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BMC's July Release Lays the Foundation for Agentic AI on the Mainframe with Governed MCP Access

Matthew Flug, Jim Mercer — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

BMC Software's July 2026 release establishes a governed foundation that prepares organizations for future agentic capabilities by connecting the Control-M and BMC AMI portfolios to live operational data as Model Context Protocol (MCP) clients. By making governance, visibility, and auditability preconditions for how agents will come to access production systems, the release lays the groundwork for control for BMC's stated goal of governed, agentic mainframe operations, an end state the company is building toward.

IDC ProductScape: Worldwide Retail Marketplace Platforms Software Providers, 2026

Cristiano Quattrini, Ornella Urso — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

The IDC ProductScape offers a comprehensive guide on the key functionalities of retail marketplace platforms, featuring products from AOE, Flipkart, Izberg, Lengow, LogiCommerce, Marketplacer, Mirakl, Nautical Commerce, Octopia, Rithum, Spryker, Ultra Commerce, and VTEX. The status of each functionality is categorized as fully supported, partially supported, partner provided, road map, or not supported, aiding technology purchasers in quickly identifying vendors that align with their changing requirements.

IDC Survey Spotlight: Which Application Workloads Do Enterprises Across Regions Most Want to Use AI to Support and Augment Decision-Making?

Peter Marston — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey Spotlight provides a worldwide view on enterprise sentiments for using artificial intelligence (AI) to support decision-making in application workloads. The document contains data from IDC's Application Services Survey, which was completed in August 2025. IDC's Worldwide Intelligent Application Services practice conducted this survey to understand enterprise preferences for utilizing AI as part of and to augment application services. The overall goal of the survey was to identify how organizations' preferences around application development and life-cycle management are evolving through utilization of AI and how application services providers can align their services offerings to address varied customer needs.

"Application services providers should understand how buyer organizations seek to leverage AI as part of application life-cycle management and business process decision-making to better support evolving customer needs as well as maintain deeper customer relationships," explained Pete Marston, senior research director, Worldwide Intelligent Application Services at IDC.

The Technology Adoption Divide: How Energy Technology Ownership Reshapes the Customer Relationship

Gaia Gallotti — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Tech Buyer Presentation demonstrates that energy technology adoption not only helps customers manage their bills; it also fundamentally reshapes their relationship with their energy provider. To a dramatic extent, customers who have invested in energy technologies are more satisfied, more interested in further investment, and more willing to trust their provider to actively manage their energy. They are, in short, better customers by every metric that matters. Customers without technology are the opposite: dissatisfied, disengaged, and increasingly at risk of being left behind as the transition accelerates around them.

IDC’s 2026 Energy Consumer Affordability & Trust Survey, conducted among 1,507 energy customers in 18 countries, suggests that the prize for doing so is greater than many utilities may realize.

The opportunity for utilities is to recognize this divide as the most actionable segmentation variable in their customer portfolios and to design product bundling, go-to-market strategies, and service models that move customers through the adoption curve deliberately. The technology is affordable. The customer appetite is there. What remains is the strategy to connect the two.

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Virtual Events Applications 2026 Vendor Assessment

Wayne Kurtzman — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC study highlights a rapidly evolving market, shaped by shifting buyer and attendee expectations, aggressive vendor road maps, and significant industry consolidation. Geopolitical pressures and economic uncertainty are driving a resurgence in virtual events, as is the need to maintain a fresh revenue pipeline. AI-related features, especially those focused on intent and content development, were prioritized over non-AI features, but that pendulum is swinging back toward the middle. Buyers now demand advanced AI capabilities, seamless CRM and application integrations, and, most critically, richer engagement formats with outcome-based metrics. As browser tracking cookies phase out, first-party data from virtual events and community platforms is gaining newfound importance. This study, based on interviews with vendors and customers, evaluates their products, strengths, and challenges, and when to consider them.

"People are not attending in-person events at the same rate as before, yet when virtual events provide ways to engage attendees and allow them to connect with the people they need to, they can energize a brand," according to Wayne Kurtzman, research vice president, Social, Communities and Collaboration, IDC. "People do not want a broadcast; they want a meaningful engagement experience. Many vendors are now providing products that enable client organizations to grow."

IDC Survey Spotlight: Which Application Workloads Do Enterprises Most Want to Use AI to Support and Augment Decision-Making?

Peter Marston — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

IDC Survey: AI Impact on Customer Journeys

Tapan Patel — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC survey presentation examines how AI agents are expected to reshape visibility, measurement, and orchestration of the customer journey. It analyzes how AI-mediated behavior will influence how enterprises design, manage, and evaluate customer journeys across pre-purchase, purchase, and post-purchase stages.

As organizations deploy AI agents and AI-based decision flows, outcomes will increasingly depend on the quality, contextual depth, and readiness of the data and content layer that AI systems draw from. Vendors that make this layer an explainable and governance-ready foundation for human-led or AI-led customer journeys will be positioned to capture a growing share of CX technology spend.

Market Forecast: Worldwide Data Integration and Intelligence Software Forecast, 2026–2030

Stewart Bond — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC presentation provides the five-year forecast for the worldwide data integration and intelligence (DII) software market and examines how AI, data productization, sovereignty, and hybrid data operations are reshaping market demand. As organizations prepare data for analytics, automation, and agentic AI, the market is moving beyond standalone data movement toward platforms that connect integration, metadata, quality, lineage, governance, and policy control across distributed environments.

This presentation also highlights the constraints shaping market growth, including economic uncertainty, platform consolidation, zero-copy architectures, open table formats, and buyer scrutiny around ROI. Vendors that embed governance into execution, support open and distributed data operations, and help customers deliver trusted data products at scale will be best positioned as data becomes the foundation for enterprise intelligence and agentic AI.

“Data integration and intelligence software is becoming the control layer for how data is discovered, understood, governed, and delivered to people, applications, analytics, and AI agents,” said Stewart Bond, research VP, Data Intelligence and Integration Software at IDC. “Growth will be driven by demand for trusted and contextual data workflows, cloud-scale delivery, real-time data movement, data product management, and interoperable control across hybrid and multicloud architectures.”

Oracle Q4 FY2026 Earnings: Datacenters Coming Online at a Rapid Pace as Strong Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Demand Elevates Capital Requirements

Tapan Patel, Dave McCarthy, Devin Pratt, Mickey North Rizza, Eric Newmark — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Oracle’s FY4Q26 results reflect broad-based cloud execution across infrastructure, database, and applications. Total revenue reached $19.2 billion, while total cloud revenue was $9.9 billion, including $5.8 billion from Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (IaaS) and $4.1 billion from cloud applications (SaaS). Cloud database services were highlighted as a key growth driver within this mix. Remaining performance obligations rose to $638 billion, largely reflecting multiyear AI infrastructure commitments that will convert as Oracle delivers capacity and services over time. These commitments sit alongside a sizable AI datacenter expansion program and associated funding plans, increasing the importance of disciplined capital deployment and the timely build‑out of new facilities.

PTC Orbit: Asset Intelligence Ensures a Single, Unified Asset Record

Aly Pinder — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Note provides perspective on how PTC Orbit impacts aftermarket service organizations, enabling insight-driven actions. PTC Orbit is a cloud-based asset intelligence solution that unifies data across enterprise systems, leveraging AI to deliver actionable insights, break down silos, and enable proactive, organizationwide decision-making.

“When asset intelligence breaks down silos, data transforms from a burden to a catalyst — enabling organizations to act proactively, drive innovation, and unlock the true value of every asset across the product life cycle.” — Aly Pinder, research VP, Worldwide Aftermarket Services Strategies, IDC