Podcast Summary:

The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®
Episode #808: Resident Expert: Bill Staikos on the market activity in 2025 MarTech & CX platforms and what 2026 will bring
Aired: February 5, 2026

Episode Overview

In this expert-focused episode, host Greg Kihlström sits down with Bill Staikos, Founder at B Customer Led, for an in-depth discussion of the trends, shake-ups, and forecasts in the marketing technology (MarTech) and customer experience (CX) platform landscape. Together, they review the defining events of 2025—including major mergers, acquisitions, and the playing field for AI—and offer guidance for business leaders navigating these shifts in 2026.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Major Market Themes of 2025

(02:54–05:14)

• Defensibility over Features:
  Companies aren’t just buying features; they’re shaping defensible moats through acquisitions.
  • Bill Staikos: “It really was about defensibility. … The big sort of major sort of event was the Qualtrics acquisition of Press Ganey.”
• Private Equity’s Big Tech Stack Play:
  Significant private equity activity is consolidating and reconstructing the tech landscape—building ‘moats’ around functionalities and verticals.
  • Notable moves include Thoma Bravo acquiring Verint and merging with Calabrio, and Everstone combining Wingify with AB Tasty.
• Contact Center Automation Shifts:
  The field is moving from innovation to focusing on cost savings and efficiency, with M&A activity emphasizing automation (e.g., NICE acquiring Cognigy; RingCentral acquiring Community WFM).

2. AI’s True Role in 2025 Activity

(05:26–06:51)

• Acquisition over Building:
  Big brands often chose to acquire AI capabilities rather than build them in-house.
• Market Dynamics and Funding:
  Lower valuations and improved market conditions reignited private equity interest, while VCs flooded the AI sector, seeking the next standout among emerging platforms.
  • Bill Staikos: “Everyone’s trying to pick the right pink pony. … Certainly, investors are very eager to … capitalize on that.”

3. Surprises and Missed Opportunities

(06:52–08:20)

• Unexpected Moves:
  The Qualtrics–Press Ganey–Forsta deal “surprised a lot of people,” especially for its strategic block on the healthcare segment.
  • Bill Staikos: “They’ve basically locked down the healthcare space.”
• Private Equity’s Aggressiveness:
  The tempo and scale of PE-driven reshaping was larger and more forceful than many anticipated.
• Buyers’ Missed Rationalization Opportunities:
  Many buyers use M&A as a reason to buy more tools rather than rationalize—or reduce—their tech stack, missing the chance to optimize and subtract where possible.

4. Strategic Advice for C-Suite & CMOs

(08:21–12:55)

• Re-evaluate Success Metrics:
  Look beyond standard SLAs; focus on business impact, such as “insight velocity” and “operational impact.”
• Treat Consolidation as a ‘Contract Moment’:
  Market changes present opportunities to renegotiate terms, seek better alignment, and drive value with vendors.
• Tech Stack Rationalization:
  Map the landscape of all platforms in use, identify overlaps, and connect systems coherently back to business priorities and outcomes.
  • Bill Staikos: “How are all these systems connected not only to each other, but also to your data and also to your front lines?”
• Build a ‘CFO-Friendly Automation Map’:
  Tie automation initiatives to tangible, business-centric outcomes, and ensure alignment with growth and efficiency goals.

5. MarTech Platform Trends: Tool Sprawl and Rationalization

(15:32–18:35)

• Significant Trend Reversal:
  For the first time, the average number of MarTech platforms per company decreased in 2025—an early sign of consolidation.
  • Greg Kihlström: “This was the first time where the average number of platforms used per company actually decreased.”
• Drivers:
  Rising costs, AI complexity, and stricter scrutiny from CIOs are forcing organizations to right-size their stack.
• Broader SaaS Reflection:
  The right-sizing trend spans beyond MarTech into the wider SaaS ecosystem.

6. AI Developments to Watch in 2026

(18:35–22:49)

• Agentic AI: Hype vs. Reality:
  While there’s buzz around ‘agentic’ AI, Staikos predicts only limited rollout in 2026—primarily via pilot projects, not widespread enterprise adoption.
  • Bill Staikos (19:32): "I think the agentic kind of thing for 2026 is not going to pan out…there’s a really big disconnect when you look at the data, what’s happening."
• Trust and Fear Issues:
  Only 15% of CIOs trust fully autonomous agents; real-world adoption is lagging behind boardroom ambition.
• Contact Center Lead:
  The contact center remains the hotbed for agentic AI maturity, efficiency, and value.
• Synthetic Data’s Emergence:
  2026 will be the year synthetic data gains traction—especially among highly regulated verticals (healthcare, financial services)—as a tool for compliant experimentation.
• VC & PE Money Flow:
  Expect more investment in small, nimble AI and MarTech players aiming to displace established giants.

7. Personal Agility & Staying Current

(23:19–24:08)

• Bill Staikos’ Tactics:
  • Keeps a “running dialogue” with operators and vendor leaders
  • Maintains a shortlist of “proof questions”
  • Leverages AI for efficient research and staying current
  • Bill Staikos (23:28): “I use AI to do a lot of the research and digging for me and…I’ve got a system in place.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Defensibility:
  • Bill Staikos (02:54): “It really was about defensibility. Right. So how do you, like, how do you think about trusted benchmarks? How do you think about vertical data? How do you think about the operational loop turning insights into real action?”
• On the Healthcare Play:
  • Bill Staikos (07:00): “Think about the healthcare play there for Qualtrics. They’ve basically locked down the healthcare space.”
• On Contract Opportunities Amidst M&A:
  • Bill Staikos (08:39): “You can treat the consolidation as a contract moment, right? Not necessarily like a press release moment…here’s an opportunity for me to take advantage of the fact that there’s a lot of change happening…”
• On the Decline in Platform Count:
  • Greg Kihlström (15:32): “This was the first time where the average number of platforms used per company actually decreased.”
• On AI Agentic Reality:
  • Bill Staikos (19:32): “I think the agentic kind of thing for 2026 is not going to pan out…there’s a really big disconnect when you look at the data, what’s happening.”
• On Synthetic Data’s Moment:
  • Bill Staikos (21:07): “I think 2026 is the year of synthetic data. Companies are starting to wake up to the fact that it is a great compliant and kind of low risk way to kind of test and learn…”
• On Staying Agile and Informed:
  • Bill Staikos (23:28): “I keep a running dialogue of sort of the big moves. I talk to operators as well as leaders at these vendors pretty consistently … I use AI to do a lot of the research and digging for me … That has really helped.”

Important Segment Timestamps

• [02:54] – Three big themes in market activity and recap of 2025
• [05:26] – The role and reality of AI in acquisitions and private equity/VC interest
• [06:52] – Surprises and missed opportunities from the year
• [08:21] – Strategic advice for leaders: metrics, contracts, tech stack, and automation
• [15:32] – Discussion on platform sprawl: the first decrease in tools per org
• [18:35] – Looking ahead: AI, agentic, market consolidation
• [19:32] – Agentic AI adoption and trust issues
• [21:07] – The emergence of synthetic data
• [23:19] – Bill’s approach to staying agile and current

Takeaways for Marketing & CX Leaders

• 2025 saw consolidation and defensibility strategies reshape the MarTech/CX space, led by both private equity and traditional vendors.
• AI is crucial but more often acquired than built; agentic AI’s mainstream breakthrough remains several quarters out.
• Leaders should use consolidation moments to renegotiate, integrate vendors into business transformation, and right-size their stacks with an eye on business outcomes.
• Synthetic data is poised for real adoption, especially in regulated sectors.
• Stay agile and current by leveraging AI for intelligence-gathering and maintaining direct industry relationships.

For more Agile Brand insights and future trend tracking, look out for Bill Staikos’ next quarterly market update.