The Strategic Bets that Will Drive IT Services Growth and Invite Disruption in 2027

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While AI adoption at scale remains aspirational for most enterprises, the largest IT services companies and consultancies have altered their operations, delivery, commercial and even partnering business models based on their own internal adoption of AI-enabled solutions.
 
And the disruptions have only just begun. Promises to clients of significant productivity gains stand in contrast to questions about the benefits of AI for IT services companies and consultancies: If you can deliver faster and cheaper, why am I still paying you so much?
 
Agentic AI, advances in automation and analytics, and outcomes-based pricing will shape a new landscape for IT services and management consulting. The question then becomes which companies and firms will change the most, why, and whether they will be the growth leaders of 2027.

In the below TBR Insights Live session, TBR Principal Analyst and Practice Manager Patrick Heffernan, Principal Analyst Bozhidar Hristov and Senior Analyst Kevin Collupy share the latest findings in TBR’s AI Disruption Index research. Key topics discussed include:

  • How companies can leverage TBR’s ©Human Intensity Reduction Index to evaluate performance and assess business model changes among their peers and ecosystem partners
  • What strategic choices certain IT services companies and large consultancies made in the last two years that position them for disruption and growth in 2027
  • Which AI trends, investments and wild cards will shape TBR’s AI Disruption Index research going forward

 

 
This TBR Insights Live session is available on demand on our YouTube channel. Visit this link to download the presentation’s slide deck.
 
If you’d like to further explore the data mentioned in this TBR Insights Live session, sign up for a free trial of TBR Insight Center™ today.
 
TBR Insights Live sessions are held typically on Thursdays at 1 p.m. ET and include a 15-minute Q&A session following the main presentation. Previous sessions can be viewed anytime on TBR’s Webinar Portal.

How AI Is Reshaping Services Delivery in Federal IT — and What It Means for Providers

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AI is changing how leading federal systems integrators (FSIs) deliver services and manage partnership ecosystems faster than it is elevating FSIs’ financial performance. FSIs are implementing AI internally to enhance software and business development, cyber analysis, data processing and other workflows, but broad-based margin improvement directly attributable to AI remains limited.
 

In the below TBR Insights Live session, TBR senior analysts John Caucis and James Wichert review of TBR’s latest research on the impact of AI on the federal IT services market, including how AI is enabling Tier 1 FSIs to reimagine service delivery, solution development and internal business processes, as well as how the leading FSIs will eventually parlay internal AI investments into stronger growth and margin performance. Key topics discussed include:

  • How AI is changing FSIs’ models across four areas: operating, delivery, commercial and partner, including impacts to pricing, headcount economics, proprietary IP, partnerships, platforms and service delivery
  • How the ongoing shift in federal IT from labor-intensive services to reusable IP, platforms and software-defined delivery is compelling FSIs to expand their suites of repeatable solutions
  • How quickly the financial opportunity from AI implementation will become meaningful for FSIs and visible on their P&Ls

 

 
This TBR Insights Live session is available on demand on our YouTube channel. Visit this link to download the presentation’s slide deck.
 
If you’d like to further explore the data mentioned in this TBR Insights Live session, sign up for a free trial of TBR Insight Center™ today.
 
TBR Insights Live sessions are held typically on Thursdays at 1 p.m. ET and include a 15-minute Q&A session following the main presentation. Previous sessions can be viewed anytime on TBR’s Webinar Portal.

From Contraction to Opportunity: What’s Next for the Federal IT Market and Leading Systems Integrators?

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The turbulence of federal fiscal year 2025 (FFY25) subsided in FFY26, and pockets of recovery are emerging across the federal IT market, particularly in the defense sector.
 

In the below TBR Insights Live session, TBR senior analysts John Caucis and James Wichert review their FFY26 findings and share exclusive insights into trends expected in FFY27, including which vendors are best positioned for growth. Additionally, they discuss the impact of reforms to federal IT acquisition, evolving procurement models, AI adoption trends and cybersecurity investments. Key topics discussed include:

  • Why the federal IT environment is increasingly defined by heightened contract scrutiny, AI-driven transformation and evolving mission priorities
  • The lingering impact of contract cancellations, procurement delays and the 43-day federal shutdown in CY4Q25 on the performance of leading federal systems integrators (FSIs)
  • Why defense and intelligence IT investment is underpinning market recovery and is driving the next phase of federal IT growth
  • When and where civilian agency IT spending is expected to rebound, including key indicators that suggest stronger growth opportunities emerging in FFY27
  • Which FSIs are outperforming the market and why, including insights into the strategies, technologies and customer segments driving growth in today’s challenging environment

 

 
This TBR Insights Live session is available on demand on our YouTube channel. Visit this link to download the presentation’s slide deck.
 
If you’d like to further explore the data mentioned in this TBR Insights Live session, sign up for a free trial of TBR Insight Center™ today.
 
TBR Insights Live sessions are held typically on Thursdays at 1 p.m. ET and include a 15-minute Q&A session following the main presentation. Previous sessions can be viewed anytime on TBR’s Webinar Portal.

U.S. Mobile and Broadband Market Outlook: Convergence, M&A and AI Drive Operator Growth

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U.S. operators are expanding their mobile and broadband strategies as convergence becomes increasingly important to customer growth and retention. Recent acquisitions are accelerating fiber expansion and reshaping competitive positions, while fixed wireless access continues to gain broadband share and cable operators use competitively priced mobile services to strengthen customer relationships.
 
Pricing and retention pressures are prompting operators to simplify plans, target underpenetrated customer segments and increase emphasis on customer lifetime value. Additionally, operators are adopting AI to improve operations efficiently, while pursuing longer-term revenue opportunities tied to AI infrastructure connectivity. These developments are influencing revenue growth, profitability and capital investment across AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Comcast, Charter and the broader U.S. telecom operator market.

In the below TBR Insights Live session, TBR Senior Analyst Steve Vachon shares exclusive analysis of U.S. mobile and broadband market developments shaping operator strategies, including key insights from TBR’s latest U.S. Mobile and Broadband Operator Benchmark. Additional topics discussed include:

  • The role of convergence, fiber expansion and M&A in reshaping competition across the U.S. mobile and broadband markets
  • The impact of evolving pricing and retention strategies on subscriber growth, average revenue per account and customer lifetime value
  • How operators are using AI to improve operational efficiency while pursuing new revenue opportunities from AI infrastructure connectivity
  • The impact of market trends on operator revenue growth, profitability and capex through the remainder of 2026 and beyond

 
This TBR Insights Live session is available on demand on our YouTube channel. Visit this link to download the presentation’s slide deck.
 
If you’d like to further explore the data mentioned in this TBR Insights Live session, sign up for a free trial of TBR Insight Center™ today.
 
TBR Insights Live sessions are held typically on Thursdays at 1 p.m. ET and include a 15-minute Q&A session following the main presentation. Previous sessions can be viewed anytime on TBR’s Webinar Portal.

IT Services and Consulting Outlook: AI Disruption, Pricing Models and Competitive Shifts

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As we approach the final quarter of 2026, several trends in IT services, consulting and AI have dominated discussions in the professional services space this year and are shaping companies’ strategies for 2027. TBR’s research and conversations with clients have repeatedly circled back to pricing model disruptions, ecosystem partners encroaching on professional services vendors’ turf, and challenges in scaling AI within an enterprise.
 
TBR’s vendor-specific and ecosystemwide intelligence research offers detailed insights and extensive data on companies in the professional services and technology sectors. Additionally, new research dedicated to examining AI disruption across the companies TBR covers provides a clearer understanding of how both established and emerging trends will impact the trajectories of specific companies.
 
These insights are enhanced by in-person discussions TBR’s analysts have held over the past few months with professional services vendors including Accenture, EY, KPMG and Cognizant. By combining these on-the-ground discussions with the latest performance data and longitudinal trends, TBR gains a unique perspective on the factors that will shape the end of 2026 and the first half of 2027.

In the on-demand webinar below, PPrincipal Analyst and Practice Manager Patrick Heffernan, Principal Analyst Bozhidar Hristov, Senior Analyst Kelly Lesiczka and Research Analyst Jill Cookinham discuss TBR’s ongoing research and latest in-person discussions with market leaders. Key topics include:

  • Which trends across IT services, consulting, and AI will continue through 2027
  • How AI adoption at scale has disrupted companies in the IT services and consulting space
  • What strategies and business model changes leading companies will adopt in 2027

 

 
This TBR Insights Live session is available on demand on our YouTube channel. Visit this link to download the presentation’s slide deck.
 
If you’d like to further explore the data mentioned in this TBR Insights Live session, sign up for a free trial of TBR Insight Center™ today.
 
TBR Insights Live sessions are held typically on Thursdays at 1 p.m. ET and include a 15-minute Q&A session following the main presentation. Previous sessions can be viewed anytime on TBR’s Webinar Portal.

What Enterprise IT Leaders Are Prioritizing Next: Insights from TBR’s Infrastructure Strategy Survey

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Enterprise IT organizations are entering a new phase of infrastructure transformation. While AI remains a major catalyst for investment, organizations continue to balance modernization initiatives with ongoing pressure to optimize costs, improve operational efficiency and prepare infrastructure for increasingly complex hybrid environments.
 
TBR’s Infrastructure Strategy Customer Research, based on a survey of U.S. enterprise IT decision makers, reveals how organizations are prioritizing infrastructure investments, where budgets are shifting, how AI is influencing infrastructure strategy and what vendors must do to remain competitive.

In the on-demand webinar below, Principal Analyst Angela Lambert and Senior Analyst Ben Carbonneau share their latest survey findings and what results mean for infrastructure vendors, technology strategists and enterprise IT leaders. Key topics include:

  • How AI is reshaping infrastructure spend, including investment priorities, deployment challenges, and the infrastructure capabilities organizations are building to support AI workloads
  • How enterprise infrastructure strategies are evolving, including changing workload placement decisions across data centers, cloud, edge and colocation environments, amid emerging trends such as cloud repatriation and hybrid IT
  • How IT organizations are modernizing operations, including priorities for automation, infrastructure management, services and vendor selection as enterprises work to improve efficiency with limited resources

 

 
This TBR Insights Live session is available on demand on our YouTube channel. Visit this link to download the presentation’s slide deck.
 
If you’d like to further explore the data mentioned in this TBR Insights Live session, sign up for a free trial of TBR Insight Center™ today.
 
TBR Insights Live sessions are held typically on Thursdays at 1 p.m. ET and include a 15-minute Q&A session following the main presentation. Previous sessions can be viewed anytime on TBR’s Webinar Portal.

The Nontraditional Growth Drivers Fueling Telecom Infrastructure Services Market Growth Through 2028

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The telecom infrastructure services (TIS) market returned to growth in 2025 after two years of substantial declines. TBR expects the market to grow from 2026 to 2028 due to several factors, before contracting in the lead-up to the 6G spend cycle.
 
TBR research shows growth catalysts through 2028 will include:

  • Communication service providers (CSPs), private equity firms and governments providing funding for fiber access
  • Satellite connectivity becoming increasingly positioned to address rural and remote coverage gaps at a fraction of the long-term capex required for new terrestrial builds
  • Digital transformation initiatives and the implementation of complex technologies, such as multivendor open vRAN, AI RAN and 6G, proliferating
  • Hyperscaler investment across multiple network domains intensifying and driving TIS growth for certain customer segments

In the on-demand webinar below, Senior Analyst Michael Soper provides an in-depth, exclusive review of TBR’s Telecom Infrastructure Services Global Market Forecast 2025-2030, including insights into:

  • Key growth drivers and detractors expected in the TIS market through 2030
  • Why the TIS market is becoming more dependent on hyperscalers and fiber technology deployments
  • Which vendors are best positioned to capitalize on trends in the TIS market


 
This TBR Insights Live session is available on demand on our YouTube channel. Visit this link to download the presentation’s slide deck.
 
If you’d like to further explore the data mentioned in this TBR Insights Live session, sign up for a free trial of TBR Insight Center™ today.
 
TBR Insights Live sessions are held typically on Thursdays at 1 p.m. ET and include a 15-minute Q&A session following the main presentation. Previous sessions can be viewed anytime on TBR’s Webinar Portal.

Sovereignty Strengthens AI Revenue Opportunity for Telcos, but Obstacles Threaten to Slow Value Capture

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Sovereignty is strengthening the new revenue opportunity for communication service providers (CSPs) stemming from AI, but sizeable obstacles are slowing their ability to capture value. One of the most significant emerging challenges facing telcos is the cost of AI. AI investment decisions are increasingly evaluated like other major capital and operating expenditures, with heightened focus on measurable returns, governance and cost discipline.

In the on-demand webinar below, Principal Analyst Chris Antlitz gives an update on the telecom AI market, including:

  • Why telcos are placing greater scrutiny on the ROI and economic sustainability of AI
  • How and why the sovereignty trend is expected to drive new revenue for telcos from AI
  • What the telco AI revenue opportunity looks like from a regional and country-level perspective


 
This TBR Insights Live session is available on demand on our YouTube channel. Visit this link to download the presentation’s slide deck.
 
If you’d like to further explore the data mentioned in this TBR Insights Live session, sign up for a free trial of TBR Insight Center™ today.
 
TBR Insights Live sessions are held typically on Thursdays at 1 p.m. ET and include a 15-minute Q&A session following the main presentation. Previous sessions can be viewed anytime on TBR’s Webinar Portal.

AI Disruption: New Data on Productivity, Profitability and Business Model Evolution

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Every company and consultancy faces pressure to change, but they’re not all evolving at the same pace and with the same AI-induced intensity

AI’s massive disruption across the professional services space has created pressure on companies to change their commercial, operational and partner models, as well as relentless expectations that the human component of service delivery will succumb to radical reorganization.
 
TBR’s research shows this is only the beginning, making it the perfect time to measure and evaluate the effects of internal adoption of AI-enabled solutions within these IT services firms and consultancies.
 
TBR’s new ©Human Intensity Reduction Index (HIRI) is a proprietary metric that measures changes in productivity at companies that primarily deliver human-centric services, taking into account nuances around utilization, automation and organizational change alongside AI adoption. Clients can then compare HIRI to a company’s or consultancy’s operating margin to assess how internal AI efforts are (or are not) leading to more profitable revenue.

In the on-demand webinar below, Patrick Heffernan, Principal Analyst & Practice Manager, and Bozhidar Hristov, Principal Analyst, discuss:

  • What questions large-scale IT services companies and global management consultancies have about reinventing their business models as they adopt AI-enabled solutions
  • How TBR can answer those questions with a mix of data and analysis and help clients understand what’s coming next
  • Which companies and consultancies can provide lessons learned for competitors and ecosystem partners

 

 
This TBR Insights Live session is available on demand on our YouTube channel. Visit this link to download the presentation’s slide deck.
 
If you’d like to further explore the data mentioned in this TBR Insights Live session, sign up for a free trial of TBR Insight Center™ today.
 
TBR Insights Live sessions are held typically on Thursdays at 1 p.m. ET and include a 15-minute Q&A session following the main presentation. Previous sessions can be viewed anytime on TBR’s Webinar Portal.

Winners and Losers in a Fragmenting AI Infrastructure Market

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AI infrastructure growth is surging, but vendors must navigate fragmented demand and shifting ecosystems to find success

As AI infrastructure demand accelerates, vendors are being forced into increasingly difficult strategic trade-offs. The market is no longer moving in a single direction; it is fragmenting across customer segments, silicon strategies and deployment models.
 
Hyperscalers are driving growth on the ODM side of the market while investing in the development of AI services and custom AI ASICs to gain control over cost and performance. Merchant accelerator vendors, like NVIDIA and AMD, are doubling down on investments to influence the AI ecosystem beyond the infrastructure layer.
 
At the same time, OEMs such as Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Supermicro are diverging in how they pursue growth in the rapidly evolving AI infrastructure market, splitting between higher-margin enterprise opportunities and high-volume neocloud deals, where ecosystem relationships have become increasingly integral. Success now depends on aligning with the right market segment at the right time, while balancing long-term market share and profitability.

In the on-demand webinar below, Principal Analyst Angela Lambert and Senior Analyst Ben Carbonneau give an in-depth look at what TBR’s data and analysis show for market expectations into 2030, including:

  • How the AI infrastructure market will evolve over the next five years, with insights by customer group
  • Why the hyperscalers are NVIDIA’s biggest threat, despite being the company’s largest customers
  • How OEM strategies are diverging, including which strategies TBR sees as most beneficial, and the importance of ecosystem relationships

 

 
This TBR Insights Live session is available on demand on our YouTube channel. Visit this link to download the presentation’s slide deck.
 
If you’d like to further explore the data mentioned in this TBR Insights Live session, sign up for a free trial of TBR Insight Center™ today.
 
TBR Insights Live sessions are held typically on Thursdays at 1 p.m. ET and include a 15-minute Q&A session following the main presentation. Previous sessions can be viewed anytime on TBR’s Webinar Portal.