Region: Global
Authors: Kevin Petrie and Florian Bigelmaier
Publishing: July 2026
One of the biggest challenges businesses face when adopting AI is providing the right context: i.e., the permissible data inputs and metadata that make AI agents accurate, relevant, and trustworthy. But context engineering is not a standard technical problem. Rather, it requires a company-specific blend of datasets, logic, governance, platforms and tools. BARC identified four categories of vendors to offer tools for context engineering: analytics, catalogs/data intelligence, data, and AI platforms.
CDAOs and data leaders must understand what their existing stack can deliver and where additional technology can help. This market guide maps the main software segments that support context engineering. Based on BARC primary research and a market map, we explain which context requirements each market segment addresses and how well it serves companies’ target use cases and existing environments.
CDAOs and data leaders should read this guide to learn: