Two types of operations are emerging in enterprise services. One runs on capacity. The other runs on intelligence. The performance gap between them is accelerating.
While most enterprises are still pay for capacity and measure activity, a smaller group has already shifted to a model where costs don't scale with volume, decisions happen in system time instead of human time, and performance compounds rather than plateaus.
New findings from HFS and Firstsource reveal just how fast this gap is widening and why the companies still anchored to the old model are running out of time to reposition.
A Market Repricing Itself
Something fundamental is changing in how enterprises buy services. Not just what they're buying or from whom, but the entire economic structure of the transaction.
Over 500 enterprise leaders were surveyed about where they're headed over the next three years. The shifts in motion will separate companies building strategic advantage from those simply trying to maintain position.
The data shows where traditional models are losing ground fastest and which sectors are moving first. That sequencing matters because early movers in each vertical establish positions that become harder to challenge as the model matures.
Why Old Incentives Break New Models
Traditional BPO contracts created incentives that directly conflict with what enterprises actually need.
Vendors got paid to maintain headcount. Enterprises needed operations that improved without expanding teams. That misalignment was manageable when labor arbitrage was the primary value driver. It becomes a strategic liability when the market shifts to outcome accountability.
What happens when that incentive structure gets redesigned? Companies making that shift can operate at an economics their competitors can't match. They have pricing flexibility others don't. They can scale into adjacent markets without the capital intensity that used to be required.
The Implementation Reality
Early movers in platform shifts don't just move faster. They build positions that compound in ways that are difficult to replicate later.
There's a phased approach for making the transition, but here's what matters strategically: each phase unlocks capabilities the previous model couldn't support. Operations that improve with data instead of degrading with scale. Cost structures that create pricing flexibility. Systems that enter new markets without capital intensity.
Those capabilities aren't marginal gains. They're different competitive positions entirely. The survey data reveals which capabilities enterprises are prioritizing first and why that sequencing creates advantage.
Where This Goes
The shift to Services-as-Software isn't a distant possibility. It's happening now across sectors, with measurable momentum in customer experience, supply chain, finance, and marketing operations.
Companies that recognize what's opening up can use this moment to reposition against competitors, redesign their cost base, or enter markets that weren't economically viable under the old model. Those that wait will spend the next several years trying to close a gap that's already widened considerably.
The full HFS–Firstsource Services-as-Software report includes survey data from 500+ enterprise leaders, market projections, adoption timelines, and implementation frameworks. It's built for executives who need to understand not only what is changing, but what their current trajectory implies for the next decade.