Introduction

Welcome to Partnership Benchmark 2026, the sixth edition of our annual study to look at the best performing IT service providers on the BeLux market and the top trends shaping the industry. This year we interviewed more than 200 senior client stakeholders across 160 client organizations. This includes most of the large firms across all industries and a significant participation from government organizations and European institutions. These 160 clients contribute to more than 80% of the total IT spend across the region. We assessed 27 service providers across 500+ contracts.

We present our benchmark in four squares:

Applications & Digital,
Cloud & Datacenter,
End User services and
Cybersecurity.

Applications services continues to have a high median satisfaction score at 3.76 (3.75 last year), with End User at 3.65 and Cybersecurity at 3.85. The surprise was a jump in the median score of Cloud and Datacenter at 3.68 (up from usual 3.3-3.4).

The Results

Applications & Digital: Accenture, TCS and Capgemini reconfirm their position as Leaders. Cognizant, CGI and TCS emerge as the top 3 for client satisfaction. Inetum (+0.57) and Deloitte (+0.50) make the biggest jump in CSAT.

Cloud & Datacentre: Kyndryl remains the sole Leader also with the highest CSAT. They are followed by NRB and Cegeka to complete the top 3 on CSAT. NTT Data (+0.64) and HCLTech (+0.40) make the biggest jump in CSAT.

End User services: We have expanded the evaluation criteria to include field services, procurement and logistics. There is no Leader on a square for the first time! Atos, Fujitsu and Computacenter have the highest market impact. TCS, Computacenter and Stefanini lead in CSAT. Capgemini (+0.30) makes the biggest jump in CSAT.

Cybersecurity: Accenture, Proximus NXT and Orange Cyberdefense come out as Leaders. Atos drops out due to lower CSAT. nviso, Capgemini and Cegeka have the highest CSAT. NTT Data (+0.35) makes the biggest jump in CSAT.

This year there are 5 companies that are present in all squares, so these can be said to have the broadest service portfolio at BeLux customers: Atos, Capgemini, Cegeka now joined by NRB and TCS.

This year we welcome two new providers – both of which had a fantastic showing. Local provider Proximus NXT makes it on Cloud & Datacenter and Cybersecurity. Computacenter joins us on End User services.

What are the key trends shaping the industry?

1. AI funding boom pushes tech valuations to the edge of a bubble

AI attracted a whopping 50% of all global venture funding in 2025. Billions are flowing not only into foundationmodel companies, but also into massive datacenters, AI infrastructure, and cloud capabilities. This flood of capital has fueled unprecedented valuations, with OpenAI at $500B and Anthropic at $183B. For all the billions being invested in AI, the technology has yet to prove its financial viability. While AI is absolutely set to drive transformative breakthroughs like never seen before, has the hype surpassed reality in terms of expectations and profitability?

2. Early leaders scale AI. Many experiment, some will fall behind.

Three years after the introduction of genAI, the majority of organizations are still in the early stages of scaling AI beyond pilot programs. Technologically, AI has advanced at an unprecedented pace (Agentic AI, AI-infused enterprise software, etc.). But most organizations have yet to establish an enterprise-wide AI strategy, governance, deployment and change management all of which are essential to unlock AI’s game-changing potential. However, we do see a limited set of early leaders moving decisively at C-level to organize for and embrace AI across the enterprise. They will gain a competitive advantage, while those that hesitate risk falling behind. The moment to act is now.

3. Start of workforce reductions by global companies?

Last months have witnessed job cuts announcements as companies bet big on AI. 14,000 job cuts announced by Amazon, 16,000 at Nestle, 5,600 at ABN Amro. Significant cuts were announced at several technology companies including HP, Salesforce, Microsoft. The big 4 consulting firms are recruiting less juniors. We have also seen a clear trend at almost all IT service companies in this survey – after decades of expanding workforce, a reduction (even if slight) across the board. In US there are talks about a ‘white-collar meltdown’. In Belgium recruiting of university graduates was at an all-time low in 2025. While a part of this is attributed to the broader economic environment, several companies have cited AI-linked workforce changes. Are we at the cusp of AI related workforce shake-up?

What is the impact for IT service providers?

As they work on AI adoption across their services, management attention shifts from headcount growth to revenue per employee - a gradual decoupling of revenue growth vs workforce growth. Secondly, they are faced with a challenge: as the market shifts towards “Service as Software”, budgets will increasingly shift to SaaS providers and hyperscalers who are leading with the deployment of AgenticAI into their products. This is already reflected in the sharply reduced share prices for all IT service providers compared to a few years ago.