Forrester's 2026 Budget Planning Guides: Leaders Grow More Cautious As Economic Uncertainty Persists
SINGAPORE, July 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Forrester's (Nasdaq: FORR) 2026 Budget Planning Guides, volatility is tempering 2026 budget optimism. Tariffs, trade wars, cyber threats, and economic uncertainty are resetting budget expectations, signaling a shift toward more cautious growth planning. Amid persistent volatility, leaders must turn to scenario planning and prepare for both deeper budget cuts and unexpected investment opportunities — protecting and prioritizing investments that create customer value, stopping spending on inefficient complexity, and embracing constant, low-cost experimentation to stay ahead.
While it's no surprise that leaders are less bullish compared to last year, it's not all doom and gloom. Despite the uncertainty, 86% of tech leaders across industries are expecting increased budgets from the year before. Additionally, tech leaders in the financial services and healthcare sectors expect double-digit budget increases, driven by investments in generative AI (genAI), analytics, and threat intelligence.
Forrester's Budget Planning Guides provide data-driven spending intention benchmarks and concrete recommendations for technology and security, B2B and B2C marketing, customer experience (CX), digital strategy, and sales and revenue operations leaders to budget and plan for the year ahead with confidence. The guides provide actionable insights for areas to deepen investments, divest budget allocations, and experiment to surface new opportunities.
Key insights from Forrester's 2026 Budget Planning Guides include:
Areas to increase investment in 2026
Areas to decrease investment in 2026
Areas for experimentation in 2026
"While conservative budget expectations are a fine starting point for 2026, now is not the time to get complacent," said Sharyn Leaver, chief research officer at Forrester. "With no end in sight to today's volatility, leaders should be prepared for both more aggressive cuts and unexpected investment opportunities. They can achieve this through constant, low-cost experimentation and gain the edge to outmaneuver competitors the moment the opportunity strikes. Forrester's Budget Planning Guides are designed to empower business leaders to invest wisely, scale back where needed, and experiment continuously to succeed in times of change."
About Forrester
Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) is one of the most influential research and advisory firms in the world. We empower leaders in technology, customer experience, digital, marketing, sales, and product functions to be bold at work and accelerate growth through customer obsession. Our unique research and continuous guidance model helps executives and their teams achieve their initiatives and outcomes faster and with confidence. To learn more, visit Forrester.com.
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