New Tercera 30 Research Highlights Top Software Ecosystems for Tech Services Partners in the AI Era

CHICAGO, Oct. 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Tercera, an investment and advisory firm supporting growth-stage tech services firms, today unveiled its 2025-2026 Tercera 30 research. The annual research profiles 30 software ecosystems believed to hold the greatest potential for services firms to build with and around in the next two to five years.

"The pace of change in enterprise software has never been faster, and for services leaders, the stakes have never been higher," said Chris Barbin, CEO of Tercera. "The Tercera 30 helps cut through the noise, and spotlight ecosystems well positioned to win in the AI era."

Tercera's research, now in its fourth year, profiles the following 30 ecosystems and where partners can play in them. Download the full report here: https://tercera.io/the-tercera-30/

Market Anchors:
Large software vendors with more mature partner ecosystems 

• AWS
• Databricks
• Google Cloud
• Microsoft Azure
• Oracle
• Salesforce
• SAP
• ServiceNow
• Snowflake
• Workday

Market Movers
Large and mid-size vendors with growth potential and evolving partner ecosystems

• Atlassian
• Dynatrace
• Contentstack
• Crowdstrike
• IBM
• Okta
• OneStream
• Palo Alto Networks
• Shopify
• Stripe

Market Builders
High-growth, high-potential vendors with more nascent partner ecosystems

• Anthropic
• Celonis
• commercetools
• MongoDB
• OpenAI
• Palantir
• Rubrik
• Saviynt
• ThoughtSpot
• Zscaler

The Tercera 30 report also highlights how partner strategies are shifting, providing data and insights on the following themes:

1. The Great AI Washing
AI washing is rampant and every Tercera 30 vendor is racing to build agents. This is creating confusion but also opportunity for partners who can separate hype from reality.

2. Data is the New Cloud
Data platforms are the new power players in enterprise tech, with platforms like Databricks, Oracle and Snowflake poised to become the next hyperscalers.

3. Systems of Record Defend Their Turf
Enterprise giants are under siege from AI-native challengers. To stay entrenched, incumbents like Salesforce, SAP, Workday and IBM are fighting back by ramping R&D and M&A.

4. Services and Software Collide
The wall between software and consulting is disappearing, with AI driving a new category of services-as-software. This convergence is causing a shift in partner playbooks.

5. Vertical Focus = Revenue Advantage
Vertically oriented services firms are winning more AI-related revenue, while vertical AI vendors present new partner opportunities for those who can navigate these tricky waters.

6. Expect Even More M&A
Tech M&A is heating up again, with more than 40 acquisitions across the Tercera 30. Dealmaking is redrawing the partner map, and services firms could be the next targets.

About Tercera 
Tercera is an investment and advisory firm specializing in the $1.5 trillion IT services market. The Tercera team is composed of experienced investors and operators who know first-hand what it takes to build and scale high value services firms. We provide the capital, counsel and connections founders and leaders need to grow and create value in the AI era.

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SOURCE Tercera