As U.S. consumers look to update their televisions, increasing the size and picture quality are the top driving force, according to a new report from NPD Group. Of the consumers who purchased a 4K/UHD replacement TV, 45 percent reported buying their new TV because they wanted a larger screen, 39 percent for better picture quality, and 24 percent purchased because pricing became more affordable.

As Google and Amazon jostle to position themselves as providers of the leading smart home voice control device, Futuresource Consulting noted in a recent report.  "Smart speakers led the field in terms of popularity and adoption, closely followed by climate control, which has become the most common first installation - slightly ahead of security, lighting and smart monitoring devices, such as smoke detectors," says Oliveira, Market Analyst at Futuresource Consulting.

The predominant uses of smart speakers revolve around asking questions, checking the weather, listening to news and playing music – not for controlling connected home devices, according to a new survey of consumers in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany and Brazil, conducted by IHS Markit.

Employee engagement has surfaced as a major concern in delivering improvements in customer experience (CX), with 86 percent of CX executives in a Gartner, Inc. survey ranking it as having an equal or greater impact than other factors such as project management and data skills.

New data from Juniper Research has revealed that the total number of connected Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and devices is set to exceed 50 billion by 2022, up from an estimated 21 billion in 2018.

The growing power of smart home devices and services will increasingly extend their influence outside of the home and into wider smart city programs, according to a new report from ABI research.

Nearly 40 percent of U.S. broadband households now have at least two OTT video service subscriptions, according to new research from Parks Associates. The research firm notes that consumers have reached a new stage in connected entertainment where OTT is a standard source of video and viewers are more willing to experiment with multiple OTT services.

A whopping 77 percent of service providers will require some level of IT transformation over the next three years to meet the changing needs of their customers and remain competitive, according to 451 Research’s first-ever quarterly Voice of the Service Provider survey.

While IT, and most businesses, have been focused on operational excellence for the past 20-30 years, Gartner, Inc. analysts said it’s time security leaders put the focus on customer experience.

The total security appliance market saw positive growth in both vendor revenue and unit shipments for the first quarter of 2018 (1Q18), according to new research from International Data Corp. (IDC).

In the face of increasing pressure from over-the-top (OTT) video services, pay TV providers are stepping up their game, according to new research from ABI Research. Despite the competition from OTT video services, the worldwide pay TV market has been growing at a steady pace. ABI forecasts that the global pay TV market -- which includes satellite, cable, and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) services -- will generate $295 billion in 2022.

A significant shift toward digital business models that harness technology trends such as cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) is boosting worldwide spending on application infrastructure and middleware (AIM). Gartner Inc. numbers show that AIM market revenue reached $28.5 billion in 2017, an increase of 12.1 percent from 2016.

A new study from Juniper Research has found that the number of enterprise MR (Mixed Reality) applications will approach 40 million by 2022, rising from just 6.5 million in 2018. That translates into growth of over 500 percent.

The water utility industry has an opportunity to engage more effectively with their customers by using digital channels of communication that enable self-service and establish more intimate relationships with rate-payers, says Andrew Heath, senior director for the utility practice at J.D. Power, in a podcast interview for journalists.

A new study by The NPD Group has found 14 percent of buyers in the automotive aftermarket make purchases online.

The global telehealth market is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14 percent and will be worth $25.30 billion by 2022, according to a recent study by Netscribes.

A new Voice of the Enterprise (VotE) survey by 451 Research analyzing the operational technology (OT) stakeholder perspective within the Internet of Things (IoT) industry finds a clear disconnect between IT and OT on IoT projects.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are touching many aspects of the data center, bringing efficiency gains, increased reliability and automation to data center physical infrastructure, according to new research from IHS Markit.

Augmented Reality (AR) will see major adoption in the retail sector, but not in the way many have predicted, ABI Research has found.

The top two business priorities for CIOs of midsize enterprises (MSEs) in 2018 are growth and digital transformation.