Higher demand for cloud- and software-mediated network solutions drove stronger revenue among leading enterprise NIS suppliers

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HAMPTON, N.H. (Jan. 11, 2018) — According to Technology Business Research, Inc.’s (TBR) 3Q17 Network Infrastructure Services Benchmark, migration to cloud- and software-mediated network infrastructure accelerated, spurring low-single-digit growth among benchmarked network infrastructure services (NIS) suppliers, including growth in all benchmarked services subsegments.

“The enterprise network is evolving as large enterprises, in particular, build cloud architectures to connect and control distributed branch locations more efficiently,” said TBR Analyst Patrick Filkins. “To align with this shift, NIS suppliers are driving engagements around professional services. Services-led suppliers, such as IBM and Accenture, are well positioned as vendor-agnostic NIS providers able to integrate and manage multi-vendor, multi-tenant architectures.”

Additionally, demand for professional services is spurring product-led suppliers, such as Cisco and Juniper Networks, to hire new talent for cloud- and SDN-related network rollouts and systems integration. This targeted investment in new headcount among product-centric suppliers will remain limited, though, as these companies will continue to rely on maintenance services to generate the bulk of NIS-related revenue.

TBR’s Network Infrastructure Services Benchmark provides quarterly analysis of network suppliers’ performance in the deployment, maintenance, professional services and managed services markets. Suppliers covered include Accenture, Avaya, Cisco, Dell EMC, Fujitsu, HPE, Huawei, IBM, Juniper Networks and Microsoft.

 

HITS vendors met a throng of sector-specific and external headwinds to round out 2017

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HAMPTON, N.H. (Jan. 10, 2018) — Healthcare IT services (HITS) trailing 12-month revenue continued to slow in 3Q17, falling to 3.8% in 3Q17 from 5.4% in 2Q17. The ongoing trend of decelerating sales growth owes largely to a dearth of strategic acquisitions by the HITS companies tracked by Technology Business Research, Inc. (TBR), turbulence in the U.S. payer market being drawn out by U.S. legislative inaction on proposed reforms to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and a series of natural disasters in North America during 3Q17 that impacted provider IT spending patterns.

“The ongoing absence of a legislative resolution to the ACA-reform process continues to generate significant downward pressure on sales in the health insurance sector,” said Senior Analyst John Caucis, TBR’s public sector and healthcare lead. “The M&A-generated tailwind on HITS revenue growth through 2016 has all but dissipated, save for Allscripts’ acquisition of McKesson Enterprise Information Solutions and a handful of smaller-scale acquisitions by Allscripts’ HITS counterparts. Compounding the impact of weak health payer IT spending on overall HITS growth were the natural disasters that occurred in 3Q17: hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, which impacted the Caribbean and the U.S., as well as a pair of earthquakes in Mexico.”

The final participant tally from the open-enrollment period that ran until Dec. 15, 2017 (8.8 million enrollees, down from 9.2 million in 2016), suggests the current lull in payer IT spending may persist, though a growing number of HITS vendors believe the IT investment trough among health insurers has been reached. Aside from the current solution focus on analytics, population health management and revenue cycle management, opportunities for HITS solutions, as well as advisory services, will emerge in 2018 in ambulatory and post-acute care, behavioral health, and employer services.

 

Equipment vendors continue to struggle with lower sales volume, while IT services and software-centric companies enjoy growth, thanks to digital

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HAMPTON, N.H. (Jan. 5, 2018) — According to Technology Business Research, Inc.’s (TBR) 3Q17 Telecom Infrastructure Services Benchmark, leading vendors are making significant strategy changes and retrenching around their core competencies to weather subdued communication service provider (CSP) spend.

“Leading vendors are realizing they must transform themselves before they can effectively help their customers transform,” said TBR Telecom Senior Analyst Chris Antlitz. “New technologies and processes, particularly in the areas of cloud, artificial intelligence, cognitive analytics, automation and DevOps, promise significant agility, better outcomes and cost savings, and vendors must not only offer solutions that leverage these technologies to their customers but also adopt and employ these technologies internally to be credible, differentiate and remain competitive.”

Tier 1 network solution providers (NSPs) are going back to their product-led roots and doubling down on partnerships. Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia are all transitioning back to being product-led, which is an about-face from their prior strategy of being services-led. This strategy shift indicates that product-centric vendors have realized that the optimal go-to-market model is to stick to their core businesses and core competencies as much as possible and augment capabilities with partnerships.

TBR believes this strategy shift means NSPs will increase emphasis on product-attached services, which is their main telecom infrastructure services (TIS) profit pool, particularly maintenance services. This retrenchment by NSPs will also enable IT services companies to have a clearer path to capitalize on digital opportunities.

TBR’s Telecom Infrastructure Services Benchmark provides quarterly analysis of the deployment, maintenance, professional services and managed services markets for network and IT suppliers. Suppliers covered include Accenture, Amdocs, Atos, Capgemini, CGI, China Communications Services, Ciena, Cisco, CommScope, CSG International, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Huawei, IBM, Infosys, Juniper Networks, NEC, Nokia, Oracle, Samsung, SAP, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, Wipro and ZTE.