Procurement

ARLINGTON, Va. – October 27, 2026 -- Infotech's annual report, Tech Trends 2027: Bring Clarity Amid Chaos, identifies 14 trends across four themes that will change the cost, security and viability of enterprise technology investments next year. The research and advisory firm finds that as AI model capabilities converge, architecture, tooling and governance will increasingly determine enterprise AI outcomes.

The report draws on expert interviews and primary and secondary research. It covers financial services, healthcare, legal services, manufacturing and government, and tracks policy and procurement developments in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and the European Union. Each trend is rated for market readiness and enterprise traction.

Global – October 20, 2026 -- Buying Microsoft licenses directly from Microsoft can cost more than purchasing them through a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP), because the company's partner network gives qualified resellers room to price competitively.

Microsoft passes administrative work and margin to CSP partners

Microsoft avoids handling every quote, subscription change, renewal and billing query itself. Qualified partners receive licenses at pricing that lets them resell competitively, and part of that margin can reach the customer as a lower price. The gap grows with scale: a small per-license difference matters little across a handful of seats, but compounds across hundreds of users, multiple products and recurring subscriptions.