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AI’s Four Dimensions of Impact on Digital Business Professional Services: Strategy, Delivery, Commercial Model, and Operating Model Transformation

Jennifer Thomson — Wed, 06 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Perspective explores how AI is transforming digital business professional services across strategy, delivery, commercial models, and operating structures. Value is shifting from labor-led execution to domain expertise, proprietary IP, and outcome-based engagements. Providers must realign portfolios, redesign delivery and commercial models, and evolve talent and governance to capture value and avoid commoditization. As buyer expectations for speed, quality, ROI, and responsible AI rise, measurable impact and governance are becoming central to provider selection.

“AI is not just about automating delivery; it is redefining where value is created, how it is captured, and who wins in digital business professional services,” said Jennifer Thomson, AVP, IDC’s Global Services Insights.

IDC Survey: AI's Impact on Pricing Models for Business Consulting Services Buyers – AI-Powered Services Pricing Model Survey, 2025

Bill Latshaw — Wed, 06 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC survey examines how AI is reshaping pricing expectations, commercial models, and value perceptions for AI-powered business consulting services in North America. Based on IDC's 2025 AI-Powered Services Pricing Model Survey, the research focuses on project-oriented business consulting engagements and analyzes how buyers assess premium versus discounted pricing, the importance of pricing in vendor selection, and differences in expectations across AI types. The findings show that pricing has become a critical filter rather than a simple cost conversation, with buyers placing greater emphasis on whether AI improves advisory quality, decision support, and measurable business outcomes rather than merely increasing delivery efficiency.

This IDC presentation shows that commercial models for AI-powered business consulting are shifting toward business-aligned scope, process-based packaging, and flexible pricing structures. Buyers prefer contracting models that align AI to business process coverage, outcomes, and accountability, particularly for agentic AI rather than standalone technical units. Value measurement is becoming more strategic, with clients expecting providers to help operationalize KPIs, dashboards, and outcome tracking from the outset. Trust, governance, and privacy are now table stakes, reinforcing that AI adoption in business consulting will depend as much on credibility and control as on pricing mechanics.

Together, these trends indicate that the strongest pricing outcomes will accrue to providers that integrate AI into higher-value advisory work while clearly demonstrating measurable business impact.

NEC 2025年度（2026年3月期）通期決算を発表：高まるBluStellarの存在感

Yukiharu Yorifuji — Wed, 06 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

NECは2026年4月28日、2026年度（2026年3月期）通期の決算を発表した。これによると、NECの売上収益は3兆5,827億円、調整後営業利益は3,868億円、Non-GAAP（Generally Accepted Accounting Principles）ベースでの営業利益は3,972億円となった。

売上収益は前年度比4.7％増であるが、法人向けPC販売機能の移管（持ち分法適用会社であるNECパーソナルコンピュータへ）や、子会社事業の一部終息などの影響を除いた継続事業ベースで見ると9％増とのことである。好調な売上収益増の要因の一つが社会インフラセグメントであり、前年度比12.4％増に達した。なかでも「航空宇宙・防衛」は同27.4％増、金額にして1,000億円以上の増加であり、全社増収額の6割以上を占めている。一方でNECにおける最大の事業セグメントであるITサービスも、好調が続いている。売上収益の対前年度比で見ると2.0％増に留まっているが、上述した継続事業ベースでの増加率は9％に達すると言う。なかでもNECの「価値創造モデル」BluStellarはデータドリブン、モダナイゼーション領域に支えられて、前年度比30.0％増の高い成長率を実現した。売上収益額も7,050億円と国内ITサービス事業全体の32.4％を占めるに至っている（2024年度は25.4％）。

今回のNECの決算発表においては、利益率も注目すべきポイントである。調整後営業利益は3,868億円、Non-GAAP営業利益は3,972億円であり、売上収益比はそれぞれ10.8％、11.1％といずれも2桁に達した。2桁の営業利益率は同社の森田隆之社長の説明によると「初めて」であり、同社の取り組みが実を結んだ結果と言える。その一つに、上述の「法人向けPC販売機能の移管、子会社事業の一部終息」に代表されるような低収益事業のマネジメントと事業ポートフォリオの見直しの結果が挙げられる。NECによると2025年度末に「全事業の方向性が決定済み」であり、「事業ポートフォリオマネジメントは次の段階へ」移行するとのことである。このような取り組みの一方、継続事業においても利益率は着実に向上している。ITサービスセグメントでは、全体の調整後営業利益率が13.4％と、前年度に比べて3.2ポイント改善した。この中で国内ITサービスは14.0％にまで達したが、海外ITサービス（DGDF：Digital Government / Digital Finance）も9.5％と、2桁に迫っている。さらにBluStellarは営業利益率が14.5％と、国内ITサービス全体を上回っている。新規事業ではトップライン（売上）の成長を優先するため、利益率が低くなることもあるが、BluStellarについては利益を伴った成長が、これまで見られる。

2025年度は、NECにとって2021年5月に発表した「2025中期経営計画」の最終年度であった。今回の業績発表は、発表時の目標であった売上収益3兆5,000億円、調整後営業利益3,000億円、さらに2025年11月に行われたIR Dayで発表された2025年度の通期業績予想である売上収益3兆4,200億円、調整後営業利益3,300億円、Non-GAAP営業利益3,400億円のいずれも上回る結果となった。好調な結果となった2025年度であるが、2026年度については「固め」の見方をしている。売上収益の予測は、「部材リスクやマクロ経済環境の不透明さを踏まえ」て、2025年度比2.3％減の3兆5,000億円である。なかでも国内ITサービスは6.5％減の2兆350億円としており、実際2025年度第4四半期の同セグメント受注額は、前年同期比2％減である。ただし、こういった中でもBluStellarは引き続き2桁の売上成長を見込んでいるほか、営業利益も増加の予測を行っている。また、環境の変化によって1,000億円程度の売上収益の上振れ（国内ITサービスセグメント）も織り込んでいる。今後の市場環境次第ではあるが、売上収益も含めてプラス成長を継続する可能性もあるであろう。

Agentic AI and the Governance Impact for Service Providers — A Practical Framework for Security and Governance

Linus Lai — Tue, 05 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

The shift from generative AI (GenAI) to agentic AI, which plans, decides, and executes tasks autonomously across enterprise systems, is reshaping the services industry and outpacing the controls needed to run it safely. Agents are a guaranteed area of 2026 budget growth, regardless of broader IT spend, yet the resulting risk surface keeps senior leaders up at night. This presentation maps the agentic evolution of services across adoption phases and lays out a practical governance response that plans for risk and policy oversight for forensics and accountability, plus a concrete set of risk controls service providers can operationalize now to capture the upside of autonomous agents while meeting the provenance and oversight expectations of clients, regulators, and boards.

Inside the Trends Driving the AI Economy

Matthew Eastwood, Kitty Fok, Thomas Meyer, Sandra Ng, Robert Parker — Mon, 04 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

These event proceedings were presented at the IDC Directions conference in Boston in April 2026.

As AI transforms industries, new markets — and new data — are emerging just as quickly. In this session, IDC analysts share key insights from the firm's newest research covering AI infrastructure, robotics and physical AI, AI agents, and the rapidly evolving global AI landscape. Walk away with practical insights and data on the topics shaping today's most important technology conversations.

Tying It All Together: Considerations for AI-Ready Datacenters

Andrew Buss, Madhumitha Sathish — Mon, 04 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

These event proceedings were presented at the IDC Directions conference in Boston in April 2026.

This session brings all things infrastructure together with a discussion on what IT leaders need to know to navigate the infrastructure landscape in the AI era and what tech vendors should be doing to help clients succeed.

IBM Earnings, 1Q26: Data, Service as a Product, and AI Extension in Z and Power Laying the Foundation for Enterprise-Grade AI

Rick Villars, Lars Goransson, Chris Drake, Devin Pratt — Sat, 02 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

IBM delivered a strong start to 2026, with revenue up 6% y/y in constant currency to $15.9 billion. All references in this document are in constant currency. The increase was led by Software growth of 8% and Infrastructure growth of 12%, while Consulting grew 1%. Results were supported by continued AI momentum across software, data, automation, and infrastructure, including stronger demand for GenAI products, IBM Z, and storage. IBM also expanded its margin, grew its free cash flow of 13% to $2.2 billion, and reaffirmed its full-year growth and cash flow outlook.

IBM Software delivered a strong AI-led quarter, with ARR reaching $24.6 billion, up 10% y/y. The clearest AI signal came from Data, which grew 16%, driven by a rebranding and replatforming of IBM data products within the watsonx.data portfolio, stronger partnerships, and contributions from DataStax and Confluent. Management also pointed to ongoing GenAI innovation across the portfolio, AI editions of core software, and the growing relevance of automation as enterprises build and govern multimodel, agent-based environments. Red Hat grew 10%, reinforcing IBM's position in the hybrid AI platform layer.

国内データセンターファシリティ市場予測、2026年～2030年

Mimei Ito — Fri, 01 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

本調査レポートは、国内データセンター（DC）ファシリティ市場の新設／増設市場と保守／更新市場を主な対象として、市場規模の推計と予測を行っている。本調査レポートが対象とするDCファシリティ市場とは、建築物、電気設備、冷却システムなどである。対象とするDCは、国内に設置された事業者DCと企業内DCである。

「AI（Artificial Intelligence）インフラ設置が急がれる中、建設工期の短縮が課題となっている」と、IDC Japan、Software, Services, and IT Spendingのリサーチマネージャーである伊藤未明は述べている。

IDC ProductScape: Worldwide Enterprise Planning, Budgeting, and Forecasting Applications, 2026

Megha Kumar — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 04:00:00 GMT

The IDC ProductScape offers a comprehensive guide on the key functionalities of enterprise planning, budgeting, and forecasting applications, featuring products from Anaplan, Board, Epicor, IBM, insightsoftware, OneStream, Oracle, Planful, Prophix, SAP, Strata Decision Technology, Vena, Workday, and Unit4. The status of each functionality is categorized as fully supported, partially supported, partner provided, road map, or not supported, aiding technology purchasers in quickly identifying which vendors align with their changing requirements.

Microsoft Agent 365: The Control Plane for Operationalizing Agents for Day 2 and Beyond

Archana Venkatraman — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Perspective analyzes the importance of agent observability, governance, and security in operationalizing agentic AI. Agent 365’s greatest value lies in making agents visible, governable, and operationally manageable at scale. For Microsoft, the opportunity is to position Agent 365 not simply as a security layer, but as the operational system of control for the agent era.

“Agent 365’s core value is that it gives ITOps and security teams a unified control plane to observe, govern, and secure agents as they move into production. Its strongest differentiation is to make agent activity visible, traceable, and manageable in ways that reduce operational risk, strengthen trust, and support confident business adoption,” said Archana Venkatraman, senior research director, Observability, AIOps, and Cloud Governance, IDC Europe.