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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6G Transition: Preparing for Next-Gen Networks

02.26.24/by Steve Vachon, Senior Analyst

Discover the impending transition to 6G networks and the preparations being made by the telecom industry and global government entities. Stay ahead of the curve with this insightful blog post.

AI’s Impact on IT Infrastructure in 2024: Key Predictions and Trends

02.23.24/by Angela Lambert, Principal Analyst and Practice Manager

Explore TBR’s insights on how AI will impact IT infrastructure in 2024. Learn about market recovery, AI-enabled infrastructure, cost optimization, and the rise of multicloud environments.

Staying Competitive in the Fast-changing IT Services Market

02.22.24/by Kelly Lesiczka, Senior Analyst

Discover how competitive intelligence for IT services impacts IT vendors, budgeting, labor costs and more.

Technology Business Research, Inc.

Unlocking Competitive Insights: Beginner’s Guide

02.21.24/by Allan Krans, Practice Manager and Principal Analyst

Discover the unique facets of competitive intelligence – competitors, customers, partnerships. Read this guide today to learn more!

How to Gain Cloud Market Share in 2024

02.20.24/by Allan Krans, Practice Manager and Principal Analyst

Explore the evolving cloud market landscape in 2024. Vendors must adopt strategic approaches to gain market share, leveraging AI-led growth, expanding addressable markets, and orchestrating multivendor partnerships. Discover TBR’s predictions for the evolving cloud market in 2024.

Open RAN Adoption in 2024

02.20.24/by Chris Antlitz, Principal Analyst

Explore the slow development of the open RAN market in 2024. Despite vendor marketing and CSP interest, technological complexity and cost hinder mainstream adoption. Open RAN deployments remain limited to greenfield networks, while vRAN gains traction for its agility and cost efficiencies. Download TBR’s predictions for the telecom market in 2024 for insights into industry responses to challenges.

Expectations for AI PCs in 2024

02.15.24/by Ben Carbonneau, Senior Data Analyst

Discover the buzz around AI PCs reshaping the device industry. As hardware advances, software development lags, delaying potential commercial PC refreshes. Dive into predictions for 2024 with TBR Senior Analyst Ben Carbonneau.

GenAI Expectations for Enterprise Buyers in 2024

02.13.24/by Bozhidar Hristov, Principal Analyst

Discover how GenAI is reshaping enterprise landscapes in 2024. With heightened expectations, vendors must showcase tangible use cases and outcomes. Explore how GenAI intersects with digital transformation predictions and the imperative for preparedness in data architecture. Unlock insights into navigating the GenAI journey for sustainable growth. Download TBR’s Top Predictions for Digital Transformation in 2024 for a comprehensive outlook.

GenAI and the Power of the Use Case

01.26.24/by Patrick Heffernan, Practice Manager and Principal Analyst

In 2024, vendors adept at collaboration in the GenAI space and substantiating their promises with actual client outcomes will lead the pack. Those lacking in either area may still ride the GenAI wave, but they risk lagging behind with subpar results and waning market relevance.

Service Providers: IT Modernization Isn’t Flashy, but It Leads to Tangible Savings. Here’s How …

01.19.24/by Chris Antlitz, Principal Analyst

AI (especially generative AI) is of particular interest to service providers f late following technological breakthroughs from OpenAI’s ChatGPT platform, which has demonstrated that generative AI has developed to a point that it is able to bring useful outcomes to businesses and consumers alike.

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