Make Smarter GTM Decisions With Intelligence At B2B Summit
The B2B Summit North America will host a workshop titled “Use Market Intelligence To Make Smarter GTM Decisions,” led by Barbara Winters and a co‑host. Attendees will learn how to replace product‑centric, assumption‑driven go‑to‑market plans with data‑backed strategies. The session offers a repeatable process, a practical framework for gathering market, competitive and buyer signals, and a self‑assessment of current intelligence capabilities. Participants leave with a clear roadmap to turn fragmented insights into a decision engine for targeting the right segments and buying groups.
The Expanding Universe Of GRC For AI: Key Questions From Technology Leaders
Forrester warns that AI governance is expanding faster than traditional GRC frameworks can keep pace. As organizations adopt autonomous agents, static policies and committees prove insufficient, demanding integrated technologies to monitor model drift and enforce guardrails. Leaders are grappling with...
Reinvent Buyer Personas And Journeys Using the Power Of AI
At Forrester’s B2B North America Summit, a roundtable will explore how AI can transform static buyer personas and journey maps into living, decision‑driving assets. The session will show how machine‑learning models detect behavior shifts, update assumptions in real time, and...
Stop Calling It Debt — It’s A Liability
Murray Cantor, a PhD mathematician with high‑risk project experience at IBM and Boeing, argues that the vague term “technical debt” should be replaced by a quantifiable liability. By assigning a dollar value to unresolved code issues, firms can treat IT...
What Would You Ask If You Had 20 Minutes With A B2B Analyst?
Forrester is offering registered attendees of B2B Summit North America a private 20‑minute one‑on‑one with one of its analysts. The sessions are designed to cut through AI‑generated noise and give leaders clear, research‑backed perspective on pressing decisions. Participants bring a...
The Real Reason Journey Mapping Stalls — And The Certification That Helps Leaders Fix It
Many CX teams invest heavily in journey mapping but struggle to translate insights into measurable outcomes. The new CX Certification: Advance To Journey Management, offered at CX Forum East in New York on June 16‑17, 2026, aims to turn journeys into an...
Inside The Elite And Team Advantage Experiences At B2B Summit North America
Forrester’s B2B Summit North America now offers two Team Experience Packages—Elite for 20+ attendees and Team Advantage for 12+ attendees—designed to turn the conference into a focused working session. Both tiers provide a pre‑event research kickoff, dedicated analyst time, white‑glove...
Beyond The Wave: What Customers Really Think About Autonomous Testing Platforms
Forrester’s Q4 2025 Wave highlighted 15 vendors delivering AI‑powered autonomous testing platforms, and its Q1 2026 Buyer’s Guide surveyed 37 enterprise users. Customers reported automation coverage climbing to 51‑60% of tests, with a few teams exceeding 80%, yet full autonomy remains low...
Agentic Development Security: Why AppSec Needs A New Operating Model
Application security is being reshaped by faster exploit cycles and the rise of AI‑driven coding agents. Traditional testing tools now detect vulnerabilities but struggle to provide real‑world context such as exploitability and business impact. Large language models are enabling richer...
Power Growth With Synthetic Data — Lessons From Qualtrics X4
At Qualtrics X4, the company highlighted synthetic data as a transformative tool for market research. Synthetic data creates virtual respondents that mimic real‑world behavior without direct personal links, allowing far more complex studies at a fraction of traditional costs. Early...
Announcing The Winners Of Forrester’s 2026 B2B Return On Integration Honors For North America
Forrester announced the 2026 B2B Return On Integration Honors winners for North America, highlighting companies that have aligned marketing, revenue, product, and customer success functions to drive measurable growth. Amazon Ads pivoted to serve service‑based SMBs with its “Matches Are...
Siemens RXD Summit 2026: Industrial AI Shifts From Models To Systems, And China Is The Proving Ground
Siemens held its inaugural RXD Summit in Beijing, positioning China as the central proving ground for its next‑generation industrial AI strategy. The company announced a shift from focusing on foundation models to delivering an industrial AI operating system that unites...
Balance Control When Negotiating With Salesforce
Salesforce’s 2024 launch of Agentforce marks its shift to an AI‑first, multicloud strategy, which the analyst calls “AI gravity.” The new approach bundles AI, data and automation into larger contracts, increasing buyer reliance on Salesforce. Forrester warns that customers typically...
Agentic Commerce-Era Lessons From Social Commerce And Digital Ad Channels
Agentic commerce is being touted as the next evolution of online shopping, echoing the hype that surrounded social commerce a few years ago. The article distills four lessons from social commerce—value proposition, flawless experience, right‑channel targeting, and trust—that are critical...
SAP’s Reltio Acquisition Forces A Choice For CIOs
SAP announced acquisition of Reltio, integrating its master data management platform into SAP Business Data Cloud. The move gives SAP control over the enterprise master data layer, especially for customers with mixed SAP and non‑SAP environments. By embedding Reltio, SAP...
Data + AI Brings The Next-Generation CDP Into View
Customer data platforms have solidified as a core martech component, with the vendor landscape consolidating into a clear top tier and a unified definition emerging. Marketers are demanding more reliable, AI‑enhanced solutions that respect privacy and deliver measurable ROI. The...
The State Of Stablecoin In Japan
Japan’s first regulated yen‑pegged stablecoin, JPYC, launched in October 2025 after the 2023 revision of the Payment Services Act. Operating under a Type II funds‑transfer license, JPYC can issue and redeem up to ¥1 million (≈US$6,700) per user daily and targets roughly ¥10 trillion...
The Forrester Wave™: Data Quality Solutions, Q1 2026
The Forrester Wave™: Data Quality Solutions, Q1 2026 reveals a decisive shift toward AI‑driven automation, real‑time observability, and multimodal data handling. Vendors now embed generative and agentic AI to profile, classify, validate, and remediate data at scale, moving beyond traditional rule‑based...
Please Test Your AI Agents — Like, At All
Enterprises deploying AI agents must rigorously test every feature before launch, using both manual checks and structured testing programs. Red‑team exercises—covering security exploits and behavioral misuse—are recommended to surface hidden failure modes. Synthetic prompt‑answer suites and continuous, automated evaluation platforms...
Rising Infrastructure Costs Aren’t A Blip — They’re A Reset
Enterprise infrastructure costs are climbing 10‑20% as AI‑driven demand monopolizes GPU, high‑bandwidth memory, and flash production. Commodity components like standard RAM and HDDs face shrinking supply, extending lead times and shortening quote validity. The price pressure is expected to persist...
Email Service Providers Use AI To Inspire An Email Functionality Leap
The Forrester Wave™ Q1 2026 reveals that artificial intelligence is reshaping email service providers (ESPs), delivering conversational interfaces, hyper‑personalized one‑to‑one messaging, and smarter inbox optimization. AI now powers data onboarding, automatic compliance checks, and dynamic user‑specific platform interfaces across 12 evaluated...
Understand The Martech Ecosystem To Optimize Investment Planning
Forrester released its Q1 2026 Tech Tide report, redefining the B2C martech ecosystem after six years of rapid change. The study shows that vendors have moved beyond proving basic virtual‑event delivery to competing on integrated capabilities such as AI‑driven engagement and...
In Their Words: Why Executives Choose Forrester
Forrester's customer‑success team reports that executives are seeing measurable returns from its AI research. Forty‑six percent say the guidance accelerates decision‑making, while 44 % credit it with lowering risk, and a smaller but notable 10 % link the insights to winning or...
Why IBM Paid $11B For Real-Time AI, Not Kafka
IBM completed an $11 billion acquisition of Confluent on March 17, 2026, adding the leading data‑streaming platform used by over 6,500 enterprises, including 40 % of the Fortune 500. IBM frames the deal as buying an AI‑focused data platform that delivers real‑time data to power...
Your Essential “Pack” To Select A Digital Analytics Solution: Start From Use Cases, End With Feature Comparison
Selecting a digital analytics vendor often begins with feature comparisons, but Forrester advises starting with business use cases and value objectives. The Forrester Wave™: Digital Analytics Solutions, Q3 2025 offers a technology matrix, while the Digital Analytics Solutions Landscape (Q2 2025) and...
It’s Time To Get Your Customers Sorted — No Wizardry Required
The article likens B2B post‑sale customer segmentation to Hogwarts’ Sorting Hat, urging firms to move beyond superficial metrics. It argues that relying on revenue or account size misreads needs, causing overserving and missed growth signals. Effective segmentation should uncover adoption...
Apparel And Footwear Brands Must Own Their Destinies To Survive
Forrester’s 2025 Digital Go‑To‑Market Review of apparel and footwear brands finds that companies owning sales, storytelling, and consumer relationships will outpace rivals in a fragmented retail environment. The shift from wholesale to direct‑to‑consumer and marketplace models gives brands unprecedented control...
Banks Are Losing Their Place In Small Business Decisions — Here’s How To Reclaim It
Small businesses increasingly make financial decisions within daily workflow platforms, pushing banks to a reactive role. As banks remain product‑centric and slow, they lose influence despite holding accounts. The article defines "relationship sovereignty" as embedding banking services early in these...
Twitter’s Twentieth: It’s Complicated
Forrester research shows social media is now the second most meaningful source of information for B2B buyers, trailing only generative AI search tools. The article marks Twitter’s 20‑year anniversary, highlighting how its real‑time publishing created “now moments” that transformed brand...
Intelligent Finance: From Digital Experiences To AI‑Orchestrated Financial Outcomes
Financial institutions are moving beyond digitized journeys and isolated AI pilots toward "intelligent finance," where systems understand intent, anticipate needs, and act on customers' behalf. This shift replaces assistive interfaces with autonomous, outcome‑driven financial assistants that reshape experiences, operations, and...
Why Having Digital Insights Doesn’t Always Translate To Digital Outcomes
The 2026 State of Digital Intelligence report finds that while 40% of digital leaders rank data and insights as top priorities, execution gaps keep results modest. Fewer than 10% of digital staff are dedicated to intelligence and many organizations remain...
From Sedimentary To Strategic: Rethinking Security Organizational Design
Security leaders often let organizational structures evolve unintentionally, mirroring past breaches, regulations, and technology shifts rather than current business realities. Forrester’s new research introduces five distinct security organization models—centralized, federated, business‑centric, product‑centric, and oversight center—to help CISOs make deliberate design...
Starbucks’ Loyalty Program Upgrade Felt Like A Downgrade — Here’s Why
Starbucks revamped its rewards program, introducing green, gold and reserve tiers and adding non‑transactional ways to earn stars such as reusable‑cup usage and gamified challenges. The update also changed star expiration rules, giving higher tiers permanent credit. However, the rollout...
Connection, Confidence, And Community: A Look Inside The Forrester Women’s Leadership Program
The Forrester Women’s Leadership Program, featured at the B2B Summit North America, centers on building community, mentorship, and inclusive leadership for women at every career stage. Hosts Maria Chien and Phyllis Davidson describe a schedule woven throughout the three‑day event,...
Power Couple OpenAI + Amazon May Have Just Won Consumer Agentic Commerce
OpenAI and Amazon announced a strategic partnership on Feb. 27, 2026, featuring a $50 billion investment by Amazon. Within weeks, OpenAI removed its Instant Checkout from ChatGPT, while Amazon introduced Shop Direct feed support and expanded its Rufus chatbot to complete purchases....
The Security Priorities APAC And EMEA Leaders Doubled Down On — And Deprioritized — In H2 2025
In H2 2025 APAC and EMEA security leaders shifted priorities, placing GRC at the top, focusing on AI agentic risk, and boosting API/software supply‑chain security. AI adoption moved to securing autonomous systems, while application security resurfaced. Quantum security and human...
The Consent Deficit: RBI’s Draft RBC Directions Turn Mis-Selling Into A Proof Problem
India’s RBI is set to tighten Responsible Business Conduct rules, requiring banks to prove product‑by‑product consent rather than merely collecting signatures. The draft, effective July 1 2026, bans compulsory bundling, bans dark‑pattern UI tricks, and mandates refunds when mis‑selling is proven. It...
Compensation Without Chaos: Designing Plans That Work
Sales compensation plans are under intense scrutiny as companies grapple with volatility. The article argues that overly complex plans hinder productivity, while overly simple ones miss revenue nuances, and proposes a balanced approach that keeps designs straightforward yet aligned with...
Unified Financial Crime Management Is Not Just For Small And Regional Banks
Financial institutions are moving beyond siloed fraud‑management and anti‑money‑laundering tools toward unified Financial Crime Management Solutions (FCMSes). The shift is driven by regulators tightening AML oversight, fraudsters blending scams with laundering, and the high cost of maintaining separate AI models...
Announcing The Forrester Wave™: Cybersecurity Skills And Training Platforms, Q1 2026
Forrester released its Q1 2026 Wave evaluating cybersecurity skills and training platforms, noting a rapid market shift since the 2023 edition. AI now shapes both attacker tactics and defensive simulations, forcing platforms to deliver AI‑generated labs and continuous content updates. The...
Context, Not Models, Is The Real AI Bottleneck: Reltio’s System‑Of‑Context Bet
Reltio announced a strategic shift from traditional master‑data‑management to a Context Intelligence Platform, positioning itself as a System of Context that bridges records and agentic AI. The company highlighted its Intelligent 360 graph, Flexible Entity Resolution Network, and real‑time data unification...
The Mandela Effect In TPRM: Why Companies Still Misremember Their Third-Party Risk Exposure
The article warns that executives often suffer a Mandela‑Effect in third‑party risk management, believing their programs are mature until a breach exposes hidden gaps. Forrester’s latest TPRM platform wave shows due diligence is merely the starting line, and real‑time context...
The Future Of B2B GTM Isn’t Human Versus AI
B2B leaders are confronting an alignment challenge rather than a pure AI adoption hurdle. While 88 % of firms intend to deploy AI agents, legacy point‑solution tools have delivered only fleeting productivity gains. The article urges a shift toward a hybrid...
From Tickets To Outcomes: Your Service Desk As A Product Team
Service desks are shifting from ticket‑centric operations to product‑team models that prioritize business outcomes over volume metrics. Traditional KPIs like ticket count and handling time are being replaced by measures of employee productivity, user sentiment, and time‑to‑value. By adopting product‑owner...
Architecting Data And AI In The Era Of Enterprise Intelligence: Meet Shylaja Nathan, Principal Analyst
Shylaja Nathan, former senior vice president of architecture at Fidelity, joins Forrester as a principal analyst focusing on enterprise data and AI strategy. Drawing on more than two decades of experience modernizing data platforms for major financial institutions, she stresses...
Stop Treating Revenue Enablement Platforms As “Set And Forget”
Revenue enablement platforms (REPs) are often sold as plug‑and‑play solutions, but the article warns they function more like complex instruments that require continuous tuning. Successful adoption hinges on rigorous taxonomy management, ongoing content governance, and regularly refreshed readiness pathways. Collaboration...
Regulators Are Moving On SBOMs — But Is Your Compliance Program Keeping Pace?
Software bill of materials (SBOM) are moving from best‑practice guidance to regulatory baseline worldwide. In the U.S., Executive Order 14028 and sector‑specific mandates such as the FDA’s medical‑device rule push SBOM adoption, while the White House’s recent shift to a...
Three Surprising Insights From The Forrester Wave™: Merchant Payment Providers, Q1 2026
The latest Forrester Wave™ for Merchant Payment Providers reveals that uptime is no longer a competitive edge; instead, strategic factors dominate. Five of nine evaluated vendors have recently undergone leadership or ownership changes, prompting potential shifts in pricing, packaging, and...
How PMI’s Outcome‑Driven EA Practice Won the 2025 Forrester EA Award
Philip Morris International (PMI) won the 2025 Forrester EA Award after its Enterprise Architecture & Technology Transformation team built an AI Factory, deployed generative AI tools to 35,000 employees, and delivered over 450 AI use cases. The team rewrote the...
The GTM Skill Stack Leaders Didn’t Need Until Now — And The Certification Built To Close The Gap
The article warns that the emerging GTM singularity is widening capability gaps for B2B leaders, who now need a cross‑functional skill stack to run a connected revenue engine. Traditional functional expertise no longer suffices; leaders must align marketing, sales, product...
