CIENCE ranked #24 on Fortune's Best Workplaces in Technology: a managed services company winning a technology award from a field of 151,000+ tech employees surveyed: with 97% of employees calling it a great place to work. That ranking on its first attempt was impressive. But the real story is what it foreshadowed: a services company that knew it was becoming a technology company. So why did a company already winning tech awards need to reinvent itself?
From Thomas Cornelius, Founder & CEO, graph8: "A services company that wins technology awards has already told you what it is. The employees understood the thesis before the market did: we were always a technology company. The question was never whether to make the pivot, but how fast."
Last Refreshed: March 2026: updated to reflect CIENCE's full transformation into graph8's AI-powered GTM platform.
What the Technology Award Taught Us
Here's the irony that nobody noticed at the time. CIENCE was classified as a managed services company: we ran outbound sales development campaigns using human SDR teams. Yet Fortune and Great Place to Work placed us alongside pure technology companies in their tech workplace ranking. The employees themselves were telling the survey something the market hadn't caught up to: this was a technology company wearing a services company's clothes.
Our team had already built the GO Platform: GO Data for sales intelligence, GO Digital for programmatic advertising, GO Show for website visitor identification. The technology DNA was there. The 97% employee satisfaction score (vs. 57% U.S. average) reflected a workforce that was energized by building products, not just running campaigns.
But we were still delivering those products through a services wrapper. Every client engagement required SDR headcount. Every new campaign required manual setup. The technology existed, but the delivery model hadn't caught up. A technology award for a services company was the clearest signal possible: the pivot was overdue.
Does This Sound Familiar?
You might be running a version of this same disconnect. Your sales development operation has more technology than ever: AI tools, intent data, sequencing platforms, CRM integrations: but the actual work is still done by people grinding through manual processes.
Your SDRs spend hours on tasks that software could handle in seconds. Your cold email campaigns generate volume but not quality. Your cost per meeting keeps climbing because every improvement you make is incremental within a model that needs to be exponential.
You've invested in the technology layer. But the delivery model underneath is still human-powered, linear, and getting more expensive every quarter. The tools are modern. The model is not.
"They definitely supersede our internal capabilities.": Candice Long, Marketing Director, Learning Ally
If your sales tech stack keeps growing but your pipeline doesn't, you don't need another tool: you need a model that's built around the technology.
From People to Platform
The Fortune technology award was the foreshadowing. The graph8 transformation was the payoff.
When CIENCE became a graph8 company, we completed the pivot that our employees had been signaling all along. We moved from a services company that used technology to a technology company that deploys engineers: Forward Deployed Engineers for go-to-market.
The concept borrows from Palantir's playbook. Palantir doesn't sell software licenses and walk away. They embed Forward Deployed Engineers into client environments: engineers who combine proprietary AI platforms with domain expertise to solve problems that generic tools can't touch. Graph8 applies that same model to sales development and pipeline generation.
Our FDEs deploy graph8's AI platform against 300M+ validated lead records. They build and optimize multichannel campaigns across email, LinkedIn, phone, and programmatic advertising: with real-time optimization based on conversion data, not guesswork. The GO Platform technologies that our team built? They're now the infrastructure that powers every graph8 engagement.
The result: cost-per-meeting drops 40-60% in the first two quarters. Not because we eliminated people: but because the technology that always existed inside CIENCE is finally the delivery model, not just a feature.
"Thanks to CIENCE Technologies' efforts, the client has seen a 500% monthly increase in their new sales appointments.": Bryce Garoutte, Sr. VP, Silicon Valley Insight
Why This Matters Now
In 2026, the distinction between "sales technology" and "sales services" has collapsed. The companies winning pipeline aren't buying tools and hiring bodies to use them. They're engaging platforms: graph8 included: that combine AI, data, and human expertise into a single integrated system.
CIENCE, as a graph8 company, has served 2,500+ clients across 250+ industries. We've been #1 on Clutch's lead generation list for three consecutive years and hold a 4.6/5 on Capterra across 200+ reviews. The Fortune technology award was the early signal. Graph8 is the realized vision.
Engagements start at $5K setup + $2,499/mo managed + $499/mo graph8 platform. You get a Forward Deployed Engineer backed by AI infrastructure: not a services team using off-the-shelf tools. The technology workplace that Fortune recognized has become a technology platform that your pipeline depends on.
Get a Free GTM Diagnostic
When you reach out, our Forward Deployed Engineers run a full diagnostic on your targeting, channel mix, and conversion rates. No sales pitch: just engineering analysis. They'll show you your true cost-per-meeting, where technology is underutilized in your funnel, and how graph8's platform would change the economics.
Whether or not you work with us, you'll walk away with a clear picture of your pipeline math.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did a managed services company win a Fortune technology award?
CIENCE had already built significant technology products: including its GO Platform for sales intelligence and digital advertising: when it earned the #24 ranking on Fortune's Best Workplaces in Technology. The 97% employee satisfaction rate reflected a team that identified more as technologists than services workers, foreshadowing CIENCE's transformation into a graph8 company.
What are Forward Deployed Engineers and how do they differ from outsourced SDRs?
Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) are graph8's alternative to traditional outsourced SDR teams. Inspired by Palantir's model, FDEs combine proprietary AI technology with go-to-market expertise to build and optimize pipeline campaigns: replacing the headcount-driven approach with engineering precision. Clients see cost-per-meeting drop 40-60% in the first two quarters.
What does a CIENCE engagement cost today?
Engagements start at $5K setup + $2,499/mo managed + $499/mo graph8 platform: significantly less than traditional outsourced SDR programs. You work with a Forward Deployed Engineer backed by graph8's AI platform, 300M+ validated lead records, and multichannel campaign execution across email, LinkedIn, phone, and digital advertising.
The Fortune award was an early material test. The finished model is graph8 running the system, CIENCE delivering the outcome, and Forward Deployed Engineers changing the pipeline math.