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Freshworks Refresh 2026: Freddy AI Agent Studio and the Unified ServiceOps Foundation

Shannon Kalvar — Fri, 22 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

At its annual Refresh conference on May 14 in New York City, Freshworks (NASDAQ: FRSH) launched Freddy AI Agent Studio in Freshservice, a no-code environment for building and deploying domain-specific AI agents across IT, HR, and business service workflows. The announcement extends Freshservice’s positioning as a unified service operations platform by adding an agentic layer, an MCP Gateway for third-party context integration, and experience-level agreements (xLAs) for outcome measurement. Freshworks also used the event to reposition itself as an employee-experience-first company, raising its 2028 ARR target to $1.3B+ and projecting Freshservice alone at roughly $1B ARR by 2028.

How the Global Memory Shortage Is Impacting the Used and Refurbished Datacenter Server and Storage Markets and Related Services

Lara Greden, Rob Brothers — Fri, 22 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC study discusses how the global memory shortage, fueled by AI infrastructure competing for the same DRAM, NAND, and storage capacity as enterprise servers, storage systems, and networking equipment, is reshaping the datacenter market in ways that will reverberate well into 2027. For OEMs, IT asset disposition (ITAD) providers, and enterprise technology buyers alike, the shortage is not a temporary disruption to wait out. It is a structural shift that demands new strategies around supply chain resilience, asset recovery, and infrastructure life-cycle management.

IDC Survey Spotlight: How Do Current Print Contract Arrangements Among European Enterprises Compare with Their Preferred Engagement Models?

Jacqui Hendriks — Fri, 22 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey Spotlight analyzes results from IDC's European B2B Print Opportunity Survey, conducted in April 2026 among organizations across Europe.

Print contract preferences among European enterprises are evolving, with subscription-based models attracting significantly greater demand than current adoption levels suggest. Managed print services record the sharpest decline between current and preferred engagement, as enterprises move away from standalone managed models in favor of supplies replenishment and full-stack arrangements that consolidate hardware, supplies, and maintenance into a single recurring engagement. At the same time, a measurable share of European enterprises currently operating without a print contract express a preference for structured engagement, quantifying latent demand that the market has yet to fully address.

This IDC Survey Spotlight examines how current print contract types across European enterprises diverge from their stated preferences, which contract models are gaining and losing ground across markets, and what the structural gap between current and preferred engagement represents as an addressable opportunity for suppliers and channel partners.

IDC Survey Spotlight: How Important Is It for European Print Services Providers to Offer Non-Print Hardware, Software, and Services?

Jacqui Hendriks — Fri, 22 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey Spotlight highlights an extract from IDC's European Imaging, Printing, and Document Solutions (IPDS) Survey, conducted in April 2026 among 2,057 respondents. This document highlights the importance that European print decision-makers place on the availability of non-print hardware, software, solutions, and services when selecting a print services provider.

This survey also covers topics such as print security, Windows Protected Print, sustainability, the paper-to-digital transition, print contract dynamics, adoption and planned adoption of IT security services, laptops, PC monitors, IT services, IT infrastructure services, collaboration software and hardware solutions, IT consultancy, and business consultancy.

AI's Impact on Pricing Models for Business Consulting Services Buyers — Detailed Perspective Version

Bill Latshaw — Thu, 21 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Perspective examines the commercial dynamics shaping how buyers of business consulting services evaluate, price, and contract for AI-enabled engagements. Drawing on IDC's November 2025 AI-Powered Services Pricing Model Survey (n = 178, North American buyers), it finds that buyers are willing to pay a meaningful premium for AI-enabled consulting when AI can be shown to improve analysis, strengthen recommendations, and support better business decisions. Discount pressure rises when AI is perceived primarily as a delivery efficiency tool. The document explores premium and discount dynamics, packaging preferences, value measurement practices, and the role of trust and governance in AI adoption decisions, with practical guidance for technology buyers on how to structure commercial relationships that deliver measurable AI value over time.

"The pricing data from this survey tells a story providers need to hear: buyers are not asking whether AI belongs in consulting but asking whether providers understand what they are actually buying when they invest in AI-enabled advice. The answer to that question is what separates the firms that will define the next generation of consulting from those that will simply describe it." — Bill Latshaw, research director, Business Consulting Services

IDC Market Glance: Value-Based Health Services Market, 2Q26

Jennifer Eaton — Thu, 21 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Glance provides the segments and subsegments of the value-based health services market. Vendors continue to expand their service scope beyond installation to support clients in strategy, operations, workflow design, and implementation.

“Looking back across 2025 and into 2026, one truth has held firm: technology sets the stage for healthcare evolution, but it is human insight, collaboration, and a willingness to change that bring real transformation to life. As the policy environment has matured, with new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) models demanding measurable outcomes, interoperable data, and long-term accountability, the role of the services vendor has evolved alongside it. The organizations successfully scaling their value-based strategies are those that have found partners capable of building more than just platforms. They built the organizational infrastructure, governance models, and enterprise frameworks that allowed technology to actually perform,” says Jennifer Eaton, research director, Value-Based Healthcare Digital Strategies, IDC.

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Life Sciences R&D Strategic Consulting Services 2026 Vendor Assessment

Nimita Limaye — Wed, 20 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Health Insights study is a refresher of the life sciences R&D IDC MarketScape, which has a specific focus on strategic consulting in the life sciences R&D space. This document seeks to compare major service providers with each other based on criteria that should be important to life sciences companies when considering the selection of a strategic consulting partner to help provide guidance for strategic, operational, and tactical transformation issues within the R&D space. The IDC MarketScape assessment of strategic consulting outsourcing in life sciences R&D was previously performed in 2011, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021, and 2023.

"The life sciences strategic consulting market is undergoing a fundamental reset — driven by the convergence of agentic AI, mounting execution pressure, and a sharply more demanding buyer. Organizations are seeking business transformation partners that can close the AI-to-value gap, navigate regulatory complexity, and align their commercial models to client outcomes. The firms that can bridge a blend of scientific depth, digital fluency, organizational change capability, and a willingness to share risk will define the next era of strategic consulting," said Dr. Nimita Limaye, research VP, Life Sciences R&D Strategy and Technology, IDC Health Insights.

IDC Survey Spotlight: What Enterprise Skills Are the Most Important to IT Leaders in 2026?

Gina Smith, PhD — Wed, 20 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey Spotlight explores the top in-demand skills for enterprise leaders this year. The results are from the IDC 2026 Global IT Skills Survey, which surveys global IT leaders and professionals about their training priorities, skills gaps, certification plans, and technology adoption goals for the year ahead.

HP Imagine 2026: Going All in on Edge AI to Drive the Future of Work

Robert Palmer — Mon, 18 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Market Perspective focuses primarily on the announcements and activities from the HP Imagine 2026 event that relate more closely to HP Inc.'s printing and imaging business. HP Imagine 2026 highlighted HP Inc.'s continued focus on edge AI: unveiling new AI-powered devices, security innovations, and workflow solutions aimed at transforming the future of work. Central to this vision are HP IQ, an AI orchestration layer, and advanced HP LaserJet devices with embedded AI and quantum-resistant security. The event underscored HP Inc.'s strategic shift from products and solutions to platforms and ecosystems designed to enable and empower employees within the evolving digital workplace.

"Edge AI is fundamentally changing how work gets done, and every endpoint is now a catalyst for workforce productivity," says Robert Palmer, research VP, IDC Imaging Domain. "In the office printing market, edge AI is poised to foster a wave of hardware innovation, with the AI MFP emerging as a key enabler for tomorrow's workplace."

IDC Survey: Survey Excerpt — Outsourced Mailroom Services Trends

Robert Palmer — Mon, 18 May 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This IDC Survey looks into a United States–based B2B survey of organizations to assess how enterprises structure, contract, and evaluate outsourced mailroom services programs, focusing specifically on organizations that engage third-party providers for mailroom management.

The survey assesses contractual ownership models spanning mailroom specialists and BPO providers, the predominance of managed print services as the primary procurement vehicle, and buyer governance expectations. It also evaluates reported business outcomes, highlighting that value extends beyond cost reduction to include data compliance, mailroom efficiency, customer communication, and technology currency.

In addition, the survey identifies the performance attributes most closely tied to buyer satisfaction, clarifying that visibility, promised savings delivery, and consistent SLA execution are the strongest drivers of positive vendor experience, and where suppliers can innovate to move providers from baseline execution to differentiated performance.