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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PwC offers rosy outlook for Middle East economies in 2023

02.03.23/by Patrick Heffernan, Practice Manager and Principal Analyst

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Learn why IT services vendors and consultancies must make smart choices around IP and ecosystems in industrial IoT (IIoT)

What’s next for Lockheed Martin after being left out of ABMS consortium?

11.28.22/by James Wichert, Analyst

Notably, Lockheed Martin was left out of the ABMS Digital Infrastructure Consortium, despite ramping up its efforts to underpin the DOD’s JADC2 vision.

Special Report: TBR 2023 Digital Transformation Predictions

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Top 3 Predictions for Digital Transformation (DT) in 2023

11.21.22/by Patrick Heffernan, Practice Manager and Principal Analyst

TBR starts off 2023 with 3 predictions surrounding Digital Transformation. The report includes commentary revolving around Metaverse, AI and how hyperscalers will kill technology agnosticism.

Special Report: TBR 2023 Professional Services Predictions

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Top 3 Predictions for Professional Services (IT Services Vendors) in 2023

11.21.22/by Patrick Heffernan, Practice Manager and Principal Analyst

Many IT services vendors and consultancies are reconstituting in new forms, bringing some chaos to the digital transformation landscape and upending alliances in 2023. TBR discusses this and more in our Top 3 Predictions for Professional Services in 2023 report.

Special Report: TBR 2023 Telecom Predictions

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Top 3 Predictions for Telecom Going Into 2023 and Beyond

11.21.22/by Chris Antlitz, Principal Analyst

TBR’s top predictions for the upcoming year include the telecom industry facing an unprecedented level of uncertainty and risk in 2023

Special Report: TBR 2023 Cloud & Software Predictions

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Top 5 Predictions for Cloud & Software Vendors in 2023

11.21.22/by Allan Krans, Practice Manager and Principal Analyst

TBR’s 2023 Report featuring Predictions for Cloud and Software vendors is now live. With unprecedented times upon this, we discuss how cloud vendors will use predictable strategies going into 2023 and beyond.

Special Report: TBR 2023 IT Infrastructure Predictions

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IT Infrastructure Predictions and Trends for 2023 and Beyond

11.21.22/by Angela Lambert, Principal Analyst and Practice Manager

Competition among infrastructure vendors will be stiff as ever going into 2023, leaving vendors hungry to increase their relevance and value to customers outside the traditional data center.