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.

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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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TCS poised for strategic purchases in 2020 as peers’ M&A activity slows

07.06.20/by John Croll, Analyst

Despite COVID-19 pressures, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has not shied away from enacting bold initiatives, evidenced by the announcement of Vision 25×25 during the company’s CY1Q20 earnings call. Even in the face of decelerating revenue growth in the first quarter, executives remained optimistic, suggesting that — unlike the broader trend in the IT services industry […]

Quick Quantum Quips: Vendors lay the groundwork for regional and technological differentiation as commercialization of quantum computers looms

06.30.20/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 will keep the community up to date on recent announcements, while stripping away the hype around developments. For more details, reach […]

Even with slower growth, management consultancies should come through 2020 positioned to help clients weather disrupted digital transformations

06.23.20/by admin

Management consulting market summary Outlook Regardless of whether the pandemic lingers, re-emerges in the second half of 2020 or significantly subsides, TBR expects consultancies will benefit from opportunities created by the chaos of COVID-19, such as uneven responses from government authorities around economic fallout, pandemic protocols and continued uncertainty throughout 2020. Vendors with greater scale, […]

Cloud professional services and hosted private cloud markets will grow over the next 5 years as COVID-19 drives cloud adoption

06.16.20/by Catie Merrill, Senior Analyst

COVID-19 has undoubtedly created financial pain for businesses across all verticals. Business operations have been disrupted and revenue streams have declined in many industries across the globe. At the same time, the pandemic has required additional investment to support remote work and adjust business processes to align with public health guidance from the Centers for […]

IBM expands hybrid cloud activities by partnering with India-based IT services peers

05.13.20/by Elitsa Bakalova, Senior Analyst

Partnering with IT services peers and integrating Global Business Services and Global Technology Services capabilities will help IBM improve client engagement and increase cloud signings Hybrid cloud remains an area of investment for IBM as the company pursues transformational opportunities with clients. IBM’s recent investments in improving its hybrid cloud capabilities, most notably with IBM […]

BearingPoint’s bold triple bet on cars

04.30.20/by Patrick Heffernan, Practice Manager and Principal Analyst

Can the Europe-centric consultancy lead the race to remake the automotive industry? In recent years, as nearly every IT services vendor and consultancy has attached itself to an automotive sector client and touted their industry expertise, TBR has followed the routes those vendors have taken and which aspects of the car industry they have focused […]

Quick Quantum Quips: Economic advantage nears as software development advances

04.30.20/by admin

Welcome to TBR’s monthly newsletter on the quantum computing market: Quick Quantum Quips (Q3). Market activity remains strong despite the impact of COVID-19 on daily lives, as researchers spider out through many different elements of the quantum ecosystem in pursuit of scientific discoveries that will bring the quantum era into clearer view and closer proximity. […]

IBM, Atos and SAP report cloud growth in 1Q20 despite COVID-19 pandemic

04.24.20/by admin

As companies begin releasing 1Q20 earnings, TBR is analyzing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the latter half of the quarter. Our findings from earnings this week show: IBM’s cloud business prospered despite the negative impact of COVID-19 on overall revenue as synergies with Red Hat drove subscription sales, which is a testament to […]

COVID-19: Shifting customer loyalties and selling motions

04.23.20/by admin

Recent earnings calls by IBM and SAP triggered two broad yet interconnected thoughts: The current pause in economic activity presents a pervasive period of thinking slow — recalling the book “Thinking, Fast and Slow” — for businesses, which could result in persistent share shifts. The tactical need for more digital commerce avenues seems poised to […]

Multiyear bull market in public sector IT spend faces an abrupt end in 2020 as COVID-19 upends global governments

04.17.20/by admin

“The COVID-19 outbreak represents a significant threat to public sector IT investment that has trended steadily upward for the last several years,” says Senior Analyst John Caucis in TBR’s recently published Public Sector IT Services Benchmark. “The full impact, however, may not manifest in public sector vendor fiscal performance until 2H20.” Caucis, Analyst Brian Baker, […]

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