Technology

Agentic AI Use Cases Fail When the Wrong Projects Get Funded, Warns Info-Tech Research Group

Published

2 hours ago

August 25, 2026

Organizations across every sector are rushing to adopt agentic AI in data management, but many lack a reliable way to decide which use cases are worth funding. New insights from Info-Tech Research Group provide a structured method to qualify and prioritize those use cases before investment. The firm’s blueprint, Create Your Agentic AI Roadmap for Data Management, helps data leaders qualify agentic AI use cases through three gates: agentic fit, readiness, and complexity, before scoring them to deliver a sequenced, fundable roadmap.

ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The hype around agentic AI is growing rapidly, but many organizations lack a consistent way to evaluate where it can deliver value. Vendors and internal teams often push for AI agents to solve problems that simple automation could handle at a lower cost and with less risk. Info-Tech Research Group’s new blueprint, Create Your Agentic AI Roadmap for Data Management, helps data leaders separate genuine agentic opportunities from routine automation and invest only where the organization is ready to deliver.

Organizations are under pressure to show results with AI, but moving too soon can be costly. Agentic AI requires stronger data governance, controls, and oversight than traditional AI. Many teams overestimate their readiness and then watch pilots stall when data quality and governance gaps appear. The firm’s blueprint helps teams identify gaps early by validating every use case candidate through three gates: fit, readiness, and complexity.

“The fastest way to waste an AI budget is to invest in agentic AI before confirming whether a use case actually needs an AI agent,” says Jason Edwards, principal research director at Info-Tech Research Group. “Teams need to make sure the data and governance foundations are ready, understand how complex the use case will be to build, and confirm that an agent is the right solution before they move forward.”

Key Challenges Data Leaders Face With Agentic AI in Data Management
Info-Tech’s research points to four common barriers:

Agent-washing hides the truth. Vendors and teams label ordinary automation as “agentic,” which makes honest comparison nearly impossible.No consistent way to qualify ideas. Teams choose use cases based on excitement and demos, not with a repeatable test of fit, readiness, and complexity.Readiness is overestimated. Data quality and governance gaps often stay hidden until a project is funded and a pilot is already underway.Complexity is underestimated. The real cost, effort, and risk surface too late, and the initiative stalls.

Info-Tech’s Three-Phase Framework for Prioritizing Agentic AI Use Cases
The Create Your Agentic AI Roadmap for Data Management blueprint guides teams through the following three phases:

Phase 1: Define the use cases. Teams choose their highest-priority data management domains, select and scope candidate use cases, and document them in a structured register.

Phase 2: Qualify the use cases. Teams run each candidate through agentic fit, readiness, and complexity gates to confirm whether it needs an agent, check the data and governance foundations, and analyze how hard it is to build.

Phase 3: Prioritize and act. Teams score the qualified candidates on benefit, effort, and risk, then sort them into a sequenced roadmap.

The Create Your Agentic AI Roadmap for Data Management blueprint includes an Agentic AI Scoring Kit, which runs candidates through a three-gate model, and an Agentic AI Candidate Definition Workbook, which standardizes how use cases are scoped. These tools help CIOs, data leaders, and governance teams turn a long list of competing ideas into a clear roadmap with owners, guardrails, and measurable goals that leadership can fund.

For exclusive and timely commentary from Info-Tech’s experts, including Jason Edwards, and access to the complete Create Your Agentic AI Roadmap for Data Management blueprint, please contact pr@infotech.com.

About Info-Tech Research Group

Info-Tech Research Group is the “get things done” partner for over 30,000 IT, HR, and marketing leaders worldwide. The fastest growing research and advisory firm, Info-Tech enables leaders to make well-informed decisions and transform their organizations through AI, strategic foresight, step-by-step methodologies, practical tools, industry-leading advisory, and training programs. For nearly 30 years, tens of thousands of private and public organizations have trusted Info-Tech to lead their most important initiatives through periods of change and deliver outcomes that truly matter.

To learn more about Info-Tech’s HR research and advisory services, visit McLean & Company, and for data-driven software buying insights and vendor evaluations, visit the firm’s SoftwareReviews platform.

Media professionals can register for unrestricted access to research across IT, HR, and software, and hundreds of industry analysts through the firm’s Media Insiders program. To gain access, contact pr@infotech.com.

For information about Info-Tech Research Group or to access the latest research, visit infotech.com and connect via LinkedIn and X.

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SOURCE Info-Tech Research Group

Technology

LeanDNA Launches Demand Scenario Modeling in APEX, Replacing Spreadsheet Guesswork With Real-Time Production Feasibility

Published

41 minutes ago

August 25, 2026

New capability lets production planners test demand changes against live supply and BOM data in minutes, without exporting ERP data or risking live system records.

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — LeanDNA, a leading intelligent supply chain execution platform, today announced the general availability of Demand Scenario Modeling (DSM), a new capability within its APEX platform that lets production planners, buyers, and supply chain managers instantly test demand changes against real supply and Bill of Materials (BOM) data, without spreadsheets or system risk.

When forecasts shift, most production planners still turn to spreadsheets to find out whether production can support it: exporting ERP data, flattening multi-level BOMs, and reconciling supply just to answer one question — can we build this? The process is slow, error-prone, and disconnected from real-time system data, and it often produces false shortages that obscure the actual constraints.

Demand Scenario Modeling replaces that manual exercise with what-if analysis built directly into APEX. Production planners can model a demand change and immediately see which components truly constrain production, how many units can realistically be built, and where shortage risk increases, turning a process that has historically taken hours into a workflow measured in minutes.

Because DSM runs in a sandbox environment connected to live ERP and BOM data, planners can test and compare multiple scenarios, adjust quantities and dates, and recalculate instantly, without posting temporary plans or manipulating live records to get an answer. That combination of speed and system safety is central to how LeanDNA has built the capability.

“Production planners shouldn’t have to choose between speed and safety when they’re testing a demand change,” said Andy Ellenthal, CEO of LeanDNA. “Demand Scenario Modeling gives them both: an answer in minutes, grounded in the same supply and BOM data running their factory, without ever touching a live ERP record. It replaces guesswork with a repeatable way to say yes, no, or not yet with confidence.”

Demand Scenario Modeling is available now to APEX customers and is purpose-built for the tactical-to-mid-horizon planning window — roughly one to twelve months out — where production teams most often need to turn a demand question into a production commitment.

About LeanDNA

LeanDNA powers the world’s discrete manufacturing with a single source of truth for factory-first supply planning, materials management, and inventory optimization. APEX, the AI-powered expert execution platform from LeanDNA, transforms data into optimized decisions and action. LeanDNA empowers manufacturers in aerospace, HVAC,industrials, automotive, and medical to improve on-time delivery and working capital levels. Leading manufacturers including Caterpillar, Daikin Applied, Safran, and Siemens use APEX for supply chain orchestration to gain visibility into current and incoming materials, take action based on inventory criticality, collaborate in real time with suppliers, and track progress toward inventory optimization goals. Learn more at LeanDNA.com.

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SOURCE LeanDNA Inc

Technology

OppFi to Participate in September 2026 Conferences

Published

41 minutes ago

August 25, 2026

CHICAGO, Aug. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — OppFi Inc. (NYSE: OPFI) (“OppFi” or the “Company”), a leading tech-enabled digital finance platform that works with banks to provide financial products and services for everyday Americans, today announced that management will participate in the following conferences in September 2026:

Oppenheimer Fintech Leaders Conference
Location: New York
Date: September 15, 2026

U.S. Bancorp | BTIG Consumer Finance Conference 2026
Location: Boston
Date: September 17, 2026

To schedule a meeting with OppFi, please reach out to your Oppenheimer or BTIG representatives.

About OppFi
OppFi (NYSE: OPFI) is a leading tech-enabled digital finance platform that works with banks to provide financial products and services for everyday Americans. Through a transparent and responsible platform, which includes financial inclusion and excellent customer experience, the Company supports consumers who are turned away by mainstream options to build better financial health. OppLoans by OppFi maintains a 4.4/5.0 star rating on Trustpilot with more than 5,400 reviews, making the Company one of the top consumer-rated financial platforms online. OppFi also holds a 35% equity interest in Bitty Holdings, LLC (“Bitty”), a credit access company that offers revenue-based financing and other working capital solutions to small businesses. For more information, please visit oppfi.com.

Investors:

investors@oppfi.com

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SOURCE OppFi

Technology

Zillow Group to present at Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference

Published

41 minutes ago

August 25, 2026

SEATTLE, Aug. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Zillow Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: Z and ZG), which is transforming the way people buy, sell, rent and finance homes, today announced Zillow Group will present at this year’s Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference in San Francisco.

Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Hofmann will participate in a fireside chat on Thursday, Sept. 10, at 10:50 a.m. PT / 1:50 p.m. ET.

Register and access the live webcast here. Live and recorded versions of the webcast will also be available under the Events & Presentations section on Zillow Group’s Investor Relations website.

About Zillow Group:

Zillow Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: Z and ZG) is reimagining real estate to make home a reality for more and more people.

As the most visited real estate app and website in the United States, Zillow connects hundreds of millions of consumers with innovative technology, trusted agents and loan officers, and seamless digital solutions. With industry-leading tools and resources, Zillow supercharges real estate professionals so they can grow their businesses and deliver exceptional client experiences. For renters and housing providers, Zillow offers not only a robust marketplace but a set of end-to-end products and services to streamline applications, leases, payments and more.

Zillow’s ecosystem spans the entire home journey — from dreaming and shopping to renting, buying, selling and financing.

Zillow Group’s affiliates, subsidiaries and brands include Zillow®, Zillow Premier Agent®, Zillow Home Loans®, Zillow Rentals®, Zillow® New Construction, Trulia®, StreetEasy®, Out East®, HotPads®, Follow Up Boss®, ShowingTime®, dotloop® and Zillow® Closing.

All marks herein are owned by MFTB Holdco, Inc., a Zillow affiliate. Zillow Home Loans, LLC is an Equal Housing Lender, NMLS #10287 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). © 2026 MFTB Holdco, Inc., a Zillow affiliate.

(ZFIN)

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SOURCE Zillow Group, Inc.