- The managed services market is expected to grow from USD 180.5 billion in 2018 to USD 282.0 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 9.3% during the forecast period.*
- The global managed services market is expected to reach USD ~245 billion by the end of 2022 with 11% CAGR during forecast period 2016-2022.**
The world is witnessing a paradigm shift in terms of recent trends and technologies redefining the way business is done. The fact that business models face extreme pressure from regulatory, macroeconomic, and other critical market forces, has necessitated an increased focus on operational efficiency and effectiveness.
But, this might make the businesses feel the brunt on their revenue, capital, and cost. As such, they are increasingly turning to cloud-managed services to address these obstacles to focus their time on activities more valuable to their business.
What are Managed Services?
A Managed Service Provider (MSP) bears the responsibility for the functionality of an organization’s IT services and infrastructure, so the business can focus on its core competencies.
Thus, in the managed model, the MSP partner takes on, runs, and transforms an organization’s business operations and processes to increase its productivity and operational efficiency.
The demand for managed services is largely driven by various factors, some of which include:
• Volatile, unpredictable macroeconomic environment.
• Increased pressure to innovate while keeping pace with technological advancements.
• Need to meet demands of regulatory compliance.
• Lack of internal and deep technical expertise.
But, the market is constantly evolving, bringing new trends and opportunities. MSPs must be aware of these trends to able to leverage the maximum out of them. Here, we have listed top 7 managed services market trends that every MSP must be aware of in 2021:
Must read: 15 latest e-commerce trends to watch out for in 2021
Latest Managed Services trends
Here are the latest trends in the managed services market (cloud, IT, security):
1. Improved stake on security and growth in cyberattacks
The end clients of an MSP generally believe that the latter will take care of the security of their information and data. The previous year has seen an increase in the number of cyberattacks. This has forced companies to adopt ‘security-first’ thinking i.e. back up your files before you lose them.
MSPs, thus, put more effort to secure the service infrastructure of their end clients. It’s not only about having security solutions in place but also to defend and recover against any attack. MSP business models which take this into consideration can lead to a strong differentiating point in 2021.
Related read: Top 7 serious reasons for data backup in 2021
2. Cloud, automation, and outsourcing
Bill Martorelli, principal analyst at Forrester Research talked about three trends at the NexGen Conference and Expo held in Anaheim California, that can impact MSPs.
Cloud: Cloud is increasingly being used to build new platforms for enhancing customer engagement to meet the digital transformation needs of the enterprises. Application of multi-cloud environments is seeing huge growth, wherein customers are relying on one cloud heavily while using the other sporadically. Here, MSPs can avail the big opportunity by offering consumption-based pricing models.
Automation: The increasing amount of automation in IT environments can replace a substantial amount of work. MSPs can expect the workloads to decrease with every contract, as most of the operations become automated. Here, by including automation solutions in their key offerings, MSPs can make a competitive advantage.
Outsourcing: Martorelli identified outsourcing as the third factor that will impact the MSP market. An increase in the outsourcing activities will result in MSPs reducing their dependence on traditional SLAs (Service-Level Agreements) and more on XLAs as termed by him. XLAs will focus more on customer and employee satisfaction than uptime.
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3. Introduction of telcos and ISVs (Independent Software Vendors)
Telecom Service Providers or better known as telcos, are making use of their existing scale and IT savviness to shift beyond data services and voice to selling managed offerings.
They already work on the subscription model and hence, know a lot about it. As telcos enter the managed services space, the existing MSPs will feel the pressure to try new things to increase revenue the year ahead and beyond.
Related read: Digital transformation helps telcos move from perish to flourish
4. Emerging technologies like IoT and Blockchain
Emerging technologies like Internet of Things (IoT) can create big opportunities for MSPs. Per a report, the number of IoT devices that are active is expected to grow to 10 billion by 2020 and 22 billion by 2025.
Organizations need a deep skillset and understanding to use these technologies. Competitive MSPs can identify this gap and gain substantial knowledge of these emerging technologies. It can help them to increase their value.
In the upcoming years, SMBs are also projected to adopt AI, virtual reality, augmented reality, and other latest technologies.
Related read: IoT security comparison: Alibaba Cloud, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud
5. Increased Mergers and Acquisitions
The market can see an increase in the mergers and acquisitions related to tools that MSPs use to operate their businesses. This is because competitive providers will like to hold all aspects of successful selling under one roof and offer an integrated solution set.
As a provider, if you’re not providing something that the customer wants, you are ultimately creating an opportunity for him to walk away. If you cannot build a skill set, you buy it. Hence, the market is seeing more M&As of security solutions, IPs, and other important skills.
Related read: RP tech India enters into cloud business with acquisition of ZNet Technologies
6. Growth in as-a-service technologies
There will be an increase in as-a-service technologies like infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), software-as-a-service (SaaS) etc.
Such technologies offer a number of advantages in terms of scalability, cost, security as they are on subscription-based billing model. An MSP can assist an organization to switch to these services easily and manage them.
7. Demand for outcome-based services
Enterprise clients now look towards result-based outcomes with pre-defined or expected standards. This is one of the reasons why customers are going with full-stack service providers rather than single-tower services. To meet this trend, MSPs would need to evolve their style of management and the functions they provide. They must be able to offer consulting services to their clients in terms of measurable results.
Key takeaway
There’s no doubt that an opportunity comes only to those who are prepared for it. A lot of legwork is required to build a successful MSP practice. They have to perfect every process from initial assessment to signing contracts to managing services. By staying updated on the trends, they can ensure that they will be ready to capitalize on them faster than their competitors.
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Sources:
*https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/managed-services.asp
**https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/managed-services-market-2424
This post has been updated on 15 April, 2021.
Well said.
Thanks for the post.
Thank you for the great post
Great post. Well-researched with lots of great points. I really liked your sub-heads too!
We have recently started our new MSP business and service company and came across this article.
Really appreciate you taking the time to educate us on this. I was unaware technologies like IoT and Blockchain will have such an impact on our business, but it makes perfect sense.
We live in interesting times and I believe you did a great job of keeping it entertaining.
Thanks a ton.
Thanks for your information
This is a great article and you are banged on with your points about managed services market trends. Be clear about what you really need and want to accomplish at this point- you are right with this point.