AI is rapidly transforming the way enterprises evaluate service providers, creating new expectations for performance, innovation, productivity and business value. As organisations increasingly adopt AI-enabled operating models, traditional benchmarking and assessment frameworks must evolve to reflect the capabilities that matter most in the market. This session explores how AI will influence both existing and future IPL studies, the emerging criteria that will define provider differentiation and the new measures organisations will use to assess success.
Attendees will gain an inside look at how expectations within IPL evaluations are changing, what capabilities providers must demonstrate to remain competitive and how AI-driven outcomes will increasingly shape market perception and leadership positioning. The session will also examine the risks of falling behind as competitors accelerate AI adoption, provide a preview of upcoming IPL research priorities and offer practical guidance on how providers can effectively showcase their AI investments, operational maturity and measurable business impact. Through real-world examples and forward-looking analysis, attendees will better understand how evolving measurement criteria will redefine provider leadership in the years ahead.

AI, macroeconomic volatility, rising technology costs and aggressive competitive pricing are fundamentally changing how service providers price deals. This session explores how these forces are reshaping pricing strategies and why traditional benchmarks may no longer be enough to protect margins and remain competitive. Drawing on ISG’s proprietary pricing intelligence, research and benchmarking data, attendees will gain insight into emerging pricing trends and how the market is responding to uncertainty. The discussion will examine the impact of AI, hardware constraints, software costs and changing delivery economics on deal pricing and commercial structures. Attendees will learn how to distinguish sustainable market shifts from short-term hype and determine which forces should influence their pricing decisions. The session will also explore the evolution toward performance- and outcome-based pricing models and how providers can balance competitiveness with margin preservation. Ultimately, attendees will leave with practical strategies to use market intelligence to price smarter, win deals and build more resilient commercial models for 2027 and beyond.

Research only creates value when people can use it at the moment decisions are being made. ISG OneSource is designed to make that easier. This session introduces a new way for providers to connect ISG research, market intelligence, competitive insight and commercial strategy. Through practical demonstrations and real use cases, we’ll show how OneSource can help improve positioning, prepare for advisor and client conversations and strengthen go-to-market execution. This session will show how ISG OneSource can help turn research into revenue impact.

Providers face growing pressure to clearly demonstrate strategic alignment with their clients while staying adaptive to their rapidly evolving expectations. ISG is launching a new service line dedicated to helping providers strengthen their C-level enterprise engagement to drive alignment and growth with existing clients and prospects.
This session shares ISG’s approach to engaging senior leaders for relevant strategic dialogs through Roundtables (to open new relationships) and Advisory Boards (to enhance existing ones).  It will explore how to design, build and manage high-impact Client Advisory Boards (CABs) that deliver fresh strategic insights and better executive relationships.  It will also explore what makes Executive Roundtables successful and valuable, starting from the premise of being “a good use of my time” for a busy executive.

ISG Market Lens is conducting detailed market analysis and buyer behavior research year-round. In this session, we've consolidated some key findings that anyone at SIC needs to know. Join Alex Bakker, ISG Distinguished Analyst, as he takes you through some key findings and answers questions in this data-driven session. Be better informed about the enterprise behaviors that are driving contract activity and IT demand.

Advisor Relations is no longer just about improving deal invitations and win rates. The function is becoming more strategic, more collaborative and more directly tied to pipeline, positioning and revenue impact. This session will share ISG’s latest research on the evolving state of Advisor Relations, including changes in team structure, investment, reporting lines, talent and advisor collaboration. It is relevant not only for Advisor Relations professionals, but also for the business, sales, marketing, alliance and strategy leaders who work with these teams and depend on them to strengthen market influence and commercial outcomes.

Analyst relations is undergoing significant change as AI, shifting buyer behavior, new influence channels and evolving enterprise decision-making reshape how providers engage with the market. This session presents the results of ISG's 2026 Analyst Relations Survey, offering a first look at aggregated industry findings and the emerging trends redefining the function. Attendees will gain insight into how analyst relations teams are adapting their strategies, where organisations are increasing investment and which practices are proving most effective in influencing market perception and business outcomes. The session will explore the changing role of analyst engagement within the broader go-to-market ecosystem, provide benchmarking data against industry peers and highlight the opportunities and challenges that will shape analyst relations programs over the next several years.

The market is entering a new phase. AI is changing the economics of technology and services, but its biggest impact may be what happens next: which capabilities enterprises will continue to buy, which will become commoditised, where new demand will emerge and how the shape of the provider market will change.

What are the driving forces that will reshape enterprise demand over the next 12–24 months? As enterprises rethink technology investment, sourcing strategies and the role of partners, the boundaries between traditional categories are becoming less relevant — and new sources of growth are emerging.

Let’s explore what is coming next, where the market is moving and what today’s signals tell us about tomorrow’s opportunities.
•    Read the signals: What the latest ISG Index data reveals about where enterprise demand is accelerating, slowing and fundamentally changing.
•    Look beyond AI adoption: How AI, economic pressure, geopolitical shifts and changing enterprise priorities are combining to create a new market landscape.
•    See what comes next: The emerging opportunities, business models and areas of demand that could define the provider market in 2027 and beyond.

The big question: Are you preparing for the market that exists today — or the one your clients will be buying in next?

As AI, automation and agentic technologies become embedded into managed services, service providers will find it increasingly difficult to differentiate through capability alone. This session will explore how the next source of competitive advantage will come from deeper client understanding: knowing not just the client’s industry, but how technology shapes their business performance, risk profile, customer experience and competitive position. Drawing on conversations with enterprise technology and transformation leaders, attendees will explore how providers can shift from selling technology capability to becoming business partners that use AI to solve specific client problems. The message is simple but consequential: providers that know their clients best will be better positioned to win larger, longer-term relationships in 2027 and beyond.

AI is more than just a technology topic; it is a leadership topic. It calls for clear judgement about the problems worth solving, the priorities that matter most and the choices to make, or consciously not make, on behalf of customers, colleagues and organisations.
This session asks a practical leadership question: as AI becomes part of everyday work, what will it take for more women to help set the priorities and drive the change?

In an increasingly crowded AI market, compelling technology demonstrations are no longer enough to win enterprise deals. This session explores why evidence of measurable business value—not proprietary tools, accelerators or AI claims—is becoming the real differentiator, and what providers need to prove throughout the buying process. Attendees will learn how to build an industrialised evidence stack that demonstrates economics, transparency, scalability and transferable results rather than relying on a successful pilot alone. The result is a practical blueprint for turning AI credibility into a competitive advantage and winning more deals in 2027 and beyond.

AI-enabled outcome models are gaining traction in banking, but providers will need to prove far more than technology capability before banks will trust them at scale. Drawing on ISG research, Market Lens, ISG Index data and DACH banking experience, this session explores the growing proof burden around AI governance, resilience, data control, regulatory accountability and ecosystem risk. Attendees will gain insight into how DORA, AI governance and third-party risk are changing what banks expect from providers—and which outcomes can realistically be priced and delivered. The discussion will show how providers can build stronger control architectures, commercial models and evidence to win AI-enabled banking deals in 2027 and beyond.

Digital sovereignty is fundamentally changing what enterprises—particularly public-sector organisations—expect from their technology providers and sourcing partners. This session explores how geopolitical uncertainty, jurisdiction, resilience and strategic autonomy are reshaping the traditional sourcing question from “who can deliver best and cheapest?” to “who can deliver while preserving control?” Attendees will gain insight into how these requirements are changing public-sector tenders, provider positioning, partnerships and delivery models. The discussion will highlight where new opportunities are emerging and how providers can adapt their go-to-market strategies without sacrificing commercial competitiveness.

Incumbency has traditionally been an advantage – but in today’s AI-driven and consolidating services market, it is increasingly a double-edged sword. Strong delivery, deep client knowledge and established relationships remain valuable, but they no longer guarantee renewal. Clients are consolidating providers, demanding measurable productivity and ROI and increasingly taking existing scope to market as they rethink their operating models around AI. Drawing on ISG market data and ISG’s sourcing engagements, this session challenges four myths about incumbency and explores why successful providers treat renewals like new deals, proactively challenge their own delivery models and continuously prove their commercial and technological competitiveness. Providers will learn how to move from defending incumbency to continuously re-earning it through innovation, measurable value creation and a compelling vision for the client’s future.

Successful service delivery is no longer enough—clients increasingly want providers to prove that their services are creating measurable business value. This session explores the shift from SLA-driven relationships toward value realisation, Connecting AI investments, adoption, governance and measurable outcomes. Attendees will learn how to reposition account management, QBRs and AI offerings around proof of value and prepare for performance-linked commercial models. In an outcome economy where AI capabilities are increasingly abundant, providers that can consistently prove business impact will have a powerful advantage in winning and expanding strategic relationships.

Life sciences organisations are entering a new phase of AI adoption. The focus is shifting from experimentation and proof-of-concepts to enterprise-scale deployment across research, clinical development, manufacturing, quality, regulatory affairs and commercial operations. As organisations seek measurable business outcomes, executive leaders are making critical decisions about which AI capabilities to build internally, which to source from strategic partners and how to create scalable operating models that balance innovation, compliance and cost efficiency.

This session examines where pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies are expected to invest through 2027 and how sourcing strategies are evolving to support AI-enabled transformation. Industry leaders will discuss emerging demand patterns, the rise of AI-native platforms, changing service provider roles and the growing importance of ecosystem partnerships among life sciences firms, hyperscalers, software vendors and specialised AI providers.

Attendees will gain practical insight into the capabilities and partnerships likely to capture the greatest share of enterprise spending as AI becomes embedded across the life sciences value chain.

In AI sourcing, the winner may be determined long before the RFP is released. This session explores how providers can influence the problem definition, success criteria, business case and governance model before procurement formally begins—particularly when clients are still figuring out what they actually need. Attendees will learn why advisory credibility and early executive engagement can create a greater competitive advantage than simply producing the strongest proposal. The session will challenge providers to shift from responding to demand to shaping it, creating opportunities to influence deals before competitors even enter the process.

AI is fundamentally changing the economics of outsourcing, yet many providers are still trying to deliver AI through contracts designed around labor, effort and traditional service models. This session explores why providers need to rethink pricing, contracting and governance around autonomy, continuous improvement, interoperability and measurable outcomes. Attendees will gain practical insight into how to redesign AI-enabled RFP responses and contracts while balancing autonomy with human accountability and aligning commercial models to changing levels of AI execution. The providers that reinvent their commercial model—not simply automate their existing one—will be better positioned to monetise AI and remain relevant in 2027 and beyond.

Manufacturing organisations are entering a new phase of industrial transformation driven by AI-powered operations, connected ecosystems, digital engineering and increasingly autonomous production environments. As manufacturers face continued supply chain volatility, labor shortages, sustainability pressures and growing demands for resilience, the market is rapidly shifting toward intelligent, data-driven operating models that improve efficiency, agility and speed to market.
 
This session explores the major trends reshaping the manufacturing landscape through 2027 and where the next wave of commercial opportunity is emerging for service providers, software companies and platform innovators.
Attendees will gain insight into where manufacturers are prioritising technology investments, how platform-centric industrial ecosystems are evolving and where providers can create differentiated value across increasingly connected operations.

AI is challenging the traditional services model by reducing the human effort required to deliver outcomes, forcing providers to rethink what they sell, how they price and how they grow. This session explores how providers can move beyond FTE and effort-based models towards consumption, productivity, gainshare and outcome-based commercial constructs, while balancing risk and reward. As solutions increasingly span service providers, hyperscalers, software platforms and AI specialists, we will also explore how providers can orchestrate ecosystems, share accountability and differentiate through business value, creating more sustainable growth in the AI economy.

The global service delivery model is being fundamentally reshaped by AI, GCC growth, insourcing, provider consolidation and changing enterprise expectations. Drawing on ISG’s Market Lens studies and Star of Excellence program over the past year, this session provides candid feedback of performance in current sourcing relationships. Attendees will gain insight into where expansion opportunities exist, and at delivery behaviours that could put incumbency at risk. The findings will give providers a reality check on delivery approaches, pricing and positioning in order to grow in existing accounts and win new ones.