Forrester’s 2026 Budget Planning Guides: Leaders Grow More Cautious As Economic Uncertainty Persists

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[{"type":"text","content":"\nWhile volatility is here to stay, embracing scenario planning can help regain control\n\n\n LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nAccording to Forrester’s (Nasdaq: FORR) 2026 Budget Planning Guides, volatility is tempering 2026 budget optimism. Tariffs, trade wars, cyber threats, and economic uncertainty are resetting budget expectations, signaling a shift toward more cautious growth planning. Amid persistent volatility, leaders must turn to scenario planning and prepare for both deeper budget cuts and unexpected investment opportunities — protecting and prioritizing investments that create customer value, stopping spending on inefficient complexity, and embracing constant, low-cost experimentation to stay ahead.\n\n\nWhile it’s no surprise that leaders are less bullish compared to last year, it’s not all doom and gloom. Despite the uncertainty, 86% of tech leaders across industries are expecting increased budgets from the year before. Additionally, tech leaders in the financial services and healthcare sectors expect double-digit budget increases, driven by investments in generative AI (genAI), analytics, and threat intelligence.\n\n\nForrester’s Budget Planning Guides provide data-driven spending intention benchmarks and concrete recommendations for technology and security, B2B and B2C marketing, customer experience (CX), digital strategy, and sales and revenue operations leaders to budget and plan for the year ahead with confidence. The guides provide actionable insights for areas to deepen investments, divest budget allocations, and experiment to surface new opportunities.\n\n\nKey insights from Forrester’s 2026 Budget Planning Guides include:\n\n\nAreas to increase investment in 2026\n\n\n\nData literacy and employee AI readiness programs. Data and AI leaders must invest in ongoing, persona-based data and AI literacy programs, training all employees on the responsible use of AI as well as how to interpret data and AI-driven insights.\n\n\n\n\n\nCustomer insights and data management. Leaders with a clearer grasp of their customers in uncertain times will be able to better engage proactively and should consider developing a rigorous data collection strategy.\n\n\n\nAreas to decrease investment in 2026\n\n\n\nCloud-first strategy approach. New sovereignty and resilience regulations, increasing geopolitical tension, executive pressure to...

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