AI isn’t just transforming businesses, it’s quietly reshaping the consumer experience in ways that are more personal, emotional, and surprising. For B2C brands, this evolution brings both new opportunities to engage customers and new expectations to meet. For technology vendors, it opens up a fast-growing market to empower brands with the tools, platforms, and infrastructure they’ll need to compete.

At IDC FutureScape Technology and AI Predictions 2026 on November 14, 2025, in Singapore, I’ll be sharing our latest outlook on how AI is evolving in the consumer space. While enterprise AI, China’s AI landscape, and service providers will be covered by my fellow speakers, I’ll focus on how AI is changing the way people live, create, and connect, as well as, what this means for the businesses serving them.

Here’s a preview of the themes and their implications:

1. AI as the new creative partner

From social media posts to full-blown entertainment, AI is becoming the go-to tool for content creation. Consumers are using it to produce videos, music, and writing that rival professional output, and in some cases, they’re starting to prefer AI-generated content over human-made. The implications for media, marketing, and creative industries are massive.

For B2C brands: Marketing, media, and customer engagement strategies must evolve as audiences consume and even co-create with AI. The line between brand-generated and consumer-generated content will blur.

For tech vendors: Demand will rise for platforms that enable safe, brand-aligned, and scalable content creation, as well as tools to detect, curate, and amplify AI-made content.

2. Emotional Intelligence meets artificial intelligence

AI companions are moving beyond productivity and into mental wellness and emotional connection. Whether it’s helping users manage stress or forming meaningful bonds, these agents are becoming trusted confidants. It’s a shift that could redefine how we think about relationships with technology and with ourselves. Consumer GenAI adoption is projected to approach 4 billion users in 2028 according to IDC’s Consumer Market Model.

For B2C brands: Opportunities emerge to build products and services that prioritize emotional well-being and create deeper, more authentic customer relationships.

For tech vendors: Expect a growing need for AI solutions that combine personalization with ethical safeguards, data sensitivity, and cultural nuance.

3. AI as your personal life manager

Imagine outsourcing your daily decisions to an AI assistant. From managing your calendar to handling your shopping and finances, AI is stepping into the role of life manager. And yes, people are willing to pay for it. This isn’t just convenience; it’s a new category of consumer service.

For B2C brands: New service categories will emerge, where customer loyalty hinges on how seamlessly brands integrate into AI-managed lifestyles.

For tech vendors: This opens demand for APIs, integrations, and platforms that allow AI assistants to securely transact, recommend, and automate across ecosystems.

4. Hybrid AI agents on consumer devices

The next generation of consumer devices will feature hybrid AI agents, working both on-device and in the cloud. This model balances privacy, performance, and personalization, enabling smarter, more responsive experiences without always needing to phone home. It’s a major leap forward in how AI integrates into daily life. More than half of PCs shipping next year (and more than two thirds of smartphones) will have NPUs to enable on-device AI.

For B2C brands: Devices will become more intelligent touchpoints, reshaping customer engagement models. Privacy-conscious consumers will expect “smart but safe” experiences.

For tech vendors: There’s a race to power these hybrid environments with optimized chips, edge models, and management tools for scale.

5. With power comes risk

As AI becomes more embedded in consumer hardware, model integrity becomes a real concern. We’re already seeing enterprises grapple with corrupted or misaligned on-device AI models and similar risks could soon affect consumers. Expect a growing need for oversight tools and safeguards, even in the devices we carry every day.

For B2C brands: Trust will become a competitive differentiator. Brands must anticipate and proactively manage AI-related risks that impact customer safety.

For tech vendors: This creates a market for monitoring, auditing, and security solutions tailored to consumer AI applications.

These trends point to a future where AI isn’t just something consumers use; it’s something they live with. For B2C brands, that means building more human, responsive, and resilient connections with customers. For technology vendors, it’s an unprecedented chance to help those brands deliver on the promise of AI at scale.

Seats are limited, register today for IDC FutureScapes Technology and AI Predictions 2026.

Qualcomm invited analysts to its annual Snapdragon Summit again this year, where the spotlight was shone on the company’s latest processors for both phones and PCs, as well as the role of NPUs (neural processing units) in enabling new on-device AI experiences. My colleagues and I wrote extensively about these announcements here. However, on the final day, a surprise announcement brought forth a totally new narrative: the unveiling of a Snapdragon X Elite-powered PC from an unexpected player, Humain.

For those unfamiliar, Humain is not a traditional PC vendor. It’s a Saudi Arabian AI datacenter company focused on full-stack AI solutions, including its Allam foundation model tailored for Arabic-speaking markets. Earlier this year, Humain made headlines by bringing Qualcomm back into the datacenter space with its Cloud AI 100 Ultra chips. Now, with the Horizon Pro, it’s entering the PC market—but not in the way most would expect.

The PC as a trojan horse for enterprise AI

Humain’s Horizon Pro isn’t about competing with HP, Dell, or Lenovo in the commercial PC space. Instead, it’s a strategic enabler for a broader vision: simplifying enterprise software stacks through a conversational interface called Humain One, layered on top of Windows. This interface leverages the NPU for secure, on-device orchestration of enterprise workflows, with the goal of abstracting away the complexity of legacy applications.

At its core, Humain One seeks to replace HR, finance & legal apps. For example, an employee requests a vacation via the text interface, and the app handles payroll and approvals end-to-end. The company claims that internally, it cut HR from 11 staff members to one plus the AI agent.

CEO Tareq Amin, known for disrupting telecom norms with OpenRAN at Rakuten, made it clear during the Summit: “I really don’t care about making money on the PC itself. The value add is on top of it.” While the Horizon Pro boasts premium hardware features like an OLED display and a high-quality touchpad, the real innovation lies in the software and services model.

A subscription model for enterprise transformation

Humain’s business model centers on enterprise subscriptions, not hardware margins. The Horizon Pro is a gateway to a secure, AI-driven orchestration layer that could reshape how businesses interact with their digital infrastructure. The ultimate goal: To replace some or all of the hundreds or even thousands of apps that enterprises rely on, including many SaaS apps, with agents at a fraction of the cost. It’s a challenging concept to wrap your brain around: replacing Salesforce, Workday, and SAP isn’t straightforward. But if Humain can run its entire company on AI agents, without any legacy ERP, it points to a fascinating shakeup in how enterprises think about computing.

Amin mentioned offerings for students and an Ultra 5G variant, but the core focus remains enterprise transformation and leveraging the unique strengths of access to capital and energy, and agentic local language agents that will create operational workflows and personalize them for an organization and user.

This approach aligns with broader industry trends where NPUs can enable a shift in how we think about PCs—not just as endpoints, but as intelligent, secure nodes in a larger AI-driven ecosystem. The NPU helps this shift, enabling real-time inference, privacy-preserving AI, and new user experiences.

Challenges ahead – and strategic advantages

To be sure, Humain faces an uphill battle. Enterprises are notoriously resistant to overhauling their software stacks, and entrenched players with mature sales channels dominate the commercial PC market. But Humain has a few strategic advantages:

Regional relevance: Its Arabic-language LLM positions it uniquely for Middle Eastern enterprises, although its ambitions are surely global too given the English language demonstrations provided.
Government backing: With ties to the Saudi Public Investment Fund, there’s potential for deeper regional partnerships, although Amin said that this model hasn’t been accepted by large PC vendors yet.
Visionary leadership: Amin’s track record suggests he’s not afraid to challenge incumbents and rethink industry norms.

What to watch next

Humain plans to reveal more at the 9th Edition of the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh in late October. Amin emphasized that partnerships—especially open-source collaborations—will be key to scaling the Humain One platform. While a licensing model for the Horizon Pro hardware isn’t on the table yet, it’s clear that Humain is thinking beyond the box.

This is a horizontal business model approach by a hyperscaler that is looking to disrupt the current marketplace by trying to redefine the user experience. It could be appealing to enable a premium set of devices without having to charge consumers premium prices. It provides hardware and AI as a service for a new set of users who are not bound by legacy workflows and applications. And If the PC is adopted, it could open room for smartphones, kiosks, cameras, drones, and wearables connected to each other and AI infrastructure that Humain is building in the region.

In many ways, this is a small blip on the radar for now. But it’s one worth watching. Like OpenRAN, Humain’s approach forces the industry to rethink assumptions. Even if its hardware market share remains modest, the impact could be significant—especially if it inspires others to reimagine the role of the PC in enterprise AI.

The acronym CMO has traditionally stood for “Chief Marketing Officer,” but that role is evolving. The need for today’s midmarket CMOs to lead with clarity and vision is more important than ever.

A third of midmarket CMOs expect to take on the new title of Chief Market Officer, according to IDC’s 2025 Global Midmarket Tech CMO Priorities Survey. This shift signals broader leadership responsibilities, a deeper understanding of the market, and a central role in driving business growth.

But as the expectations placed on CMOs continue to rise, many are facing critical disconnects between what is expected of them and what they’re currently equipped to deliver.

Unlock the secret to securing marketing’s role as an essential growth driver. Download IDC’s Executive Insights Brief: The four disconnects shaping Marketing in 2025 to learnmore about the challenges facing today’s midmarket CMOs – and  thirteen achievable steps to overcome them.

The misalignment between exekutive expectations and marketing realities

The Pressure Cascade CMO’s are facing highlights a growing challenge: rising executive demands for innovation, AI-driven strategies, and customer acquisition are colliding with limited resources and skills gaps within marketing teams.

CMOs must act decisively to address these issues and secure their role as essential growth drivers within their organizations. Failure to do so risks diminishing marketing’s strategic relevance – and potential for transformation.

IDC has identified four critical disconnects holding back midmarket CMOs. Addressing these gaps is not only necessary, it’s urgent.

Disconnect 1: The illusion of AI adoption

Many midmarket organizations believe they’ve adopted AI, but in reality efforts are fragmented and lack the necessary infrastructure and talent to scale. According to IDC’s MaturityScape Benchmark AI Survey, most companies remain in the “AI Pivot” stage, despite their beliefs that they’re further along in the AI journey.

While individual AI tools or pilots may be in place, they often lack a cohesive, strategic approach that aligns with broader business objectives. This gap between perceived and actual AI maturity leaves marketing teams underprepared to capitalize on AI’s full potential.

Why this can’t wait

CMOs who fail to address these challenges risk falling behind competitors who are fully integrating and leveraging AI to drive innovation and growth. Without a unified AI strategy, marketing can’t deliver on its transformative potential, leaving the organization at a competitive disadvantage.

How you can lead

By lifting the AI illusion and closing the gaps in AI adoption, you establish marketing as a central driver of innovation and growth. This is your chance to step into a leadership role and show that marketing isn’t just a function but a catalyst for long-term success.

As you fully integrate AI into your marketing strategy, you position your team to lead the charge in personalizing customer experiences, optimizing processes, and making data-driven decisions that directly contribute to business growth.

Disconnect 2: Growth expectations vs. maintenance realities

While the C-suite expects marketing to drive customer acquisition and fuel business growth, many CMOs continue to focus on retention and efficiency, according to the IDC Midmarket Survey.

Marketing leaders are prioritizing existing customer relationships and cutting costs, rather than aggressive executive growth strategies. This disconnect between corporate objectives and marketing’s internal goals limits CMOs’ ability to lead strategically.

Why this can’t wait

The pressure to drive growth is intensifying. CMOs who fail to align marketing’s efforts with executive expectations risk losing the confidence of the C-suite. When marketing remains focused on maintenance, it misses out on new market opportunities and limits its impact on the organization’s growth trajectory.

Without a strategic shift toward customer acquisition and new business development, CMOs risk being viewed as supporting players rather than transformation leaders, diminishing their organizational authority.

How you can lead

Position your department as a leader in expansion by shifting your focus toward growth, aligning marketing strategies with the C-suite’s expectations. This shift enables you to actively contribute to new revenue streams and enhance your organization’s competitive position.

With strategic rebalancing, marketing becomes a key player in achieving measurable business growth, firmly establishing your leadership role and delivering on your department’s potential for transformation.

Disconnect 3: The budget deadlock

As marketing teams are tasked with delivering high-impact results across the board, many CMOs face the reality of flat or insufficient budgets. More than half of CMOs expect no increase to their budget, found the IDC Midmarket survey.

This disconnect occurs when marketing is expected to drive tomorrow’s growth with yesterday’s financial resources, hindering the ability to invest in the necessary tools, technology, and talent. The added challenge of quantifying marketing’s value can frame it as a cost center rather than a revenue generator.

Why this can’t wait

Without the financial flexibility to execute growth strategies, marketing will struggle to meet rising executive demands. The inability to allocate resources to high-ROI initiatives such as AI, customer acquisition, and digital transformation will lead to missed opportunities. This disconnect can quickly erode marketing’s credibility and relevance within the company – and the market.

How you can lead

You can prove marketing’s worth as a driver of organizational growth by addressing the budget disconnect and securing the resources you need to act, not react.

With the right resources to execute your strategic vision, you’ll be empowered to develop initiatives to drive proactive AI integration, customer acquisition, and improved customer experiences – becoming an essential partner in business growth and demonstrating critical leadership value.

Disconnect 4: The execution crisis

Midmarket CMOs recognize the importance of orchestrating complex, AI-powered customer journeys and delivering personalized experiences, but many struggle with the execution. In fact, upskilling and hiring were found to be low priorities for marketing leaders who responded to the Midmarket survey.

Without the right infrastructure and talent, even the most well-conceived strategies will fall short, limiting marketing’s ability to execute at the scale required to meet organizational objectives.

Why this can’t wait

As expectations for marketing continue to grow, failure to close the execution gap poses a serious risk. Ineffectively executed strategies lead to missed opportunities, fragmented customer experiences, and eroded executive trust.

In an increasingly competitive market where speed and agility are crucial, organizations that cannot execute swiftly and effectively will be outpaced by competitors. The execution crisis jeopardizes marketing’s ability to deliver measurable, timely results, weakening its strategic position.

How you can lead

By overcoming the execution crisis, you establish marketing as a results-driven function that consistently achieves wins. Building clear operational frameworks, defining roles, and empowering skilled teams ensure your marketing initiatives can be executed effectively and at scale.

This transformation enables marketing to lead with precision, translating strategic visions into impactful business outcomes and solidifying your role as a critical driver of organizational success.

Reconnect the disconnects and become a leader

The four disconnects aren’t just operational challenges: They’re strategic barriers preventing marketing from reaching its full potential. As a CMO, now is the time to step up and lead.

By addressing these disconnects head-on, you can transform marketing from a perceived support function to a recognized driver of growth and innovation.

The ability to successfully overcome these gaps will help you make the leap from Chief Marketing Officer to Chief Market Officer: an authority who not only meets the rising expectations of the C-suite but shapes broader market trajectories.

The urgency to resolve these disconnects is more than just about staying competitive. It’s about asserting marketing’s place at the heart of business transformation. The time to act is now.

Are you ready to fully align your marketing strategy with executive demands? Learn more about the four disconnects shaping marketing and unlock 13 proven strategies for bridging these critical marketing disconnects and lead with confidence.

As 2026 planning accelerates, high-performing GTM teams are doing more than building campaigns. They’re stress-testing their positioning. Not just for alignment with internal priorities, but for resonance with evolving buyer expectations, stakeholder dynamics, and budget scrutiny. 

It’s not about tearing everything down. It’s about refining what’s already strong and spotting the subtle misalignments that weaken performance over time. 

Here’s what we’re seeing from top-performing marketing and strategy teams as they get ready for 2026: 

1. They’re building from buyer economics, not brand preference

The strongest value narratives in 2026 are rooted in how buyers think—not just what they want. That means anchoring messaging in: 

Business outcomes that map to line-of-business KPIs
Time-to-impact metrics relevant to finance, RevOps, and procurement
Proof points that connect product value to real spend categories and budget decisions

IDC’s latest research shows that messaging built around use-case-level ROI increases renewal likelihood by 3.5x. That’s not a tagline; it’s a measurable strategy. 

Source: IDC CX Path 2025: Executive Summary — Examining the CX Buyer’s Journey

2. They’re aligning to who the buyer really is now

Your champion might still be in product or IT, but the buying committee has expanded. In many 2026 deals, procurement, RevOps, and CFOs are shaping final evaluations. And they’re asking different questions: 

“Where does this fit in the broader vendor stack?”
“What are the operational metrics tied to this investment?”
“How does this align with compliance and risk management goals?”

Messaging that focuses only on user value misses the table where decisions are made. 

3. They’re checking internal alignment before buyers do

Too often, what strategy wants to say, what sales is saying, and what analysts are saying don’t line up. And when those narratives diverge, the buyer journey slows or stalls. 

Leading teams are investing in shared narratives built on external signals, not just internal direction. Because when analyst commentary doesn’t match your positioning, buyers notice. And they move on. 

Want a deeper checkpoint?

IDC recently published: “5 signals your messaging won’t win in 2026“.

This guide outlines the most common (and often hidden) signs of misalignment we’re seeing in enterprise GTM efforts right now, along with steps you can take to course-correct using IDC data. 

Because in this market, the risk isn’t messaging that’s “wrong.” It’s messaging that’s “just a little off”. 

Tech marketers are no strangers to low conversion rates, tight budgets, and the ongoing quest to create content that both informs and influences. Foundational assets like white papers and infographics still play a critical role in that journey, but even the most informative content often struggles to gain traction. 

According to IDC research, 72% of tech marketers say creating original, differentiated thought leadership is a top challenge. Even more cite difficulty connecting that content to real business outcomes. 37% of CMOs say creating a unified, omnichannel customer experience will have the greatest influence on their marketing strategy over the next 12 to 18 months. 

It’s not that the content isn’t valuable. It’s that it’s not being seen in the right way, by the right people, at the right moment. 

The hidden cost of content that sits still

You invest in building authoritative, data-rich content. But if the only people who see it are those who download the full asset, you’re limiting its reach, and its return. 

Today’s marketing leaders are rethinking how they activate content. They aren’t replacing white papers, InfoBriefs, or foundational research assets, but amplifying them with visual formats that scale attention, spark engagement, and lead audiences back to the deeper story. 

That might mean turning key insights into short-form video narratives or extracting the most compelling stats into modular social tiles that spark curiosity and direct traffic back to the full story. 

The goal isn’t simplification. It’s strategic amplification with visual storytelling. 

Today’s buyer journey is social, visual, and fast

IDC’s global buyer research confirms what many B2B marketers already feel: decision-makers are consuming more content across more formats, and they expect relevance within seconds. 

That means:

Visual-first content that leads with a bold and clear message
Formats optimized for feeds, not files
Thought leadership that feels human, timely, and on-message
A content ecosystem where each asset earns its next audience

Think of it as a launchpad, not a shortcut

A well-crafted white paper still delivers depth. A research spotlight still builds credibility. What’s changed is how those assets drive pipeline activation. 

Marketers are seeing success by creating lightweight, high-velocity companion content that brings buyers into the story, and makes it easier for sales, field marketing, and comms teams to extend its impact. 

It’s not about doing more. It’s about making what you already do work harder to drive the engagement you need. 

Get more from every message

At IDC, we help marketing teams elevate their core content with formats built for the channels where attention lives. Our Video Portfolio and Infographic Social Tiles are designed to extend the reach, resonance, and ROI of foundational thought leadership assets. 

When your content is backed by data, delivered by experts, and formatted for how buyers actually consume, it doesn’t just inform. It moves. 

Looking to scale your next campaign?

AI is quickly transforming what marketing teams are capable of: automating routine tasks, delivering instant insights, and powering deeply personalized customer experiences. But for all its promise, AI is only as effective as the people and processes guiding it.

And that’s where many organizations are hitting a wall.

As marketing strategies grow more complex and technology becomes more advanced, the internal capabilities needed to execute at scale haven’t kept pace. The result? A widening execution gap: the disconnect between what marketing promises and what teams are equipped to deliver.

Thirty-seven percent of CMOs say creating a unified omnichannel experience will have the greatest influence on their marketing strategy over the next 12-18 months, according to IDC’s 2025 Global Midmarket Tech CMO Priorities Survey.

Yet in practice, most teams lack the operational infrastructure to make that experience a reality. Defined roadmaps, repeatable processes, and specialized talent remain in short supply. Only 15% of CMOs say upskilling or hiring for new roles such as AI prompters, data scientists, or digital experience designers is a top priority.

That percentage is strikingly low given what lies ahead. Over the next two years, more than a quarter of digital marketing, journey orchestration, and campaign optimization tasks are expected to shift to AI.

This is the execution gap in action, and it is one of the four critical disconnects IDC has identified for marketing today.

For CMOs ready to get ahead, IDC’s data-backed guidance offers a clear starting point.

Download The Executive Insights Brief: The four disconnects shaping marketing in 2025 to explore three actionable strategies for building the talent and capabilities your team needs to close the execution gap.

Skills gaps puts CMOs out of step with the C-suite

So where is the focus instead?

Currently, many teams are prioritizing customer retention and cost reduction — another of IDC’s identified disconnects. Looking ahead, priorities are expected to shift toward customer acquisition. But even then, areas like MarTech modernization, AI implementation, and upskilling continue to rank lower than expected, despite mounting pressure from the top.

Thirty-four percent of midmarket CMOs say their executive team expects modernization of MarTech, including AI integration, in the next 12 to 18 months.

The expectation is clear: marketing must lead with speed, precision, and scalable results.

CMOs acknowledge the need for bold. But without internal talent to support execution, strategies stall before they scale.

Meeting buyer expectations requires the right talent

This pressure isn’t just coming from the C-suite. Buyers are raising the bar, too.

Real-time personalization, seamless channel transitions, and responsive engagement are now baseline expectations. Meeting those expectations increasingly depends on AI. From automating workflows to dynamically tailoring content, AI enables marketing to deliver consistent, context-aware experiences at scale.

But without the right talent in place, AI’s promise remains unfulfilled. Personalization remains superficial. Campaigns stall. And performance suffers. Not because the strategy is wrong, but because the team isn’t equipped to deliver on it.

Technology alone won’t drive results

It’s tempting to think that new technology can make up for talent gaps. Just over 35% of midmarket CMOs believe AI-enabled marketing technologies have the greatest potential to help their organization achieve its marketing goals over the next 12-18 months, according to the Midmarket survey. However, AI doesn’t eliminate the need for skilled marketers. It magnifies it.

Automation can handle repetitive processes, but people are needed to:

Identify where AI adds value.
Interpret outputs and make context-driven decisions.
Integrate insights into broader strategies that reflect brand, buyer, and business needs.

That’s why it’s so concerning that skills development continues to lag. Without the internal capabilities to orchestrate and govern AI, even well-resourced marketing organizations risk underutilizing their investments. Execution doesn’t hinge on the tools in place; it hinges on the people who know how to use them well.

Redefining the skills that power modern marketing

Closing the execution gap means redefining what modern marketing excellence looks like. Roles in strategy, journey orchestration, campaign optimization, advertising, and creative will all have the most tasks delegated to AI/GenAI in the next two years. However, delegation doesn’t equal replacement. Instead, deeper fluency in the systems, data, and experiences that AI supports will be necessary.

In order to compete, teams must build capability in three key areas:

AI and automation fluency: Knowing when to trust automation, how to fine-tune outputs, and when to step in and redirect AI-driven decisions.
Data literacy and analytics: Understanding how to translate performance signals into actionable insights and aligning those insights with strategic business outcomes.
Digital experience design: Creating cohesive, cross-channel journeys requires fluency in UX, content strategy, and personalization technologies.

CMOs who invest in developing these skills position their teams to execute at scale and lead in a rapidly transforming marketplace.

The execution gap widens every quarter you wait

The execution gap only compounds with time. The longer it goes unaddressed, the more it begins to show up in tangible ways: slower campaign activation, fragmented customer journeys, and a growing reliance on external vendors that reduce agility and inflate costs. Measurement and optimization also suffer, as internal teams struggle to connect AI-driven activity to business outcomes.

Meanwhile, AI isn’t going anywhere. In fact, the AI economy is predicted to reach $22.3 trillion globally by 2030, accounting for 3.7% of global GDP, according to IDC’s Macroeconomic Center of Excellence. That scale of transformation will require deliberate, enterprise-wide investment in people, process, and capability.

In a competitive environment where speed, efficiency, and relevance are already defining market leaders, the cost of inaction grows with every quarter. Organizations investing in execution readiness now are positioning themselves to lead.

And perhaps most importantly, the execution gap threatens marketing’s strategic credibility. As C-suite expectations continue to rise, leadership won’t be looking for plans. They’ll be looking for proof.

Solve your execution crisis today

Today, the marketing teams best positioned to deliver will be those with the skills to move quickly, adapt intelligently, and orchestrate AI-enabled experiences with precision. To do that, CMOs must act now to assess, address, and develop the capabilities their teams need to keep pace with evolving expectations.

Explore the four disconnects shaping marketing in 2025. Uncover the gaps holding back growth—and the strategies to close them. Visit our landing page to access insights, frameworks, and next steps for aligning with executive priorities and leading with confidence in an AI-driven market.

Today’s marketing leaders are being asked to drive bold innovation, lead AI-powered transformation, and deliver measurable revenue gains – all on last year’s budget.

This might sound like a familiar challenge for many midmarket tech CMOs. Expectations have grown more strategic, yet financial support remains static.

Fifty-four percent of midmarket CMOs expect no increase in their marketing budgets, according to IDC’s 2025 Global Midmarket Tech CMO Priorities Study. But the pressure to demonstrate marketing’s impact on growth, acquisition, and customer experience remains.

This misalignment is more than a budgeting deadlock. It reflects a widening disconnect between executive demands and what resources marketing teams have to deliver.

In a landscape increasingly shaped by AI adoption, customer expectations, and competitive urgency, this gap is a structural barrier. And it is one that threatens marketing leaders’ ability to innovate, differentiate, and scale.

This is just one of four critical disconnects IDC has identified within marketing teams today. Left unaddressed, the misalignment between corporate visions and budgeting reality doesn’t just slow down marketing. It stalls enterprise growth.

To learn more, download IDC’s Executive Insights Brief: The four disconnects shaping Marketing in 2025 for three data-backed strategies to break the budgeting deadlock between marketing and the C-suite – plus more insights into the strategic challenges facing CMOs today.

Budgets are buried in the pressure cascade

Today’s CMOs are navigating what IDC defines as the Pressure Cascade: a convergence of executive-level demands that place marketing at the center of enterprise transformation. Marketing leaders are now tasked with more than demand generation or pipeline contribution. They must also:

Drive innovation to acquire new customers and power growth.
Deploy AI programs to personalize and enhance the customer experience – with measurable results.
Deliver a coherent marketing strategy that aligns with existing data infrastructures.

These expectations reflect a clear shift in the CMO’s role in the organization. Yet the financial structure supporting this evolution remains stuck in the past. Budgets are still planned around yesterday’s definitions of marketing – not today’s enhanced, cross-functional transformation.

Why budgets aren’t budging

The data uncovered by IDC reveals the disconnect leading to the budget plateau. Thirty-two percent of marketing leaders believe the C-suite will prioritize cost optimization and ROI in the next 12-18 months.

Still, more than a third of CMOs are challenged to justify investments in brand marketing and awareness, while nearly a quarter struggle with measuring and proving the strategic value of marketing.

The difficulty of proving marketing’s worth within the organization is compounded by rising economic uncertainty, and complex executive demands limits CMOs’ ability to deliver on expectations. In an era when money is being directed towards tech modernization and AI initiatives, marketing can be left off the table.

Without budget flexibility or the data to frame marketing as a growth engine, leaders risk being constrained by outdated assumptions, even as the demands of the business move forward.

The strategic cost of standing still

Static or minimally adjusted budgets may seem manageable for now, but they create long-term strategic risk for the entire organization. When funding doesn’t keep pace with the expanding scope of marketing’s purview, critical initiatives can be delayed, scaled back, or abandoned entirely.

IDC research shows midmarket CMOs are under mounting pressure to develop areas that directly influence revenue and customer acquisition, such as AI-enhanced experiences, advanced personalization, and predictive analytics.

Without adequate resources, these high-impact opportunities are left underfunded. The result is a widening gap between organizations that execute bold strategies and those that are stuck in the past – losing revenue potential, market visibility, and the path to modernization.

When “making do” doesn’t do enough

In the absence of significant budget increases, many CMOs are doing their best to optimize what they have. IDC’s 2025 study shows the top two marketing priorities for the next 6-12 months are increasing revenue from existing customers (34%) and reducing costs or streamlining operations (31%).

While these are important goals, they take the focus away from the big-picture initiatives that drive new customer acquisition or enable advanced AI adoption. These adjustments can free up resources in the short term, but they don’t have the capacity to enable market-shaping campaigns.

Legacy systems, underfunded teams, and outdated, siloed technology make it difficult to deliver the personalization, speed, and insight modern buyers expect. Without meaningful reallocation toward initiatives that directly align with executive priorities, minor budget tweaks risk becoming an exercise in standing still – not moving forward.

What’s at stake: Agility, credibility, and the competitive edge

Failing to address the budget deadlock has consequences that go beyond marketing’s internal performance metrics. Without the resources to pivot, CMOs cannot respond quickly to market shifts or capitalize on emerging opportunities.

A lack of agility can erode marketing’s perceived value across the organization. Thirty-four percent of marketing leaders said demonstrating marketing’s strategic impact and ROI was their biggest challenge in establishing internal credibility and trust. Similarly, 26% said they faced difficulty proving marketing’s leadership role in driving business growth.

Without a larger budget to meet expanded expectations, teams are forced to spread limited resources across too many priorities. Results become harder to measure and even more difficult to defend. Over time, this fuels the perception that marketing is a cost center rather than a revenue driver.

Externally, the competitive risks are just as significant. Organizations that devote resources now to AI-enabled engagement, targeted acquisition, and data-driven personalization are setting themselves up for future success.

Those that delay investment risk falling into a reactive role – chasing market leaders instead of setting the pace. For midmarket CMOs, the ability to secure and strategically deploy a sizeable budget is tied directly to their ability to lead the competition.

Breaking the deadline: The path forward is strategic, not reactive

Flat budgets are more than just a financial plateau. Over time, they reduce marketing’s ability to deliver on executive priorities, limit the scope of innovation, and dull the organization’s competitive edge. In an environment where AI adoption, customer demands, and market shifts are accelerating, standing still is not an option.

CMOs who move beyond reactive, incremental thinking and approach budget planning as a strategic exercise are better positioned to meet heightened executive expectations. They have clear, data-backed business cases, resources aligned with company-wide priorities, and measure impact in terms of enterprise growth.

The budget deadlock is real, but so is the opportunity. With the right data, a disciplined approach to resource allocation, and a willingness to reframe budget conversations, marketing can reclaim its role as a growth engine, not a cost center.

The path forward isn’t asking for more. It’s about making every dollar work harder toward measurable, high-impact outcomes.

Break free from your budget deadlock. Access IDC’s Executive Insights Brief: The four disconnects shaping Marketing in 2025 for data-backed strategies to realign your marketing budget for growth – and more insights into the top challenges facing today’s CMOs.

In a world of economic uncertainty, rising rates, and AI disruption, one thing is clear: tech leaders aren’t pulling back, they’re planning smarter. 

That’s the pulse from IDC’s recent webinar on the state of tech spending and strategic planning for 2026. Whether you missed it or want the fast facts, here are five standout moments that unpack where budgets are moving, how buyers are thinking, and why IDC’s insights matter more than ever. 

1. Real growth is still there – just look through the inflation lens.

“When you adjust for inflation, you can see that real IT growth remains positive. Companies are still investing — but they’re more cautious and strategic in where the money goes.” 

 What it means: The market isn’t shrinking, it’s shifting. Decision-makers are moving from “grow at all costs” to “grow with clarity.” IDC’s inflation-adjusted forecasts reveal where that clarity lives. 

Watch the full webinar.

2. High rate, steady budgets: Tech is no longer discretionary.

“Even as interest rates have risen and borrowing costs go up, we’ve seen IT budgets hold steady. That’s because technology has become foundational, not discretionary.” 

What it means: Budgets aren’t breaking under pressure, they’re being reallocated with purpose. Foundational tech like cloud, data, and AI are becoming immune to cuts. 

See what’s shaping 2026.

3. Today’s breakthroughs started with the third platform.

“The Third Platform — cloud, mobile, social, and big data — was the foundation for the wave of innovation we’re seeing today. Every breakthrough you see now stands on that groundwork.” 

What it means: If you want to understand where we’re headed, start with how we got here. IDC’s long-range view helps you map innovation back to its roots and ahead to what’s next. 

Explore IDC’s strategic insights.

4. Generative AI: Budget disruptor. Acceleration engine.

“Generative AI is already reshaping IT spending. We’re seeing budgets shift toward data platforms, model development, and governance, and it’s accelerating faster than any previous technology cycle.” 

What it means: GenAI isn’t coming; it’s here, and it’s redefining every spending curve. IDC breaks down where the money’s going, and how leaders are reallocating resources to stay competitive. 

Forecast the future.

5. The IT market just hit a trillion-dollar quarter, for the first time ever.

“For the first time ever, the IT market hit a trillion dollars in a single quarter. That’s a milestone and much of that momentum is being driven by AI investments.” 

What it means: This isn’t just hype. AI is driving the biggest IT investment cycle in history. The leaders shaping 2026 aren’t just watching the wave, they’re riding it. 

Access the full IDC Black Book forecast.

See what’s shaping 2026 before it happens.

IDC’s trusted tech intelligence helps you see the shifts before they land, so you can move first, move smart, and move with confidence.