Introduction

Letter from Adam Edwards, CEO of Telarus

Welcome to the third annual Telarus Tech Trends Report, featuring actionable insights specifically for the channel.

Inside these pages, you'll find exclusive findings from leading IT buyers and your fellow technology advisors. Through this research, we set out to answer critical business questions for advisors: How have buying behaviors shifted compared to last year? What trends should be informing your selling strategies for the year ahead? Where are the biggest opportunities for growth?

Last year, we saw early experimentation with AI across the customer experience, cybersecurity, and cloud categories. This year, that experimentation has turned into execution and revenue. More IT leaders are moving beyond pilots and into production, deploying solutions that enhance automation, strengthen security, and elevate customer engagement.

To understand what’s driving these decisions—and where advisors fit in—we surveyed approximately 400 IT buyers and 400 technology advisors. The data reveals a clear trend: Technology investments remain strong, even in the face of economic uncertainty.

Most IT leaders report stable or growing budgets, but spending is shifting—away from headcount and toward tools that enable efficiency, automation, AI adoption, and digital customer experience."

But AI isn't the only growth opportunity. Foundational technologies like UCaaS, networking, and cybersecurity still represent the revenue backbone for most advisors. These are not legacy offerings, they are the ongoing workhorses of modernization, especially in the mid-market, where digital transformation is accelerating.

We also uncovered a growing divide between enterprise and mid-market strategies. Large enterprises are focused on efficiency, compliance, and automation, but often face internal complexity and slower implementation cycles. Mid-market companies, on the other hand, are moving quickly. They’re more agile and adopting AI faster, experimenting more freely, and nearly all are looking to trusted advisors for guidance in areas where they lack in-house expertise. In short: Mid-market buyers are your biggest opportunity for exploring growth right now —especially when it comes to cloud, CX, and cybersecurity.

Advisors who lead with insight and specialize in high-demand areas like AI, cloud, CX, and cybersecurity are best positioned to earn trust, close deals, and grow their businesses. These are exciting times but also a venture into the unknown for many. Telarus is here to support you—especially in technology areas where clients need the most help navigating complexity, implementation, and results. This report and linked resources, are designed to equip you with the trends, strategies, and tools to deepen your client relationships and drive meaningful growth in 2025 and beyond.

Adam Edwards
CEO, Telarus

For this report, mid-market are defined as US companies with 51-500 employees, and large enterprises with 501+ employees.

For more details on the survey data: VIEW METHODOLOGY

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Executive Summary

AI Is No Longer Experimental;

It’s Strategic

Organizations have moved from AI pilots to production deployments. Buyers now expect advisors to deliver concrete implementations with measurable ROI across CX, cybersecurity, and cloud infrastructure.

AI ranks as the top driver of IT investments for the second year running—driving a fundamental shift from headcount to software spending. Priority use cases center on automation, risk reduction, and customer experience enhancement.

The opportunity is clear: Advisors leading AI conversations are winning bigger deals and expanding accounts faster.

Mid-Market:

The Sweet Spot for Advisor Influence

The data reveals a striking divergence: While large enterprise buyers focus on cost optimization, mid-market companies are accelerating transformation—and they're 3x more likely to engage external advisors.

Mid-market buyers lead in AI acceleration, adopting Copilot and ChatGPT at higher rates while embedding AI into daily workflows. Crucially, they're coupling AI investments with cloud modernization, cybersecurity upgrades, and CX platform overhauls.

For advisors, this segment represents the greatest near-term revenue opportunity. That said, advisors also have an opportunity to help large enterprise clients evaluate cost-cutting across their organization to fund innovation, which is still seeing increased investment.

Foundation Technologies:

Still Your Revenue Backbone

While AI captures attention, traditional technologies drive increasing revenues:

Top revenue generators: UCaaS (73%), networking (66%), cybersecurity (53%)
Fastest expansion: Cybersecurity (44%) + networking (42%)

Many clients still need to upgrade their existing tech stacks to take advantage of the modern advantages from CX, cybersecurity, cloud management and advanced networking.

Continue to master these foundations and use them to unlock strategic AI conversations.

Executive Summary cont'd-->

Executive Summary (cont'd)

Buyers Need Outside Expertise.
Are You Ready to Lead?

Buyers today face higher stakes, faster change, and mounting pressure to deliver outcomes. They want more than product access—they want a partner. Someone who understands how to integrate fast-changing technologies, mitigate risks, and tie investments to measurable results.

Yet many advisors lag behind. One in three still aren't actively selling AI solutions, despite its prominence in client conversations. Meanwhile, those who adopt AI internally report stronger selling confidence and better client outcomes.

Whether it's AI, cloud, CX, or cybersecurity, advisors who bring insight, clarity, and specialization are best positioned to win.

The Bottom Line

This year's data shows that opportunity is everywhere, but the window to act is now. AI is a catalyst, mid-market is the growth engine, foundational tech is still your revenue backbone, and advisors who can demonstrate expertise in emerging technologies will benefit from the increase in software spending as all buyers seek out more efficiency and cost savings in a new technology era.

The question isn't just what clients are buying—it's who they trust to lead them."