TBR’s Business Insights

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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Amdocs Is Well Positioned to Continue Absorbing Market Share in the Telecom Industry; AI Is a Key Growth Vector

09.24.25

Although TBR believes it is very early days for agentic AI branding, Amdocs’ early foray into this emerging area and thought leadership underscore how the company is seeking to move into new and adjacent areas as it expands its offerings, especially around consulting, design and transformation enablement.

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HCLTech’s Expanding KYC Journey: From Technology Provider to Trusted Compliance Partner

09.11.25

By evolving its KYC offerings across platforms and clients, HCLTech has shifted from tech implementer to outcomes-driven partner.

DOGE drives civil sector slowdown; defense contractors gear up as Trump’s budget shifts billions to military priorities

08.04.25

The Trump administration’s recent “skinny” budget proposal for FFY26 suggests that nondefense spending will fall from around $720 billion in FFY25 to approximately $557 billion in FFY26, representing a 23% decline. Contractors with any level of exposure to the civilian sector can expect agency reorganizations, layoffs, budget reductions and in-depth contract reviews within civil agencies for the remainder of FFY25 and likely into at least the first half of FFY26. The pace of new awards has already slowed significantly at some civilian agencies, as has the rate of new bookings on existing civilian engagements.

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Geopolitics with Purpose: EY-Parthenon Drives Strategy, Not Just Awareness

07.17.25

TBR has long maintained that the Big Four firms have an inherent advantage against all competitors when it comes to understanding and advising on geopolitical risk. Perhaps only the U.S. government has the same global spread of talent, with professionals in nearly every country, most intimately aware of local business, economic and even political trends. When EY-Parthenon showed off its Geopolitical Advisory team recently, TBR wanted to know: Is this something special?

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Conducting Competitive Intelligence Research – A How To

06.26.23/by Patrick Heffernan, Practice Manager and Principal Analyst

Patrick M. Heffernan, Principal Analyst and Practice Manager, has strong opinions on what it takes to conduct useful competitive intelligence research, and in this blog, he dives into three steps for producing research that will support your business goals and help you win in your industry.

Conducting an Opportunity Analysis the TBR Way

06.26.23/by TBR

Opportunity analysis is one of the most critical and complex forms of research. It frames the big bets that technology, telecommunications and professional services companies make.

When Will PC Demand Rebound?

06.21.23/by Ben Carbonneau, Senior Data Analyst

TBR strongly believes a material rebound in the PC market will only begin in conjunction with the next major refresh cycle. However, this is dictated by several factors.

The Big 10, the 200, and Accenture’s Ever Successful Alliance Strategy

06.05.23/by Bozhidar Hristov, Principal Analyst

Demonstrating value requires trust within the ecosystem, and Accenture’s success in recent years provides a robust framework for what it takes to earn and maintain that trust.

Layoffs, AI and Optimization: Exploring Top Trends of the Chaotic Digital Landscape

05.31.23/by Patrick Heffernan, Practice Manager and Principal Analyst

An exploration of the top trends generating excessive confusion and fear in a macroeconomic climate that has already been befouled by inflation smog and a potential debt default: tech sector layoffs, generative AI and digital optimization.

PTC Liveworx Showcases Evolving Alliances and Trends in Partnering

05.25.23/by Patrick Heffernan, Practice Manager and Principal Analyst

A look at the three alliances trends noted during PTX Liveworx in Boston: Selling, trust and engineering DNA

SoftwareOne Acquires Beniva in ServiceNow Expansion Play

05.22.23/by Bozhidar Hristov, Principal Analyst

In a discussion with TBR, SoftwareOne’s regional vice president & transformation leader, explained that the acquisition of Beniva would help SoftwareOne move more expansively into the ServiceNow space, but in a manner that plays to two of SoftwareOne’s strengths: value-added software reselling and ITAM services.

What Is Driving Wireless Revenue Growth for U.S. Operators?

05.10.23/by Steve Vachon, Senior Analyst

Despite the relatively mature smartphone market, the majority of U.S. telecom operators were able to sustain year-to-year wireless revenue growth in 4Q22. Though inflation is limiting discretionary spending, operators are withstanding these pressures as wireless connectivity remains essential to most consumer and business customers. However, operators are being impacted by certain customers seeking lower-priced service plans to accommodate their tighter budgets, which is spurring operators to introduce new entry-level service plans, such as Verizon’s Welcome Unlimited plan.

Blog series: Gimme 3 Insight Interviews with TBR's Subject-matter Experts

Technology Business Research, Inc.

Why Federal IT Contractors and Commercial Tech Firms Need to Align

05.05.23/by TBR

In this month’s Gimme 3, Patrick chats with TBR Federal IT Services lead and Senior Analyst John Caucis on the U.S. federal IT operations and alliance activity of market newcomers Accenture, CGI and IBM

How Important Are Vendor Ecosystems in Network Services Deployment, and How Are They Evolving?

05.03.23/by TBR

For prime contractors, managing an ecosystem of subcontractors is a constant challenge. These challenges are prompting vendors to reevaluate their subcontractor ecosystem strategies, driving change in the makeup of subcontractor ecosystems as well as the approaches used to manage partners

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