Unanet, a provider of ERP and growth software for project-based businesses, has been honored with a 2026 Artificial Intelligence Excellence Award for AI Orchestration. Bestowed by the Business Intelligence Group, the award recognizes organizations that move beyond experimental AI to implement reliable, results-driven systems that operate at scale. The recognition highlights Unanet’s transition into an AI-first solution provider, specifically noting how its architecture connects artificial intelligence to real-world enterprise workflows and sensitive data systems.
Industry Recognition: Unanet earned the 2026 AI Excellence Award for AI Orchestration, focusing on integrated, scalable AI systems.
Individual Achievement: Chief Innovation Officer Steve Karp was named a finalist for Outstanding AI Professional for his integration strategy.
Agentic Platform: The award centers on Champ AI™, a natural language platform that automates multi-step tasks and functions as a context-aware digital assistant.
Workflow Efficiency: Unanet’s ProposalAI reportedly generates high-quality first-draft proposals up to 70% faster than traditional methods.
Sector-Specific Tools: Features like Unanet GrowthStudio for GovCon help small and mid-sized government contractors manage the capture lifecycle.
Strategic Architecture: The company’s "AI-first" approach ensures AI is built into the ERP and CRM systems of record rather than added as a peripheral layer.
The 2026 AI Excellence Award underscores a shift in the technology market from simple prompts to sophisticated orchestration. Unanet’s Champ AI™ serves as the core of this movement, unifying data across financials, projects, and pursuits. By deploying agents that can think, analyze, and act within the ERP, the platform allows users to turn complex queries into instant answers. These agents are designed with human oversight and governance at every step, ensuring that automated actions—such as approving expenses from emails or scheduling compliance digests—remain accurate and secure.
For firms in the architecture, engineering, and government contracting sectors, these capabilities translate into measurable performance gains. The AI can compare current opportunities against past performance to determine fit, automate invoice processing through intelligent optical character recognition, and manage accounts receivable risk. By assisting with the entire project lifecycle, the platform enables lean teams to compete for and manage larger contracts more effectively.
The distinction between building AI workflows and architecting AI-first applications is a central theme of Unanet’s current strategy. According to company leadership, the future of enterprise software lies in solutions that have secure, native access to the system of record. This deep integration allows the AI to understand the context of the data it processes, leading to more meaningful and compliant actions across the organization.
"The 2026 AI Excellence Award winners are not talking about AI. They are building with it," said Russ Fordyce, Chief Recognition Officer at the Business Intelligence Group. "What stood out this year was the sheer accountability of the work. These are organizations and individuals who can point to measurable outcomes - lives protected, fraud prevented, patients helped, workflows transformed. Agentic AI emerged as the dominant theme, which tells you something important: the industry has moved past prompts and pilots. The winners are now orchestrating AI systems that act, adapt, and deliver at scale."
"This recognition underscores something we strongly believe at Unanet: the future belongs to AI-first applications that don't just build AI workflows, but are architected with secure access to the ERP and CRM system of record," said Craig Halliday, CEO of Unanet. "AI-first solutions understand data, connect it, and use it to drive meaningful and compliant action. We're proud to see our team's work recognized with this honor and remain committed to playing an active role in shaping that AI-driven future for project-based organizations."
Unanet is the leader in AI-first ERP and growth software for project-based businesses. Trusted by more than 4,200 government contractor, architecture, engineering, and construction firms, Unanet unifies financials, projects, and pursuits with built-in automation and compliance—all supported by a dedicated customer success team. This empowers leaders to make confident, real-time decisions that drive growth from pipeline to profit. Learn more at unanet.com.
Business Intelligence Group (BIG) is an independent awards organization that has been recognizing outstanding achievement in business since 2012. Now in its 14th awards season, BIG operates 12 annual programs spanning innovation, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, customer service, cloud computing, sustainability, sales and marketing, workplace culture, and women's leadership. Business award programs include the BIG Innovation Awards, AI Excellence Awards, Fortress Cyber Security Awards, Excellence in Customer Service Awards, Stratus Awards for Cloud Computing, Sustainability Awards, SAMMY Awards for Sales and Marketing, Best Places to Work Awards, Herizon Awards, We Love Tech Awards, NAA Top Employers Award, and BIG Awards for Business.
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