Webscales are simultaneously moving into multiple trillion-dollar industries, including telecom

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Webscales need to enter and disrupt trillion-dollar industries to maintain growth trajectories and sustain stock valuations

Transportation (e.g., connected vehicles), logistics, financial services, healthcare, telecom and other sectors each represent at least a trillion dollars in economic value globally, and webscales are targeting each of these industries for disruption.

Webscales need to rapidly scale their presence in these industries to add billions of dollars in top-line revenue to their respective income statements each year to sustain their stock valuations.

Telecom is a unique market to disrupt because it represents around $2 trillion in current economic value and provides foundational infrastructure to drive disruptive initiatives across other industries. Intelligent connectivity transcends all industries in a digital economy and is the foundational medium for data transmission and the conveyance of cyber-physical exchange that fuels digital transformation. Moves by Microsoft to acquire Affirmed Networks and Metaswitch underscore the strategic imperative for webscales to disrupt the telecom sector.

Webscales will ensure the Fourth Industrial Revolution becomes a reality

The Big Nine webscales are investing over $300 billion annually collectively (R&D and capex), and this amount is growing rapidly, on world-changing endeavors, such as building virtual worlds, truly autonomous vehicles, conversational voice AI, quantum computers, and frictionless, intelligent and ubiquitous connectivity. These initiatives will push the rollout of ICT infrastructure at scale and get governments and businesses aligned to ensure they are digitally transforming.

Webscales are standardizing industrial digitalization to bring enterprises into their ecosystems, and over time the webscales will enhance and broaden the capabilities they offer to enterprises en route to full realization of Industry 4.0.

TBR believes the world’s largest webscales will likely own and control key platforms and ecosystems pertaining to the realization of Industry 4.0 and will garner an outsized portion of the value that is created from the digital economy.

The next major device category is AR/VR

AR/VR represents a relatively new, trillion-dollar market category that could eclipse the market impact smartphones have had on the global economy since the inception of the iPhone in 2007. Microsoft’s up to 10-year, $21.9 billion contract with the U.S. Army for HoloLens-based solutions exemplifies the potential of this market.

All of the Big Nine webscales are investing in AR and VR devices and/or applications as they aim to capitalize on this market.

As with the smartphone era, AR/VR will put enormous requirements on global networks as uptake of new devices occurs. Webscales are learning from prior issues and are actively exploring connectivity options to mitigate the high bandwidth/low latency requirements of AR/VR devices to ensure user experience is acceptable.

TBR has revamped its original Webscale ICT Market Landscape starting with the 1H21 publication. As part of this revamp, the report name has been changed to Webscale Digital Ecosystem Market Landscape. Though this report still covers the end-to-end digital ecosystem endeavors of the major webscales at a holistic level, the content of this report will focus on webscales’ disruption of the telecom industry. The 1H21 publication of the report specifically focuses on webscales’ disruption of the network intelligence-layer technologies domain. TBR’s next edition, expected to publish in January 2022, will focus on the connectivity infrastructure and connectivity business model disruption endeavors of the webscales and what this means for telcos and vendors.

How ecosystems turn cloud technology into solutions

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As enterprise customers’ cloud deployments mature, they are exploring a greater variety of technology-enabled business processes. This trend presents a substantiative opportunity for cloud platform contenders but demands new ways of working with ecosystem partners. While independent software vendors (ISVs) add depth and breadth to portfolios, bringing solutions to market requires greater involvement from SI and consulting entities that understand the processes customers are aiming to modernize, particularly considering the resurgence of industry-led solutions and services.

In this exclusive TBR webinar, Principal Analyst Allan Krans and Senior Analyst Evan Woollacott will discuss the evolving ecosystem among cloud platforms, ISVs and professional services firms as well as best practices developing in the cloud space.

Don’t miss:

  • Review of cloud platform latest portfolio initiatives
  • The role of ISVs in platform programs, and how these programs are encouraging partner buy-in
  • Professional services and consulting firms acting as the tip of the spear to vendor go to market

Register today to reserve your space

TBR webinars are held typically on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. ET and include a 15-minute Q&A session following the main presentation. Previous webinars can be viewed anytime on TBR’s Webinar Portal.

For additional information or to arrange a briefing with our analysts, please contact TBR at [email protected].

Deconstructing COVID-19’s impact on IT services and manufacturing

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For IT services vendors working with manufacturers, resiliency, business continuity, security and digitalization spark new revenue growth

During 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected IT services vendors’ revenue growth in industrial solutions, manufacturing and automotive due to country lockdowns across the globe that caused major supply chain and production disruptions. Enterprises in the sector weathered the worst of the pandemic at the beginning of 2020 and made the necessary run-the-business changes to improve operational efficiency and reduce costs. As such, IT services vendors evolved their relationships and are now working with clients to ensure their IT and workforces are modernized, secure and digitally enabled and their operations are resilient.

Uncertainty around the pandemic can continue to create disruptions like the supply chain challenges faced at the onset of the crisis. IT services vendors are capitalizing on their advise-build-run expertise to support clients during challenging times and capture growth opportunities, indicated by the revenue growth acceleration that began in 4Q20. Vendors are investing in digital twins to enhance their supply chain, digital sales and marketing as well as in AI and machine learning capabilities to offset pressure.

According to TBR’s special report Digital twins, innovation and Godzilla: 3 IT services trends for the rest of 2021, published in April, digital twins are becoming more synonymous within the supply chain of manufacturing firms as they present a hedge against unique macroeconomic factors, such as the pandemic. Larger technology vendors are finding partnerships, bringing cloud-enabled analytics to shipping, and opening opportunities for IT services vendors and consultancies. These openings allow for interoperability across supply chains, orchestration of technologies and data, and change management.

With COVID-19 disrupting global supply chains and forcing participants to seek alternative channels to either reduce transaction costs enabled by blockchain or transform IT infrastructure by migrating applications to cloud to offset technical debt and diminish financials pressure, some vendors have had the opportunity to gain a prime position. Six of the top 10 revenue leaders in industrial solutions, manufacturing and automotive accelerated revenue growth year-to-year in 1Q21 compared to 1Q20.

Accenture is gaining traction with manufacturing clients by helping them improve operational technology security and discrete manufacturing processes to optimize efficiencies. Accenture is also investing in developing, integrating and connecting smart devices that help Accenture drive Industry X-centric sales and extensions into C&SI services around analytics and AI. SAP implementation opportunities enabling agile IT infrastructure through SAP Business Suite 4 HANA and improving customer experience through SAP Fiori, illustrated by the deal expansions with Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and Johnson Controls, helped Infosys grow vertical sales 7.4% on an annual basis in 1Q21.

Acquisitions contribute to IT services vendors’ expansion in engineering and R&D services

The acquisition of Altran in April 2020 expanded Capgemini’s capabilities and revenues in the sector. On Jan. 1 the company established Capgemini Engineering, a new global business line and brand. Capgemini Engineering includes 52,000 engineers and scientists and provides R&D and engineering capabilities in three domains: product and systems engineering, digital and software engineering, and industrial operations.

In March Cognizant announced plans to acquire ESG Mobility, a Germany-based provider of engineering R&D servicers for autonomous and electric vehicles. The acquisition will provide Cognizant with advanced technologies to complement its existing automotive capabilities, giving the company an opportunity to upsell existing clients that are targeting growth in autonomous or connected vehicles.

Recent acquisitions, such as Eximius Design and International TechneGroup Incorporated, bolstered Wipro’s capabilities around digital engineering services and product lifecycle management, which will strengthen the company’s ability to provide client-specific outcomes in areas like industrial manufacturing, a vertical that cloud platforms are targeting for growth given the IaaS opportunity related to IoT data.

DXC’s acquisition of Luxoft in 2019 continues to enable DXC to move up the value chain as it expanded the company’s presence in Europe, deepened its expertise within the manufacturing industry and added high-value digital engineering capabilities. During 1Q21 DXC Luxoft launched a joint venture, ALLUTO, with LG around vehicle customer experience and will focus on the commercialization of digital automotive technologies, such as in-vehicle entertainment and infotainment as well as ride-hailing systems.

The 1Q21 IT Services Vendor Benchmark, which published on June 30, extends the analysis above to include how pairing technology and engineering skills and low-cost presence positions India-centric vendors for growth in manufacturing in the coming quarters and further adoption of technology partners’ solutions to advance Industrial IoT initiatives.

Note: This blog has been adapted from TBR’s 1Q21 IT Services Vendor Benchmark, which provides a quarterly assessment of leading IT services vendors’ performances and an assessment of their strategies. A newly launched Industry Views section within the benchmark provides analysis that focuses on one industry sector. In 1Q21 TBR began with a deep dive on the industrial solutions, manufacturing and automotive sector. Every quarter we will alternate industry deep dives with geo deep dives.

‘Get it right, be convincing and do it fast’: PwC’s Risk Proof upends risk assessments

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As the New Equation was announced, PwC’s Cyber, Risk & Regulatory practice was ready

When PwC US Chairman Tim Ryan described trust within the firm’s recently unveiled “The New Equation,” he discussed a variety of business issues, including data, compliance, and environmental commitments, that increasingly challenge PwC’s clients and that “all come back to trust.” The firm, in Ryan’s explanation, can help clients build trust not only within their own organization but also as a client’s core characteristic. Ryan’s description of the importance PwC places on trust, highlighted as part of the firm’s US Analyst Day earlier this month, loudly echoed what TBR heard from the firm’s Financial Crimes team earlier this year during a briefing on the firm’s Risk Proof product offering.

Jeff Lavine, PwC’s Global Financial Crimes leader, told TBR in May that PwC’s Cyber, Risk & Regulatory practice helps clients quantify and measure risk; tell their boards, investors and regulators a convincing and compelling story; and move clients from checking the risk box to administering meaningful control over their enterprise’s risks. That extension of trust — from PwC, fully through the client and into the client’s ecosystem — perfectly syncs with the firm’s New Equation and suggests sustained alignment throughout the various parts of PwC, including the new Trust and Consulting organizations, will be critical to making the New Equation the kind of generational change Ryan anticipates.

Lavine and Vikas Agarwal, PwC’s Risk Products and Financial Crimes Unit leader, detailed for TBR the overall Cyber, Risk & Regulatory practice, including several distinct service lines, from strategy, to data analytics, implementation, and managed services. The Strategy service line takes a compliance and licensing perspective into advising clients on opportunities, particularly around financial technology (fintech). Risk and Controls, staffed by former regulators and experienced risk professionals, provides advice, testing and validation for clients’ risk practices. Operations, the largest of the service lines, provides anti-money-laundering and Know Your Customer (KYC) solutions, primarily based on open-source technology, which, according to PwC, helps the firm more rapidly deliver results. According to Lavine, “We go faster because we’re not a platform.” And Technology and Analytics focuses on implementing risk solutions.

With these well-established service lines providing a foundation, PwC — as part of the firmwide recognition of PwC Products — examined the opportunities for developing a robust, scalable and flexible product to bring the firm’s expertise to a wider market. PwC considered feedback from clients across the full spectrum of the firm’s engagements around risk, examined where white space existed in the current market, and analyzed which current risk trends and needs would continue beyond the next few years, ensuring PwC could build — and properly price — a sustainable and profitable product.

From consulting engagements to subscriptions: A better way to assess risk

Risk Proof, PwC’s platform approach to risk assessment, helps clients perform three basic but essential actions: quantify and measure risk; tell a more robust story to boards, investors, employees and clients; and transition from taking an administrative and reactive risk posture to exercising meaningful risk controls. With features common now in many PwC Products, such as customizable dashboards and interactive reporting, the Risk Proof platform also builds on the firm’s trusted brand around data, financial reporting, compliance and, increasingly, technology.

From a functional perspective, Risk Proof appears to be straightforward; from a strategic perspective, Risk Proof addresses what Agarwal described as critical for enterprises in increasingly interconnected and data-intensive ecosystems, stating that “getting a good risk assessment is foundational to a good financial crimes practice, for example.” While Agarwal may have been reflecting views primarily held by financial institutions required to meet financial crimes regulations, the overall sentiment that good risk assessment is foundational to good business practices stretches across every enterprise and all industry segments. And for companies seeking help around risk, PwC’s Risk Proof solution, in Lavine’s words, allows them to “get it right, be convincing and do it fast.”

Risk Proof also helps PwC. Currently, the firm conducts 15 to 20 risk assessments per year, using a methodology that, while thorough and expansive, requires considerable manual processes and runs up against data and audit trail limitations. In place of these risk assessments, clients can now subscribe to Risk Proof and access all the assessment, reporting and decision-making tools at a fraction of the traditional risk assessment engagement costs. While that opens up a wider market for PwC — those enterprises less likely or unable to pay Big Four rates for risk services — Risk Proof also cannibalizes PwC’s risk revenues.

For Lavine, even with that cannibalization, the firm benefits in the long run in three ways. First, PwC is acting upon itself, rather than being disrupted, which gives the firm some control over the pace and damage of any cannibalization. Second, the Risk Proof dashboard helps PwC better understand its clients, allowing the firm to make better-informed recommendations for other consulting or technology-driven work, ultimately boosting the total relationship value. And, third — rather neatly echoing Ryan’s point about trust and the New Equation — reducing a client’s spend on risk while increasing the client’s capabilities to assess, report and manage risk further enhances the trusted relationship between the client and PwC and between the client and its customers.

Quick Quantum Quips: July quantum developments encompass the entirety of the ecosystem

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Welcome to TBR’s monthly newsletter on the quantum computing market: Quick Quantum Quips (Q3). This market changes rapidly, and the hype can often distract from the realities of the actual technological developments. This newsletter keeps the community up to date on recent announcements while stripping away the hype around developments.

For more details, reach out to Geoff Woollacott or Jacob Fong to set up a time to chat.

July Developments

July quantum industry events spanned the full spectrum of the quantum stack. IBM installed its second quantum system internationally with a research center as part of its ongoing collaboration efforts, which are focused as much on skills development as they are on system innovations. Additionally, incremental scientific improvements are occurring across rival technology stacks in the race to achieve fault tolerant quantum computing. PsiQuantum received large cash infusions for its photonics research, Honeywell released papers outlining its high-fidelity single-qubit and two-qubit gates and China outlined a series of breakthroughs that may give analysts pause from a geopolitical perspective.

Lastly, Dartmouth College announced a collaborative research effort on the various materials that can be utilized in the manufacture of qubits. This last announcement, while low in the overall quantum stack, will be critical for manufacturing yields as these rival quantum architectures inch ever closer to viable, economically advantageous systems to apply against real-world intractable problems. 

IBM: Big Blue continued its global quantum expansion with its second international deployment of its flagship quantum computer, IBM System One, in the Kawasaki Business Incubation Center, located just outside Tokyo in Kawasaki, Japan. The deployment is part of a 2019 partner agreement between IBM and the University of Tokyo, and is IBM’s second-ever on-premises quantum installation, following the one it completed for Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute in June.

These international deployments should prove advantageous as IBM improves relations with influential organizations, which will allow IBM to tap into their deep academic talent pools. Another benefit of having closer relations with academic and research institutions is the ability to evangelize the technology and skills development needed to grow the talent pool from the roots up, a strategy IBM has supported for years. The company’s partnerships and recent deployments illustrate how it is tactically executing on the early phases of that strategy.

PsiQuantum: This quantum startup came out of stealth mode last year with a $215 million venture capital investment round with notable investors such as Blackrock and Microsoft, which caught the attention of the quantum industry. PsiQuantum, a quantum computing hardware company that is using photonics as its qubits, has the ambitious goal of creating a 1 million qubit processor — a milestone that is expected to unlock the potential of a universal quantum computer.

In late July PsiQuantum announced another colossal funding round with Blackrock and Microsoft as returning investors in its Series D round that net the company $450 million. In May the company signed a deal with GlobalFoundries to house PsiQuantum’s quantum chip manufacturing inside GlobalFoundries’ fabrication facilities. This partnership is critical as PsiQuantum plans to leverage fabrication techniques used in classical semiconductors being produced today. While the company asserts it has customers in various industries and is providing use-case and algorithm identification services, it has had limited means to produce meaningful revenue without a prototype. While development of a million-qubit processor is still a long way out, the investment provides PsiQuantum additional capital to scale its R&D operations while maintaining significant cash runway.

Honeywell: In September 2020 Honeywell Quantum Solutions introduced its latest 10-qubit ion trap quantum computer, System Model H1. Since then, the company has made strides to improve the fidelity of the system and the overall system performance metric created by IBM, called Quantum Volume (QV). When the system was released, it had a QV of 128, and in March the system reached a QV of 512. In July IBM announced it doubled its QV once again, achieving a QV of 1024. The system averaged a single-qubit gate fidelity of 99.99(1)% and an average two-qubit gate fidelity of 99.72(6)%. The company attributed the improvement to techniques involving real-time error correction by creating a logical qubit out of seven linked ion trap qubits.

China: Three papers on quantum computing and communication achievements of physicists at the University of Science and Technology of China were published in arXiv.org, an open-source archive owned by Cornell University that contains pre-peer reviewed scientific papers. One of the three papers reported that the physicists had successfully transmitted single photons over 300km of fiber using quantum dots. A second paper reported an achievement in photonics where scientists were able to detect 113 individual photons using Gaussian boson sampling (GBS), which was an improvement on the 76 detected photons from previous experiments. The third paper discussed an experiment that built on Google’s 2019 Sycamore demonstration, using a 66-qubit superconducting computer. The paper claims that the sampling problem the quantum computer finished was “2-3 orders of magnitude higher than the previous work on 53-qubit Sycamore processor” in computational difficulty.

Since none of these papers have been peer reviewed yet, it is imperative the results be taken with a grain of salt. However, considering the concealed nature of China’s quantum computing developments, the papers provide a window into the country’s progress. With techno-nationalism and geopolitical tensions peaking, there is a likelihood that in the coming months political action will take place in the West in the form of investment as the quantum race heats up.

Dartmouth: The Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College is launching a three-year initiative that will be led by the school’s Engineering Professor Geoffroy Hautier and include researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Funded by a $2.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, the initiative’s focus is to identify various materials that can be used as viable qubits for quantum computing. There are currently a handful of materials being used — depending on the compatibility of their properties with the architectural framework of the device — to create differing qubits, with the synonymous goal of storing quantum information. Some examples of these qubit foundations include Ytterbium ions (ion trap), silicon atom electrons (spin qubit) and photons (photonic), among many more. Research into the raw materials and those that are best suited for production will provide the long-term benefit of improving manufacturing yields at scale.

Innovation, Amsterdam and an arena: How KPMG teams excel at transformations and technology

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After KPMG highlighted the firm’s relationship with Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam at a recent analyst event, TBR requested a follow-up discussion to better understand how the innovation team at the arena had been excelling at many of the key characteristics TBR has identified in consultancies’ and IT services vendors’ innovation and transformation centers around the world. TBR met with Sander van Stiphout, the arena’s innovation lead, and Wilco Leenslag, the KPMG partner leading his firm’s efforts with the arena.

Framed within the context of TBR’s recently published Innovation and Transformation Centers Market Landscape, three key elements of van Stiphout’s work at the arena stood out

Trust is crucial  

First, the arena’s innovation team works with external clients on a subscription basis, a business model rarely deployed by consultancies and IT services vendors. The arena’s clients, which include startups and enterprises testing new technologies and means of enhancing the customer experience, have to fully trust the arena’s innovation team will deliver value for the investment they are paying in subscriptions. TBR believes this business model may be directly related to the unique nature of an arena but could be replicated by a consulting firm or IT services vendor that is willing to bet on collaboration consistently leading to valuable, and deployable, innovation.   

Make your pitch and test your tech  

A second key element that stood out was how the Johan Cruijff Arena serves as a test bed in multiple ways, benefiting the arena’s clients that are startups and the arena itself. Startups not only test their technology solutions in a real-world environment with continuous access to all the variables found in any sporting or entertainment event, but van Stiphout noted that startups also pitch the solutions to internal operational professionals at the arena. For example, the arena’s marketing department must approve a marketing solution prior to testing, enabling startups to pitch and refine solutions with a real-world client before taking it to other clients.

Innovations, particularly from startups, often stall when they meet real-world requirements and clients making investment decisions beyond prototypes. By creating a stage for startups to test run both their product pitch and their product, the Johan Cruijff Arena innovation team helps these companies overcome that innovation roadblock. Additionally, this prototyping method helps to overcome issues associated with the traditional engagement model of working with clients’ innovation departments on pilot projects. Specifically, TBR often hears of emerging technologies becoming “stuck in pilot mode,” a challenge that we feel is directly related to the sheer number of ecosystem participants that are required to scale a solution after proving its value to a client. With the arena-led engagement model, ecosystem entities must first work together ahead of a live trial in the arena, addressing the issue of scaling before testing, not after. 

Hyperconverged: Insights from TBR’s Data Center team

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Speed of HCI market evolution accelerates due to COVID-19

Join Principal Analyst and Practice Manager Angela Lambert for a discussion on the top trends found in TBR’s Hyperconverged Platforms Customer Research. Angela will also share insights on how vendors can align to changes in enterprise customers’ infrastructure strategies and support customers’ top needs.

Don’t miss:

  • How COVID-19 impacted the hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) market
  • Trends in data center consolidation and HCI implications
  • The role of hybrid cloud and key use cases driving HCI adoption

Register today to reserve your space

TBR webinars are held typically on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. ET and include a 15-minute Q&A session following the main presentation. Previous webinars can be viewed anytime on TBR’s Webinar Portal.

For additional information or to arrange a briefing with our analysts, please contact TBR at [email protected].

WEBINAR FAQS

Atos launches ‘Atos Computer Vision Platform’, the first highly scalable end-to-end Artificial Intelligence video and image analytics platform

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“Atos proposes a range of edge servers to deploy computer vision at the edge in real-time, close to the data source – this is the BullSequana Edge and BullSequana Edge nano. The rugged BullSequana Edge nano can be used in any type of environment: from the shop floor, to outdoor and highly constrained environments in remote locations such as in outdoor construction, industrial mining or at sea. ‘Atos stands out among IT services providers with its ability to offer a computer vision platform, combining its own software suite, hardware range and AI computer vision labs to deliver holistic advise-build-run solutions to clients addressing their business needs at scale. Integrating pre-trained & customizable AI models in hardware improves Atos’ ability to drive profitable growth through automation and recurring revenue streams.’ said Elitsa Bakalova, Senior Professional Services Analyst at Technology Business Research.” — Atos

Digital transformation for market, competitive and strategy intelligence

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TBR is the first place we look for a foundational, normalized view to benchmark against core competitors in markets that are important to our firm. — Senior Manager, Strategy, Big Four


TBR dedicates a significant portion of our research to the technologies and company actions around digital transformation. We have found that the most impactful digital transformation action vendors take is the simultaneous transformation of their business process and business model. TBR has spent years analyzing the world’s leading IT services vendors and management consultancies as they practice the art of digital transformation, and in September 2021 we will proudly share the product of our own transformation with the launch of TBR Insight Center™.


The legacy market research company model of report building and data gathering was one of rigidity. Output, and the related analyst activity, was on a quarterly or annual cadence, which created a decreased ability for analysts to react and pivot to rapid changes in the market. TBR’s digital transformation first focused on modernizing our internal systems, including our research and modeling processes. The result is a proprietary, digitally enabled market, competitive and strategy intelligence platform that quickens time to insight, decision and risk mitigation for our clients.


Gone are the days of searching through multiple issues of the same vendor analysis to find the perfect quote, chart or actionable insight. With TBR Insight Center™, users will be able to curate an ongoing stream of real-time analysis, keyed to the vendors or topics of greatest interest.


Publicly released financials will continue to be the first step in the data gathering process for TBR’s empirically opinionated, bottom-up analysis, but it is just the beginning. TBR will leverage 26 years of financial modeling expertise, along with modern data science, among other methodologies, to derive a level of proprietary data unavailable via other sources. Users will be able to select their desired vendors, metrics, time periods, geographies and verticals, taking a syndicated — or “off the shelf” — stream of research and customizing it to the specific application and uses cases required. These views can be built, saved and distributed within your company with ease. Data can also be fed into Excel or directly to your own systems for internal modeling and report building. Beta users of TBR Insight Center™ have attested to saving dozens of hours per month with this simple, but dramatic, workflow transformation powered by our digital-first research platform.


Additionally, significant events, announcements and disruptions occur off-cadence, creating gaps in delivery of analysis within the legacy frameworks. TBR Insight Center™ will display our analysts’ real-time analysis of these events within users’ custom dashboards and reports. This workflow transformation, leveraging our digital platform internally, cuts the time needed to build market reports from up to two months to a matter of days.


Tools our industry experts used to accelerate collaboration during TBR’s internal transformation are now available to TBR Insight Center™ users. Clients’ teams can build custom dashboards with comments sections where they can pull in configurable, curatable and composable analysis from TBR content as a basis for their own internal company discussions of their business operations. This analysis is displayed on a private instance of TBR Insight Center™ via your firm’s existing licensing agreement.


During the recent change within TBR, not only did collaboration accelerate because of the efficacy of our digital transformation, but we also saw an overall increase in collaboration across the broader organization. As friction was removed through our digital transformation, we saw a multiplying effect; cross-practice analysis occurred faster and happened with greater frequency. This efficiency has enabled an already world-class organization to increase speed to operational intelligence. These same collaboration and distribution functions are native to TBR Insight Center™. The only question that remains is, how will your organization maximize our digital transformation and the delivery of TBR analysis within your firm?


De-risk and speed time to business decisions with the right data and the right analysis in the right hands, all while enabling collaboration on those insights and data. Multiply your firm’s operational intelligence with TBR Insight Center™, available September 2021.


Reserve your seat for the inaugural TBR Insight Center™ worldwide live demonstration

PwC accelerates SaaS strategy as latest round of solutions aim to solve marketers’ business challenges

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In a series of conversations with PwC leaders during the past quarter, TBR learned more about the company’s growing products portfolio, including PwC Customer Link and PwC Media Intelligence, in addition to receiving an update on PwC’s CMO advisory practice. TBR spoke with Brian Morris, Customer Analytics and Marketing lead overseeing PwC Customer Link, and Derek Baker, CMO Advisory lead overseeing PwC Media Intelligence. While each capability serves a specific client need, a common approach and business models suggest PwC is accelerating its portfolio transformation without losing sight of the need to deliver outcomes.

Productizing knowledge while relying on trust expands PwC’s addressable market opportunities with the marketing department and beyond

As PwC continues to evolve its business model, the firm’s push into selling products not only expands PwC’s addressable market opportunities but also elevates its brand, compelling software incumbents to pay closer attention. Both the PwC Customer Link and PwC Media Intelligence solutions are part of the PwC Products catalog and support the firm’s goal of driving SaaS and managed services sales. While both products enable marketing departments’ transformation discussions, each also bolsters PwC’s value proposition with noncore buyers, including chief digital officers and chief data officers, as well as internal audit departments in the case of PwC Media Intelligence.

Relying heavily on its PwC CMO Advisory practice, as well as other areas of the firm, such as its network of Experience Centers, as the medium to introduce these offerings helps PwC drive conversations for cross-selling and upselling services. Solving complex issues around managing customer data is an ever-challenging task for clients. Productizing knowledge through the development of pointed solutions helps PwC address client pain points and close business technology gaps. As PwC continues to build client use cases by selling, deploying and managing these solutions, we expect the firm to continue to approach clients through its fundamental lens: helping marketers solve business challenges.  

Solution overview

PwC Customer Link differentiates on its ability to not only connect offline and online data but also to integrate third-party data and provide analytics around it, as the solution uses various data depositories. Key features include Data Manager that handles first-party and all digital data; Insights Manager that allows PwC to perform better analytics segmentation down to the audience level; and Orchestration Manager that supports buyers’ omnichannel campaigns. Additional features include PwC’s ability to work through a technology-agnostic lens and offer supplemental capabilities with cloud data providers such as Salesforce and Adobe.