CHICAGO – October 16, 2026 -- Eleven vendors are new or returning on Tercera's fifth annual Tercera 30 ranking, the most turnover the growth equity firm has recorded in its Market Anchors category, as Anthropic, OpenAI and Palantir join that group for the first time.
The 2026-2027 list ranks the software and AI vendors and partner ecosystems with the greatest services growth potential for IT services firms. Tercera, an investment and advisory firm for AI and technology service firms, said the list reflects the shift across IT services in the AI era.
Single-vendor focus halves to 5% of IT services firms in Tercera survey
In Tercera's July 2026 survey of 378 technology services leaders, only 5% of firms focused on a single software partner, down from 10% a year earlier. Firms are moving away from single-vendor platform implementations. They now orchestrate data, systems and agents around domain processes and defined business outcomes.
Tercera CEO Chris Barbin described a services market in flux. He said the vendor landscape is in chaos and traditional partner motions are at risk, while new growth opportunities emerge daily at the intersection of data, AI, software and services.
Market Anchors category now lists 10 vendors with large TAMs and broad platforms
Market Anchors are large vendors able to support a dedicated services business. The 2026-2027 list includes:
- Databricks
- Snowflake
- Anthropic
- ServiceNow
- OpenAI
- Palantir
- Microsoft
- Google Cloud
- AWS
- Salesforce
Redesigned Domain Leaders and Builders categories reflect industry specialization
Tercera redesigned the Domain Leaders and Builders categories. It said IT services partners are increasingly specialized by industry and need depth in data and AI.
Domain Leaders are platforms that can serve as pillar partners for firms specializing in an industry or function: Oracle, SAP, Guidewire, Atlassian, Workday, HubSpot, OneStream, Saviynt, commercetools and Ada.
Builders are data and AI vendors representing different layers of the AI stack: Nvidia, VAST Data, MongoDB, Cohere, Dynatrace, Glean, Dataiku, Quantexa, Denodo and Credo AI.
Selection draws on data analysis, executive interviews and survey input
Tercera selected the vendors through data analysis, interviews with software executives, input from analysts and bankers, and its annual services survey. The firm recommends that services leaders use the report to assess partner strategies, identify the most promising AI partner ecosystems and anticipate where demand is heading.