What changed

Forrester published The State of Business Buying 2026 on 21 January 2026, drawing on its 2025 Buyers’ Journey Survey.

  • Trials are common. More than 60% of business buyers now use a trial.
  • Larger purchases, more trials. For purchases of $10 million or more, the figure is 78%.
  • Trials reduce risk. Forrester’s report summary says trials “are emerging as essential to reduce risk”.
  • A regional view. PwC Middle East’s summary of a closed-door roundtable held during Make it in the Emirates week in May 2025 lists a weak commercial case among the barriers to scaling climate-technology pilots. It says pilots are treated as an expense rather than a value-generating asset, and that without offtake agreements or strategic procurement there is little predictable demand.

Forrester’s figures cover business buyers in general and say nothing about how many trials become contracts. The PwC summary covers one region and gives no conversion figures.

What it could put at risk

Revenue

A pilot that ends without a purchase order can leave a reference and no revenue. Pilots counted as pipeline can make a forecast look stronger than it is.

Cost

Engineers and founders may spend months on a pilot that was never set up to convert, and that time is not spent on customers ready to buy.

Cash

Each quarter in a pilot without agreed terms uses runway. Investors may read a long run of pilots and few contracts as a sign that demand is unproven.

Continuity

The sponsor of a pilot is sometimes an innovation lead without budget. If they leave, or the budget sits elsewhere, the pilot can stop with nobody to restart it.

Our view

We think a pilot should be a step in a sale. Before it starts, agree one page with the customer: what success is measured as, who signs if it is met, which budget it comes from, what price applies and by what date.

If the customer will not agree to that page, the pilot may be a favour rather than a sale. It is better to know that before the work starts.

Where you can, ask for a paid pilot. A customer that pays has already found the budget.

This is our reading of one buying survey and one roundtable summary. It does not measure how many pilots become contracts.

Three questions for the board

  1. Of the pilots we ran in the last two years, how many became paid contracts, and how long did that take?
  2. For each live pilot, has the customer written down what success means, and who pays if it is met?
  3. What will we do if a pilot is not signed by the date we agreed?

Sources

Forrester: The State of Business Buying 2026 (21 January 2026)

Forrester: The State of Business Buying, 2026 (report summary)

PwC Middle East: Piloting to scale (2025)

Sources accessed on 20 October 2026.

Photo: Ksenia Obukhova on Unsplash.

Important information. This article is general information for business readers. It is not legal, financial, accounting or investment advice, and it does not take account of your circumstances. Figures and quotations come from the sources listed, which we have not independently audited, and are given as at the date of publication. Illustrations use assumed figures and are not forecasts, client results or guarantees. References to other organisations do not mean they endorse Elea Partners or have any relationship with it.