Combined market down 5%, driven by lower
demand for XaaS, as managed services grows 5%
ISG forecasts 4.25% managed services growth,
15% revenue growth for XaaS globally in 2024
Demand for IT and business services in the Americas was down in
the fourth quarter, as economic and geopolitical concerns continued
to weigh on the market, according to the latest
state-of-the-industry report from Information Services Group (ISG)
(Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory
firm.
The Americas ISG Index™, which measures commercial outsourcing
contracts with annual contract value (ACV) of $5 million or more,
shows fourth-quarter ACV for the combined market—including both
managed services and cloud-based as-a-service (XaaS)—came in at
$11.8 billion, down 5 percent from a year ago, and off 4 percent
sequentially from the third quarter. It was the fourth time in the
last six quarters the region’s growth fell into negative
territory.
“Economic and geopolitical concerns continued to impact the
market, as enterprises delayed the start of new projects and
stretched out spending over longer time periods,” said Todd
Lavieri, vice chairman and president of ISG Americas and Asia
Pacific. “Enterprises are still focused on optimizing their
existing investments in the cloud and other tech spending.”
Lavieri said ISG expects the market for IT and business services
to improve in 2024. “Conditions are right for a rebound. Inflation
is cooling and central banks are discussing interest rate cuts.
Deferred investments from 2023 have put pressure on enterprises to
deliver in 2024. That should create a more positive environment for
enterprise spending and capital deployment this year even as
companies continue to optimize their total spending.”
Lavieri also noted the rise of artificial intelligence also will
have a positive impact on technology spending in the coming years.
“As AI technology matures and new use cases are identified, it will
have a massive impact on the IT and business services and software
industries.”
Q4 Results by Segment
Fourth-quarter ACV in the managed services segment was $5.2
billion, up 5 percent versus the prior year, but down 13 percent
sequentially against a record third quarter. A total of 348
contracts were awarded in the fourth quarter, down 2 percent from
the prior year. Activity was driven by contract restructurings,
with ACV up 72 percent, to $2.5 billion, the highest quarterly
level ever in the Americas. The ACV of new scope awards, meanwhile,
slid 22 percent versus the prior year.
Within managed services, IT Outsourcing (ITO) ACV rose 23
percent, to $4.0 billion, driven by strong demand for applications
and data center services, while business processing outsourcing
(BPO) ACV fell 31 percent, to $1.2 billion.
ACV for XaaS was down 12 percent, to $6.5 billion, the fourth
straight quarter of declining year-over-year results, although ACV
was 4 percent higher than the previous quarter. ACV for
infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) was down 18 percent versus the
prior year, to $4.0 billion, while software-as-a-service (SaaS)
crept up 1 percent, to $2.5 billion. Both IaaS and SaaS saw
sequential quarterly gains of 4 percent and 3 percent,
respectively.
Full-Year Results
For the full year, the Americas combined market generated $47.5
billion of ACV, down 6 percent over the prior year—the first time
ever the combined market declined in a full year.
Managed services ACV rose 6.5 percent, to $21.3 billion, the
highest level of full-year ACV ever in this region. A record 1,455
contracts were awarded, up 2 percent from the prior year, including
18 mega deals (contracts with ACV of $100 million or more), the
largest number of such contracts since 2006. The ACV of the mega
deals, at $2.8 billion, was 58.5 percent higher than the prior year
and added an incremental $1 billion of ACV to the market.
Contract restructurings were up 22 percent, to $8.5 billion of
ACV, with a record 546 contracts awarded. New-scope ACV came in at
$12.7 billion, down 2 percent for the year.
Within managed services, ITO was up 21 percent, to $15.6
billion, driven by spending on applications services, while BPO
slumped 20 percent, to $5.7 billion. Record-high spending in the
energy, healthcare/pharma and telco/media sectors offset declines
in the other large verticals, such as financial services and
manufacturing.
ACV for XaaS declined 14.5 percent, to $26.2 billion, the first
full-year down market ever in the Americas. IaaS was down 20
percent, to $16.5 billion, and SaaS was down 4 percent, to $9.7
billion. XaaS now represents 55 percent of combined market ACV,
down from 61 percent a year ago.
2024 Global Forecast
ISG is forecasting 4.25 percent growth for managed services and
15 percent revenue growth for XaaS in 2024.
“We expect spending for application modernization and business
transformation projects led by GenAI to continue at high levels in
2024. Public cloud spending should accelerate as optimizations
phase out. We also expect small discretionary deals to recover, as
well as Financial Services industry spending to rebound,” Lavieri
said.
About the ISG Index™
The ISG Index™ is recognized as the authoritative source for
marketplace intelligence on the global technology and business
services industry. For 85 consecutive quarters, it has detailed the
latest industry data and trends for financial analysts, enterprise
buyers, software and service providers, law firms, universities and
the media.
The 4Q23 Global ISG Index results were presented during a
webcast on January 18. To view a replay of the webcast and download
presentation slides, visit this webpage.
About ISG
ISG (Information Services Group) (Nasdaq: III) is a leading
global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business
partner to more than 900 clients, including more than 75 of the
world’s top 100 enterprises, ISG is committed to helping
corporations, public sector organizations, and service and
technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster
growth. The firm specializes in digital transformation services,
including automation, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory;
managed governance and risk services; network carrier services;
strategy and operations design; change management; market
intelligence and technology research and analysis. Founded in 2006,
and based in Stamford, Conn., ISG employs more than 1,600
digital-ready professionals operating in more than 20 countries—a
global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence,
deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research
and analytical capabilities based on the industry’s most
comprehensive marketplace data. For more information, visit
www.isg-one.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240123052871/en/
Press: Will Thoretz, ISG +1 203 517 3119
will.thoretz@isg-one.com
Julianna Sheridan, Matter Communications for ISG +1 978-518-4520
isg@matternow.com
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