Australia has a thriving tech sector, with successful scale-ups, fast-growing SaaS businesses and plenty of companies pushing into new markets. The difference now is that growth is being judged more carefully. Investors are asking tougher questions about profitability, data and how well a business actually runs.
For early-stage tech companies, there is a lot to learn from those that have gone before. Not just what they built, but how they organised themselves, how they managed risk, and how they set up finance to keep pace with rapid growth.
In this article, we look at the main areas top tech companies are prioritising in 2026 to grow sustainably and stay competitive.
Sourcing top talent
Let’s start with talent, because this is still one of the biggest pressures facing Australian tech companies. The sector has grown quickly over the past few years and remains a major employer in the Australian economy. At the same time, demand for digital and data skills continues to outstrip supply.
What has shifted is how leading tech companies are responding. Rather than simply trying to hire their way out of the problem, they are designing their operations so smaller teams can do more. That means better tools, clearer data and less manual work, particularly in finance and operations.
AI is increasingly part of this thanks to its growing ability to help surface patterns in data and allows teams to spend more time on strategy and decision-making. The companies getting ahead are those that make their existing people more effective, not just those that add more headcount.
Strengthen adaptability and agility
Top tech companies operate in an environment defined by constant change. Competition intensifies quickly, technology evolves, markets shift and distributed teams add complexity. Some companies thrive in this environment, others end up constantly playing catch-up.
Long-term organisational agility is what separates the two. It gives tech companies the ability to adapt quickly, absorb disruption and keep performing even when conditions are uncertain.
In 2026, agility is less about heroic pivots and more about how a business is built day-to-day. Clearer decision-making, faster feedback loops, and the ability to test, learn and adjust without grinding everything to a halt.
Leading teams are creating cultures where experimentation is normal, information flows easily and decisions don’t get stuck in slow-moving hierarchies. This makes it easier to respond to new opportunities, changing customer needs and unexpected challenges as they arise.
Meet key security requirements
Cyber security remains front of mind for tech companies. Phishing, ransomware and data breaches are still very real risks, and the impact of an incident can extend far beyond IT. Lost customer trust, stalled enterprise deals and regulatory scrutiny can all follow a single breach.
For fast-growing tech companies, security is increasingly treated as a core business concern rather than a technical afterthought. Enterprise customers expect strong controls before they sign contracts, and boards expect clear governance around data and risk.
Leading teams are therefore embedding security across their entire technology stack, not just at the perimeter. Consistent policies across tools, clear access controls, and processes that can stand up to audits or compliance requirements.
AI is starting to shape this as well. Smarter monitoring tools can detect unusual activity, automated checks reduce manual compliance work, and systems can evolve over time rather than relying solely on static rules.
Improve forecasting capabilities
A critical element of any forward-thinking tech company is budgeting and financial management. Sales forecasting is a crucial part of the process of accurately predicting the number of products or services you will sell within a defined period. Get it right and you can align your business strategy with actual results, present it to investors and stakeholders, and make adjustments to match demand.
But it can be difficult to forecast sales. Top tech companies can see their blind spots, know what will happen next and make the right decisions by developing methods and models that capture concrete data and provide metrics for measuring performance. For tech companies looking to expand, accurate forecasting of sales is an absolute must-have if they want to determine future growth.
How tech companies introduce capabilities to support growth
Forecasting has become more challenging as tech businesses scale. Pricing models are more complex, customer behaviour shifts quickly, and companies are expanding across multiple markets at once. Traditional approaches often struggle to keep pace with that reality.
Top tech companies are responding by getting closer to their data and improving how they interpret it. They are moving beyond static projections and building models that reflect how their business actually operates day-to-day.
AI is accelerating this shift. Instead of simply extrapolating past trends, modern tools can identify patterns, surface risks and highlight opportunities that might otherwise be missed. Planning becomes more dynamic, less rigid, and better aligned with how the business is actually performing
Cloud ERP for growing tech companies
In the early stages of a tech business, founders typically choose tools that help them move quickly. A CRM to manage leads, a billing platform to process payments, and often a collection of spreadsheets or small apps holding everything together behind the scenes. At this point, the priority is usually customer acquisition and speed to market.
As the company grows, that patchwork approach starts to show its limits. Data ends up scattered across multiple tools, processes become harder to coordinate, and operational complexity increases faster than the systems supporting it.
This is usually the moment when leadership begins thinking more strategically about the underlying technology landscape. The question shifts from “what tools do we need right now?” to “what foundation do we need to scale from here?
In our upcoming webinar, Canstar’s CFO and Finance Director will walk through that transition in detail. They’ll share what triggered the change, how they managed it, and what it unlocked for day-to-day finance, reporting and consolidation.
The great migration: Key learnings from Canstar’s shift to a modern finance platform
Date: Wednesday 18 February 2026
Time: 11:00 am AEDT / 10:00 am AEST
Who should attend:
Finance leaders and executives working in multi-entity organisations, particularly those planning an ERP modernisation or considering a move away from legacy or on-premises systems.
More resources on the Australian SaaS sector:
- The SaaS businesses complete guide to selecting NetSuite >
- What your business can learn from the big players in digital >
- Key financial and other metrics SaaS businesses must track >
- 7 important operational metrics to track in SaaS >
- How customer success drives competitive advantage for Australian SaaS companies >
- How SaaS companies can gain a competitive advantage with customer success >
- Is NetSuite SaaS or PaaS? >