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Google Cloud Next 2026: Building the Agentic Enterprise Through an Integrated Developer Platform

Jim Mercer — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Google Cloud Next 2026 marks a pivotal transition from generative AI experimentation to production-scale agentic systems. The event highlighted Google Cloud's strategy to deliver a unified platform spanning infrastructure, data, security, and developer tooling, enabling enterprises to build, deploy, and govern autonomous agents at scale. Central to this vision is the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, which integrates development frameworks, runtime environments, governance controls, and optimization capabilities into a cohesive system. This IDC Link examines the key announcements and provides perspective on their implications for developers, DevOps, and platform engineering as we move toward the agent development life cycle (ADLC).

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Point-of-Sale Software in Grocery and Food Store Retail 2026 Vendor Assessment

Filippo Battaini — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC MarketScape assesses the capabilities and strategies of enterprise point-of-sale (POS) software vendors with a significant presence in the worldwide grocery and food store retail segment. The evaluation assesses vendors against criteria spanning omni-channel strategy, innovation, delivery, global capabilities, loss prevention, multi-vertical support, and customer satisfaction. A key component of the evaluation is how well vendors are positioning their platforms as composable commerce foundations capable of supporting the rapidly evolving operational and customer experience demands of modern grocery retail.

"Grocery POS is no longer a checkout technology; it is the operational core of the modern store. The vendors that are pulling ahead have built open, composable platforms in which AI, loss prevention, payments, and food service capabilities converge on a shared foundation, giving retailers the freedom to build differentiated experiences without being constrained by their technology stack," said Filippo Battaini, research manager, IDC Retail Insights.

Practical Digital Transformation: The Role of Enterprise Applications in AI Readiness

John Bermudez — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective examines how enterprise application modernization enables practical digital transformation across the enterprise. Many organizations continue to underutilize ERP, CRM, HCM, and supply chain systems while simultaneously pursuing AI-driven innovation initiatives. As enterprise application vendors embed generative AI and agentic AI automation capabilities into modern SaaS platforms, organizations running legacy versions of these applications will struggle to adopt these innovations. This document guides CIOs through the strategic and operational considerations for modernizing enterprise application environments so they can take advantage of embedded AI capabilities and translate digital transformation investments into measurable operational outcomes.

"Many organizations are pursuing AI initiatives while still operating legacy versions of enterprise applications that limit their ability to adopt the embedded AI capabilities vendors are introducing into modern SaaS platforms," says John Bermudez, adjunct research advisor for IDC's IT Executive Programs (IEP). "Upgrading and modernizing ERP, CRM, HCM, and supply chain systems is increasingly becoming a practical foundation for organizations seeking to translate AI innovation into real improvements in operational performance."

Sourcing Strategies for Organizations when Utilizing Managed Cloud Services

David Tapper — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Tech Buyer Presentation examines organizational sourcing strategies in utilizing managed service providers (SPs) and partner ecosystems, particularly public cloud providers, when using managed cloud services. This presentation will provide organizations, whether they currently utilize these services or are considering using these services, with a blueprint for developing an optimal sourcing strategy when selecting managed SPs for managed cloud services.

Key factors analyzed in determining what shapes the underpinnings of an optimal sourcing strategy for managed cloud services includes the changing structure in the community of managed SPs, alternatives for managed cloud services with public cloud providers, strategic partnership requirements enabling transformation to cloud, the role of managed SPs in supporting public clouds, sourcing strategies and challenges in using public cloud providers for managed public cloud services, key capabilities requirements for managed cloud services, and criteria in down selecting managed SPs for managed cloud services. This presentation also provides organizations with a framework of building blocks as guidelines to select the right managed SPs for services that are centered on factors which organizations emphasize as critical, including: determining optimal bundling requirements, controlling and optimizing value of partnership-based managed cloud services, defining means of achieving value expectations, ensuring availability of critical capabilities, having access to key resources in optimizing financial management, and requiring critical support to ensure operational excellence.

“Organizations looking to utilize managed SPs for managed cloud services need to carefully assess the providers that organizations are considering across a wide array of issues with the goal of building a sourcing strategy that balances achieving critical business and IT objectives with the degree of risk that firms are willing to take in handing over the management, continuous support and control of their technology environments to a third-party service provider. Factors that organizations need to consider when developing a sourcing strategy for managed SPs must include clearly defining the roles and responsibilities of both managed SPs and partners used to support provisioning of managed cloud services, ensuring that managed SPs can deliver the value required, requiring that managed SPs utilize strategic capabilities needed to meet SLAs as well as business and IT goals, ensuring that the managed SP utilizes FinOps in optimizing financial management and expecting managed SPs to incorporate robust governance.” — Program VP David Tapper, Outsourcing and Managed Cloud Services, IDC

IDC PeerScape: Peer Insights for Accelerating AI-Driven Underwriting Transformation in Insurance — Part 2

Inci Kaya — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 04:00:00 GMT

To provide actionable insights, this document is presented in two parts. IDC PeerScape: Peer Insights for Accelerating AI-Driven Underwriting Transformation in Insurance (IDC #US53779826, March 2026) features four case studies, and this current IDC PeerScape covers three additional examples of underwriting transformation and automation across the industry.

"Insurers that leverage AI to automate specialty underwriting and endorsement processing are achieving measurable gains in speed, accuracy, and compliance. The shift from manual research to unified, data-enriched profiles empowers underwriters to make confident decisions and strengthens broker relationships. As regulatory scrutiny intensifies, explainable AI and robust audit trails will be key differentiators in the insurance landscape." — Inci Kaya, IDC research manager, Digital Strategies, Insurance Worldwide

IDC TechBrief: Stars and HEDIS Quality Measurement Technology Needs for Value-Based Healthcare

Jennifer Eaton — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC TechBrief examines the technology needs of health plans, payers, and provider organizations navigating the simultaneous restructuring of CMS Medicare Advantage Star Ratings and NCQA HEDIS quality measurement. This document provides insights into the underlying technology requirements, investment drivers, and critical risk and success factors most relevant to organizations managing Stars and HEDIS performance in the 2026–2030 time frame.

"The CY2027 Final Rule and NCQA's MY2026 HEDIS specifications are not incremental updates; they represent a structural reset of how Medicare quality is measured and rewarded. Plans that have managed Stars through administrative compliance and CAHPS survey optimization are entering an era where clinical outcomes, FHIR-native data infrastructure, and real-time care management are the determinants of financial performance. The technology investment window is open, but it is narrowing. Organizations that move now, building FHIR pipelines, procuring validated digital HEDIS engines, and redesigning quality programs around clinical outcomes, will establish durable competitive advantages that are difficult to replicate under deadline pressure," says Jennifer Eaton, research director, Value-Based Healthcare IT Transformation Strategies at IDC.

Japan IT Infrastructure Services Forecast by Service Type and Infrastructure Type, 2026–2030

Mimei Ito — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC presentation provides the market forecast for the Japan IT infrastructure services market as of February 2026.

The market size is broken down by customer type, service type, and infrastructure type, providing a quantitative market forecast through 2030 and analyzing the factors driving market expansion or contraction.

"Investment in IT infrastructure optimization and the expansion of AI infrastructure deployment will drive the growth of the IT infrastructure services market," says Mimei Ito, research manager for Software, Services, and IT Spending at IDC Japan.

This is the English translation of the Japanese document (IDC #JPJ53501326).

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Carbon Accounting and Management Applications 2026 Vendor Assessment

Amy Cravens — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC study evaluates vendors in the rapidly evolving carbon management software market. Driven by regulatory mandates and stakeholder expectations, carbon management has become a core enterprise function, shifting from basic emissions reporting to integrated, decision-oriented platforms. The document highlights vendor strengths, challenges, and strategic differentiators, providing technology buyers with guidance on selecting solutions that align with compliance, operational integration, and decarbonization objectives.

"Carbon management is no longer a reporting exercise," said Amy Cravens, research manager, ESG and Sustainability Software at IDC. "It's the new foundation for enterprise strategy, risk, and value creation in a decarbonizing world."

Tech Buyer Survey Spotlight: From the Plant Floor Up — How Manufacturing Organizations Are Prioritizing Data for AI Readiness

Lorenzo Veronesi — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Tech Buyer Survey Spotlight provides insight from the manufacturing sample of IDC’s Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey (FERS Survey) Wave 2, March 2026. This IDC Tech Buyer Survey Spotlight focuses on analyzing the importance of different data sources for Industrial AI.

The State of Open-Weight Models: January 2025–March 2026

Matthew Flug, Michele Rosen — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Tech Buyer Presentation analyzes 116 open‑weight AI models released between 2025 and early 2026 to help CIOs make pragmatic model selection and platform decisions. It shows that small and medium‑sized models drive most real‑world adoption, while reasoning‑enabled and mixture-of-experts‑based architectures dominate at scale. The findings highlight trade‑offs in terms of cost, performance, context length, and licensing.