Greater Else has published research showing that 94% of UK mid-market B2B service businesses fail to differentiate themselves meaningfully. The study identified IT services as one of the weakest-performing sectors.

The consultancy’s Shortlisted Pulse 2026 benchmark assessed 200 UK mid-market B2B service businesses across 10 sectors, including IT services, cybersecurity, accountancy and recruitment. It found that only 19 organisations demonstrated what it described as a distinctive market perspective or clear point of view.

IT services ranked among the three most homogenised industries in the research, alongside accountancy and recruitment. The sector scored poorly for distinctiveness and perspective, which Greater Else argues are important in helping firms secure a place on buyers’ shortlists.

The report outlines a pattern the consultancy calls the Mid-Market Plateau. Under this framework, many businesses have achieved awareness and credibility in their markets but have not built a strong enough identity to become a buyer’s preferred choice.

It also uses the term Recognition Trap to describe businesses that continue spending on digital marketing, brand campaigns and lead generation without first establishing a clear market position. In this view, firms can be well known yet still struggle to give buyers a compelling reason to choose them over similar rivals.

The findings suggest the problem is not a lack of technical knowledge or operational credibility. Instead, many companies have solid reputations but fail to explain clearly why they stand apart.

That issue appears particularly relevant in IT services, where suppliers often present similar claims and overlapping offers. This leaves firms at risk of becoming hard to distinguish in buyers’ minds, even when their underlying work is strong.

Chris Bennett, Strategy Director, at Greater Else, wrote the report. He said branding work often falls short commercially when it changes presentation without changing market position.

“Businesses often emerge from a rebrand looking better, but nothing material changes commercially. The leads don’t increase, the phone doesn’t ring any more often and campaigns struggle to gain traction because the brand work stops at the deliverable. The IT services market is full of technically excellent businesses, but too many sound identical. Buyers don’t remember capabilities lists or generic claims about innovation. They remember a clear point of view and a business that demonstrates genuine expertise. In a market increasingly shaped by AI and automation, distinctiveness has become a growth lever, not just a branding exercise,” Bennett said.

Buyer behaviour

Greater Else linked its conclusions to wider industry data on procurement behaviour. It cited research from Bain & Company and Google suggesting that 92% of buyers remain within their original shortlist and that 61% have already identified a preferred supplier before assessing the broader market.

Those figures point to the value of being remembered before a formal buying process begins. In that context, similar messaging or positioning may reduce a company’s chances of making the shortlist at all.

Geoff Bretherick, Creative Director, at Greater Else, said the issue becomes more acute when businesses expand marketing activity without addressing the core problem of sameness.

“Too many businesses still believe looking professional is enough. There have never been more channels available to reach buyers, but if your message and visual identity don’t clearly differentiate you, scaling your marketing simply amplifies the problem. Spend on reach before you’ve established what makes you memorable and you’re paying to be forgotten,” Bretherick said.

The benchmark findings were also reflected in interviews with 10 senior marketing leaders at growing UK mid-market organisations. Those interviews formed part of the research and added practical examples to the broader data.

One contributor was Kate Scammell-Anderson, Chief Marketing Officer, at Distinct Position.

“It wasn’t that people hadn’t heard of us. It was that they didn’t have a compelling reason to remember us,” Scammell-Anderson said.

Brand measurement

Greater Else said it created the benchmark because it sees a gap in how businesses assess brand performance. The consultancy argues that while other commercial functions are measured against clear business outcomes, brand is still often treated as subjective work rather than a contributor to growth.

The business recently rebranded from Fablr to Greater Else. It said the change reflected a clearer focus on mid-market B2B service businesses and on building long-term brand authority.

Philip Bennison, Co-founder, at Greater Else, said the rebrand and the benchmark were rooted in the same view of the market.

“Developing Shortlisted and transitioning to Greater Else has allowed us to be much clearer about the work we’ve been doing for nearly a decade. Across our teams in Manchester and Leeds we’ve consistently seen that businesses don’t struggle because they’re bad at what they do. They struggle because buyers can’t clearly articulate why they’re different,” Bennison said.

Greater Else pointed to work with client Right Fuel Card, where stronger brand authority, it said, contributed to a double-digit reduction in cost per acquisition for qualified leads. Bennett framed that as evidence that brand affects commercial performance rather than sitting apart from it.

“Brand isn’t a decorative exercise; it’s a commercial one. Businesses that consistently earn places on buyers’ shortlists are rarely those shouting the loudest – they’re the ones buyers already remember,” Bennett said.

The incident is believed to have taken place on a roundabout at Oxford Business Park, off Alec Issigonis Way, where landscaping works were carried out earlier last month.

The concern centres on whether the routine works may have interfered with an active badger sett, potentially putting any animals and their young at risk.

(Image: ANNETTEPYRAH / Getty)

Badgers and their setts are protected under law, making it an offence to damage, destroy or obstruct access to an active sett.

An anonymous eyewitness said they initially found what they believed to be an active sett or earth on the roundabout, pointing to paw prints as evidence of recent use.

They said that when they returned the following day, an apparent attempt had been made to fill in the entrance.

Badger sett on an Oxfordshire business park (Image: Anonymous)

On a later visit, they claimed the area had been deliberately flooded, leaving the ground sodden and what remained of the sett filled with water.

They described the alleged incident as “illegal, inhumane and reckless behaviour”, adding the “poor creatures may have been drowned”.

Badger sett allegedly filled in (Image: Anonymous)

However, the campus has strongly denied any wrongdoing saying they “take wildlife and environmental matters extremely seriously”.

It said routine landscape maintenance works, including the removal of shrub vegetation, had been carried out in preparation of the area being turfed.

It said: “These types of maintenance activities do not require planning permission or ecological surveys, however the landscaping teams always carry out visual inspections to ensure best practice for wildlife management is maintained and in this instance, there was no evidence of a badger sett.”

They added that all construction projects on the campus are supported by ecological assessments carried out by qualified consultants and that “recent assessments have found no evidence of badger setts or badger activity on the campus or in the vicinity of the roundabout”.

The spokesperson said it remains committed to protecting local wildlife in line with relevant legislation, adding that the concerns raised had been reviewed.

Should any evidence emerge of a protected species being present, the campus said it would seek specialist ecological advice and take appropriate action.

Linda Ward, secretary and trustee of Oxfordshire Badger Group, said she was grateful to the member of the public who first reported the potential wildlife crime.

She said: “We hope the police will investigate as a matter of urgency to confirm that no animals have been harmed. We ask everyone to monitor their local badger setts and report any concerns without delay.”

Thames Valley Police is investigating the report but no arrests have been made.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the force on 101 quoting reference 43260301923.

SOFIAH NICHOLE SALIVIO

News Editor

LumApps has appointed Si-Mohamed Said as Chief Product Strategy & Growth Officer, adding a senior enterprise software executive to its leadership team.

He will lead product and offering strategy, oversee growth efforts across the business, and direct LumApps’ global go-to-market work. The appointment follows the launch of LumApps AI, which the company describes as an AI Employee Hub.

Said recently advised the strategic launch of LumApps AI before taking the executive post. His remit will cover the next phase of product and commercial development as LumApps expands internationally.

He joins with experience across large software groups and scale-up businesses. Before LumApps, he spent nearly 20 years at SAP, where he served as Global Vice President and led global product launches across the portfolio, including the company’s flagship ERP product.

Earlier in his career, he led Oracle’s marketing and digital organisation across the ECEMEA region. He later held executive leadership roles as Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Product Officer at B2B software scale-ups.

Growth remit

The role combines responsibility for product strategy with growth execution across markets and customer segments. LumApps positions its platform as a workplace hub that connects employees with tools, information, and communications, and says it integrates with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365.

According to the company, the platform serves more than 10 million users worldwide and has been recognised as a Leader in intranets by Gartner and Forrester.

Said framed the role around the broader adoption of artificial intelligence in day-to-day work.

“AI is reshaping how every business operates, and every employee should be able to benefit from it in their daily work,” said Si-Mohamed Said, Chief Product Strategy & Growth Officer at LumApps.

“LumApps has everything it takes to lead this transformation: a differentiated AI Employee Hub, a strong customer base, exceptional market momentum, and a clear vision for turning AI investment into everyday adoption. I’m excited to help organisations bring the value of AI to every employee, across every line of business and every industry.”

Executive build-out

The appointment adds to LumApps’ recent efforts to strengthen its executive bench as competition intensifies around workplace software and AI tools. Across the sector, businesses are trying to show that AI products can move beyond pilot projects and become part of routine employee workflows.

For LumApps, that means linking product planning more closely with commercial expansion. Said will focus on building growth engines across the business while shaping how products and offerings are taken to market globally.

Chief Executive Officer Sébastien Ricard said the hire reflects a broader approach to building the company through internal development and external expertise.

“Our strategy has always combined strong internal innovation with the ability to bring the best expertise into LumApps,” said Sébastien Ricard, Chief Executive Officer at LumApps.

“From strategic acquisitions to executive talent, every decision we make is driven by the same ambition: building the global leader in AI-powered employee experience. Simo’s arrival is an important step in that journey.”

LumApps says its AI offering is designed as a hub where people and software agents work together on everyday tasks and workflows. It argues that this model gives organisations a clearer route from AI spending to broader workforce adoption.

Said’s arrival gives LumApps a senior executive with experience spanning product launches, regional marketing operations, and commercial leadership in enterprise software. His remit now centres on shaping product strategy and leading the company’s worldwide go-to-market effort.