Forrester

US financial services tech spending will hit $495 billion in 2026. According to Zhi-Ying Barry, principal analyst at Forrester, financial services will account for 17.1% of total US tech spending, growing faster than the overall market as firms double down on technology as a competitive lever, not a discretionary cost. Nearly 40% of that spend is going to software, reflecting a clear priority: cloud‑native platforms, scalable AI, and stronger governance to support growth and automation at scale. What financial services leaders should do in 2026: • Operationalize AI at scale by moving beyond pilots to reusable, enterprisewide capabilities. • Invest in data and AI governance to ensure consistent outputs and trust across the AI lifecycle. • Upskill employees so humans and AI can work together effectively where judgment matters most. • Improve experiences holistically by modernizing data and analytics across customer touchpoints. Together, these priorities signal how financial services firms are turning rising tech spend into scalable, governed execution. 👉 Read more in the comments for deeper insights from Zhi-Ying on Forrester’s 2026 US tech forecast for financial services.

In the next five years, 70% of AI‑generated revenue will come from custom models, not from direct use of public chatbots. That’s how Forrester CEO George Colony describes the current moment in AI — and why the next phase of the race is still wide open. In a recent Boston Globe column, Globe columnist Larry Edelman highlights George’s view that while Massachusetts may have missed the first wave of headline‑grabbing public AI models, the most significant economic value of AI is still ahead. That value, George emphasizes, will come from custom, private models built on top of public platforms — designed around each organization’s data, workflows, and constraints. The leadership takeaways are clear: • AI advantage will be driven by bespoke enterprise models, not generic chatbots. • Organizations will increasingly prioritize control, customization, and data ownership as adoption scales. • Regions with deep enterprise software and services expertise — including Massachusetts — have a meaningful opportunity in this next phase. 👉 Read the full Boston Globe article: https://forr.com/4bTLgN5 For more context, see the link in the comments to learn how Forrester helps leaders turn AI into action.

When budgets tighten, buyers don’t disengage — they look for expertise they can trust. That’s the key takeaway from a classic episode of Forrester’s What It Means podcast, featuring Amy Hayes, Vice President and Research Director. As financial pressure continues to slow B2B buying, this conversation remains highly relevant for sales, marketing, and product leaders navigating stalled deals. Drawing on a global survey of 18,000+ business buyers, Amy unpacks what’s really happening inside buying groups — and where vendors still have meaningful influence. What B2B leaders need to know: ◾89% of buyers report a purchase has stalled, most often due to budget constraints. ◾Millennial and Gen Z buyers are more likely to struggle with internal consensus, adding friction to the buying process. ◾Product experts are gaining clout, helping buyers cut through noise and apply information to their specific situation. ◾Assets that help buyers make the internal case can be just as important as those that explain the product. 💡What it means for B2B teams: Make credible product experts visible earlier in the journey and equip buyers with content that builds confidence across the buying group. 🎧 Tune in to this rerun of What It Means to hear Amy Hayes break down the data and offer practical guidance for succeeding in today’s constrained buying environment: https://forr.com/4bB9exM #WhatItMeansPodcast #B2BBuying #ProductMarketing #BuyerEnablement #ForresterResearch

Turning AI ambition into real‑world impact is harder than it looks. That’s why leaders at Kleinfelder, Oracle, Red Hat, and Swedbank turned to Forrester to move beyond AI experimentation to practical, secure, and scalable execution. Swipe to hear, in their own words, how Forrester helps executives move faster, reduce risk, and deliver real outcomes with AI. 👉 For a deeper look at why executives choose Forrester to turn AI ambition into impact, read Julie Meringer’s latest blog (link in comments).

Geopolitical volatility is no longer background noise for technology leaders. It’s a leadership test. Rising energy costs, fragile supply chains, cyber escalation, and trade uncertainty are no longer abstract risks — they’re shaping day-to-day technology decisions and raising the stakes for CIOs, CISOs, and other tech executives. In this latest research, Stephanie Balaouras and Lauren Nelson explain why volatility is no longer something leaders can wait out — and what effective leadership looks like under sustained uncertainty. Technology leaders must be ready to: • Prepare for heightened budget scrutiny as energy costs rise and AI investments are judged on measurable business outcomes, not experimentation. • Show resilience and reduce risk as cyber and kinetic attacks increase, forcing tougher decisions about dependencies and minimum viable sovereignty. • Lead employees with empathy, treating workforce continuity and burnout as business risks that directly affect execution. Learn why they say geopolitical volatility demands sharper trade-offs, faster decisions, and more visible leadership — across budgets, platforms, risk, and people. 👉 Read the full blog (link in comments)

Most B2B marketing teams are chasing opportunities they’ve already lost. That’s the uncomfortable truth that Ian Bruce, Ph.D., VP and principal analyst at Forrester, leads with in this video. 📊 New data shows that B2B buyers start the purchase journey with a preferred vendor — and the preferred vendor wins 55% of the time. The buyer journey is no longer about selection. It’s about confirmation, changing how brand and demand must work together. Ian will unpack this new research live with Kelvin Gee at Forrester’s B2B Summit North America, April 26–29 in Phoenix. 👉 Register to join the conversation: https://forr.com/3P4oNp1

The headlines say AI will eliminate IT services. Ashutosh Sharma says the opposite — and the evidence is hard to ignore. In his new blog, he explains why AI isn’t replacing IT services but reshaping them into something far more critical. Automation may deflate the cost of code, but it expands the volume, complexity, and context these systems depend on. The real work is moving around the code, not inside it. For CIOs and tech leaders, this shift raises urgent questions about where value will concentrate next: • Frontier AI expands the adoption gap — humans still close it. • Agents speed coding; humans handle engineering and orchestration. • Context engineering becomes the highest-value AI skill. • Arbitrage players fall behind; AI-led, outcome-based firms win. ➡️ Read Ashutosh’s take: https://forr.com/4rAAHV2

The real divide in AI will be public vs. private models. In his latest blog, George Colony highlights that while public LLMs dominate headlines, they won’t dominate revenue. Within five years, 70% of AI’s value will come from private models—systems built on a company’s own trusted, proprietary data. Why should business leaders care? Because the real disruption isn’t about bigger models. It’s about trust. For executives setting AI strategy, George points to three shifts that must define the next phase of AI: • Companies will need to build private models on their own data to power customer interactions, ultimately replacing today’s static websites with conversational experiences. • Public LLMs will serve as broad-knowledge infrastructure, while private models protect sensitive data and own the customer relationship. • Capital and strategy must shift toward organizations with deep, high‑trust data sets that can convert this information into differentiated private models and revenue. The message for leaders is clear: Start building a trusted private model strategy before your competitors do. ➡️ Read George Colony’s blog, “The Private AI Model Explosion”: https://forr.com/3PkI5q6

Agentic commerce is accelerating — and the costs are adding up faster than most leaders realize. In this blog, Emily Pfeiffer, Chuck Gahun, Lily Varon, and Nikhil Lai unpack what native checkout in answer engines means for merchants and why today’s models echo the early economics of drop-shipping. 🔍 For digital commerce and e-commerce leaders: The move to answer engine-based transactions introduces new fees, new operational dependencies, and real risks to margin health. Leaders need a clear view of total cost and channel strategy before they scale. Key considerations from the analysts: • Answer engines are already monetizing transactions, with early fees topping 7% per order. • Additional costs — from catalog management to OMS and feed infrastructure — are still emerging. • Success depends on treating answer engines as a distinct digital channel and applying lessons from drop-shipping strategy. 👉 Read the blog: https://forr.com/4sNIpvZ

Geopolitical conflict doesn’t just reshape borders — it reshapes technology strategy. From supply chains and cybersecurity to global talent and infrastructure, wartime dynamics are creating new risks and pressures for technology leaders. In this environment, reacting isn’t enough. Leaders need a clear framework to navigate uncertainty and maintain momentum. In his latest blog, VP and Research Director Mark Moccia explores how tech leaders can move from volatility to chaos — and still lead effectively by strengthening resilience, managing risk, and aligning technology decisions with rapidly shifting geopolitical realities. In today’s environment, the organizations that succeed won’t be the ones waiting for stability — they’ll be the ones prepared to operate through disruption. 👉 Read the blog: https://forr.com/4cNTqsB #TechnologyLeadership #CIO