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

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

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

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

Manufacturing Growth Slows, But EMEA IT Services Vendors Find Lifeline in Public Sector Wins
This quarter, we look at Accenture, Atos, Capgemini and IBM Consulting in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) market, and compare how their industry diversification, portfolios and localization strategies position them for revenue growth. Atos and Capgemini, the two IT services companies whose EMEA revenue makes up over half of total revenue, experienced a steady decline in trailing 12-month (TTM) year-to-year revenue growth in recent quarters. Yet, Accenture and IBM were better able to maintain growth as macroeconomic conditions deteriorated in recent quarters.

Capgemini to Acquire WNS for $3.3B, Tripling BPO Revenue and Accelerating AI Ambitions
The acquisition undoubtedly serves as an important stepping stone to transform Capgemini’s BPO offerings, which are housed in its Operations & Engineering segment, yet Capgemini must be strategic with its approach, balancing new clients’ expectations with the introduction of incremental GenAI and agentic AI capabilities. Capgemini’s recent investments in partner-enabled portfolio offerings position the company well for a large change in the segment, such as its new agentic AI offerings announced with Google Cloud in April and its NVIDIA NIM-powered industry-specific agentic AI solutions and agentic gallery.

DOGE Federal IT Vendor Impact Series: Maximus
Partnerships will be integral as vendors across the federal IT market look to quickly demonstrate their value to the new administration. While Maximus has historically been quiet regarding its alliance activity, this could change as the vendor aims to avoid falling behind. For example, Maximus recently announced a partnership with Salesforce to augment its CX as a Service efforts. The Maximus Total Experience Management solution is being augmented with the Agentforce platform to provide clients with AI agents tailored to their needs that use data to adapt to citizens’ needs and simplify interactions.
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The Big 10, the 200, and Accenture’s Ever Successful Alliance Strategy
/by Bozhidar Hristov, Principal AnalystDemonstrating 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
/by Patrick Heffernan, Practice Manager and Principal AnalystAn 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
/by Patrick Heffernan, Practice Manager and Principal AnalystA look at the three alliances trends noted during PTX Liveworx in Boston: Selling, trust and engineering DNA
SoftwareOne Acquires Beniva in ServiceNow Expansion Play
/by Bozhidar Hristov, Principal AnalystIn 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?
/by Steve Vachon, Senior AnalystDespite 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.
Why Federal IT Contractors and Commercial Tech Firms Need to Align
/by TBRIn 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?
/by TBRFor 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
Changes in MI/CI Observed by TBR
/by TBRThe biggest change for CI/MI (competitive intelligence/market intelligence) in 2023 is the intensification of the “do more for less” mandate. Doing more for less has always been part and parcel of the CI/MI experience, but it’s particularly true in 2023.
Comcast Business Showcases Significant Progression Toward Becoming a Leading Global Provider of Secure Networking Solutions at 2023 Analyst Conference
/by Steve Vachon, Senior AnalystThe 2023 Comcast Business Analyst Conference highlighted Comcast’s evolution from primarily serving local small businesses with traditional connectivity solutions during its infancy to its current ambition of competing as a leading global provider of secure networking solutions, supported by the Masergy acquisition and Comcast Business’ burgeoning enterprise business.
What’s Next for Innovation and Transformation Centers?
/by TBRLearn how vendors are handling investments in innovation and transformation centers amid macroeconomic volatility and buyers reassessing their budget priorities