TechMarketView

In our latest report ‘UK Private Sector: AI trends & opportunities 2026‘, we analyse the progression of AI deployments across UK private sector industries, examining where organisations stand on their AI journey, which use cases are delivering measurable value, and where the most compelling supplier opportunities lie in the year ahead.

This report sits as part of our AI Impact theme – TechMarketView’s evolving approach to delivering actionable insight on AI adoption, trends, challenges and opportunities for suppliers across the UK SITS market. AI Impact draws on in-depth interviews and proprietary analysis to analyse the market through a number of different lenses; from identifying key AI opportunities, profiling disruptive and innovative suppliers, giving real-world ROI examples and tackling the ‘big issues’ from workforce redesign to AI ethics and the future of software models.

Our existing research coverage within the AI impact theme includes; Agentic AI market adoption, Hyperscalers and Suppliers, Front Office Operations, Back Office Operations, and UK AI startups to watch in 2025.

Why read this report?

Benchmark AI maturity across private sector industries

Chart the progression of AI deployments as organisations shift from GenAI assistants towards agentic systems. Examine adoption patterns, deployment challenges, and use cases across financial services, retail, transportation, pharmaceuticals & life sciences, energy & utilities, manufacturing, and other key sectors.

Identify sector-specific supplier opportunities

AI opportunities are increasingly sector-specific. Solutions must align with regulatory compliance and governance frameworks, be joined up with foundation modernisation, exploit agentic capabilities and integrate domain-specific data. Identify where to focus sales activity through targeted industry opportunities.

Sharpen your AI strategy

The proliferation of AI solutions is commoditising generic tooling and forcing suppliers to make clear choices about how they compete. Understand how deep vertical expertise and orchestration capabilities can create differentiation, how to adapt your business model to sectors that are insourcing AI capabilities, and how to position against a growing ecosystem of AI suppliers.

The report “UK Private Sector: AI trends & opportunities 2026” is now available for members of the TechSectorViews research programmes.

If you do not have access please contact Katie Waugh for more information

Posted by: Simon Baxter at 22:49

Tags:
privatesector
 
AI
 
genAI
 
AI agents
 

NTT DATA has announced eight semi-finalists in the Civil Service AI & Data Challenge, the next milestone in what has become a record-breaking year for the programme. As we reported in December (see Civil Service AI & Data Challenge sees surge in entries), this year’s competition attracted 252 ideas, a 160% jump on the previous year, reflecting how rapidly artificial intelligence (AI) is moving from an emerging interest to a central component in Whitehall’s modernisation agenda.

Submissions to the innovation programme, which is run by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), the Cabinet Office, Global Government Forum, and NTT DATA, were initially reviewed by the project team and a network of senior data leaders from across government. This was followed by a series of workshops hosted by NTT DATA and 13 civil service organisations to help the most promising ideas take shape. That process whittled the field down to 57 submissions, from which the judging panel selected eight.

Although most of the ideas use large language models (LLMs) or AI-driven automation, the breadth of ideas exhibited in the shortlist is impressive. LLMs have lowered the barriers of access to powerful AI tools in government departments. The technology has enabled people with a wider range of technical capability to innovate and deliver meaningful digital improvements to public services.    

Ideas span fraud detection (an AI verification service to identify falsified documents, from a trainee tax specialist at HMRC), environmental protection (using cameras and AI to safeguard birds near offshore wind turbines, from an ecologist at MHCLG), and virtual persona testing (creation of AI personalities to explore the views of different demographic groups from representatives of FCDO and DESNZ). Other projects target persistent Whitehall challenges, such as Freedom of Information requests, process fragmentation, data compliance, and improving insight and intelligence analysis.

The teams now have under a month to prepare for the next round. On 24-25 March, they will attend a hackathon before pitching to the Judging Panel, which includes the CDIOs of four major departments, an MOD Director General, Government CDO Aimee Smith (see Aimee Smith: From Met Police Director of Data to UK Government CDO), GDS Chief AI Officer Kalbir Sohi, and NTT DATA’s Head of Public Sector David Filmer. Four finalists will then be selected to compete for the prize worth £50,000 of digital development at the final in May.

The record number of entries received for this year’s challenge is reflective of the democratisation of AI, with LLMs putting powerful tools in the hands of civil servants across grades and job roles. Embedding AI successfully across government will increasingly require departments to become adept at capturing the ideas and enthusiasm from across the organisation. However, innovation needs to be pursued responsibly, with due consideration of safety, ethics and public trust.

With the government targeting £45bn per year of unrealised savings and productivity benefits through the digitisation of the public sector (see The State of Digital Government and a Blueprint for Change), the pressure to move from pilot to production has never been greater. The government has highlighted several AI-focused projects that have provided efficiency gains across Whitehall (see Government AI tool processes 50k consultation responses in 2 hours and references within) and will be hoping submissions from this year’s semi-finalists develop into essential productivity tools for the Civil Service.

Posted by: Dale Peters at 15:49

Tags:
government
 
innovation
 
collaboration
 
AI
 
data
 
public+sector
 
central+government
 

Dell Technologies closed FY26 with record full-year revenue of $113.5bn, up 19% year-on-year. Q4 alone delivered $33.4bn, up 39%, with operating income rising 32% to $3.5bn.

The AI infrastructure story continues to dominate. Dell booked $34.1bn in AI orders in Q4, a figure that dwarfs the full-year total just two years ago, exiting the year with a $43bn backlog composed overwhelmingly of Nvidia’s Grace Blackwell systems (Nvidia themselves posted 73% revenue growth yesterday). AI revenue grew more than 4x year-on-year in Q4, with full-year AI server shipments reaching $25.2bn. Dell is guiding for $50bn in AI server revenue in FY27, implying a further doubling year-on-year.

Vice Chairman and COO, Jeffrey Clarke, highlighted that the enterprise portion of the five-quarter pipeline grew fastest in Q4 and that Dell’s AI customer base has now crossed 4,000. Enterprise demand is spreading beyond training into inference, coding automation and financial modelling workloads. Clarke cited Dell’s own internal deployment of AI agents to write software (rather than merely assist developers) as an illustration of the token-intensive compute demands now flowing through enterprise.

Attach rates around AI server shipments are also growing across three areas: storage, networking, and services spanning installation, deployment and ongoing break-fix support. CFO David Kennedy described this services capability as a significant source of differentiation, with on-site Dell-badged engineers maintaining cluster uptime in a way that is difficult for rivals to replicate at the same scale. However, the top-line numbers tell a more cautious story, services revenue fell 2% in Q4 to $5.8bn and declined 4% for the full year to $23.1bn. That gap between the AI-led services narrative and the reality of services growth is one to watch.

Within the Client Solutions Group, Q4 revenue was $13.5bn, up 14%, but masks a significant split between commercial and consumer performance. Commercial revenue grew 16% to $11.6bn, driven by large enterprise demand. Consumer, by contrast, came in roughly flat. With a large proportion of commercial devices now four to five years old, the refresh cycle represents a significant revenue opportunity, not just in device sales, but in the services and lifecycle contracts that follow a growing installed base.

For FY27, Dell is guiding overall revenue of $140bn at the midpoint, up 23%. The supply environment remains the principal operational risk, with component costs continuing to move higher and lead times extending across the industry.

Posted by: Simon Baxter at 10:19

Unisys closed out fiscal 2025 with a familiar story, improving profitability set against a revenue line that continues to drift lower. Full-year revenue came in at $1.95bn, down 2.9% year-on-year (3.3% in constant currency), dragged by weaker volumes across the Digital Workplace Solutions segment and Cloud, Applications & Infrastructure (CA&I), the latter covering managed IT, application modernisation and consulting services. Q4 revenue did show more positive signs, up 5.3% to $574.5m, though this was largely a timing effect from software licence renewals rather than any underlying acceleration. Despite the revenue pressure, operating profit margin reached 9.1% for the full year, above top end guidance.

Total contract value across renewals reached $1.7bn for the year, more than double the prior year, with the majority of the largest renewals including new scope expansions. The firms proprietary ClearPath Forward platform (enterprise-grade software and hardware platform designed for secure, high-volume, mission-critical transaction processing) continues to outperform expectations. Management said consumption benefitted from clients adopting AI on top of the platform rather than moving away from it.

Underpinning the strategy is a broader claim from CEO Mike Thomson that AI will drive long-term demand for Unisys as a “designer, orchestrator and enabler of modern IT ecosystems”. Management also said Unisys will continue expanding its existing use of agentic AI and expect AI agents to continue to be layered throughout its managed service offerings.

On AI delivery, Unisys launched its Service Experience Accelerator agentic framework in 2025, now in production with major clients and earmarked for rollout to around a third of the customer base in 2026. The firm is also positioning its CA&I intelligent operations platform to capture a share of the market for above-enterprise layer automation, an area historically dominated by ERP and CRM suppliers and supporting private AI infrastructure builds requiring liquid cooling skills through its field services organisation.

The 2026 outlook is deliberately cautious, with constant currency revenue guided to decline 4.5%–6.5%. Management is targeting positive ex-licence revenue growth in 2027, but with new business TCV down 38% in 2025, the pipeline will need to recover meaningfully for that to be credible.

Posted by: Simon Baxter at 10:06

FY25 results from Rackspace reflect what the firm describes as “disciplined cost management and improved operating execution“. As a result, it exceeded guidance across “most” metrics.

Revenue for FY25 was down 2% (reported and constant currency) over FY24 to $2.68bn. Across its two business units, Rackspace saw Private Cloud decline 7% (cc) to $990m. The Public Cloud unit squeezed out revenue growth of 1% to $1.69bn. The firm has focused on improving revenue quality by exiting certain lower-margin contracts.

Overall, there was a notable swing in losses for the better, with losses from operations reducing markedly from $909m (FY24) to $101m (FY25). This was due to fewer exceptional charges combined with improved operational execution.

CEO Gajen Kandiah described it as a “year of meaningful progress” that “marks a clear inflection point for Rackspace“. The firm is positioning itself as the infrastructure and platform engineering backbone that makes enterprise AI scalable across hybrid cloud environments.

Kandiah says the firm’s outlook for 2026 reflects that the transition in the business is “taking hold“. Notably, he is forecasting that the Private Cloud unit will grow year-over-year “for the first time in years“. In Public Cloud, the firm will continue to “deliberately shift toward higher-value enterprise engagements“.

The strategic move to higher-margin, services-led engagements and ecosystem partnerships (see the recent Palantir deal) helps to sharpen Rackspace’s position in an AI-led market. The move away from lower-margin resale work and toward platform engineering is a positive shift for both its market perception and finances. However, the tough stuff is in consistently scaling AI engagements and getting back to profitability, and that will require strong and sustained execution. The proof will be in the 2026 numbers.

Posted by: Kate Hanaghan at 10:04

Tags:
results
 
hybrid cloud
 
AIpartnerships
 

Digital Allies, the defence consortium of PA Consulting and Accenture, has been awarded a £113m contract by the National Armaments Director (NAD) Group to deliver Defence Logistics Information Services (DLIS). This is the third and final element of the Business Modernisation for Support (BMfS) programme.

The NAD Group is part of the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD). It was established in March 2025 to unite the MOD organisations responsible for developing, delivering, sustaining, housing and harbouring the UK’s national arsenal and defence estate. Rupert Pearce was appointed as National Armaments Director in October 2025.

According to the MOD, the total value of the three BMfS contracts now in place stands at £466m. This figure includes the £320m contract for a Defence Equipment Engineering and Asset Management System (DEEAMS) and a £33m contract for Foundational Services.

In November 2025, IBM was awarded the DEEAMS contract (see IBM wins £188m MOD DEEAMS contract) with a stated award value of £188.5m, significantly lower than the £320m value stated in the contract notice. This deal covers the replacement of over 20 fragmented legacy systems with a single AI-powered platform managing everything from aircraft maintenance to vehicle repairs across 130 major military platforms.

The IBM deal followed a £50m contract awarded to SecureCloud+ in 2023 (see SME SecureCloud+ secures major MOD contract) and a range of smaller (sub-£7m) contracts in support of the BMfS programme. These included deals with Capgemini, Atos, Eviden, Digi2al, as well as both PA Consulting and Accenture. For PA Consulting, the DLIS contract represents another significant defence win following its recent RAF Appivate Programme contract (see PA secures £90m MOD deal).

The Digital Allies contract marks a significant milestone in the MOD’s plans to modernise its logistics capabilities. DLIS will replace ten separate logistics systems with a single digital solution covering inventory, munitions, warehousing and freight distribution. It forms one part of the BMfS programme, which is intended to resolve many of the historic issues the MOD has faced in managing its inventory.

BMfS is a highly complex programme and sequencing the delivery of contracts across multiple suppliers, while maintaining operational continuity in a logistics environment already under pressure will be challenging. Defence digital programmes consistently underestimate integration risk at the point of contract award and the MOD’s track record on large-scale programmes continues to be a concern. Suppliers with logistics software capability, cloud infrastructure and systems integration experience should monitor the programme closely for subcontracting and follow-on opportunities.

Posted by: Dale Peters at 10:01

Tags:
contract
 
defence
 
MoD
 
logistics
 

The UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) has joined CommonAI as a member, leading and funding the Scaling Inference Lab aimed at improving how AI systems run at scale. Supported by an initial £16m grant (part of a total £50m commitment), the lab is focused on the operational phase of AI (“inference”), where most computing cost and energy use occurs, with the goal of reducing costs, improving efficiency and increasing reliability. The objectives are to accelerate the path from research to commercial use, create a more level playing field in AI development, reduce reliance on Big Tech, and help attract investment into the UK ecosystem by lowering development costs and technical risk.

Incorporated in late 2024, CommonAI is a UK-based collaborative AI ecosystem launched by Anthemis (an early-stage venture capital firm) and Cambridge AI Venture Partners. Its central mission is to accelerate deep-tech AI innovation by creating shared resources — compute infrastructure — that reduce the duplication and cost burden faced by AI startups and enterprises. By offering cloud-agnostic compute, shared IP, and access to investment through Anthemis, CommonAI positions itself as an alternative infrastructure layer for the UK and European AI ecosystem. A dedicated Scaling Inference Lab will enable AI systems to be tested and optimised under real-world conditions.

ARIA is a UK R&D funding agency built to unlock scientific and technological breakthroughs that benefit everyone. By bringing together scientists and engineers with diverse expertise, the agency seeks to break down traditional silos to chart new pathways for technological advancement. Sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, ARIA received a capital funding allocation of at least £1bn through to 2029–30 from the Spending Review 2025 (see here).

The UK performs well at creating AI companies but struggles to retain and grow them through the critical scale-up phase. The barriers faced by startups, which include the compute access gap, the high cost of infrastructure, and the over-reliance on US hyperscalers, are significant. The collaboration between ARIA and CommonAI is a meaningful, if modest move in the right direction.

Posted by: Duncan Aitchison at 09:34

Tags:
government
 
AI
 

South Wales headquartered Flotek Group has added Hampshire-based FlexiNet to its growing portfolio, marking its 15th acquisition since being founded just four years ago. The deal extends Flotek’s managed IT, cyber security, and communications footprint across the South of England and into London, consolidating an increasing number of regional managed service providers.

FlexiNet’s communications heritage, spanning VoIP, mobile, and connectivity, should complement Flotek’s existing IT and security capabilities, strengthening the group’s ability to offer a converged proposition to SME customers. The retention of key FlexiNet personnel and its Andover office should help maintain its customer base.

With integration targeted within three months, Flotek is moving at some pace and given its gobbled up 15 companies in just four years it begs the question how many more regional players the Bridgend-based group has in its sights.

Posted by: Marc Hardwick at 09:27

Tags:
acquisition
 
msp
 
SMEs
 

Contact centre giant Teleperformance has had to navigate a challenging twelve months or so with its share price down c.50% on where it was a year ago. FY25 results out yesterday tell a story of resilience rather than momentum with group revenue coming in at €10.2bn, up 1.3% in constant currency (reported revenue marginally down 0.7% as a strengthening euro took a bite out of reported figures).

Core Services which represent some 85% of the business, grew a more creditable 2.7% yoy, with EMEA and Asia-Pacific outperforming at 3.8%, off the back of growth in data services for AI, sales, care and back-office solutions. The Americas also returned to growth, albeit modestly.

Specialised Services (which covers things like collections, interpreting and localisation, visa and consular services, and recruitment process outsourcing) disappointed, contracting 9.3% yoy, largely due to the non-renewal of a very large visa management contract at subsidiary TLScontact, the delivery partner for UK Government Visa and Citizenship Application Services.

Teleperformance’s sizable UK business accounts for c.6% of all revenue and was cited as having “posted solid growth over the year, thanks to the ramp-up of new contracts, especially in the public sector and banking and financial services.”

The more significant narrative, however, is structural. TP is undergoing a notable leadership change, with AI transformation specialist Jorge Amar stepping in as CEO as founder Daniel Julien steps back after decades at the helm. The incoming leadership is an AI specialist, something the business must get right, and deliver on its ‘Future Forward’ strategy, anchored by the TP.ai platform and over 500 AI projects in 2025 that must deliver value and improved outcomes for clients.

The internal AI and efficiency programme is targeting €100m+ in savings to support margin expansion, though one-off restructuring costs of €70m to €90m in 2026 will impact the near-term. With 2026 guidance of flat-to-2% yoy growth and a soft Q1 flagged, investor patience will be tested. 2028 targets of 4% to 6% organic growth and a c.15.5% EBITA margin, remain ambitious but not impossible if it gets the AI-led approach right.

Posted by: Marc Hardwick at 08:52

Tags:
results
 
appointment
 
bps
 
CXM
 

Posted by: UKHotViews Editor at 07:00

TechnologyOne has extended its AI narrative from back-office efficiency to citizen- and student-facing service delivery with the launch of Guide (a citizen/student-facing agentic AI extension of its whole-of-enterprise agentic product Plus, working with its digital experience platform DxP), designed to provide residents and students with faster, simpler access to essential public services and higher education support without having to navigate council and university systems.

The launch is consistent with the company’s broader thesis: to simplify adoption, standardise delivery, and keep accountability with one supplier—with a direction of travel that’s seen it move beyond ‘ERP modernisation’ into measurable service outcomes, and do so in a way that reduces delivery risk for cash-constrained councils and universities. TechnologyOne’s ‘SaaS+’ model bundles implementation, support, and upgrades into a single commercial arrangement, for instance (with recent wins including the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Worcestershire County Council, Runnymede Council, Islington Council, and the University of Chester).

The real eye-catcher, though, is the proposed ad-supported model with revenue share, making Guide potentially income-generating for the customer. If AI usage is set to rise sharply (see our coverage of agentic AI growth—and charging model concerns—around Salesforce’s FY26 results, for instance), this is a smart attempt to de-risk the economics of ‘AI at the front door’ before customers hit the unpleasant reality of runaway per-interaction costs. A traditional SaaS model will also be available, with Guide’s commercial framework being formally launched in May 2026 when the product becomes generally available.

Will it work in the public sector? Universities may be the easier early market as they have more latitude as independent institutions and have an ecosystem (careers websites, student unions, etc.) where third-party advertising isn’t uncommon; however, local government may prove trickier. Whilst the Council Advertising Network exists to help local authorities to carry third-party ads, not all have (yet) gone down that route and brand ads alongside citizen services can become politically sensitive. Governance (probity, category restrictions, privacy, tone) will likely determine traction as much as technology.

If TechnologyOne can prove outcomes and keep the model tasteful and controlled (in conversation with TechMarketView, COO Stuart MacDonald stressed that there were mechanisms to ensure that ad choices were “100% acceptable to customers”), Guide could force competitors to confront a hard truth: scaling citizen/student AI sustainably will demand new funding mechanisms… not just better prompts.

Posted by: Craig Wentworth at 10:46

Tags:
Local Government
 
AgenticAI
 
higher education
 
adverts
 

Made Tech has delivered its strongest ever H1 (six months ended 30 November 2025), with revenue up 28% to £27.8m (H1 FY25: £21.8m) and adjusted EBITDA up 35% to £2.4m (H1 FY25: £1.8m). The board now expects full year adjusted EBITDA to be “materially ahead” of market consensus of £4.8m.

Gross profit increased to £8.7m (H1 FY25: £7.8m), with gross profit margin decreasing to 31.2% (H1 FY25: 35.8%), primarily due to a deliberate increase in contractor numbers in H2 FY25 to mitigate demand volatility around the general election and Spending Review 2025. As we noted in the FY25 results (see Made Tech: Solid FY25 results with operational momentum), management set a target of reducing contractors to approximately 10% of the billable workforce by end-FY26. Although further reductions are expected in H2, at 14% in H1 FY26, hitting the year-end target will require management attention.

The contracted backlog of £74.4m was down 19% on the £92.2m with which Made Tech ended FY25 and down 8% on the H1 FY25 comparable of £80.8m. Sales bookings of £13.4m (H1 FY25: £42.0m) look soft, but the prior year comparative was inflated by several significant contract awards including the £13.2m Department for Education (DfE) win (see Made Tech H1: Building momentum and strengthening leadership). Sales bookings have accelerated in H2 to date, including significant awards with the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), which provides some grounds for optimism.

Made Tech’s Software division, focused on local government software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions, remains sub-scale and in need of a clearer path to commercialisation. Although it continues to be seen as an important component of how it can support its public sector clients, it has suffered from slow sales cycles (see Made Tech FY: Investing for next phase of growth). With £11.9m cash and no debt, Made Tech has the means to make targeted acquisitions that could accelerate progress, but having explored opportunities for some time, it will need to act soon.

The company has also strengthened its leadership team by appointing Richard Swinyard as chief financial officer (CFO). He will join the business on 2 March 2026, replacing Neil Elton who announced his departure in October 2025 (see Made Tech parts company with its CFO). Swinyard will bring extensive financial leadership experience from CFO roles at Computer Integrated Services (CIS) and Agilisys.

Although the sales pipeline looks robust, Made Tech’s business is inherently lumpy, and its priority will be to convert those opportunities and rebuild the contracted backlog to a level that provides visibility into FY27.

Posted by: Dale Peters at 09:59

Tags:
results
 
appointment
 
digital
 
H1
 
IT+services
 

An ahead of expectations Q426 performance from Nvidia which saw revenue leap by 73% yoy to $68.1bn left the company’s share price largely unchanged. Even the improved, better-than-anticipated revenue projection of $78m, plus or minus 2%, for Q127 failed to excite investors. Market sentiment remains cautious amid continuing concerns regarding the sustainability of the AI spending boom.

Fourth quarter top line growth was underpinned by the strength of demand for its data centre products. The three months ended 25 January saw revenue from these offerings increase by 22% sequentially and 75% yoy to a record $62.3bn, lifting the full year figure to $193.7bn (FY25: $115.3bn). Gross margin for the period was up by 200 bps against Q425 with net income rising by 94% yoy to c. $43bn.

Commenting on the results, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang remarked “Computing demand is growing exponentially…Enterprise adoption of agents is skyrocketing. Our customers are racing to invest in AI compute — the factories powering the AI industrial revolution and their future growth.” This unsurprisingly positive view of the outlook is not currently shared by investors. There is apprehension that both the current surge in investments may not be maintainable over the longer term and the risks of market saturation are rising.

For now, at least, global demand for Nvidia’s products continues to steam ahead. The hyperscalers alone are deploying over $300bn in AI infrastructure globally (see here). The chip maker is a crucial bellwether for the AI world. Its scale, combined with the intensifying narrative around a potential AI bubble, mean that every set of quarterly numbers is subject to intense scrutiny. Continuing stellar growth is already priced into the company’s stock. Blockbuster results are expected rather than rewarded.

Posted by: Duncan Aitchison at 09:41

Tags:
results
 
AI
 

Once again, the team at TechMarketView has been taking part in Future Steps, a fantastic event organised by the King’s Trust that happens every February.

The challenge is to complete 10,000 steps every day throughout the month. It’s the perfect excuse to make sure we all get up from our desks and move around.

We’ve also started a new tradition here. We pick a day to get away from the desk completely and meet up for a long walk together. Pub lunch at the end is mandatory.

This week, our South England contingent met up in Hampshire for considerably more than 10,000 steps. The rain miraculously stayed away, and the dogs were well behaved.

The King’s Trust organises a variety of fundraising events throughout the year. They are great for both team bonding and raising money for young people that need an extra boost in life.

There are other ways to get involved as a sponsor. Lewis can explain the options if you are a technology company keen to do your bit.

 

And if you can spare a bob or two, the TechMarketView Future Steps fundraising page is here:

https://events.kingstrust.org.uk/fundraisers/TechMarketView

Posted by: Kate Hanaghan at 09:37

Tags:
charity
 
KingsTrust
 

Salesforce closed FY26 with revenue of $41.5bn (up 9% in constant currency) and Q4 revenue of $11.2bn (up 10% ccy year on year). The company’s current remaining performance obligations (cRPO—the total value of contracted revenue that has not yet been recognised, and a vital metric for future growth potential) grew 13% ccy to $35.1bn (including a 4pt Informatica contribution). Growth in EMEA accelerated towards the end of the year (up 13% ccy in Q4), pointing to genuine regional momentum rather than a purely US-led AI narrative (Americas grew 9% in the same period).

The results also reinforce TechMarketView’s view that Salesforce is repositioning from CRM suite to an enterprise AI/data platform, with Slack increasingly positioned as the interface layer and Data 360 as the system of context (see Salesforce bets on context as Slackbot becomes AI front door). Agentforce + Data 360 ARR exceeded $2.9bn for the year (up >200%), with over 60% of Q4 bookings coming from existing-customer expansion. This prompted Salesforce Chair and CEO Marc Benioff to declare that the company was “well on its way to $63bn in FY30” (a $60bn target was set at Dreamforce last October).

For customers, the implication is that Salesforce is trying to make ‘AI in production’ feel less like systems integration and more like procurement: packaged agents, contextual workflow, and a deeper data foundation should shorten time-to-value. The trade-off is commercial and operational discipline (we’ve already flagged how the company’s new consumption-based “Flex Credits” pricing model, introduced last May, can introduce cost volatility as agentic usage scales—making governance and FinOps as important as model choice).

That bundling strategy also puts pressure on competitors. Point AI and automation vendors will need to prove outsized outcomes to justify their continued place at the table, whilst other mega-suites will need to respond with equally ‘agent-ready’ stacks that are governed and measurable (not just sidebar copilots bolted onto existing UI).

Posted by: Craig Wentworth at 09:31

Tags:
results
 
growth
 
Agentic
 

Sopra Steria has closed out a difficult 2025 on an improving picture, delivering FY revenue of €5.65bn, down 2.2% organically, but managing to return to growth in Q4 (+1.8%). Financial guidance targets were met despite the year unfolding in what new CEO Rajesh Krishnamurthy described as a “challenging environment” and where the French headquartered IT services group navigated softness across several key markets.

The Q4 improvement looks like being the key piece with major markets France and the UK both swinging back into positive territory in the final quarter, supported by growth in Public Sector, Aeronautics, and Defence. The UK’s Q4 surge of 8.8% is particularly notable, albeit flattered by a weaker prior-year comparator, with the NHS SBS and SSCL managed service platforms driving the recovery.

The UK now accounts for 16% of Group revenue at €909.9m and experienced a decline of 4.3% yoy. However, following an 8.3% decline over the first nine months of the year saw revenue grow 8.8% yoy in Q4, mainly thanks to strong growth in its key Public Sector platforms. The operating margin on UK business activity was 9.6%, down from 12.1% in 2024.

At a group level, operating margin on business activity slipped 30 basis points to 9.5%, partly reflecting the impact of increased employer social security contributions in France and the UK. That said, net profit attributable to the group rose 18.3% to €297m, lifted by lower restructuring charges, while free cash flow of €341m (6% of revenue) looks healthy.

CEO Krishnamurthy is betting on a combination of European sovereign positioning (a key differentiator), consulting growth, and rapidly scaling generative and agentic AI capabilities to drive its recovery. The pending acquisition of Starion and Nexova (see Sopra Steria to buy to boost space and cyber ambitions) should help the group’s push into secure, sovereign digital services for space and cybersecurity markets.

Measured 2026 guidance forecasts 1% to 2% organic growth and a minimum 9.5% operating margin. The medium-term ambition of 10% to 11% margin and 2% to 5% organic growth remain in place, although will require careful delivery across a business that is only just finding its footing again.

Posted by: Marc Hardwick at 08:20

Tags:
results
 
IT+services
 

Posted by: UKHotViews Editor at 07:00

Belfast-headquartered field service management software specialist Totalmobile has announced a merger with Germany-based Solvares Group, bringing together Totalmobile’s Field First execution platform with Solvares’ strength in workforce scheduling, planning and optimisation. The combined group says it will employ 800+ people and support 4,000+ customers across Europe, the UK and Australasia, spanning sectors that include emergency services, health and social care, housing, facilities management and telecoms.

The transaction also completes some neat private equity choreography. Totalmobile secured investment from Five Arrows (the alternative assets arm of Rothschild & Co.), together with funds managed by Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG), in early November 2025 (see Totalmobile secures fresh backing from Five Arrows and DBAG)—a little over six months after Five Arrows acquired a majority stake in Solvares from DBAG. Those moves have now culminated in the creation of a larger, international field service and workforce optimisation player.

Last year, Totalmobile positioned its Five Arrows investment as fuel for platform development and international expansion; the merger now looks like the next step in building a scaled platform that can fund R&D (including AI-led workflow support) and compete more credibly for multi-country, multi-division rollouts (whilst still selling into its “essential frontline services” heartlands in the UK). Totalmobile has built meaningful momentum in recent years across housing, social care, and local government more widely (see, for example, recent wins at Bromford Flagship housing group, Nottinghamshire County Council, and Chesterfield Borough Council).

For customers, the message is one of ‘no disruption’, with both firms pledging no immediate changes to existing products and support. The upside—if executed well—is faster convergence between planning and execution: better optimisation across end-to-end service delivery, and more headroom to industrialise partner-led deployments (Totalmobile has been leaning into alliances recently, for example with CGI and Pro:Public).

For the market, this is another sign that field service management / workforce optimisation is consolidating around a handful of scaled field operations platforms, raising the bar for mid-tier point solution specialists (as illustrated by Totalmobile’s acquisition history since Bowmark’s 2020 investment—Geopal, Cognito iQ, Working Time Solutions, then Gartan—as it expanded capabilities and widened sector coverage). However, as we set out in our research theme for 2026, Precision over Panacea, real differentiation will still come down to vertical depth and delivery capability, not just size.

Posted by: Craig Wentworth at 10:11

Tags:
merger
 
M&A
 
housing
 
Local Government
 
social care
 
field service management
 
private equity
 

AdvancedAdvT (AdvT) has issued a trading update showing full year performance ahead of market expectations, with revenue of approximately £53m (FY25: £43.3m) and adjusted EBITDA of not less than £14.4m (FY25: £11.3m).

The Group has continued to deliver EBITDA margin improvements, from c.21% in its first reporting period to 26% in FY25 (see AdvancedAdvT delivers solid revenue and EBITDA growth), with FY26 now expected to come in at over 27%. Although this represents a slight moderation from the 28% reported at H1 (see AdvT delivers strong H1 through M&A and AI investment), the direction of travel remains positive and we expect management to continue its focus on operational efficiencies.

Although the results are slightly ahead of market consensus, the direction of travel was clear at H1. At that point, Group revenue was up 28% to £25.4m (H1 2024: £19.9m), with 10.1% organic growth. Management warned that progress was uneven because of “delays in decision-making amid ongoing uncertainty around budgets and strategic priorities”. This appears to be reflected in the second half, where – based on TechMarketView’s calculations – revenue growth slowed to approximately 18% year-on-year. Despite these market challenges, the company continues to benefit from good recurring revenue (c.80% of total revenue) and strong customer retention.

The Group has a healthy cash balance of £96m, in line with expectations. This is despite completing the HFX, GOSS and MatchingCore IP acquisitions over the past twelve months (see AdvT acquires MatchingCore IP). Less positive is the Group’s investment in M&C Saatchi plc, which has dropped from £25m in August 2024 to £15m today as the creative agency struggles against geopolitical and macroeconomic headwinds. Management will need to decide whether to retain this investment or cut its losses and recycle the capital into software acquisitions that better align with the Group’s strategy.

In the trading update, Vin Murria (Executive Chair) addresses the threat posed to software companies by artificial intelligence (AI) (see Anthropic turns up the heat on enterprise software suppliers for further discussion). She recognises that AI introduces both opportunities and risks across the software industry, but argues that across the highly regulated markets in which AdvT operates it acts as an amplifier of platform value rather than a disruptive threat.

Across the mission-critical solutions AdvT delivers, particularly in the public sector, AI should enhance opportunities rather than erode them. The acquisition of MatchingCore’s IP earlier this year will help accelerate the development of AI functionality across the product range, and by embedding that capability deeply into customer workflows, the Group should find that AI strengthens customer retention rather than threatening it.

Posted by: Dale Peters at 09:55

Tags:
results
 
software
 
AI
 
hcm
 
public+sector
 
trading+update
 

Swiss banking technology specialist Temenos has announced its full FY25 results following a preliminary announcement in January.

To recap, ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) reached $860m, up 12% year-on-year in constant currency, with subscription and SaaS up 9%. ARR now represents over 90% of product revenue. EBIT increased 21% (with three points of margin improvement).

Notably, Temenos has today raised its FY28 targets, forecasting ARR of at least $1.23bn (from $1.2bn) and EBIT of around $480m (from $450m). While FY26 guidance shows high-level figures are expected to be in line with FY25, this is against the headwind of a BNPL client termination in the year just closed. Strip that out and the underlying growth trajectory looks more robust, with management confirming there is no further drag from this client beyond FY26. CEO and interim CFO Takis Spiliopoulos said the forecast for the coming year “reflects the stable sales environment, our strong pipeline growth and our confidence in maintaining the good momentum in the business through our focus on execution“.  

All in all, it’s a solid and encouraging performance, especially given the leadership changes in recent quarters. The market welcomed the news this morning with shares trading up c.5% at time of writing.

 

Read the latest TechMarketView banking sector analysis, here: UK Banking SITS suppliers, trends and forecasts 2026

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Posted by: Kate Hanaghan at 09:52

Tags:
results
 
banking