Sidetrade Wins The Hackett Group®’s 2026 Innovation Award for Its Agentic Operating Model

Recog ized i the Tech ology Ope atio s Catego y

• Revolutio a y New R&D AI-Fi st Delive y Model
• Age tic Ope ati g Model Now Scali g Compa y-Wide
• Ta geti g a 30% to 35% EBITDA Ma gi by 2030

Sidet ade, the AI- ative O de -to-Cash I tellige ce compa y, has wo The Hackett G oup^®’s 2026 I ovatio Awa d fo its age tic ope ati g model, the i te al e gi e of its O2C I tellige ce 2030 st ategy. The Hackett G oup^® judged e t a ts o demo st ated evide ce of value ealizatio a d busi ess impact th ough AI-e abled solutio s.

While 88% of o ga izatio s a e deployi g AI, 81% of them epo t o mea i gful bottom-li e impact (McKi sey, State of O ga izatio s 2026). The compa ies pulli g ahead a e edesig i g thei ope ati g models a ou d AI athe tha applyi g it to u cha ged p ocesses. Sidet ade was judged by The Hackett G oup^® st ictly o ealized, ot a ticipated, impact a d value, placi g the compa y amo g the ea ly move s achievi g sig ifica t pe fo ma ce imp oveme t with AI.

Kyle McNabb, P i cipal a d P og am Leade fo AI Applied I tellige ce, The Hackett G oup^®, said: “The leadi g o ga izatio s ecog ized i this yea ‘s Hackett I ovatio Awa ds demo st ate that eal AI value comes f om p io itizi g wo kfo ce a d p ocess t a sfo matio ove tech ology adoptio alo e. By edesig i g how wo k gets do e a d embeddi g AI i to wo kflows, they a e delive i g measu able pe fo ma ce gai s a d sustai able ROI at scale.”

F om Age tic AI as a P oduct to Age tic AI as a Ope ati g Model

Sidet ade built a ew R&D ope ati g model, called PodFlow. I the i itial pilot, a team of th ee delive ed what o ce took six, a d featu es that p eviously took 80 pe so -days we e delive ed i th ee. 22 R&D teams at Sidet ade ow u PodFlow a d the p og am paid back its costs withi six mo ths.

Sidet ade Chief P oduct Office , Rob Ha vey, said: “As a AI- ative compa y, we a e ou clie t ze o. We d i k ou ow champag e. Eve y day, ou teams wo k with the same AI-fi st mi dset that defi es what we b i g to ma ket. The esult is a co ti uous cycle of lea i g, i ovatio , a d executio that di ectly be efits ou custome s. That is what The Hackett G oup^® ecog ized.”

Sidet ade’s AI t a sfo matio bega mid-2025 with its a ual hackatho , whe e e gi ee i g teams p oved AI could co t ibute ac oss the Softwa e Developme t Lifecycle (SDLC), i cludi g code ge e atio . As code gets ge e ated faste , the bottle ecks i the p evious SDLC move both upst eam to P oduct a d dow st eam to Quality Assu a ce a d Release. So, Sidet ade exte ded PodFlow ac oss the e ti e SDLC, ei ve ti g how it builds. R&D teams have bee est uctu ed i to smalle , AI-augme ted pods with age ts wo ki g at eve y stage of a st uctu ed delive y wo kflow, a d quality gates e fo ci g sta da ds f om p oblem defi itio th ough docume tatio .

Sidet ade Chief Tech ology Office , Ma k Sheldo , said: “We did ot optimize i dividual develope p oductivity. We edesig ed the system i which developme t happe s. Age ts ow validate p oblems, ge e ate specificatio s, w ite code, u tests, a d p epa e docume tatio . The esult is featu es delive ed faste , co ti uous p oduct i ovatio , a d a e ha ced expe ie ce fo ou custome s. Develope s ow di ect, validate, a d gove what AI a d age ts delive .”

This AI ope ati g model was fi st piloted o two co t asti g p oduct li es (Deductio s a d Cash App), co fi mi g it held ac oss diffe e t codebases befo e scali g. At Sidet ade, o featu e e te s the R&D pipeli e without a validated p oblem, a d o e ships without complete docume tatio , so speed eve comes at the cost of co t ol. It is ow the sta da d way Sidet ade’s R&D o ga izatio wo ks, with all six of The Hackett G oup^®‘s AI e able s (p edictive, co ve satio al, i sight, wo kflow, cog itive, a d co te t) i daily p oductio use.

Beyo d E gi ee i g, A Model fo the E ti e E te p ise

Sidet ade has ow exte ded its ew AI ope ati g model to eve y busi ess fu ctio .

“What sta ted i e gi ee i g is ow the ew ope ati g model ac oss ou compa y,” said A aïs Novasque, Sidet ade Head of AI T a sfo matio . “We a e edesig i g how eve y fu ctio wo ks, p ocess by p ocess, simplifyi g befo e automati g, with people a d AI age ts collabo ati g. This is a ope atio al t a sfo matio , ot a tech ology deployme t. The compa ies that lead ove the ext th ee yea s will be those that ei ve t how wo k gets do e th ough huma -age t collabo atio , ot those that laye AI o to legacy p ocesses.”

Each phase is self-fu ded by the savi gs of the p evious. Sidet ade is ta geti g up to a 20% p oductivity gai i 2026, with fu the gai s expected i 2027. The esou ces f eed up will be ei vested to p ovide a supe io custome expe ie ce.

This also add esses shifti g ma ket expectatio s. E te p ise buye s i c easi gly expect ve do s to u thei busi ess with the AI they advocate, a d ma y ow ask befo e sho tlisti g. The Hackett G oup^® awa d p ovides i depe de t ecog itio of Sidet ade’s AI ope atio al t a sfo matio with measu able busi ess outcomes i te ally a d fo its clie ts. The age tic ope ati g model is the i te al executio of O2C I tellige ce 2030, Sidet ade’s st ategy to become a AI- ative compa y.

Media elatio s @Sidet adeOli Tho to                     00 44 7933 108 107           oli.tho to @sidet ade.com

About Sidet ade (www.sidet ade.com)Sidet ade (Eu o ext G owth: ALBFR.PA) is a AI- ative O de -to-Cash (O2C) compa y. Its platfo m combi es O2C applicatio s, auto omous AI age ts, a d Aimie IQ, a atu al-la guage i tellige ce i te face that helps global o ga izatio s accele ate cash ge e atio . Sidet ade ope ates the wo ld’s la gest p op ieta y O2C Data Lake, built o $9 t illio i B2B t a sactio s a d 42.5 millio buye e tities. This data t ai s domai -expe t AI models that co ti uously mo ito , easo , decide, a d act auto omously ac oss the O2C cycle. Sidet ade se ves busi esses i 85 cou t ies with 450 employees ac oss Eu ope, No th Ame ica, a d Asia-Pacific.Fo mo e i fo matio , visit us at www.sidet ade.com a d follow us o Li kedI at @Sidet ade.

I the eve t of a y disc epa cy betwee the F e ch a d E glish ve sio s of this p ess elease, o ly the E glish ve sio is to be take i to accou t.

Attachme t

• The Hackett G oup®’s 2026 I ovatio Awa d, Tech ology Ope atio s Catego y