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.

Gustavo Quiroga Gaitan, Canva Pro

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.

Saitharn, Getty Images via Canva Pro

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.

Getty Images via Canva Pro

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.

Getty Images via Canva Pro

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.

Getty Images via Canva Pro

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?

Previous Next

Our most-read analysis, free in your inbox each week!

Fill out the form to the right to subscribe to Insights Flight today

Quick Quantum Quips: Vendors seek ways to increase quantum accessibility

03.03.21/by admin

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 […]

Women in STEM: EY’s Kris Lovejoy on the importance of mentorship

02.12.21/by admin

The STEM field is growing, creating tremendous opportunity for well-trained applicants. While STEM has traditionally been a male-dominated field, cultivating interest at the undergraduate level can help draw in more women who may have the necessary skills but have never considered STEM as a career path. In TBR’s monthly series Women in STEM, we discuss […]

Quick Quantum Quips: Quantum use cases expand to new industries

01.29.21/by admin

Cloud migration rises to top as central IT investment for driving IaaS and PaaS adoption

01.20.21/by admin

Key Insights The pandemic has laid bare the benefits of the cloud, serving as a proof point for the central role cloud plays in supporting organizations’ short- and long-term digital transformation road maps. COVID-19 has dramatically accelerated the timeline for cloud adoption for many organizations, with public cloud as the most common method of delivery […]

Women in STEM: IBM’s Jennifer Glick on navigating the quantum career path

01.15.21/by admin

Technology Business Research, Inc.

Hybrid delivery models, diversified partnerships and expanded portfolios alleviate vendor revenue pressures

01.05.21/by Elitsa Bakalova, Senior Analyst

Key Insights Hybrid delivery — Virtual selling and management consulting service delivery replace face-to-face interactions between vendors, clients and partners. Partnerships — Emerging technologies necessitate more complex ecosystems, pressuring all players in the IT services space to partner differently. Portfolio expansion — Vendors are establishing applications and infrastructure managed services capabilities to provide design-build-run solutions. […]

Collaboration is key to the advancement of quantum computing technology

12.30.20/by admin

Key Insights Commercialization is both a challenge and a solution in the quantum space. Commercializing systems will help alleviate some of the anticipated investment shortages as investors want faster ROI than the quantum landscape road map can promise. Training can help end customers better understand the practical uses for quantum computing, as well as the […]

Subscribe to Insights Flight today!

TBR’s Business Insights

Bad Debt Expenses Will Rise for CSPs in 2026

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

AI Alliances Will Increasingly Target OT

Agentic AI Adoption Is Pressuring Security Architectures to Converge

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

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

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

Human Capital Management in the Age of (Agentic) AI

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

Our most-read analysis, free in your inbox each week!

Quick Quantum Quips: Vendors seek ways to increase quantum accessibility

Women in STEM: EY’s Kris Lovejoy on the importance of mentorship

Quick Quantum Quips: Quantum use cases expand to new industries

Cloud migration rises to top as central IT investment for driving IaaS and PaaS adoption

Women in STEM: IBM’s Jennifer Glick on navigating the quantum career path

Hybrid delivery models, diversified partnerships and expanded portfolios alleviate vendor revenue pressures

Collaboration is key to the advancement of quantum computing technology

Quick Quantum Quips: Investments in componentry accelerates

Quick Quantum Quips: Quantum systems become increasingly accessible

Quick Quantum Quips: New firms add their names to the quantum landscape