2026 Predictions Series | Telecom
How a K-Shaped Economy Will Reshape Telecom Strategy in 2026
CSPs are already gearing up for a challenging road ahead, with provisions for credit losses steadily increasing, change management updates occurring in preparation for structural market changes, and business strategies being re-evaluated. Expect CSPs’ customers to re-evaluate the telecom products and services they buy and device cycles to potentially lengthen as customers hold onto existing devices rather than buy more expensive, latest-generation devices.
2026 Predictions Series | Alliances & Partnerships
AI Momentum Forces Deeper Ecosystem Alliances in 2026
2026 will be a transitional year defined by technology ecosystem expansions — multiparty alliances spanning IT, OT, devices, edge and silicon; industrial/physical AI acceleration, especially at the edge and in manufacturing; and strategic bottlenecks as skill shortages and infrastructure gaps slow sovereign AI adoption. TBR expects significant changes in how technology vendors collaborate and compete, which lays the groundwork for broader, more integrated AI ecosystems.
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2026 Predictions Series | Cloud & Software
Will AI be the Death of SaaS?
Today, SaaS is far from dead, but it has reached an unmistakable inflection point. The model that reshaped enterprise software over the last 20 years has reached maturity just as a new layer of intelligence is forming above it. The result is a market that still depends on SaaS but no longer treats it as the strategic center of gravity. What once looked like a stable, compounding growth engine now looks more like baseline infrastructure supporting a different kind of workflow. As a result of this shift, the market is wondering whether SaaS applications will continue to define enterprise workflows or whether that role is shifting to AI-native platforms and agentic systems.
2026 Predictions Series | Managed Services
Managed Services Transforms Into a Growth Engine in 2026
Complexity magnified by multiplying flavors of AI will drive consulting revenue in 2026, but longer-term trends point to managed services as the moneymakers for the companies and firms TBR covers in the professional and IT services space.
