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AI-ification of Retail Media

Ananda Chakravarty — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective provides a viewpoint of how AI is changing the game with respect to mapping current attribution metrics in retail media. The report also reviews how AI addresses audience targeting as well as attribution through a set of techniques being pioneered by firms such as Amazon, Walmart, and other retail media networks (RMNs). The report also highlights marketing mix modeling and how this may move the market toward a more holistic view of retail media. Finally, the report identifies the flaws of return on ad spend (ROAS) attribution and how AI may overcome these flaws through new attribution methods.

“When your retail media metrics say 10x returns, but you’re barely breaking even, it’s time to revisit attribution. AI is changing the retail media game. New AI models are being rolled out by the most sophisticated RMNs to drive precise attribution. It’s time for a reset,” said Ananda Chakravarty, research vice president, IDC Retail Insights.

Sound Logiq: IBM Buys Assured UK Cybersecurity Talent

David Clemente — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Who Gets the Credit? Inside the Channel’s Attribution Dilemma

Danielle Ibran — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Presentation highlights results from a North America infrastructure partner survey showing that hybrid influence and execution partners are now common. It discusses why many partners feel underpaid relative to their contributions and identifies the main bottleneck: not vendor willingness but a lack of visibility due to late tagging, ineffective systems, and last-touch attribution, which often misallocates credit earlier in the deal. The deck concludes with practical recommendations for vendors. Channel programs traditionally targeted a single archetype, but today, partners play multiple roles, and current compensation and attribution systems haven’t kept pace.

AI-Infused GRC Tooling

Erik Werson — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective discusses how artificial intelligence represents the next evolution of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) platforms. Traditional GRC solutions have long automated workflows, compliance monitoring, and control management through rules-based processes and system integrations. Modern AI builds on these foundations by introducing predictive intelligence, natural language capabilities, and increasingly autonomous decision support.

AI enhances the core GRC functions through capabilities such as regulatory change management, predictive risk analytics, intelligent control mapping, and automated evidence collection. Beyond these functions, AI-powered assistants, workflow automation, and decision-support capabilities improve operational efficiency while allowing GRC professionals to focus on strategic responsibilities.

However, AI should augment rather than replace human judgment, with accountability for governance and compliance decisions remaining firmly under human oversight. As AI capabilities evolve toward predictive, generative, and agentic models, organizations must also ensure explainability, transparency, and responsible AI governance.

When selecting an AI-infused GRC platform, organizations should evaluate alignment with business objectives, AI capabilities, capability maturity, and the trustworthiness of AI-generated outputs to maximize long-term business value and organizational resilience.

"The success of an AI-infused GRC platform is determined by more than the sophistication of its AI capabilities," says Erik Werson, adjunct research advisor for IDC's IT Executive Programs (IEP). "Organizations should evaluate whether the platform aligns with their business objectives, provides mature and trustworthy AI capabilities, and supports transparent, explainable decision-making to maximize long-term business value and organizational resilience."

Avalara CRUSH 2026: Moving Tax Automation Toward Agentic Compliance

Kevin Permenter — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

On September 22–24, Avalara hosted CRUSH 2026 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with agentic AI as the central theme. Avalara introduced Avalara Aviator, an agent hub for tax and compliance, and made Versori by Avalara, an agentic integration fabric, available. IDC views Aviator as a credible step toward governed orchestration of compliance work, but its value will depend on measurable results once it is generally available and on how it is packaged and priced after the initial no-additional-cost period.

IDC PeerScape: Peer Insights for Small Language Model Deployment

David Weldon — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC PeerScape examines practices that organizations have used and can use to transform SLM usage from experimental deployment to managed infrastructure.

"Like all machine learning (ML) systems, SLMs can degrade over time due to data shifts, new use cases, or changing input distributions. Organizations need to monitor SLMs closely, with periodic evaluation cycles to detect model drift and unintended output patterns. Otherwise, performance issues can easily go unnoticed," says David Weldon, adjunct research advisor for IDC's IT Executive Programs (IEP).

When to Sunset Applications Rather than Re-Architect Them

Dr. Ken Knapton — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective examines how enterprises can identify the point at which continued optimization of legacy systems no longer produces sufficient value and should give way to planned replacement, consolidation, or controlled deferral. It provides a decision framework that links application rationalization to risk, operational resilience, governance discipline, and enterprise leverage.

“A legacy system does not need to fail before it becomes the wrong platform for the business,” says Dr. Ken Knapton, adjunct research advisor for IDC’s IT Executive Programs (IEP). “When continued optimization consumes capacity, compounds risk, and delays strategic capability, retirement becomes a leadership decision — not a technical preference.”

AMD Validates the Importance of World Models for Physical AI With the Acquisition of World Labs

Dan Everett — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

AMD's $8.2 billion all-stock acquisition of World Labs, about 64% above the $5 billion valuation reported for the company's February funding round, is a bet that physical AI is the next growth cycle and that spatial intelligence and world models are what make it work. Physical AI systems have to predict how physical objects move and what their actions will cause, and AMD is paying a premium to get a leading world model company and research team to address this need.

AMD's $8.2 Billion World Labs Deal Is a Bet That Model Research Belongs Inside the Company's Hardware Road Map

Jeff Janukowicz, Brent Ellis — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

AMD announced a definitive agreement on September 28, 2026, to acquire World Labs, the spatial intelligence lab led by Dr. Fei-Fei Li, in an all-stock deal valued at about $8.2 billion and expected to close by the end of 2026, with Li joining as executive vice president and chief scientist reporting to Lisa Su. IDC believes the deal deepens AMD's open AI ecosystem and extends the company's shift from component supplier toward a full-stack AI infrastructure provider, with the main payoff being closer ties between leading-edge model research and systems and silicon design, so AMD can build emerging workload needs into its hardware, software, and systems road maps sooner.

Acumatica 2026 R2: Intelligence for the Midmarket with Embedded AI

Mickey North Rizza — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Acumatica released R2 2026 today. The new GA product release brings Acumatica to the AI levels of many of its peers. While these AI updates may appear late, Acumatica clients find this new AI journey well timed, as told to IDC earlier this year. Many organizations, while trying AI, are leery of it and would prefer to walk before they run. With this next release, Acumatica is enabling its clients to do more at their own pace and with greater confidence.