What do organizations need to prepare for as we look forward to 2026? Watch Everest Group’s subject-matter experts Shirley Hung, Vignesh Kannan, and AS Yamohiadeen to explore what lies ahead in 2026 across Finance & Accounting, Procurement, Supply Chain, and Enterprise Platform Services. This timely webinar equipped service providers with a deep understanding of the key demand drivers that are expected to shape enterprise services growth over the next 12 months. The session explored how agentic and generative AI are set to disrupt the market and what that means for enterprise strategy and execution. Attendees also gained actionable insights into how providers can successfully deliver value to midmarket and SMB clients, a segment increasingly critical in today’s competitive landscape.

At SAP Sapphire 2025, SAP reinforced its ambition to lead in enterprise AI by unveiling a range of innovations under its Business AI umbrella. Key announcements include the launch of AI Foundation, positioned as the operating system for SAP’s AI strategy, enabling simplified operations, innovation acceleration, and democratized access to predictive capabilities. Expanding Joule into an omnipresent AI assistant, accessible across SAP and third-party applications, marks SAP’s move toward ambient, context-aware AI. By introducing AI Agent Hub and cross-system Joule agents, SAP is evolving toward agentic automation that spans business silos. Business Data Cloud underpins these capabilities by unifying SAP and non-SAP data to enable real-time insight and orchestration. Introducing modular business suite-as-a-service packages further supports composability and easier adoption.

In the current macroeconomic market, enterprises are shifting their focus from new investments in their workflow automation solutions to optimizing the value of their existing investments. Around 64% of enterprises are dissatisfied with the outcomes of their current investments. This data suggests enterprises must assess their workflow maturity and develop initiatives leveraging third-party providers’ expertise. Fragmented systems, excessive customizations, and misalignment with strategic goals are a few challenges that enterprises face in their value realization journeys. In this report, we present an end-to-end framework for enterprises to assess their current workflow maturity, bridge the value realization gap, and maximize the ROI from workflow platforms. The report offers actionable insights into overcoming key challenges, assessing platform maturity, optimizing value, and leveraging external providers to drive results. Scope All industries and geographies Contents In this report, we examine: Enterprise challenges hindering the workflow platform’s full value realization Workflow maturity framework for enterprises Third-party providers’ role in value realization from workflow automation platform investments Membership(s) Enterprise Platform Services (EPS) Sourcing and Vendor Management

The Customer Experience Management (CXM) industry is shifting from traditional channels to text-based apps, driven by customer demands for flexibility and instant service. Gen AI is at the forefront of this revolution, offering hyper-personalized interactions, increasingly efficient self-service, and round-the-clock resolution. It can enhance the effectiveness of CXM operations and deliver several key advantages to consumers. However, businesses must address concerns such as data privacy, the lack of human touch in AI interactions, and potential inaccuracies to seamlessly integrate technology and meet modern consumer needs, thus avoiding customer dissatisfaction. In this viewpoint, we explore consumers’ perceptions of gen AI adoption in their customer and contact center experiences. We surveyed over 600 consumers worldwide to understand their readiness for gen AI-enhanced customer experiences. Combining these survey findings with Everest Group’s CXM research and expertise, this report offers data-driven insights into how consumers perceive gen AI adoption in their customer experiences, their readiness across various gen AI CXM use cases, their concerns and challenges with adopting gen AI in their experiences, regional disparities in consumer readiness for gen AI, and the future prospects of gen AI in CXM. Scope All industries and geographies Contents In this report, we examine: Consumer perspective on gen AI in CXM Consumer readiness for gen AI across industries Regional variations in consumer readiness for gen AI The future prospects for gen AI in CXM Customer Experience Management (CXM) Services, including Contact Center Outsourcing Sourcing and Vendor Management

Enterprises have increased their expectations from their finance function to have a strategic impact on organizational success, especially amid economic downturns. Encouragingly, many finance teams are already shifting their focus to improve Finance Stakeholder Experience (FinStX) and deliver business value, given its direct influence on important business outcomes such as revenue and growth, profitability and cost management, sustainability, and risk resilience. Consequently, finance organizations are aligning their strategic priorities to enhance various dimensions of FinStX, including accuracy, collaboration and communication, user interface, and access to organizational data and insightful value additions. Notably, they are navigating challenges such as fragmented data landscapes and potential stakeholder misalignment while doing so. Finance organizations are investing in initiatives to elevate their FinStX, particularly in customer-facing activities such as customer-to-cash processes, by prioritizing internal and external customer experience. Together with generative AI, transformative technologies such as automation, AI, and data analytics empower them to aggressively seek improvements in FinStX, often in collaboration with third-party providers. To understand how FinStX can drive organizational value, Everest Group conducted The Role of Experience in Driving Finance Transformation Survey 2023 among over 250 CFOs and their direct reports across multiple geographies and industries. In this report, we share key findings from the survey, including the current state of finance priorities, the importance of FinStX (including customer experience), and the role of third-party providers in improving FinStX. Scope All industries and geographies Contents In this report, we examine: The current state of finance priorities The importance of FinStX (including customer experience) Providers’ role in improving FinStX Membership(s) Finance and Accounting Sourcing and Vendor Management

Since the introduction of ChatGPT, organizations have shown a keen interest in exploring the applications of generative AI across various business functions, with procurement being no exception. As procurement has evolved from a back-office function to a strategic one, organizations are increasingly focused on transforming procurement operations by leveraging advanced technologies. While procurement has traditionally utilized technologies such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Optical Character Recognition (OCR), and basic analytics, the adoption of advanced technologies such as AI/ML is still in its early stages compared to more mature functions such as Finance and Accounting (F&A) and HR. However, the emergence of generative AI and growing enterprise interest in its applicability are expected to accelerate the adoption of next-generation technologies, including AI/ML, to drive further efficiencies and achieve better business outcomes across procurement operations. Generative AI’s creative and cognitive capabilities offer multiple potential use cases across the Source-to-Pay (S2P) value chain, with some organizations already piloting generative AI-based solutions within procurement. It can potentially transform procurement operations by facilitating increased automation, offering decision support, and reducing manual intervention through virtual assistants. With the buzz around generative AI and its emerging use cases, it is imperative for organizations to prioritize the most impactful use cases while also being cognizant of the various challenges associated with the application of generative AI-based solutions in procurement. In this viewpoint, we explore the current landscape of digital adoption in procurement, examining existing AI/ML-based solutions across the S2P value chain. The report also highlights the emergence of generative AI and its implications for procurement, exploring specific use cases within the procurement value chain and emphasizing the prioritization of these use cases for implementation. Scope All industries and geographies Contents In this viewpoint, we examine: The current state of digital adoption in procurement Use cases of AI-/ML-based solutions across the S2P value chain The emergence of generative AI and its implications Generative AI’s use cases within procurement operations and their prioritization Key considerations to ensure generative AI solutions’ successful implementation Membership(s) Procurement and Supply Chain Outsourcing Excellence

As we approach the end of 2023, a year where uncertainty continued unabated, companies are beginning to think about annual planning, which for many, kicks off months before the year ends. Service providers, in particular, need to consider how the demand for their offerings will evolve in 2024 and where they should focus their time, attention, and investments to best serve this demand. Watch this webinar to witness key analyst perspectives on the nature of the services market, what service providers may expect in the upcoming year, and how they can plan ahead. What questions has the webinar answered for the participants? What is the nature of the services market, and what can we expect going into 2024? How will demand for services evolve in the new year? How should service provider executives think about planning in this environment of prolonged uncertainty?

As we continue to experience economic uncertainty, CFOs and the finance function in particular face a multitude of challenges, including pricing and cost pressures, shifting customer demand, threats to existing business models, and the ongoing shortage of key talent. In this webinar, our experts discussed the key priorities for CFOs amidst ongoing disruption, instability, and unpredictability. Participants gained insights into the challenges organizations face and the steps taken to mitigate them, the evolving landscape of Finance and Accounting (F&A) transformation, key areas driving investments, and the expected role of third-party service providers in this journey. What questions did the webinar answer for the participants? What are the key challenges organizations are facing in the current environment? What are the crucial steps taken by organizations to navigate the challenges? What is shaping F&A transformation today? Which F&A transformation approaches should enterprises follow? Which F&A areas are driving investments? What is the expected role of third-party service providers / shared services in supporting businesses?

Entering 2023, enterprises face continued economic uncertainty and are searching for ways to safeguard against the impacts of a pending recession. Learning from previous economic downturns, enterprises can find significant cost savings and deliver more business value by driving increased outsourcing maturity. Business process services (BPS) offers benefits, including structural cost reductions through labor arbitrage, immediate transformative savings through creative deal structuring, and distribution of risk by making fixed costs variable. In this webinar, our experts discussed how a recession could impact the BPS industry and how increasing outsourcing maturity could be the defense enterprises need. What questions have our experts covered? How does economic recession impact the BPS industry? Will the impact of this potential recession be different from previous ones? How does outsourcing help organizations weather economic uncertainties and periods of recession? What benefits can organizations capture by driving increased outsourcing maturity?

COVID-19 has compelled organizations to take a hard look at their business models and associated societal license to operate. Organizations recognize that they cannot go about their businesses in isolation from their people, society, and environment. CFOs and finance leaders need to play a key role in ensuring that Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations are a part of their companies’ core strategies and integrate them into business decision-making. As a finance leader, it is imperative to define a robust governance framework aligned with the organizational strategy to implement ESG initiatives and demonstrate success through a set of measurable and standardized metrics. Initiatives such as climate accounting, ESG investing, and carbon disclosures are the first steps in the right direction. Scope All industries and geographies Contents In this report, we explore the role of finance organizations and CFO offices in the context of ESG and examine: Evolution of ESG programs over the years Key drivers and expected benefits from ESG Overview of a purpose-driven ESG program ESG integration with investment, accounting, and business decision-making ESG performance metrics – financial and non-financial Membership(s) Finance and Accounting Sourcing and Vendor Management