Systems | Development | Analytics | API | Testing

The agentic era is changing who—or rather, what—does the shopping. Find out how you can prepare your business for it..

AI isn’t just evolving—it’s reshaping who your customers are, how systems operate, and what real time really means. From machines making purchase decisions to agents increasing query volume across databases, the realities of 2026 are forcing leaders to rethink data architecture and governance strategies at a fundamental level. In this episode, Joseph is joined by Will LaForest (Field CTO, Confluent), Adi Polak (Director of Developer Advocacy & Experience, Confluent), and independent analyst, Sanjeev Mohan, to break down critical insights from Confluent’s 2026 Predictions Report.

Busie Agentic Driver and Vehicle Scheduling: Intelligent assignment of drivers and vehicles to trips using real-time data on driver location and availability, vehicle utilization, and customer sentiment to optimize efficiency, service quality, and outcomes.

Andy Steinmann of MarketAxess walks through how his team learned that “managed” Apache Kafka wasn’t really managed—and why Confluent Cloud was different.

Andy Steinmann of MarketAxess shares how access to Apache Kafka experts—not just software—became the turning point in MarketAxess’ shift to Confluent Cloud.

Dive into the biggest breakthroughs for the Confluent Connect ecosystem in 2025! This year, we made moving data easier than ever, from modernizing legacy systems with the Oracle XStream CDC Premium Connector to empowering developers with Custom SMTs and Custom Connectors on Google Cloud. Discover the over 10 new connectors we launched, including Snowflake Source, Azure Cosmos DB v2, and Neo4j Sink, plus the release of Confluent Hub 2.0. Learn how Confluent Cloud connectors are breaking down silos and building bridges for your next-gen AI and data modernization projects.

We recently released our 2026 Confluent Predictions Report, outlining bold ideas and trends that are shaping the future of data, AI, and real-time systems. And stay tuned for an upcoming episode of the Life Is But a Stream web show that will air early in the new year. Join the conversation as host Joseph Morais sits down with Sanjeev Mohan, independent analyst at SanjMo, for an exciting roundtable discussion breaking down those predictions. Are they forecasts? Are they trends? And which ones will matter most as we move forward into 2026?

Technology leaders share how they process streaming events end-to-end in sub-second latency, secure sensitive data through immutable and governed pipelines, power secured real-time systems in regulated environments, and enable multi-agent AI systems built on fresh, continuously streaming data.

In 2025, real-time data moved from important to mission-critical. From billion-event pipelines to AI agents reasoning over fresh data streams, the conversations this year revealed just how fast organizations are rethinking their data infrastructure and what’s possible when data streaming becomes the foundation.

Mohamed Ahmed Anwar shares why “shifting left” to process data closer to its source is key to AI agent performance, speeds RAG knowledge updates, And eases the move from legacy on-prem to scalable cloud architectures.