security and Trust Group and is responsible for the information and data security practice. Ms. Glenn’s core coverage includes a broad range of technologies including messaging security, sensitive data management, encryption, tokenization, rights management, key management, and certificates. As part of this research, Ms. Glenn will demonstrate the critical role of data security in top enterprise initiatives such as generating customer trust and digital transformation.
Madhumitha Sathish
Research Manager, AI and High Performance Computing Infrastructure Stacks, IDC
Madhumitha Sathish is Research Manager within IDC’s worldwide infrastructure research organization and part of the performance intensive computing (PIC) practice. She leads IDC’s artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure research and plays a supporting role in IDC’s research on high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure stacks and deployments. In her role, Ms. Sathish delivers syndicated and custom qualitative and quantitative insights, including market size and forecast studies, and custom market models.
Marlanna Harrington
Research Analyst, Data, Analytics, AI, and Automation, IDC
Marlanna Harrington is a Research Analyst on the data, analytics, AI, and automation team. Ms. Harrington’s research concentrates on data platforms, including data warehouses, lakes, and lakehouses, focusing on data storage and management. She examines core technologies for implementing analytic data platforms across various environments, data modeling techniques, and emerging open table structures. Her research closely aligns with the data control plane that helps govern and manage data, all in preparation for analytics that provide data-driven solutions to impact business operations.
Devin Pratt
Research Director, Data Management, IDC
Devin Pratt is a Research Director within IDC’s AI, Automation, Data & Analytics (AAD&A) practice, where he oversees the database management tools and technologies software market. His primary research centers on the evolution of database management tools and technologies, covering both current and future capabilities across various relational, non-relational, and dynamic database systems designed for operational or analytic data workloads. Additionally, Mr. Pratt’s research encompasses related technologies used for data modeling, database development, optimization, and maintenance. By analyzing market trends, buyer behaviors, and the business value of these technologies, Mr. Pratt’s research helps vendors enhance their products and refine marketing strategies, while also guiding end-users in selecting data management solutions for challenges such as cloud migration and AI-driven data initiatives.
Roger Beharry Lall
Research Director, Advertising Technologies and SMB Marketing Applications, IDC
With over 25 years’ experience leading technology driven marketing programs, Mr. Beharry Lall is now a Research Director with IDC covering Advertising Technologies and SMB Marketing Applications. He brings a unique multidisciplinary perspective, evangelizing the innovative and pragmatic use of both martech and adtech solutions for companies of all sizes.
Jordan Jewell
Sr. Research Director, Persuasive Content and Digital Experience, IDC
Jordan Jewell is a Sr Research Director for IDC’s Persuasive Content and Digital Experiences practice. Mr. Jewell’s core research coverage includes web content management (WCM) applications, headless content architectures, managed web hosting solutions, and SaaS template website builders; digital asset management (DAM) and dynamic media software; digital experience platforms (DXPs); content personalization applications; GenAI search disruption; video platforms for marketing and enterprise uses; and creative tools, among other areas. His research emphasizes how content is evolving in the age of AI and agentic commerce.
Greg Ireland
Senior Director, Consumer Markets and GenAI for Content Creators and Consumers, IDC
Greg Ireland is a Senior Director for the Consumer Markets programs at IDC. In this role, he manages IDC’s Consumer Market Trends, Consumer Market Model, and GenAI for Content Creators and Consumers research programs. He focuses on consumer adoption of and engagement with digital technologies, services, and applications that transform consumer experiences, business models, and market opportunities. Greg leads IDC’s coverage of consumer GenAI, and he also has expertise in and provides in-depth analysis on the ways in which digital video content is distributed, consumed and monetized across traditional pay TV, over-the-top (OTT), and social media services and platforms.
Brian Donnelly
Transformation Director, INVISTA
Katie Kregel
SVP Corporate Marketing, IDC
Katie is a storytelling-driven marketing leader with a flair for turning complex tech into compelling brand narratives. With 15+ years in SaaS and tech, she’s orchestrated bold campaigns, built high-impact teams, and brought big ideas to life on the global stage. Whether navigating M&A comms or crafting executive thought leadership, Katie blends creativity with strategy – always with an eye on culture, connection, and what’s next.
Lt. General Michael Groen (Ret.)
Former Director of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center
General Groen (U.S. Marine Corps, Ret.) served over 36 years in the U.S. military, culminating his career as the Director of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC), where he led the transformation of U.S. Joint warfighting and departmental processes through the integration of Artificial Intelligence. Prior to his role at JAIC, he served in the Intelligence Community through multiple assignments. He served in the National Security Agency overseeing Computer Network Operations, and as the Director of Joint Staff Intelligence (JSJ2), working closely with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Secretary of Defense, the Defense Intelligence Agency and senior leaders across the Department. He is an experienced Marine commander and multi-tour combat veteran. General Groen is a graduate of Calvin College, and has earned Masters Degrees in Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics from the Naval Postgraduate School.
Marna Kagele
Technical Fellow, Boeing
Marna Kagele is a Boeing Technical Fellow leading the company’s Quantum Computing Applications team. She is also the portfolio manager and Senior Technical Advisor for Boeing’s research partnership with Australia’s National Science Agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. Her career has covered a diverse landscape including Space Shuttle engineering, competitive intelligence, and strategy. Her passion for innovation and strategic foresight carry over into all of her work. She has been a featured advisor on Discovery’s The Science Channel, served on MIT’s Future Supply Chain Board and authored pieces for Boeing’s Innovation Quarterly Magazine. She is a current member of the Association of Professional Futurists and the Society of Women Engineers.
Lucus Haugen
Director Data Science, ATT
Lucus Haugen is an innovative Director of Data Science at AT&T’s Chief Data Office, where he leads a multidisciplinary team of data scientists, ML engineers, developers, and solution architects to deliver enterprise-scale impact. Lucus is a recognized leader in digital transformation, leveraging Generative AI, advanced machine learning, automation, and big data engineering to drive operational excellence and create business value exceeding $800 million annually across field operations, customer care, and network optimization.
With over 25 years of progressive leadership at AT&T, Lucus has been at the forefront of deploying next-gen technology solutions that align with industry best practices and evolving business needs. Most recently, he architected and launched a cutting-edge, customer-facing agentic framework powered by Generative AI, integrating real-time network insights and expert knowledge base documentation to elevate broadband support and enhance the customer experience. His deep expertise in AI/ML, cloud-native solutions, and data-driven strategy has positioned AT&T as an industry leader in intelligent automation and proactive support.
Lucus’ strategic vision has also led to the successful consolidation of roles and responsibilities for 700+ employees across 350 data centers, streamlining operations and accelerating AT&T’s journey to a unified, agile service model. During his tenure on the Big Data team, he delivered $20 million in annual savings through advanced analytics and automation. He has managed a $60 million innovation budget for Network on Demand and driven process transformation for a 100-member team in Service Assurance and Service Delivery, with frequent engagements and presentations to
executive leadership.
Alessandro Perilli
Vice President, Enterprise AI Strategies, IDC
Alessandro Perilli is a Vice President leading the Agentic AI Platforms and Strategies research program. Alessandro’s core research coverage includes emerging AI technologies, global AI market trends, the state of enterprise AI, and sovereign AI.
BACKGROUND
Most recently, Alessandro founded Unstable Reality, an AI R&D lab in London, where he worked as Chief of Research, developing synthetic media generation solutions for creative studios, ad agencies, and large end-user organizations.
Among other projects, Alessandro published a weekly newsletter dedicated to tracking how AI is reshaping jobs, workforce productivity, and business operations.
Previously, Alessandro served as a senior leader at Red Hat, focused on business and product strategy. Across roles, Alessandro has also worked as an advisor to Fortune Global 2000 companies, helping IT decision makers translate emerging technology shifts into actionable and risk-informed strategies.
Throughout his career, Alessandro has often delivered keynotes at industry and vendor events, focusing on the state of the union and emerging trends in cybersecurity, virtualization, and cloud computing.
Sandra Ng
Senior Vice President, ICT Industry, IDC
Sandra Ng is the Senior Vice President for IDC, overseeing research across the ICT industry. Based in Singapore, she advises both technology buyers and vendors, providing critical guidance on technology investments, financial strategies and go-to-market approaches.
Sandra leads a team of Research analysts who are at the forefront of emerging ICT trends and changing landscapes as well as provide deep insights and advice to clients on both the sell and buy sides. Her team collaborates with IDC’s various divisions to deliver comprehensive market intelligence, customized go-to-market services, strategic financial advice and cost-effective decision-making support in IT investments.
Lauryn Warnick
Founder & CEO, Villain Branding
Lauryn Warnick is the Founder and CEO of Villain Branding, where she partners directly with executive teams navigating high-stakes growth, repositioning, and complexity. She has advised organizations including Docusign, PayPal, Sitecore, Pega, IDC, Chartbeat, Google, and General Assembly — helping leaders align strategy, language, and decision-making when the pressure is real and the audience is unforgiving. Her work focuses on building verbal systems that travel across boardrooms, sales calls, and the market to build measurable, monetizable value.
Tyler Haney
Head of Global Growth Marketing, Island
Tyler Haney is the Head of Global Growth Marketing at Island, the Enterprise Browser that embeds security, governance, and productivity into a familiar browser-based experience while giving IT last-mile control. Tyler brings over 20 years of experience building scalable B2B growth engines that connect positioning, demand, lifecycle, and go-to-market execution to measurable revenue. His work centers on what it actually takes to deploy modern marketing capabilities at scale: clean data, a tight operating cadence, and systems that make results repeatable. Tyler has held marketing and digital leadership roles in tech and healthcare at organizations like Mitel, Children’s Medical Center, UPMC, and Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist. Tyler holds an MBA in Information Systems from the University of Kentucky.