2026-27 Telarus Tech Trends Report
A Playbook for Strategic Growth
Welcome to the fourth annual Telarus Tech Trends Report, exclusive research designed to help technology advisors pinpoint and act on the biggest opportunities ahead.
This report provides a practical playbook you can use immediately to win bigger and drive strategic growth. Dive in and enjoy!
Technology budgets are rising. Eighty-four percent of organizations expect increases, but spending is shifting to new executive mandates: innovation and the simplification of complex technology environments, not just productivity or topline growth. Vendor loyalty is weakening, and buyers increasingly seek a single strategic execution partner to orchestrate multi-solution investments and long-term business roadmaps, aligning AI with cloud, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and customer experience (CX).
That shift matters for advisors. Two-thirds (66%) of organizations already engage technology advisors, and those advisors are valued for the business problems
they solve, not the platforms they sell.
Budgets Are Up, But Business Priorities Have Changed
84%
of organizations expect technology budgets to increase (up 77% from last year), with executives now prioritizing business outcomes over cost savings.
Executive Summary
For the last four years, Telarus has commissioned a survey with leading IT decision-makers and your fellow technology advisors to uncover actionable insights you can use to inform your selling strategies and drive growth in the year ahead. Findings are based on surveys of more than 500 IT decision-makers at mid-market and enterprise organizations* and more than 450 technology advisors.
Within this digital experience, you will find:
- The three critical shifts shaping technology decisions in 2026–27
- A practical playbook you can use immediately to win bigger deals and grow strategically
- IT Buyer and Advisor AI Maturity Models for benchmarking and discovery
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What's INside
Three critical findings for technology advisors
1. The Ecosystem Sale
2x
High-growth advisors are twice as likely to report that more than half of their revenue comes from multi-solution deals.
What’s in it for you?
Buyers indicate that cloud, AI, cybersecurity, and CX are their top 2026 investment priorities. Advisors who sell across these technologies report significantly more revenue than those who don’t. This is the single biggest lever for account expansion in your existing book of business.2. Buyers Value Execution Over Cost Savings
Half
of buyers want project management, implementation support, vendor vetting, and integration planning, compared to just 26% who value cost savings.
What’s in it for you?
Outcome-based sales and demonstrating your proven value across the entire sales cycle reasonate more than traditional cost-savings messaging. Position yourself as the advisor who helps customers execute successfully, not just spend less.
3. Vendor Loyalty Is at a Historic Low; Every Renewal Is a Live Opportunity
84%
of organizations are open to switching vendors at renewal.
What’s in it for you?
Buyers are already questioning incumbent vendors. Increased technology investment and multi-solution buying create opportunities for proactive planning conversations that address changing business needs, not legacy vendor relationships.
FINDING 1
The Great Ecosystem Sale: Cloud, Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, and CX —All With AI Enablement
While key IT buying drivers remain consistent with last year, the way customers purchase these solutions has fundamentally changed. Cloud, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and CX rank as top areas for new investment, but they are no longer siloed purchases. With AI acting as a key enabler, these solutions have converged into a singular conversation about modern enterprise architecture, where projects are evaluated together as co-investment priorities.
AI has moved from an optional add-on to core design. Offerings are being redesigned around ecosystems and joint solutions.
– Technology Advisor, 2026-27 Telarus Tech Trends Survey
High-Growth Advisors
2x
High-growth advisors (more than 20% revenue growth) are nearly twice as likely to drive the bulk of their revenue through multi-solution deals.
Advisors who connect AI, cloud, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and CX into a single modernization strategy will be better positioned to earn trust, expand deal scope, and drive revenue growth.
Advisor Action Plan
-
Action 1: Bring Telarus sales engineering in early.
Use the engineering team to establish credibility and build a strategic roadmap tied directly to business outcomes, not just technical requirements. This positions you as an ecosystem architect from day one. -
Action 2: Run a solution audit before you propose anything.
In every new engagement, ask structured discovery questions across all key areas (cloud, infrastructure, AI, cybersecurity, and CX), even if the customer only came with one problem. You can't connect dots you haven't mapped. Use the solution assessment tools in Telarus Hub; it frames you as a strategic partner, not an order-taker. -
Action 3: Schedule a business review with your top single-solution accounts.
The agenda isn't to upsell. It's to ask where their technology decisions in one area are creating pressure in another. Let that conversation surface the adjacent opportunity organically. Advisors who manufacture the multi-solution relationship risk losing trust. Advisors who reveal it earn the expansion.
Where Is Your Customer in Their AI Adoption Journey?
Use this model to benchmark your customer's current state, anticipate their challenges, and tailor your conversations accordingly.
Where Are You in AI Selling Readiness?
Identify where you are today in ecosystem selling and what steps you can take to accelerate your growth.
FINDING 2
Buyers Value Advisors for Execution Over Cost Savings but Many Advisors Haven't Caught On
Advisors still over-index on cost savings as a delivered outcome, but buyers increasingly value execution support. Nearly half of buyers who use advisors value project management and implementation support (48%), stronger vendor vetting (48%), and better integration planning (43%), compared to just 26% who prioritize cost savings.
Leading with cost savings is a mistake. It immediately positions you as a commodity; someone who helps a customer buy cheaper, not as a strategic partner who helps them build better. Today’s buyers want partners with a track record of delivering on-time, on-budget, and ROI-rich solutions. This is a direct opportunity to leverage the power of Telarus’s engineering, project management, and advanced solutions resources behind you.
Partners [benefit to] own more of the full customer lifecycle, not just the initial sale. It is about understanding the customer's process first, then people, then recommending a solution or partner.
– Technology Advisor, 10+ years in the channel, 2026-27 Telarus Tech Trends Survey
Advisor Action Plan
-
Action 1: Rewrite your discovery call opening.
For the first 20 minutes, remove all language about savings or pricing. Replace it with three questions:
- What does a successful outcome look like 12 months from now?
- Where have technology projects stalled or underdelivered for you before?
- Who internally owns the success of this initiative?
These questions signal you are a project partner, not a procurement resource, and surface the exact information needed to position Telarus’s support as a true differentiator. -
Action 2: Reframe your value proposition: Lead with execution, not price.
Use case studies and customer success stories in early conversations to demonstrate your track record of how you’ve helped organizations avoid implementation pitfalls, manage complex deployments, and achieve measurable business results. -
Action 3: Build vendor vetting and project management into your process.
Create a one-page "How We Work" document that outlines your structured evaluation, implementation oversight, and post-deployment support. Buyers who value execution need to see your process before they can trust it.
FINDING 3
Vendor Loyalty Is at a Historic Low; Every Renewal Is a Live Opportunity
A staggering 84% of organizations are open to switching vendors at renewal, yet only 14% of advisors identify renewal strategy as a core area of customer reliance. This is a huge, untapped opportunity.
Vendor Loyalty Is Fading as Costs Rise
84%
of buyers are open to switching vendors at renewal
87%
of buyers report increased renewal costs over the past 12 months
The Renewal Blind Spot
14%
of advisors identify renewal strategy as a top area where customers rely on them
Additionally, one in three (29%) buyers regretted a major technology purchase in the past 24 months due to changing business needs, unmet expectations, higher than expected costs, and vendor overpromising. These are exactly the challenges a strategic advisor can help address at every renewal cycle.
1 in 3
buyers regretted a major technology purchase in the last 24 months
Customers are already questioning their incumbent providers and doing the math on cost versus value. Too many advisors treat renewals like administrative events instead of strategic milestones. With loyalty so low, it is crucial for advisors to focus equally on new sales and existing customer expansion. Every renewal is now a live opportunity to either retain and expand your footprint or lose it to a competitor who is having the strategic conversation you aren’t.
Advisor Action Plan
-
Action 1: Use the Telarus Hub for proactive contract management.
Map every customer contract scheduled to renew within the next 6–12 months. Set alerts, engage early, and build your upsell and cross-sell program before the renewal clock starts ticking. -
Action 2: Build a renewal conversation playbook.
Open with a vendor performance review, not a pricing discussion. Before the renewal, pull data on what the incumbent delivered against original success criteria (uptime, support times, adoption rates, etc.). As customers face rising costs and become more open to switching, lead the conversation with data, not price. -
Action 3: Treat every renewal as a new solution audit.
A customer who signed a cloud contract 24 months ago now operates in a market where AI and cybersecurity have completely changed. The renewal is the natural moment to ask, “Does this contract still reflect how your business operates?” Asking this 6 to 12 months out turns a simple renewal into a multi-solution ecosystem sale.
Conclusion:
The Advisors Who Master Ecosystem Orchestration Will Win
The technology market has entered a new phase. Budgets are growing, vendor loyalty is declining, and buyers are seeking advisors who can deliver business outcomes, not just source technology.
Across all three findings, one message is clear; Access to technology is no longer enough. The advisors who win now won’t be the fastest to quote; they’ll be the fastest to understand. Insight, not inventory, will turn market opportunity into revenue.
That means asking deeper questions to uncover the desired business outcome. Customers rarely have isolated AI, connectivity, security, or CX challenges; they have business challenges that require integrated solutions.
Advisors who move beyond transactions and become trusted orchestrators of business outcomes will be best positioned to lead.
How Telarus Can Help
You do not need to make this shift alone. Telarus gives you the expertise, education, tools, and supplier ecosystem to help you sell smarter, win more, and expand every opportunity.
Technical expertise
Access an elite team of sales engineers and solution architects who help navigate complex customer conversations, validate solution designs, and build larger, more strategic opportunities.
Education & training
Build confidence in emerging technologies through Telarus University, certifications, and ongoing industry education that help you lead higher-value customer conversations.
Business growth resources
Leverage research, playbooks, and marketing assets to uncover opportunities, create demand, and accelerate sales cycles.
Supplier ecosystem
Access a broad portfolio of leading providers across AI, cloud, cybersecurity, CX, and connectivity to deliver the integrated solutions customers increasingly expect.
Access Telarus experts, resources, and tools from the all-in-one business management platform for advisors.
About Telarus
Telarus, the largest technology services distributor, has devoted over two decades to fueling technology advisor growth through deep market insights, channel expertise, and an unmatched suite of services, solutions, and tools. With a focus on collaboration with advisors and suppliers, Telarus enables the modern advisor to source, purchase, and implement the right technology for the greatest impact.
www.telarus.com