During our panel discussion at B2BMX 2026 last month titled “When Traditional B2B Breaks: How GitLab, Shell Lubricant Solutions, and Palo Alto Networks Are Reinventing ABM,” a packed room of attendees heard one theme surface again and again: the challenge facing B2B marketers today isn’t just keeping up with change—it’s operating in a buying environment that no longer behaves the way our strategies were built to support.
What emerged from the discussion wasn’t a simple list of new tactics, but a more fundamental shift in how buying actually happens. Today’s buyers are self-directed, increasingly anonymous, and influenced by a growing ecosystem of channels, tools, and touchpoints—many of which sit outside the visibility of traditional marketing systems. As a result, the signals we rely on are harder to interpret, journeys are less predictable, and the gap between marketing activity and revenue impact is more difficult to close.
For teams running account-based programs, this creates both friction and opportunity. The pressure isn’t just to do more, but operate differently to move beyond static targeting, rethink how data is used, and build tighter alignment between marketing and sales. Success now depends on the ability to adapt in real time, prioritize what truly matters, and orchestrate engagement across an increasingly complex buyer journey.
The following six themes from the panel reflect how leading organizations are navigating this shift—and what it takes to reinvent account-based marketing (ABM) for the way buying actually works today.
1. The Reality of Modern B2B Buying Has Fundamentally Changed
At the core of every challenge discussed in the session was a simple truth: the way B2B buyers research, evaluate, and make decisions today looks nothing like it did even a few years ago. Buying journeys are no longer linear, predictable, or fully visible to marketing and sales teams. Instead, they are dynamic, fragmented, and increasingly happening in places marketers can’t track.
This shift is creating significant blind spots for traditional ABM approaches. As Elena Salazar from Palo Alto Networks explained, “People are researching solutions in ways that aren’t trackable by marketing systems… 94% of business decision-makers are now using AI to assist their search for new tools or solutions and we don’t have insight into that.” In other words, buyers are forming opinions, shortlisting vendors, and aligning internally—often before brands even know they’re in market.
At the same time, engagement signals have become more complex and harder to interpret. Meilynda Le, Staff Marketing Campaign Manager at GitLab pointed out that while organizations are collecting more data than ever, it’s not necessarily making them more effective: “We’re collecting so many signals for second- and third-party data, and it’s being fed to sales in a way that doesn’t entirely make sense when it comes to how they take that information and operationalize it in their day-to-day follow-up strategy.”
Layer in external pressures—like shifting supply chains and increased vendor competition—and the picture becomes even more complicated. As Katrina Kilgas, B2B Digital Journey Manager at Shell Lubricant Solutions shared, many accounts now work with multiple suppliers, making it harder to determine true buying intent versus precautionary research. “It’s changing how we strategically look at the whole account and identify what signals are not noise,” she noted.
The implication for marketers is clear: this isn’t just a data problem or a process problem. It’s a fundamental shift in buyer behavior. And until ABM strategies are built to reflect that reality—nonlinear journeys, hidden research, and constantly evolving intent—campaigns will continue to lag behind the buyer.
2. More Data Hasn’t Meant Better Decisions
If modern buying behavior is more complex, the natural response has been to gather more data. But as the panel made clear, more signals haven’t necessarily translated into better decisions. In many cases, they’ve created more confusion.
Across organizations, teams are inundated with account-level engagement data, contact-level activity, third-party intent signals, and internal customer relationship manager (CRM) insights. Yet without a clear framework for interpretation, that volume becomes noise rather than clarity. As Katrina pointed out, even foundational data challenges persist: “I think a lot of companies struggle with the accuracy of their CRM data. If it’s not maintained, it becomes a classic case of ‘junk in, junk out’ that impacts everything downstream.”
The issue isn’t access to data; it’s the ability to connect it to meaningful outcomes. Meilynda emphasized the importance of distinguishing correlation from causation when evaluating performance. Without that discipline, teams risk optimizing for activity that looks productive but doesn’t actually drive pipeline.
What’s emerging is a shift in how high-performing teams think about measurement. Rather than relying on surface-level engagement metrics, they are building structured ways to validate impact through controlled testing, clearer attribution models, and tighter alignment with revenue outcomes.
The takeaway is a critical one: data is only valuable if it leads to confident decisions. Otherwise, it simply reinforces the illusion of insight.
3. Alignment Is the Operating System for Modern ABM
As buying journeys become less visible and data becomes more complex, alignment between sales and marketing is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s now the system that makes everything else work.
One of the clearest shifts discussed was the move away from static, sales-defined target account lists toward more collaborative, data-informed prioritization. Elena described how organizations are evolving this process: instead of marketing simply executing against a sales-provided list, both teams now contribute insights to build and refine it continuously. Intent data, engagement signals, and sales intelligence are combined to determine not just who to target, but when and how.
This shift also extends to how accounts are managed over time. Rather than moving accounts through a fixed funnel, leading teams are adopting dynamic models to advance or deprioritize accounts based on real-time activity, buying group completeness, and evolving signals.
But technology alone doesn’t solve for alignment. As Meilynda noted, some of the most effective progress comes from simply improving communication. Building trust, understanding sales priorities, and establishing feedback loops ensure that insights don’t stop at marketing—they translate into actions from both teams.
Modern ABM runs on shared understanding. Without it, even the best data and strategy will fail to deliver impact.
4. Intent Is Only Valuable When It Shapes Action
Intent data has become a cornerstone of ABM, but the panel made an important distinction that simply identifying in-market accounts is not enough. The real value comes from how that insight shapes strategy across the entire go-to-market motion.
For many organizations, intent data still functions primarily as a targeting filter used to decide which accounts to include in campaigns. But leading teams are pushing far beyond that. As Katrina explained, intent data is now influencing not just who to target, but informing how to engage: “We use intent data not just for targeting and segmentation, but also communications and CVP [cost-volume-profit] development. We also use it to understand competitors and improve our brand positioning. It’s about an end-to-end approach that connects targeting, media mix, and messaging to maximize yield.” This shift toward emphasizing account engagement reflects a broader evolution from implementing static campaigns to building adaptive programs that respond to changes in buyer behavior in real time.
Elena reinforced this idea by highlighting the role of dynamic account management and buyer group scoring, ensuring that engagement strategies reflect not just account-level intent, but the completeness and activity of the entire buying committee. “We’re looking at the number of folks within our buyer group that we have within an account as well, rather than just the MQLs. That helps us be a little bit more intentional about which accounts we’re targeting and where we’re looking to build out additional buyer group members,” she explained.
The takeaway is that intent should not just inform where you focus—it should define how you show up. Without that connection, even the best signals fall short of driving meaningful outcomes.
5. Resource Constraints Are Forcing a Shift to Precision
With budgets tightening and expectations rising, marketers are being forced to rethink how and where they invest. The era of broad, always-on coverage is giving way to a more focused, precision-driven approach.
Panelists described a clear shift toward prioritizing accounts that are actively showing buying signals, rather than spreading resources thinly across large target lists. As Katrina explained, this has meant reallocating effort toward the bottom of the funnel, focusing on pipeline acceleration, deal velocity, and conversion rather than just lead volume.
This change is also driving a reevaluation of success metrics. Instead of measuring performance through MQLs or engagement rates, teams are increasingly aligning around revenue-centric outcomes: faster sales cycles, higher win rates, and larger deal sizes.
At the same time, experimentation remains critical but must be more disciplined. Meilynda emphasized the importance of making intentional, measurable bets rather than defaulting to legacy playbooks. In an environment where “everything is net new,” teams must continuously test, learn, and refine their approach.
The result is a more deliberate model of ABM that prioritizes impact over activity and ensures that every investment is tied to tangible business results.
6. Orchestration, Not Execution, Is the New Competitive Advantage
As the conversation came full circle, one theme stood out: success in modern ABM is no longer about executing individual tactics well; it’s about orchestrating them into a cohesive, adaptive system.
This requires connecting data, channels, messaging, and teams in a way that reflects how buyers actually engage. Disconnected efforts—whether across media, content, or sales outreach—create fragmented experiences that fail to resonate. In contrast, coordinated programs ensure that every interaction builds on the last, creating momentum across the buying journey.
Katrina reflected on this evolution, noting that one of the biggest lessons learned was the importance of integrated activation. Rather than treating channels as separate efforts, leading teams are aligning them around shared insights and continuously adjusting based on performance. “Having all the data connected lets you see which levers to pull and shift the mix appropriately,” she explained.
Elena reinforced the need for consistency across the experience, ensuring that messaging, content, and engagement strategies are aligned across channels and stages. This level of coordination not only improves performance but also creates a more seamless and relevant experience for buyers.
Ultimately, the advantage lies in the ability to adapt in real time to take signals, translate them into action, and orchestrate responses across the entire go-to-market motion.
Where ABM Goes from Here
What emerged from the B2BMX 2026 panel wasn’t a set of incremental improvements. It was a clear signal that ABM itself is evolving. The challenge isn’t just to optimize existing programs, but to rethink how they’re designed from the ground up.
The teams that will lead in this next era are those that embrace the complexity of modern buying: interpreting signals with context, aligning closely with sales, acting on intent in meaningful ways, and orchestrating every touchpoint into a cohesive experience.
Because in today’s environment, success doesn’t come from keeping up with the buyer—it comes from understanding them well enough to meet them where they already are.
To hear these insights in full—and how leading brands are putting them into practice—watch the on-demand recording of the session. You can also explore more of our coverage from B2BMX 2026 to see how marketers across the industry are rethinking their strategies for today’s buyer.
