By Jim Kruger, CMO at Informatica
Every year, marketers planning ahead tend to fixate on external forces. We analyze market trends, economic conditions, consumer sentiment, and emerging technologies. And while these dynamics certainly influence outcomes, they are, by nature, beyond our control. What we can control, however, is how we prepare internally.
As marketers look ahead to 2026, the real question therefore isn’t just how the market will evolve, but how we will. Among the biggest differentiators between brands that surge ahead and those that stall won’t only be their ad budgets or creative strategies, but will also include how effectively they adapt their internal systems, teams, and data. When I distil it all down, I believe there are three internal shifts that every marketing leader needs to focus on now. Nail these, and you’ll be setting up your organization for a strong and sustainable future.
The Great Divide in AI Will Be Data Readiness, Not Ambition
In 2026, we’ll see a major chasm form between the companies that succeed with AI and those that falter. The difference won’t be who has the biggest AI budget, but who has the best data. My advice is simple: selectively invest in AI tools that offer maximum impact and ease of adoption, and focus relentlessly on your data foundation. Get your data clean, governed, and accessible. If you make the first half of 2026 the time to get your data house in order, you’ll be ready to win with any AI initiative you choose.
Think of two retailers launching a new AI-powered personalization engine. Retailer A rushes the project, feeding AI with inaccurate, siloed data. Their engine ends up recommending heavy winter coats to customers in Dubai because it can’t distinguish between past gift purchases and a customer’s actual location. Retailer B spends the necessary time to build their data foundation to garner a trusted view of each customer. Their recommendations are hyper-relevant and drive a 20% increase in sales. Same AI ambition, but wildly different outcomes because of data readiness.
Data Responsibility Will Move From a Single Department to the Entire Organization
The idea of a single 'data department' holding all the keys is becoming obsolete. To truly thrive, data literacy and governance must become a shared responsibility, championed from the C-suite down. My prediction is that the most successful companies will be those that embed data skills and accountability into every single team—from marketing to finance to HR. Start building that culture now, because your AI is only as good as the data-savvy people guiding it.
Imagine the marketing team needs customer data for a new campaign. In the old model, they would file a ticket with IT and wait two weeks for a data export that isn’t quite right. In the 2026 model, a marketer uses a self-service, governed data marketplace to access the exact data they need, instantly. They understand the data’s lineage and quality because it’s part of a shared, company-wide system. The campaign launches faster and performs better because the people closest to the business problem have direct, responsible access to the data. That’s my vision for enterprises the world over.
Success Will Be Measured by the “System”, Not the “Silo”
We have to change how we think about performance. Too many of us are still trying to measure the individual ROI of every little activity, and it’s holding us back. In 2026, the focus must shift to measuring the health and output of the entire system. For marketers, this means looking at the combined impact of brand, demand, and operations. For the business, it means understanding how all departments work together to drive growth. Build integrated strategies that build off of and support each other and measure them holistically—that’s how you’ll find real, sustainable success.
In the case of marketing, a CMO may see that their paid search ads have a fantastic, direct ROI, while their top-of-funnel thought leadership content is harder to measure. A siloed view would say to cut the content budget and pour it all into search ads. But a systems-thinking leader sees that the content is what’s building brand credibility and creating the search demand in the first place. They measure how the content boosts brand searches and lowers the cost-per-click on their ads. They understand that one system feeds the other, and cutting one will eventually starve the other. That holistic view is the key to sustainable growth.
Buzzword to Baseline
These may sound like forward-looking shifts, but by mid-2026 they’ll form the new competitive baseline. The CMO’s role will increasingly evolve into that of a bridge connecting IT, data, and business leadership to ensure the entire organization operates from a shared source of truth. Marketers who take the lead in uniting people, data, and systems around common goals will not only survive the next wave of change, they’ll define it. The opportunity isn’t just to adapt to what’s next, but to architect it from within.
