The U.S. mortgage industry—long known for its paperwork-heavy processes and lack of pricing clarity—is facing mounting pressure to modernize. As artificial intelligence matures and consumer expectations shift, lenders are rethinking how home loans are originated, processed, and priced.

Traditionally, mortgage lending has been resistant to change. High costs, opaque pricing structures, and a reliance on manual underwriting have persisted despite the rise of digital experiences in retail, travel, and other financial services. But today, AI and automation are beginning to challenge those conventions.

Generative AI is reshaping the way mid-market organizations approach automation, shifting its role from a back-office efficiency tool to a front-line driver of growth, customer engagement, and digital agility. A new wave of service providers is accelerating this transformation by merging generative AI with robotic process automation (RPA), enabling adaptive systems that support both human interaction and structured execution. As these capabilities become more accessible, companies in the $500 million to $2 billion revenue range are finding new, less disruptive paths to modernization.

As digital expectations rise and economic pressures mount, small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) are reevaluating their technology strategies. Increasingly, these organizations are turning to local broadband service providers (BSPs) not just for internet access, but for integrated digital experiences that rival those offered by enterprise providers. Behind this shift is a fundamental change in how infrastructure, service models, and community relationships intersect—and at the center of this transformation is Calix, a platform, cloud, and managed services company that enables BSPs to evolve into trusted broadband experience providers.

The global AR/VR headset market posted a strong rebound in the latest quarter, growing 18.1% year-over-year, according to new data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Augmented and Virtual Reality Headset Tracker. The resurgence was led by Meta, which captured 50.8% of the market.

Enterprises are transforming workforce management with software that uses AI and automation to address labor challenges and opportunities, according to new research from global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III).

Local and regional broadband service providers are rapidly becoming essential players in the digital transformation of small and midsize businesses (SMBs). No longer confined to delivering basic internet access, these providers are evolving into strategic partners that help businesses improve resilience, security, and customer experience.

The new ISG State of the Agentic AI Market report says 50 percent of organizations engage a service provider to deliver improved data management, but more than half still struggle with legacy data residing in old applications. To accelerate data management adoption and value, providers are designing agentic AI solutions that effectively bypass many legacy data challenges.

As artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the enterprise technology landscape, industry leaders are rethinking modernization strategies to balance agility, security, and compliance. That was the key takeaway from a recent CIO Magazine roundtable, co-hosted by Skyla Loomis, Vice President of IBM Z Software, and John Currie, Partner, Mainframe Application Modernization at IBM.

Gartner, Inc. has identified 12 emerging technology disruptions that will define the future of business systems. Technology leaders must prioritize these over the next five years, as they present competitive opportunities in the near term and will eventually grow to become standard throughout businesses.

Chris Miller, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at ATB Technologies, brings firsthand perspective on how SMBs are navigating this transformation. As a managed services provider (MSP) with deep roots in manufacturing, engineering, and nonprofit sectors, ATB is working on the front lines to help organizations adopt AI in ways that are responsible, practical, and tailored to their specific needs.

In an IDC, The Impact of US Tariffs on Asia/Pacific Enterprise Software in 2025 , IDC highlighted that technology buyers in Asia/Pacific will be adopting a cost control approach by looking at lower cost alternatives to current technology solutions and delaying major projects while turning to more cloud-based and SaaS solutions.

The AI revolution is no longer confined to the Fortune 500. With copilots, chatbots, and machine learning tools becoming increasingly accessible through mainstream productivity suites and cloud platforms, small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are confronting a new set of strategic, operational, and technological decisions—many without the internal expertise typically found in enterprise environments.

The 2025 ISG Provider Lens Microsoft AI and Cloud Ecosystem report for Mexico finds that enterprises are quickly migrating to cloud computing, with service providers estimating that adoption of cloud solutions is rising more than 25 percent per year and likely to keep up that pace in 2026. Use of the cloud has spread to business functions such as human resources and administration, accelerating enterprise digitalization, the report says.

From dental clinics to moving companies, SMBs are deploying AI-powered phone agents to manage calls, qualify leads, and schedule appointments—automating front-office tasks that were once exclusive to large contact centers. So said Lyle Pratt, founder and CEO of Austin-based AI startup Vida in a recent BizTechReports vidcast interview for journalists.

The worldwide Ethernet switch market recorded $11.7 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2025 (1Q25), a 32.3% year-over-year (YoY) increase, fueled by strong growth in the datacenter portion of the market as hyperscalers and cloud service providers build out infrastructure capacity for the AI era. The total worldwide enterprise and service provider (SP) router market increased 5.9% YoY to $3.4B in 1Q25. These findings are detailed in the latest editions of the International Data Corporation (IDC) Quarterly Ethernet Switch Tracker and IDC Quarterly Router Tracker.

Small and midsize businesses are undergoing a quiet transformation as AI phone agents reshape how they handle calls, schedule appointments, and engage customers—bringing automation once reserved for large enterprises into the SMB mainstream. From dental clinics to moving companies, SMBs are deploying AI-powered phone agents to manage calls, qualify leads, and schedule appointments—automating front-office tasks that were once exclusive to large contact centers.

The 2025 ISG Provider Lens™ Aerospace and Defense Services and Solutions reports for the U.S. find that technology advancements, geopolitical disruptions and a skills shortage are forcing companies to adapt and innovate. Enterprises are investing in digital transformation, workforce development and new supply chain strategies to remain competitive in an increasingly complex business environment.

Over 40% of agentic AI projects will be canceled by the end of 2027, due to escalating costs, unclear business value or inadequate risk controls, according to Gartner, Inc. 

Enterprises in the U.S. are adopting the Snowflake cloud data management platform to prepare for the data challenges posed by AI adoption, hybrid work and other trends, according to a new research report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm.

The enterprise worldwide wireless local area network (WLAN) market grew 10.6% in the first quarter of 2025 (1Q25) compared to 1Q24 to reach $2.3 billion as the market’s growth momentum continued from the previous quarter, according to results published in the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly WLAN Tracker.