SPI’s AI era begins with Kantata securing exclusive rights among PSA vendors to the professional services industry’s richest performance dataset

Service Performance Insight (SPI), the professional services industry’s most trusted independent research and consulting firm, and Kantata, a leading provider of professional services automation (PSA) solutions, today announced an exclusive agreement that makes Kantata the first technology provider to embed SPI’s proprietary benchmark dataset through the newly launched SPI Inside™ offering. With this agreement, Kantata becomes the first and only PSA platform with the ability to access SPI Inside — a new, API-driven gateway to the industry’s most trusted professional services performance benchmarks.

“We’ve always believed in the power of benchmarking, elevating the performance of over 50,000 professional services organizations each year,” said David Hofferberth, P.E., Managing Director at SPI. “With SPI Inside, we’re extending that value in a new, embedded form — meeting teams where they work and supporting their success with the most trusted performance data in the industry.”

With SPI Inside, Kantata customers will gain access to SPI’s proprietary peer-based performance benchmarks and operational best practices — delivered in context, at the point of decision. Kantata will harness these insights to deliver the industry’s richest AI-driven recommendations. Professional services organizations — including consulting, IT services, marketing agencies, and B2B software firms — can now spot performance gaps, compare results to peers, and take actions that drive better outcomes.

“This partnership sets a new standard for what PSA solutions can deliver, and it couldn’t be more timely,” said Sarah Edwards, Chief Product Officer at Kantata. “With the industry at a major inflection point, it has never been more important to understand where exactly your organization stands in relation to your competition. By embedding SPI’s industry benchmark data directly into our platform and training our AI agents using this dataset, we’re empowering our customers with data-backed, real-time insights that were previously out of reach — driving smarter decisions across AI agents and professionals alike.”

The Industry’s Most Comprehensive Benchmarking Dataset, Available in PSA

Grounded in two decades of SPI benchmarking, the level of data now available to Kantata customers is unparalleled within the industry. While some software providers may rely on an internal set of benchmarks, developed in isolation, SPI’s dataset is the premier source of trusted operational benchmarks, covering the full span of the professional services market. For the first time, professional services organizations will be able to access the industry’s most trusted benchmarking data directly within the PSA systems they use every day — giving users uniquely granular, in-the-moment insight into performance relative to peers.

Whether setting realistic margin targets or identifying underperformance in utilization, teams can now access role-specific guidance and measure success in real time. And because SPI Inside continually trains the Kantata Expertise Engine™ on the latest benchmark data, it can proactively surface gaps around emerging KPIs — the kind of signals that static or retrospective benchmarking would miss or reveal only after it’s too late.

Independent, Unbiased — and Now Embedded

SPI Inside represents an important evolution for SPI as it makes its trusted benchmark intelligence available in the context of the platforms PSOs use every day — while maintaining its independence and neutrality. SPI remains fully independent and unbiased, continuing its role as the industry’s most respected research and advisory firm, with plans to bring SPI Inside to additional technology categories like CRM, HCM and ERP.

SPI Inside is designed for embedded intelligence, not data extraction — meaning customer data remains fully contained within their own systems. All SPI benchmark data powering the solution is anonymized, aggregated, and securely stored.

As part of the SPI Inside launch, Kantata has secured the exclusive license among PSA vendors to embed SPI’s benchmark dataset via SPI Inside, with full transparency and SPI attribution across all product and marketing initiatives.

“Everything in professional services is connected – from delivery to cash flow to talent engagement,” added Hofferberth. “By integrating SPI’s benchmark intelligence with modern AI platforms, we’re giving firms a way to see the interdependencies that define performance – and act on them in real time.”

Lasting Value and Industry Impact

The integration of SPI Inside within Kantata’s platform will deliver new value for professional services decision-makers through:

• Embedded, in-context benchmark comparisons and diagnostics
• AI-generated recommendations powered by the richest and most granular peer dataset
• Continuous benchmarking that evolves with the industry, ensuring decisions are based on the latest data trends

“At a time of massive industry change, professional services organizations need insights that power transformation and reinvention,” said Jeff Nicholson, Chief Marketing Officer at Kantata. “Our shared goal is to elevate the performance and potential of professional services organizations by combining SPI’s independent, trusted benchmarks with AI that’s purpose-built for this industry. That unique combination of vertical AI and unbiased, third party data is what makes this partnership so powerful.”

About Service Performance Insight:

Service Performance Insight (SPI), also known as SPI Research, is a global research and consulting firm helping PSOs improve productivity and profitability. Since developing the PS Maturity Model™ in 2007, SPI has become the industry authority for professional services, publishing the PS Maturity Benchmark™ each year, with over 50,000 organizations leveraging its insights to drive service excellence. To learn more, visit www.spiresearch.com.

About Kantata

Kantata takes professional services automation to a new level, giving people-powered businesses the clarity, control, and confidence they need to optimize resource planning and elevate operational performance. Our purpose-built cloud software is helping over 1,500 professional services organizations in more than 100 countries focus and optimize their most important asset: their people. With Kantata, PS firms gain access to the information and tools they need to win more business, ensure the right people are always available at the right time, and delight clients with project delivery and outcomes. To learn more, visit www.kantata.com.

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"By embedding SPI's industry benchmark data directly into our platform and training AI agents using this dataset, we're empowering our customers with data-backed, real-time insights that were previously out of reach — driving smarter decisions."