New global research finds marketing and IT are now forced to co-own the same AI decisions, but describe two different decision-making structures inside the same organizations, and both sides privately doubt their own ability to unilaterally manage what they're about to deploy.

BOSTON, Sept. 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Acquia today announced new global research showing that CMOs and CIOs, now forced to co-own the biggest AI decisions inside their organizations, cannot agree on who is actually making them. The study, "The Missing Success Factor for Growth in the Agentic Era: A New Mandate for CMOs and CIOs," surveyed 500 CMOs, CIOs, and CTOs and found that marketing and IT describe two different decision-making structures inside the same companies, while both sides privately doubt their own ability to govern the AI systems they are about to deploy.

"Trust used to be earned one visitor at a time," said Chris Tranquill, Chief Executive Officer at Acquia. "Now it's judged instantly, by a machine, on behalf of someone who may never see your homepage. You don't win that kind of trust with a bigger marketing budget or a stricter compliance checklist. You win it when everything an AI agent finds about your brand comes from one governed source of truth, built by marketing and IT together."

Same Decision, Different Org Chart

Ask CMOs about ownership of CMS and DXP platform decisions, and the answer splits three ways: 25% say marketing does, 24% say IT does, and 18% point to the head of digital. Ask CIOs and CTOs the same question about their own organizations, and the picture changes entirely. 57% say they are the decision maker and 66% say they are the key evaluator, while CMOs and marketing directors register at only 33% and 42% by their account.

The two functions are not disagreeing about a close call. They are describing two different decision-making structures inside the same organizations.

The Governance Confidence Gap

The sharpest finding in the research is doubt, not disagreement. 66% of CMOs say proving their AI-generated marketing is governed and controlled has become a brand-reputation issue, not just an IT one. But only 41% are confident their own team can embed real governance into their AI initiatives, the lowest confidence score of any priority tested for 2027, compared with 73% confidence in their ability to drive revenue growth.

Much of that doubt traces back to systems that don't talk to each other: 61% of CMOs say their content is spread across so many systems that no one has a single, reliable source of truth, and only 40% say their stack is ready for AI agents to work inside it today.

CIOs and CTOs show the same pattern from the other side. 70% call data sovereignty essential to their organization, and 56% say they will not deploy AI capabilities until content structure and data integrity are solid. Yet 51% also call migration complexity a significant barrier to fixing that foundation, so the caution and the ability to act on it are pulling in opposite directions.

Underneath both functions sits a shared sense of fear: 43% of CMOs name failing to prove a return on AI investment as the single biggest threat to their position as a marketing leader in 2027, ahead of missing revenue targets or losing budget to IT.

By the Numbers

  • 57% of CIOs and CTOs say they are the primary decision maker on CMS/DXP platform choices; 66% say they're the key evaluator
  • 33% of CMOs say they are the decision maker by CIOs' account; 42% say they're the key evaluator
  • 66% of CMOs say proving AI-generated marketing is governed has become a brand-reputation issue
  • 41% of CMOs are confident their team can embed real governance into AI initiatives, versus 73% confidence in driving revenue growth
  • 70% of CIOs and CTOs call data sovereignty essential; 56% will not deploy AI capabilities until content structure and data integrity are solid; 51% call migration complexity a significant barrier
  • 43% of CMOs name failing to prove AI ROI as the single biggest threat to their position in 2027

Governance and Growth, Together

Acquia points to its own customer, Edrington, as evidence that governance and growth are not a trade-off when marketing and IT build on the same platform.

Edrington, the spirits group behind The Macallan and Highland Park, worked with Acquia partner FreelyGive to take a similar AI-native approach to a stalled website migration, using AI to generate and test website components directly within Acquia Source, including a compliance-critical age gate, without slowing down its editors.

Get Started

The case study above shows what it looks like in practice when marketing and IT work from a single roadmap rather than trading pieces of the process back and forth. Getting there is a smaller step than most teams expect: it doesn't require a full rebuild, months of downtime, or choosing between the roadmap marketing wants and the roadmap IT can defend. It requires a plan.

To read the full report, visit The Missing Success Factor for Growth in the Agentic Era

Findings are drawn from independent research commissioned by Acquia, conducted by Coleman Parkes Research and analyzed by VCCP. The CIO/CTO survey (250 respondents) and CMO survey (250 respondents) each covered the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, fielded between July and August 2026.

About Acquia

Acquia is the digital experience platform built for a world where your audience is both humans and agents.

As AI agents become active participants in how people discover, consume, and act on digital content, Acquia gives enterprise teams the platform to create, manage, and distribute experiences designed for both. Powered by agentic AI that orchestrates, not just advises, Acquia automates complex digital workflows within the governance guardrails large organizations require.

The world's #1 Drupal hosting provider, Acquia provides Acquia Source as a digital command center, a unified intelligent workspace where digital teams manage content, applications, AI agents, and analytics in one place.

Acquia. Built for what's next.

Media Contact: Owen Milbury | owen.milbury@acquia.com