The pressure on SaaS and tech-enabled scale-ups is accelerating. As we approach 2026, leaders face a familiar challenge. To achieve faster growth, reduce operational risk, and protect margins in an increasingly competitive market.
The positive news is that clear technology and business themes are emerging that can help do exactly that.
Casting more light on the situation, our commercial director, Dominic Deacon shares his six predictions for 2026, and what they mean for growth, resilience, and profitability in the year ahead.
- AI will become the backbone of businesses
By 2026, every successful SaaS platform will have intelligent automation or generative capabilities baked into its product and operations. Yet, with only a small share of companies reporting material value from AI at scale in 2025, the differentiator in 2026 will be robust data architecture, workflow redesign, and clear governance. From onboarding and billing to support and analytics, AI has the potential to make everything faster, smarter, and more personal.
But the real winners will be those that build with it from the ground up. That means getting your data strategy right first and creating clear governance for how AI learns, acts, and evolves. We’re already helping clients design their AI roadmaps and integrate intelligent features that deliver measurable ROI from day one.
- Security will be a growth enabler
Gone are the days of a back-office security function or compliance tick-box. In 2026, it will be a visible, trusted signal to customers, investors, and partners that your business can scale with confidence.
And, with the rise of interconnected SaaS platforms, visibility and control have never been more important. Continuous monitoring, strong identity management, and proactive risk detection are now essential foundations to keep performance high and disruption low. In 2025, 86% of organisations made SaaS security a top priority, yet visibility gaps (e.g., external oversharing, unmanaged identities) persist, making continuous posture management a board-level imperative.
- Efficiency and sustainability align
Financial performance and sustainability are finally merging into one strategy. In 2026, efficient cloud management will define your ESG credibility.
Optimising infrastructure has become about more than saving money in isolation. Cutting waste, improving performance, and meeting environmental expectations are all key targets, and our Cloud Assessments and Cost Optimisation services help SaaS businesses achieve both – freeing up budget for innovation while reducing environmental impact.
- Platforms built to adapt
Most older systems are still built as one big, tightly connected block, which makes it hard to change or scale them quickly. Over the next year, I think we’ll see a big shift towards more flexible, “composable” systems that are built from smaller, connected parts that can be updated or replaced independently.
This approach gives teams the freedom to move faster and reduce risk. We’re already seeing this in our software development work, where automation and containerisation make it easier for businesses to roll out updates quickly without sacrificing reliability.
- Data strategy becomes business strategy
By 2026, the most successful scale-ups will see data as one of their biggest assets, and not just something that sits in the background. When data is organised and well-managed, it helps leaders make faster decisions, forecast more accurately, and deliver more personalised customer experiences.
Bringing data together from across the business also creates the foundation for automation and smarter, AI-driven insights.
- Integration defines the customer experience
It’s no longer enough for your software to work well, it must fit seamlessly into your customers’ existing ecosystems. Moving forward, integration will become the measure of product maturity.
Open APIs, strong documentation, and interoperable design make adoption effortless and value immediate.
In summary, 2026 will reward SaaS and tech-enabled scale-ups that can connect these threads – AI, security, sustainability, architecture, data, and integration – into one cohesive strategy.
IDS Group partners with growth-focused businesses to design that strategy and make it real. From AI and data innovation to FinOps maturity and cloud optimisation, we help teams scale securely, efficiently, and confidently.
let’s talk about how we
can help you get there.
