TBR’s Business Insights

Bad Debt Expenses Will Rise for CSPs in 2026

02.06.26

In a K-shaped economy that increasingly separates financial winners from losers, the majority of households and businesses on the lower arm of the “K” are under mounting financial strain and are finding it more difficult to pay their bills. As these economic pressures persist, communications service providers (CSPs) should expect bad debt expenses to continue rising, with the potential to meet, or even exceed, levels experienced during the Great Recession.

How Will Advanced AI Impact Pricing, Labor Practices and Client Expectations?

02.05.26

Advanced AI may be front and center in IT services strategy, but execution challenges remain a familiar story. Despite ongoing hype around unlocking new efficiencies and nonlinear growth, IT services firms continue to grapple with the reality of needing labor arbitrage in the short term and meeting client expectations.

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AI Alliances Will Increasingly Target OT

02.03.26

New and expanding partnerships are increasingly targeting the convergence of IT and OT, as system integrators (SIs) align with OEMs, manufacturing ISVs and silicon providers. This momentum is driven by the strong growth potential in high-tech manufacturing, where solutions that improve accuracy, efficiency and safety can be deployed on-site without reliance on rack-scale compute systems in neoclouds or Tier 1 clouds. As a result, while AI has long operated at the edge, these partnerships will accelerate both the sophistication of AI-driven use cases and the pace of solution framework development.

Agentic AI Adoption Is Pressuring Security Architectures to Converge

01.29.26

The emerging pattern of multicloud security consolidation has direct implications for both Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft, as enterprises reassess detection pipelines, governance models and operating frameworks heading into 2026. Although AWS remains well positioned in analytics-heavy workloads, the company needs to reevaluate its long-established “building block” approach, especially as peers deliver more integrated platforms. For Microsoft, its strengths will continue to be with organizations where Microsoft 365 already anchors their identity and collaboration strategies.

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The U.S. doesn’t have a Spectrum Shortage — It has a Utilization Problem

01.13.26

The mobile industry continues to beat the drum for more spectrum, but it should instead focus on fully utilizing the spectrum already allocated. TBR notes there are vast tranches of spectrum in the U.S. market that are broadly underutilized, either for technical or economic reasons. And challenges will only worsen as the industry aims to bring upper midband frequencies into the fray, which have greater propagation challenges and are less suited for macro coverage.

Shutdown Ends, but Federal Contractors Face a Slow Return to Normal

12.17.25

The 43-day U.S. federal government shutdown, the longest in history, came to a welcome end on Nov. 13, 2025, but for some federal systems integrators (FSIs), the shutdown’s impact could linger well into federal fiscal year 2026 (FFY26). According to the Professional Services Council, the national trade association for federal technology and professional services contractors, it will take three to five days for agency functions to return to normal for each day of the shutdown, implying that operations at some agencies may not return to normal until March 2026.

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Partnerships, Not Products, Will Define How Consultancies and Native AI Companies Share Value in Agentic AI Era

11.03.25

Just like supporting startup programs, many traditional IT services companies and consultancies have struggled to adequately put themselves in their alliance partners’ shoes. And when those partners are startups or immature native AI companies, that struggle will be harder in the absence of leadership, strategic direction and sustained investment. But that’s the potential downside. The upside is that consultancies are perfectly positioned to be change management specialists, helping their largest clients adopt the best new AI.

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Human Capital Management in the Age of (Agentic) AI

10.07.25

Fundamentally HR management remains a back-office function that IT services companies and consultancies can use to drive managed services engagements. And TBR’s research shows that managed services can lead to additional consulting opportunities, particularly when managed services providers (whether a traditional IT services company or consultancy) partners smartly with technology companies, leveraging the data and insights generated through back-office platforms to uncover issues and opportunities.

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GenAI Outcomes or Autonomous AI Architecture: Where Should CIOs Focus?

10.01.25

What good are AI-enabled solutions if an enterprise’s IT environment and architecture can’t handle the data orchestration demands and IT becomes a roadblock to faster, better, clearer insights from AI, rather than the business accelerator expected of IT departments in the AI era? After more than a decade of consultancies and IT services companies helping IT departments become business drivers, will inadequate architecture slow down AI adoption and AI agents at scale?

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Infographic: Top 2023 Takeaways for the Federal IT Services Market

Technology Business Research, Inc.

Top 2023 Takeaways for the Federal IT Services Market [Infographic]

01.18.24/by John Caucis, Senior Analyst

This infographic contains the three key takeaways from TBR’s latest research on the U.S. federal IT services market and what these events mean for you. Infographic includes takeaways for stakeholders, including M&A prospects, resilient spending trends, and the rise of advisory practices, amidst unprecedented growth in federal IT services.

Product Innovation – How IT Service Vendors are Leveraging Competitive Intelligence

12.08.23/by Kelly Lesiczka, Senior Analyst

IT services vendors are ramping up innovation efforts and bringing in new expertise and resources experience to address emerging needs as client demand reflects a stronger emphasis on software and efficiency solutions.

Strategic Synergy: Maximizing Technology Alliances in the Ever-Changing IT Landscape

11.06.23/by Patrick Heffernan, Practice Manager and Principal Analyst

As everyone expands their offerings and capabilities, knowing the full scope of what your partners do matters now more than ever for success in alliances.

Innovative Ecosystem Expansion: Leveraging Tech Startups for Sustainable Growth in IT Services

10.31.23/by Kelly Lesiczka, Senior Analyst

Expanding ecosystems to include tech startups and research academia will be key to vendors successfully collaborating with partners and clients, remaining ahead of trends and evolving portfolio offerings

IT Infrastructure Vendors Leverage Analytics and AI to Enhance Sustainability Services

10.13.23/by TBR

IT infrastructure consumption analytics underpinning ‘as a Service’ offerings will enable a new level of sustainability-oriented workload management

Jirsak/GettyImages/CanvaPro

Infosys and TCS: Forecasting to 2027 and Anticipating Upcoming Earnings

10.09.23/by Patrick Heffernan, Practice Manager and Principal Analyst

Ahead of quarterly earnings releases, we look at best-case scenarios for CAGR for India-centric vendors Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys.

Peshkov/GettyImages/CanvaPro

No Matter Your Strengths or Strategy, You Must Partner to Deliver on GenAI Opportunities

10.06.23/by Patrick Heffernan, Practice Manager and Principal Analyst

IT services firms possess not only the trust of buyers but also the knowledge of buyers’ businesses to educate clients, and then help tailor GenAI tools to their business needs. In this blog, we look at the strategies and activities of three key players: Accenture, IBM Consulting and Dell Technologies.

The Evolution of Acquisitions, GenAI and Digital Transformation in IT Services and Consulting in 2023

09.20.23/by Patrick Heffernan, Practice Manager and Principal Analyst

Near-term, expect GenAI opportunities around consulting and limited case uses around productivity

Enterprise Storage Remains a Highly Competitive Space in 2023

09.08.23/by Angela Lambert, Principal Analyst and Practice Manager

Disruptive vendors are adding pressure to incumbents with targeted strategies to push into enterprise storage accounts

Telecom Industry Navigated Weakening Macro Backdrop Well in 1H23, but 2H23 and 2024 Will Likely be a More Challenging Situation

09.07.23/by Chris Antlitz, Principal Analyst

Despite holding up relatively well thus far in 2023, CSPs face significant challenges in managing their debt — the pressure is on to grow revenue and monetize their 5G investments

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