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HCLTech ERS Repositions with AI-Powered Chip-to-Cloud Engineering and a Focus on Business Outcomes

Abhishek Mukherjee, Mukesh Dialani — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Note discusses how HCLTech ERS is evolving its engineering services through a chip-to-cloud strategy, integrating semiconductors, platform, software, and life-cycle capabilities. The company is focusing on business outcome-led engagements, advanced AI, custom chip design, and outcome-based pricing to drive innovation and margin growth. This transformation positions HCLTech as a full-stack partner for enterprises seeking end-to-end digital engineering solutions, though challenges remain in talent acquisition, operational complexity, and market adoption.

"As HCLTech ERS reimagines engineering from chip to cloud, the unified strategy can truly deliver business outcomes and reshape the future of enterprise innovation if the service provider acts." — Abhishek Mukherjee, research manager, Digital Engineering and Operational Technology Services, IDC

IDC Survey Spotlight: What Is the Role of Legal in Pricing Model Selection for AI-Powered Services?

Jennifer Hamel — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey Spotlight examines data from IDC Syndicated Survey 2025: AI-Powered Services Pricing Model Survey, conducted in November 2025. Respondents were asked about the role their legal organization plays in selecting the pricing model for AI-powered services from external providers. The North America sample size of 503 respondents included participants from the United States and Canada, from a variety of industries and organization sizes ranging from 500 employees to 10,000+ employees.

IDC Survey: The State of AI's Impact on Services Pricing Models — AI-Powered Services Pricing Model Survey, 2025

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey presentation leverages data from IDC's AI-Powered Services Pricing Model Survey, conducted in November 2025. The survey examined buyer expectations for the pricing of engagements with external vendors that incorporate AI in their delivery of the following types of services: Project-based services, managed services, support services, and engineering services. The survey covered a range of topics to provide a greater understanding of:

Importance of pricing models in AI-powered services vendor selection
Evolving expectations of premium versus discounted pricing for AI-powered services compared with traditional services
Drivers influencing pricing expectations
Pricing expectations across different types of AI
Preferred pricing models, benefits, and inhibitors related to purchasing AI-powered services

This document explores aggregated AI-powered services pricing expectation trends, derived from data across respondents who were using or planning to use AI-powered services in one or more of the aforementioned services areas.

The North America sample size of 503 respondents included participants from the United States and Canada, from a variety of industries and organization sizes ranging from 500 employees to 10,000+ employees.

IDC Survey: Worldwide Technology Buyer and Spending Outlook, January 2026

Rick Villars, Mary Johnston Turner — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey presents results from IDC's 2025 Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending (FERS) Survey, Wave 10. It provides insights on issues related to IT leaders' AI spending and investment priorities for 2026, the key focus areas for enhancing AI capabilities, and the implications of agentic AI for networking investments/operations. It was conducted in early January 2026.

As IT leaders entered 2026, they were finalizing spending allocations and refining AI deployment strategies while assessing the readiness of their infrastructure, data, workforce, and governance models to support scaled AI and agent adoption. This study explores how organizations are prioritizing investments across AI platforms, infrastructure, data modernization, networking, and workforce enablement as they move from planning to execution of their 2026 initiatives. It also examines enterprises' plans for AI and agent spending into 2027 and the operational considerations influencing those investment decisions.

This survey of 879 respondents includes IT leaders across North America, Western Europe, and Asia/Pacific. The study provides regional perspectives and may include industry-specific views for verticals with sufficient sample sizes. It was conducted at a time when enterprises were transitioning from strategy formulation to execution of AI-related initiatives and assessing the longer-term implications of AI and GenAI workloads on enterprise IT environments.

Apple Introduces $599 MacBook Neo, Expanding Its Reach Downward into the Entry-Level Notebook Market

Tom Mainelli — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Apple has introduced the MacBook Neo, its first new Mac priced at $599 and $499 for education, marking a significant move into the sub-$600 notebook market. At a time when memory costs are rising across the PC ecosystem, Apple's aggressive pricing, modern design, and ecosystem strength position the MacBook Neo to reshape competition in both consumer and education segments.

IDC Survey: Risk Factor Trends 2026 for Leasing, Financing, and Flexible Consumption

Lara Greden — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey looks at the trends in economic outlook and tech budget risk factors in 2026 and the impacts on leasing, financing, and flexible consumption models for IT assets.

Tech budgets and strategies continue to face headwinds from a host of factors. Topping the list are those related to higher prices, supply constraints, and geopolitical factors in general, all of which are threatening the predictability of tech procurement, deployment, and budgets. Leasing, financing, and flexible consumption models for IT assets will see tailwinds from these risks, as tech buyers look for flexible contracts to manage budget risk.

This IDC Survey presents results from IDC's 2025 Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending (FERS) Survey, Waves 8 and 9, which focus on issues related to IT leaders' economic outlook, overall IT and enterprise applications-specific spending priorities for 2026, AI spending priorities for 2026, and agentic AI adoption. It was conducted in November and early December 2025.

Technology Buyer and Spending Outlook, January 2026: Banners

Rick Villars — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Pivot Table presents results from IDC's 2025 Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending (FERS) Survey, Wave 10, which focuses on issues related to IT leaders' economic outlook, overall IT and infrastructure-specific spending priorities for 2026, key focus areas for enhancing AI capabilities, the implications of a growing range of digital/AI-specific regulations, and the implications of agentic AI for networking investments/operations.

It is the last of a series of IT buyer outlook FERS Surveys across regions, technologies, and industries developed during 2025. This survey interviewed 879 respondents in North America, Western Europe, and Asia/Pacific regions as IT leaders were starting to execute their 2026 plans. In detail:

Region and country: Results by region (Worldwide, North America, Western Europe, Asia/Pacific) and for countries with sample sizes over 100 (Canada, China, and United States)
Size and role: Results by company size (500+ to 10,000+) and by respondent role (IT, LOB, C-level)
Industry: Results by vertical for all verticals with sample sizes of 70+ selected aggregations of related verticals
Digital business: Results by level of shift to digital business and by percentage of 2026 spending allocated to innovation (high, medium, low)

Reining in the Cloud: Strategies to Manage Rising Cloud Costs

Gerald Johnston — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Public cloud adoption has become nearly universal, yet many enterprises are confronting a difficult reality: While cloud enables agility and speed, it does not always deliver the cost efficiencies the business expects. CIOs and CFOs alike are grappling with cloud bills that continue to rise, sometimes unpredictably, creating tension between the promise of cloud and its financial performance. The paradox of cloud economics is that both statements, "the cloud saves money" and "the cloud is too expensive," can be true. Properly designed cloud-native workloads use elasticity to match resources to demand, avoiding idle capacity and wasted spend. However, lift-and-shift migrations that simply replicate static on-premises environments often operate continuously at higher unit costs, eroding the expected savings. The issue is not whether cloud is cheaper, but whether organizations are using cloud resources effectively and governing them strategically. Key drivers of cost escalation include overprovisioned compute, unmanaged storage growth, data egress and intercloud transfer fees, and the stickiness of proprietary services such as databases, analytics, and AI platforms. Without mature governance and FinOps practices, the ease of provisioning resources leads to sprawl, idle instances, orphaned storage, and opaque cost structures that accumulate quickly.

"The cloud is not inherently cheaper or more expensive — it is only as cost efficient as the governance, modernization choices, and forecasting discipline CIOs put in place. Enterprises that embed FinOps, manage hybrid and multicloud environments as portfolios, and treat cost optimization as continuous will transform cloud economics into a source of strategic value," says Gerald Johnston, adjunct research advisor with IDC's IT Executive Programs (IEP).

How Is Pharma Progressing with GenAI Adoption for Outcomes-Based Drug Pricing?

Nino Giguashvili — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey Spotlight examines how life sciences organizations are leveraging generative AI (GenAI) to support outcomes-based drug pricing models and strategies.

The data presented in this study is derived from a sample of pharmaceutical and biotech organizations in the Americas, Europe, and Asia/Pacific regions that participated in IDC's Industry AI and Cloud Path Survey, 2025. The survey was conducted in August 2025 among organizations from multiple industries worldwide.

Technology Investment and Innovation Monitor, December 2025: Future Enterprise Spending and Resiliency Survey, Wave 9

Rick Villars — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 05:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey presents results from IDC's 2025 Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending (FERS) Survey, Wave 9, which focuses on issues related to IT leaders' economic outlook, overall IT and enterprise applications-specific spending priorities for 2026, AI spending priorities for 2026, and agentic AI adoption. It was conducted in late November and early December 2025.

In December 2025, IT leaders were finalizing IT spending plans for 2026 and assessing the implications of AI and agents on their technology priorities. In this survey, IDC connected with IT leaders around the world to gain an insight about their top spending priorities and into what they see as the biggest risks to IT spending plans. It also dove deeper into AI and agent spending plans and priorities.

This AI outlook document provides key findings from IDC's 2025 Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey, Wave 9. It is the final AI and IT strategy FERS Survey conducted in 2025 across regions, technologies, and industries. This survey of 1,007 respondents in North America; Western Europe; Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META); and Asia/Pacific. It was conducted while IT leaders were making final adjustments in their 2026 IT spending plans and starting to think about 2027.