Software is taking on the work: Meet the innovators reshaping enterprise delivery

The HFS Services-as-Software™ Awards were created to recognize the organizations moving beyond traditional software and labor-based services to deliver technology-enabled, outcome-focused enterprise solutions.

The inaugural 2026 awards attracted more than 250 submissions across four categories. Following evaluation and voting involving HFS analysts and members of the HFS Global Advisory Board, 31 nominations advanced as finalists and first-, second-, and third-place winners were named in each category.

This webinar brings together the top three winners in Best Software Eating Services and Best Startup / Emerging Firm. These companies are participating because their award-winning entries demonstrated how software and AI can take on work traditionally delivered through people-led services and create new models for enterprise value.

Best Software Eating Services recognizes software-led solutions that automate or absorb work historically performed through services. Best Startup / Emerging Firm recognizes newer companies introducing distinctive approaches with the potential to reshape enterprise delivery.

Best Software Eating Services

• First place: Humanize
• Second place: Kognitos
• Third place: Celonis

Best Startup / Emerging Firm

• First place: KungFu AI
• Second place: Aokah
• Third place: Veltris

Hear directly from the winners about the work behind their entries: the problems they set out to solve, how they translated expertise and workflows into scalable technology, and what their progress reveals about the future of services.

HFS will examine what made the winning entries stand out, the market assumptions they are challenging, the obstacles they encountered, and what enterprise leaders should be watching next.

What we’ll discuss

• How software and AI are taking on work traditionally delivered through people-led services
• Where emerging firms are creating new approaches to enterprise delivery
• What distinguishes meaningful innovation from another layer of technology
• How the award-winning organizations moved from an idea to a demonstrable business impact
• What these models mean for enterprise leaders, service providers, and software companies

Who should attend

CIOs, CTOs, CAIOs, CDOs, operations and transformation leaders, technology and services executives, and enterprise decision-makers evaluating the next wave of AI-enabled delivery models.

Register to hear from the award winners challenging how enterprise work gets done.

Can’t make it? Register anyway, and we’ll send you the recording.