When a key vendor is acquired or merges, it creates internal transition and uncertainty. Astute enterprise buyers can leverage this period, especially around renewal time, as a strategic opportunity to renegotiate contracts, pricing, and service levels, turning market disruption into a tangible advantage.
Expect 2026 to be the breakout year for synthetic data. Companies in highly regulated sectors like healthcare and finance are realizing it offers a compliant and low-risk method to test and train AI models without compromising sensitive customer information, enabling innovation in marketing, research, and CX.
The major trend in 2025 MarTech/CX M&A was defensibility. Acquirers focused on locking down specific industries by buying companies with trusted benchmarks and vertical-specific data, creating a competitive moat that's harder to replicate than simply adding new software features.
While CEOs push for AI adoption, widespread implementation of autonomous AI agents in 2026 will likely fail to meet expectations. The primary barrier is a lack of trust from CIOs and COOs wary of their value and autonomy, creating a C-suite disconnect that will slow progress outside of controlled environments like contact centers.
To secure budget and prove value, leaders must frame automation not by its outputs (e.g., containment rates) but by its impact on business fundamentals. By connecting automation results back to the root cause of the initial problem, teams can demonstrate tangible ROI in terms of growth, efficiency, or risk reduction—the language CFOs understand.