IDC FutureScape 2027 Predicts 60% of Enterprises Will Run a Majority of Their Business Processes AI-first by 2029, up from 13% in 2026

IDC's 250 predictions across 25 research areas show which parts of the AI-driven rewrite of enterprise IT that tech leaders can still influence

BOSTON, Oct. 27, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IDC Research, Inc. (IDC) predicts that by 2029, 60% of Global 2000 (G2000) enterprises will run most of their business processes AI-first.¹ The prediction—part of IDC FutureScape 2027, the company’s annual forecast for enterprise technology leaders—is predicated upon operations and decisions being left to AI agents. IDC also predicts that by 2028, 70% of Global 2000 (G2000) enterprises will be able to continuously verify decisions their AI agents are making, up from 14% today.² These predictions and 248 more are being released this week.

IDC FutureScape 2027, titled The Great Rewrite: Winning in the Agentic Economy, comprises 250 predictions across 25 research areas, including AI factories, enterprise software, quantum computing, financial services, healthcare and government. A dedicated team of IDC analysts in each area draws on the company's proprietary research to identify the 10 developments that will shape that area, with projected timing and business impact. Each of the 25 sets of predictions was produced independently. Compared side by side, they reached the same conclusion: AI is rewriting every layer of enterprise IT at once, but the forces involved are altering priorities at different speeds. IDC sorted those forces by the situational window each one presents: some windows are closing; others are opening and yet a third category is just beginning to emerge.

“Nearly every tech leader I talk to wants to know whether they are behind on AI,” said Meredith Whalen, Chief Research & Data Intelligence Officer at IDC. “The answer depends on the window. Some windows are closing, and more spending will not reopen them. Others are still open, but the time to shape them is shrinking. In every case, the winners will be the organizations that verify what each agent does as fast as they deploy it. IDC FutureScape 2027 puts a date and a number on each window so leaders can see which decisions can still change the outcome for their organization.”

Inside IDC FutureScape 2027

The Closing Window: the advantage for companies with a head start is compounding

• Rise of open models attacks the AI Economics challenge. By 2028, enterprises will shift 60% of AI workloads from proprietary LLMs toward open-source models and leverage model routing strategies to reduce costs and hedge against vendor lock-in. Enterprises that make those moves quicker will be the first to counter the agent inference overspend.³
• Data volume outruns data value. IDC predicts 60% of enterprises will fail to convert their data into measurable business value by 2028, as data volumes outpace their ability to define and govern the value of that data.⁴
  
  

The Open Window: the deadline to influence these fights is compressing

• Governance cannot keep pace with agent velocity. Ten research areas, working independently, flagged the same gap: oversight is losing the race against agent deployment speed. IDC predicts G2000 enterprises without kill switches (controls that can shut down a misbehaving agent) for AI agents in production by 2028 will see 25% higher liability insurance premiums and twice as many material audit findings.⁵
• Agent deployment is accelerating. In IDC's Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey, 95.4% enterprises have deployed agents into an average 11 production workflows through July 2026, and their monthly inference budget is close to $118,000.⁶ The share of enterprises worldwide whose agentic bills have risen with no published price change will also grow, from 20% today to 55% by the end of 2027, according to IDC.⁷
• Software contracts are being rewritten around agents. By 2028, 75% of G2000 vendor contracts will include liability clauses for agent-initiated actions, IDC predicts, making their absence a red flag in vendor selection.⁸
• Global technology architecture is breaking apart. Nine research areas report that diverging regulation has made maintaining a single global architecture increasingly impractical. By 2029, 35% of G2000 companies will run jurisdiction-specific AI model registries and controls, IDC predicts.⁹
  
  

The Emerging Window: new categories open to whoever moves first 

• A new job category is being created to supervise machines. By 2029, IDC predicts G2000 enterprises will shift 30% of entry- and mid-level execution roles toward agent supervision and orchestration.¹⁰ In IDC's Future of Work Survey, 49% of midmarket organizations (1,000 to 4,999 employees) expect entry-level headcount to grow over the next 18 months, and 17% expect a decline.¹¹
• AI is leaving the screen. Eight research areas, including energy, manufacturing, retail and connectivity, describe AI moving into physical operations. By 2030, IDC predicts 40% of electric utilities will use graduated authority frameworks that let AI agents carry out selected routine grid-control actions, reducing operator intervention by 25%.¹²
• Midmarket organizations are ahead of enterprises on agent deployment. In IDC's Future of Work Survey of 1,146 business leaders, 46% of midmarket organizations (1,000 to 4,999 employees) have deployed agentic AI across several departments,
  ahead of 40% of enterprises (5,000 or more employees). Only 31% of those midmarket organizations have a fully operational AI center of excellence to oversee AI governance, compared with 43% of enterprises.¹³
  
  

Members of the media can request the complete set of 250 predictions at press@idc.com. IDC clients can access the supporting research and guidance on acting on each prediction on IDC.com and in IDC Quanta after October 29.

Events and Engagement

IDC FutureScape 2027 launches October 27 to 29, followed by a global program of webinars and live events. Registration for each event is open online. 

• The Great Rewrite: Winning in the Agentic Economy (Oct 28 Webinar)
• The Great Rewrite: IDC FutureScape 2027 Singapore (Nov 13 Live Event)
• China ICT Market Forecast Forum (Nov 18 Live Event)
• Own the Economics of AI Before Your Board Does (Dec 2 Webinar)
• The Great Rewrite: IDC's EMEA Tech Predictions for 2027 & Beyond (Dec 9 Webinar)
  
  

About the Research
IDC's Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey (FERS) was fielded in two waves: Wave 4 in July 2026 (n = 1,835). IDC's Future of Work Survey was fielded April to May 2026 among 1,146 director-level and above IT, HR and line-of-business leaders in more than 20 countries. Segment samples were small (500 to 999 employees), n = 296; midmarket (1,000 to 4,999 employees), n = 564; and enterprise (5,000 or more employees), n = 286. All respondents work at organizations with more than 500 employees that have implemented, or plan to implement within 18 months, an AI-enabled work model.

About IDC
IDC Research, Inc. (IDC) is the technology intelligence layer of the AI economy. A global leader in research and data for more than 60 years, IDC's expert analysts, proprietary datasets, and rigorous methodologies are trusted by business and IT leaders to guide critical business strategies and IT investments. Today, that intelligence is built into the tools and workflows where work gets done with IDC Quanta, making work sharper, teams faster, and businesses harder to beat. 

Visit www.idc.com, subscribe to the IDC blog, or follow IDC on X and LinkedIn for the latest industry insights.

Press Contacts: IDC, press@idc.com | Escalate PR for IDC, IDC@escalatePR.com

¹ IDC FutureScape 2027: AI's Business Model Reinvention, Prediction 1, "AI-first Tipping Point"
² IDC FutureScape 2027: AI Factories Rewrite IT, Prediction 8, "AI Factory Trust Bottleneck"
³ IDC FutureScape 2027: Velocity of AI & Automation, Prediction 4, “Rise of Open Models”
⁴IDC FutureScape 2027: Data's Semantic Intelligence Era, Prediction 10, "Growth in the datasphere"
⁵IDC FutureScape 2027: AI Economics and CFO Driven Value Creation, Prediction 9, "Kill switch regulation grows"
⁶ Crossing the Agent Economy’s Cost Governance Gap: A Challenge for Tech Leaders# US54890226, August 2026. Based on IDC’s Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey (FERS), Wave 4, July 2026
⁷IDC FutureScape 2027: Agentic Evolution of Enterprise Apps, Prediction 10, "Enterprise App Vendor Economics"
⁸IDC FutureScape 2027: Agentic Evolution of Enterprise Apps, Prediction 6, "Rogue Agent Indemnification Clauses"
⁹IDC FutureScape 2027: Sovereignty & Regulations Reset IT's Rules, Prediction 3, "Fragmented AI Model Governance"
¹⁰ IDC FutureScape 2027: Human-Agent Workforce Strategy, Prediction 3, "Job Architecture Shifts"
¹¹ IDC Survey: Global Midmarket Work Evolution — Worldwide Future of Work, 2026, #US54585526, July 2026. Based on IDC's worldwide Future of Work Survey, conducted April to May 2026 ¹² IDC FutureScape 2027: Energy & Resources, Prediction 1, "Governed Autonomous Grid Operations"
¹³ IDC Survey: Global Midmarket Work Evolution — Worldwide Future of Work, 2026, #US54585526, July 2026. Based on IDC's worldwide Future of Work Survey, conducted April to May 2026