2026 Ushers in Deeper Maturity in the Agentic Era with Rapid Innovation to Scale Enterprise Adoption

This IDC Perspective discusses how 2025 launched the agentic era. In 2025, enterprises accelerated the adoption of agentic AI, marking the start of the agentic era with autonomous, goal-driven agents transforming workflows, data management, and automation. Key innovations included unified AI platforms, advanced governance, scalable automation, and modernization of unstructured data and document pipelines. As organizations prepare to scale agentic solutions in 2026, success hinges on industrializing AI development, robust governance, interoperability, and aligning investments to measurable business outcomes."2025 marked the dawn of the agentic era - where organizations experimented with AI agents to move from passive assistants to autonomous innovators. In 2026, AI will be about building scale and value from AI investments to shifting enterprise strategy and competitive advantage," said Shari Lava, research vice president, AI and Automation, IDC.