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Beyond the Agentic SOC: Splunk and Cisco Build the Data and Observability Layer for AI

Michelle Abraham, Duncan Brown, Christopher Kissel, Katie Norton — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT

At .conf26, Splunk paired new agentic skills for detection, threat hunting, investigation, and governance with a broader set of foundational moves designed to make machine data usable for AI at scale. To help both security and AI teams track the behavior of AI agents in their environment, Agent Observability is designed to monitor the performance and cost of AI agents and prevent undesired actions before they can be executed.

Dreamforce 2026: The Salesforce Ecosystem Enters the Agentic Era

Stuart Wilson — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC study examines the ecosystem implications of Dreamforce 2026. Dreamforce 2026 demonstrated Salesforce’s transition toward an agent-centric ecosystem model. New agent creators, evolving partner economics, expanded alliances, and changing user experiences are reshaping how value is created across the ecosystem. Success increasingly depends on balancing AI adoption, platform consumption, customer outcomes, and sustainable partner profitability.

Evolving Agentic Strategic Portfolio and Collaborative Work Management: Leveraging ServiceNow with User Reference Summary Context

Melinda-Carol Ballou — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective is one in a series of IDC documents examining agentic adoption across the AI assurance, ALM, quality, and portfolio strategies markets, providing vendor analysis and customer reference context for technology adoption and end-user buyer decision-making. This document updates ServiceNow's profile within IDC's SPM, CWM, and PPM coverage, incorporating 1H26 product announcements, IDC's 2025 worldwide PPM market share data, and reference perspectives from two ServiceNow customers on adoption, evaluation against alternatives, and organizational challenges in translating AI capability into realized value.

"IDC's research shows that organizations increasingly require end-to-end visibility across adaptive collaboration, from strategic intent through to day-to-day execution, coordinating across work management and related automation tools, benefiting increasingly from agentic strategies. The vendors making the most credible progress are those closing the gap between planning and execution on a shared data model, with AI governance, agentic orchestration, and human oversight designed in from the outset." — Melinda-Carol Ballou, research director, AI Assurance, ALM, Quality, and Portfolio Strategies, IDC

Fastly Adds AI Runtime Control and AI Firewall to its AI Portfolio

Matthew Flug — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Fastly recently introduced AI Runtime Control (ARC) alongside AI Firewall and new API Security capabilities, with ARC serving as a managed gateway that channels enterprise model calls across public and self-hosted providers and centrally enforces access, budget, rate-limit, failover, and logging policies. The launch adds model governance to Fastly's delivery and security portfolio, offering customers a way to manage AI access, spend, and provider resilience.

IDC Market Glance: Persuasive Content and Digital Experience Software Ecosystem, 3Q26

Jordan Jewell — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT

The IDC Market Glance provides a structured taxonomy of the technology organizations to plan, create, manage, deliver, and optimize digital experiences across channels. The ecosystem spans 15 segments, including content management, digital asset management, digital experience platform (DXP), experience intelligence, commerce experience, and video platforms, reflecting the growing complexity of modern experience stacks.

IDC MarketScape: Japan Low-Code and No-Code Developer Technologies 2026 Vendor Assessment

Shinichi Kimura — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT

本調査レポートは、国内ローコード／ノーコード（以下、LCNC）開発テクノロジー市場における主要なベンダーに対して、IDC MarketScapeモデルに基づいて「戦略（Strategies）」および「能力（Capabilities）」の評価を行い、その分析結果を報告するものである。また、ITバイヤーが、国内市場においてLCNC開発プラットフォームを検討する際に留意すべき事項を提示している。

国内企業では、IT・デジタル人材不足、レガシーシステムの刷新や技術的負債への対応、開発・運用コストの上昇といった課題を抱える中、DXや業務自動化の推進手段としてLCNC開発テクノロジーの活用が拡大している。IDCが2025年3月に実施した国内ユーザー企業調査（『2025年国内DevOps／開発プラットフォームユーザー動向調査（IDC #JPJ52156625、2025年4月発行）』を参照）によると、LCNC開発プラットフォームの導入率は54.2％に達し、2020年の調査開始以降、一貫して増加している。また、同調査では、LCNC開発プラットフォームを活用する企業において、事業部門が主体となるLOB（Line-of-Business）開発が拡大しており、組織横断でアプリケーションを構築・運用する基盤としての重要性が高まっている。

「LCNC開発テクノロジーは、従来の業務アプリケーション開発の効率化や市民開発の促進を目的とした基盤から、AIアプリケーションやAIエージェントを含む組織全体のAI活用を支える戦略的なプラットフォームへと進化しつつある。AIと業務アプリケーションの融合が進む中で、同プラットフォームは、組織のアプリケーションやエージェントを統制された形で構築・運用するための基盤として重要性を高めるとIDCではみている。ITバイヤーは、個別機能や開発効率のみに着目するのではなく、自社が目指すビジネス成果と将来のAI活用の方向性を明確にした上で、その実現に必要な開発能力・体制やガバナンス要件を踏まえて評価軸を設定し、最適なプラットフォームを選定・活用することが重要である」と、IDC Japan、Software, Services, and IT Spendingのリサーチマネージャーである木村伸一は述べている。

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide AI-Enabled Accounts Receivable Automation Applications for the Enterprise 2026 Vendor Assessment

Kevin Permenter, Jordan Steele — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC study provides an assessment of accounts receivable (AR) automation software providers serving enterprise organizations with 1,000+ employees. This study evaluates the capabilities and strategies of vendors in the market and examines the criteria most important for technology leaders selecting an enterprise AR automation platform.

At enterprise scale, AR is evolving beyond collections automation toward a revenue-to-cash control layer that coordinates customer accounts, credit, collections, disputes, deductions, payments, cash application, intelligence, and increasingly autonomous actions across complex financial environments.

"The next phase of enterprise AR is not about generating more collection activity. It is about coordinating the decisions that determine when revenue becomes cash while giving finance the visibility and control to know why those decisions were made." — Kevin Permenter, research director, Financial Applications, IDC

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Accounts Receivable Automation Software for Small and Midmarket Businesses 2026 Vendor Assessment

Kevin Permenter, Jordan Steele — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC study provides an assessment of accounts receivable automation software providers serving small and midmarket organizations with 0–999 employees. This study evaluates the capabilities and strategies of vendors in the market and examines the criteria most important for technology leaders selecting an AR automation platform.

For small and midmarket businesses, the value of AR automation increasingly lies in shortening the operational distance between the invoice and usable cash. That requires more than automating collections. It requires a coordinated approach to customer payment experience, collections, disputes, cash application, and cash intelligence.

"The real measure of AR automation is not how much collection activity the software can generate. It is how effectively the platform removes the friction standing between an invoice and usable cash." — Kevin Permenter, research director, Financial Applications, IDC

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Agentic Marketing for B2C Enterprises 2026 Vendor Assessment

Gerry Murray — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC MarketScape evaluates agentic marketing platforms available to enterprise organizations and provides essential guidance for technology buyers in this segment. This study defines the market, evaluates vendors serving enterprise buyers, and assesses platforms against a broad definition of agentic AI. IDC finds that autonomy and system integration are largely solved problems in this market, while independent judgment and cross-agent coordination remain works in progress. Given the governance, ROI, and security scrutiny enterprise deployments face, IDC advises buyers to evaluate platforms as they would evaluate a new hire, with clear supervision, defined scope, and ongoing performance review.

"Enterprise buyers should scrutinize vendors' agentic marketing solutions on interoperability, governance, and road maps as well as on proprietary IP, best practices, data assets, and cost transparency because at scale, those are the defining differentiators," said Gerry Murray, research director, Enterprise Marketing Applications and Agents at IDC.

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Print Management Solutions Independent Software 2026 Vendor Assessment

Evan Hardie, Geoffrey Wilbur, Tim Greene — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC MarketScape study assesses the market for print management software solutions among the most prominent global independent software vendors and identifies their strengths and challenges. This assessment discusses both quantitative and qualitative characteristics that position vendors for success in this important market. This IDC study is based on a comprehensive framework to evaluate print management delivered within the context of an engagement.

"Print management remains a persistent challenge in 2026, and IT teams face constant pressure to optimize devices, control costs, and maintain security, even as hybrid work has simply become the baseline that print must support. What's changing is the platform underneath print itself: Microsoft's move toward driverless, IPP-based printing through Windows Ready Print and Protected Print Mode is forcing vendors to rethink device compatibility, while ARM-based and Copilot+ PCs add further disruption to users' ability to print. At the same time, agentic AI is pulling print management into a broader layer of document intelligence and workflow automation. Securing print in this environment increasingly means moving to the cloud and a SaaS billing model that offers more budgeting predictability. As the landscape evolves, buyers should seek a solution aligned with their business and technology goals," says Evan Hardie, senior research director, IDC.