01732 759725 28 with both Compliance and ESG featuring heavily in buying decisions. In Managed Print, print security and compliance, device consolidation and cloud for distributed print environments seem to be the hot spots, with sustainability and energy efficiency as decision influencers. There is a high degree of crossover in terms of where customers are focusing in each sector, but the reality is that they are the same customers. It remains somewhat odd to me why there is a lack of organisations that treat IT, print, and communications as interconnected pillars of a modern, secure, and data driven UK technology ecosystem and whether this is the cause or effect of the valuation disparity across different segments of the channel. www.knightcf.com So far in the UK technology channel we have see a tick up in confidence, but new business remains challenging whilst larger scales projects, seem to be stubbornly remaining as potential rather than actual customers. Customer spending in IT services is forecast to increase by 7% to 10% whilst Managed Print is projected to be 3% to 5%. Growth in AI spending will also clearly be a major investment area. Organic growth is perhaps the most important value driver and How will technology spend shift in 2026 and what does it mean for value? BUSINESS BRIEFING Adam Zoldan acquirers and investors want to buy into higher growth business. More competition drives higher values which become normalised. Our transaction processes include a competitive auction process and without exception – more interest and competition results in higher value. This is a key reason for some acquirers to seek “off-market” deals as they can remove the element of competition. Customer base is another key value driver and customers are perhaps the only item of value in any channel business. With new logo business hard to come by, upsales has been a major focus. There are recurring themes of growth that are common to IT Services and Managed Print: IT expects to see high growth in Cloud adoption (15%), Cybersecurity (12%) and AI/Automation (up to20%)
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