HFS Research Reinvents the Provider Evaluation with SaS Stars--the First Ratings Scored Entirely by Enterprise Clients

HFS replaces its flagship Horizons assessments with Services-as-Software™ Star Ratings built on more than 400 enterprise client verdicts, zero vendor influence and no analyst scoring, ending a decades-old industry model in which provider rankings were shaped by briefing decks and vendor relationships rather than delivery reality

BOSTON, Sept. 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- HFS Research today launched HFS Services-as-Software™ (SaS) Stars Ratings and retired HFS Horizons, its flagship analyst-scored provider assessment. SaS Star evaluations rate providers purely on how enterprise clients experience their capabilities in live delivery and whether they help those enterprises achieve real business outcomes. Every rating comes from enterprise clients running live engagements; providers submit no scoring inputs and cannot influence the ratings in any way, and HFS analysts do not score providers.

The move is a deliberate break from the analyst industry's long-standing provider rating model, in which rankings are assembled from vendor briefings, RFI responses, and vendor-selected references, then scored by analysts whose judgments are inevitably shaped by their relationships with the providers they evaluate. That model has served providers well and enterprises poorly, rewarding briefing power and marketing scale over what actually happens once the work is live. The SaS Stars methodology replaces pitch with proof, giving enterprises a current view of where providers create value, where friction persists, and includes a customizable dashboard that shows how the field changes when enterprises apply their own priorities.

From this point forward, HFS provider ratings will be driven by enterprise client experience rather than any subjective scoring. HFS will continue to design the methodology, test the evidence, provide market context, and explain what the findings mean, but providers do not determine the inputs and analysts do not determine the scores.

"The analyst industry has spent two decades ranking providers on briefing decks, RFI responses, and analyst opinion, and everyone in the market knows how much those rankings are shaped by vendor relationships. Horizons was part of that model, and we are retiring it because enterprises deserve better," said Phil Fersht, Founder, CEO, and Chief Analyst, HFS Research. "SaS Stars removes the analyst and the vendor from the scoring entirely. The only people who rate a provider are the enterprise clients living with the work, and we believe that is the only credible basis for provider evaluation from here on."

A provider rating built from lived enterprise client experience
SaS Stars Ratings are built around five dimensions that distinguish Services-as-Software delivery from legacy services: AI-first delivery, proprietary IP and codified expertise, investment velocity, outcome-aligned commercials, and production scalability. Only current enterprise clients rate a provider. Participants must own or govern the engagement, have at least 12 months of experience with it, and be independent of the provider being rated. Ratings are weighted by engagement scope, tenure, and deal size and confidence-adjusted to reduce the impact of thin or divided samples. Providers cannot buy inclusion, influence their scores, select the client references, or submit scoring inputs.

What changes with SaS Stars

• 100% enterprise client-sourced ratings, zero vendor influence: Scores come from enterprise clients running live engagements, not vendor briefings, RFIs, or vendor-selected references.
• An enterprise decision tool, not a static scoreboard: Enterprises can re-weight the criteria to their own priorities and re-rank the provider field to build a more relevant shortlist for their own context.
• A broader field of view: The model gives specialists and challengers a fairer chance to be seen alongside established firms, based on who enterprises use and how those clients experience delivery - not provider market presence or briefing power.
• Current evidence at market speed: The model is built in weeks rather than the roughly six-month cycle common to traditional provider studies.
• Context without analyst scoring: HFS analysts design the methodology, interpret the market evidence, and identify implications, but do not determine provider scores.

"Every number in SaS Stars comes from enterprise clients running these providers in live environments. That changes the starting point completely," said Saurabh Gupta, President, HFS Research. "We are not building another 2X2 matrix for providers to optimize against. We are giving enterprises a decision tool grounded in the experience of their peers, one they can tailor to what matters to them. It also means specialists and challengers can earn visibility through delivery performance, not marketing scale."

Inaugural Agentic AMS ratings expose the gap between AI ambition and production reality
The first SaS Star Ratings study focuses on Agentic Application Management Services (AMS), drawing on more than 400 enterprise client evaluations across 34 providers. The research finds strong enterprise demand but a significant gap between the agentic AMS narrative and what is operating at scale: approximately 54% of enterprise clients expect to increase AMS spending over the next 12 months, yet only around 14% of engagements combine autonomous resolution, AIOps, and live-volume scale. Just 12% use outcome-based, gain-share, or risk-share pricing.

Every SaS Star rating combines two enterprise client verdicts. The star rating reflects how clients score a provider's capabilities as they experience them in delivery across five Services-as-Software towers. It is confidence-adjusted based on how consistently clients agree, and that determines the tier: Leader, Challenger, or Aspirant. Client advocacy—the share who would actively recommend the provider—then positions providers within each tier. Accenture, TCS, Infosys, Capgemini, Publicis Sapient, Cognizant, HCLTech, IBM, and Wipro make up the Leaders tier. No provider earned five stars, which clearly highlights that SaS Stars is not designed to manufacture winners. The data also surfaces strength beyond the largest firms: Challengers Hexaware and Genpact receive the highest scores for Outcome-Aligned Commercials, the lowest-rated tower across every Leader.

The findings suggest the constraint is increasingly commercial and operational rather than purely technical. Enterprise clients report that AI is lowering run costs and improving resolution speed, but fixed-price, capacity-based, and time-and-materials commercial models still dominate.

"Enterprises are automating the work while still paying for effort, and that leaves enterprise clients carrying most of the automation risk. It is the single most important finding in this first study, and it explains why clients rate commercials and delivery consistency as bigger watch-outs than the technology itself," Fersht added.

The research also surfaces a gap between provider marketing and day-to-day client experience. Enterprise clients identified delivery consistency, commercials and pricing, continuity, and scale as more prominent watch-outs than technology capability itself.

The SaS Star ratings include an interactive dashboard built for subscribed enterprise clients making real decisions. The published leaderboard uses the aggregate weighting selected by participating enterprise clients as the study default. Users can adjust any of the five tower sliders to reflect their own priorities and instantly re-rank all 34 providers. An enterprise that puts outcome-aligned commercials first, for example, will see a different shortlist from one that prioritizes AI-first delivery.

The inaugural Agentic AMS edition of HFS SaS Star Ratings is available free to all at https://www.hfsresearch.com/sas-stars/. Future SaS Star Ratings will be available exclusively to HFS premium clients.

About HFS SaS Star Ratings
HFS Services-as-Software (SaS) Star Ratings are provider ratings built entirely from enterprise client evaluations of live provider engagements. HFS designs the methodology and provides research context, but providers have no influence over their scores or ratings: they do not submit scoring inputs, cannot pay to be included or rated, and analysts do not score providers. The ratings help enterprise decision makers compare the providers their peers actually use, understand strengths and watch-outs, adjust criteria to their own priorities, and build evidence-backed shortlists.

About HFS Research
HFS Research is a global research and advisory firm focused on helping enterprise leaders make critical technology and services decisions. HFS combines independent research, enterprise data, and direct engagement with enterprise clients and market leaders to examine how AI, technology, and new operating models are reshaping business outcomes.

SOURCE HFS Research