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Google Recognizes Critical Role of Security, and Its Standing in the Cloud Market, in Acquisition of Wiz
With the business environment changing and cybersecurity perhaps more relevant than ever, Google saw an opportunity to repursue the Wiz acquisition, and a $32 billion offer, marking a major uptick in valuation, was simply too good for Wiz to ignore. Should the deal close in 2026 as expected, Wiz — with roughly 1,800 employees and ties to half the Fortune 500 — will join the Google Cloud division, offering synergies with Mandiant, an added layer of protection for the Google Security Operations platform, and the potential to help Google Cloud formalize cybersecurity as an agentic AI use case.

Hardware-centric Vendors Continue to Make Their Move Into Software
Though revenue mixes are increasingly shifting in favor of software, driven in part by acquisitions (e.g., Cisco’s purchase of Splunk), hardware continues to dominate the market, accounting for 80% of benchmarked vendor revenue in 3Q24. Industry-standard servers being sold to cloud and GPU “as a Service” providers are overwhelmingly fueling market growth, more than offsetting unfavorable cyclical demand weakness in the storage and networking markets.

PwC Middle East Experts Weigh In on Economic Trends and Transaction Activity
PwC Middle East’s webcast provides excellent monthly insights into the region’s economies, but it is not the only active Big Four firm. As TBR reported in our Fall 2024 Management Consulting Benchmark, KPMG “announced the opening of Risk Hub in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in collaboration with Microsoft and IBM, paving the way for more in-person, tech-enabled GRC [governance, risk and compliance] discussions with regional clients embarking on their digital transformation programs.” TBR also learned in February that KPMG intends to open a new Ignition Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2025, building on the firm’s global network of innovation and transformation centers.

Deployment Services in Telecom Face Post-5G Slowdown, Shifting Market Dynamics and Growth in Fiber Expansion
The deployment services market faces growing headwinds, including communication service provider (CSP) consolidation, open vRAN’s lower installation costs, and reduced demand for site location and construction (SL&C), offset somewhat by hyperscaler spend and 5G rollouts in select developing markets. Hyperscaler investments provide incremental volume to the market, and TBR notes these companies are increasing their investments in access technologies (e.g., Google Fiber).

TBR Case Study: Price Benchmarking
Explore this competitive pricing example from TBR's Tailored Services team, which helped this global Top 3 hardware OEM capitalize on their investment in pricing research.

Saudi Arabia’s Message to Global Firms: Deliver Real Value or Step Aside
Bottom line upfront: Understand that this is a Saudi story, not a PwC story, although undoubtedly it doesn’t feel that way in PwC’s corridors right now. Saudi Arabia has an opportunity to send some critical messages to players in the country, in the region and globally, and the kingdom is taking advantage.

SaaS Vendors Bet on AI Agents to Unlock New Revenue Streams
For SaaS vendors, the long-term opportunity lies in the ability to upsell GenAI solutions integrated directly into their existing workflows. While all major SaaS providers have made such solutions generally available, revenue from GenAI tools has not been enough to offset the slowing top-line growth many vendors are experiencing. Issues like cost, reliability, data governance and use-case validation remain obstacles to broader adoption, preventing the technology from becoming the growth driver vendors had hoped. Nevertheless, enterprise SaaS vendors continue to hold an optimistic long-term outlook, with many believing the technology will become a strategic necessary.

Who Is the Market Leader in IT Services?
Increased managed services activities around cost optimization and streamlined business processes and the recovering banking, financial services and insurance segment will help vendors alleviate revenue growth pressures in 2025.
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Human at the Center: EY Combines Data and Corporate Social Responsibility to Solve World Hunger
/by Bozhidar Hristov, Principal AnalystIn June TBR attended an awards ceremony for the EY Open Science Data Challenge, which gave a glimpse into how well the firm mixes data and corporate social responsibility programs to solve society’s biggest problems, including world hunger.
How Are IT Infrastructure Vendors Helping Customers Navigate Uncertain Economic Conditions?
/by TBRAutomation of management tasks has risen in priority as IT organizations seek to shift the balance from tactical to strategic actions while adapting to post-pandemic ways of working.
Exploring the Industrial Metaverse: A Glimpse into the Future
/by Patrick Heffernan, Practice Manager and Principal AnalystOffering users an immersive, real-time experience, the industrial metaverse draws on existing cloud-to-edge technologies to simulate, optimize and simplify complex systems across industries, predominantly manufacturing.
Facilitating Simplicity: KnowledgeRiver’s Analytics Tool and Its Secret to IT Services
/by Patrick Heffernan, Practice Manager and Principal AnalystMore technical minds can argue about simplicity for simplicity’s sake; I’m interested in the various approaches IT services vendors have been deploying to meet that growing client demand, and I’m constantly contrasting what I hear and see to a firm we spoke to late in 2022, KnowledgeRiver.
Conducting Competitive Intelligence Research – A How To
/by Patrick Heffernan, Practice Manager and Principal AnalystPatrick 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
/by TBROpportunity 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?
/by Ben Carbonneau, Senior Data AnalystTBR 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
/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