Bill Staikos on 2025 MarTech & CX Market Activity and 2026 Trends

Key Themes in 2025 MarTech & CX

• 🎯 Defensibility was a major theme in 2025, with organizations focusing on trusted benchmarks and vertical data to turn insights into action.
• 🤝 Private equity played a significant role, driving consolidation through rollups and acquisitions to build scaled platforms, such as the combination of Varant and Calabrio.
• 💡 Notable acquisitions included Qualtrix's purchase of Clixy, which created a new playbook for vendors to defend themselves with benchmarks and vertical data, particularly in sectors like healthcare.
• 💰 The contact center automation space shifted from innovation to core economics, with acquisitions like Nice's purchase of Cognigy and RingCentral's acquisition of Community WFM.
• ⚖️ Simultaneously, there was significant consolidation and right-sizing across the market due to broader economic dynamics.

AI's Influence on Market Activity

• 🤖 AI capabilities were a significant driver for acquisitions, with companies like Variant and Nice integrating AI to round out their platforms.
• 📉 The rate environment and reduced valuations made the market attractive for private equity, while VC money continued to flow into AI startups.
• 🚀 Investors are actively seeking to capitalize on the AI boom, leading to increased investment and a competitive landscape for funding.

Surprises and Missed Opportunities in 2025

• 😲 The Qualtrix and Clixy deal was a surprise, introducing a new strategy of defending market share through benchmarks and vertical data.
• 📈 The aggressiveness of private equity in shaping the tech stack was also notable.
• 🤔 A missed opportunity for buyers is treating M&A as an excuse to buy more tools rather than an opportunity to subtract and simplify.

Strategic Advice for Leaders in 2026

• ✅ Focus on success metrics with vendors, emphasizing insight velocity and operational impact over traditional metrics like uptime.
• 🤝 Treat consolidation as a contract moment, leveraging market shifts for better negotiation terms during renewals.
• 🧩 Rationalize the tech stack by mapping technology to business problems, strategy acceleration, and system connectivity, in collaboration with CIOs and vendors.
• 📊 Develop a CFO-friendly automation map, connecting automation outcomes to root causes and driving measurable business outcomes like growth, efficiency, or risk reduction.

Emerging Trends for 2026

• 🌐 Agentic AI is expected to be a major story in the contact center, driving efficiency, though broader enterprise adoption may face challenges due to trust and perceived value.
• 🧪 Synthetic data is poised to become a significant trend, offering a compliant and low-risk way to test and learn, especially in regulated industries.
• 🏦 Venture capital will continue to pour into the AI space, fueling consolidation and investment in smaller companies challenging larger players.
• 📉 The trend of consolidation and right-sizing is expected to continue, with a continued focus on ROI and efficiency across the SaaS market.