The Managed Service Market Continues To Percolate

Managed services vendors promise mitigation of economic and technology risk to business customers, and some IT professionals are buying those services. The market for many new and traditional managed services has weathered the recent economic environment with modest growth. North American use of managed services is expected to catch up to Western Europe as new application and infrastructure "as-a-service" offerings deliver low-risk, variable cost vehicles to invest in technology that accelerates business. Bundles of services and new provider ecosystems enable buyers to reduce the complexity of their relationships with vendors, complementing the business value delivered. Managed service providers will have to deliver business value by offering bundles of service that directly affect their customers' top- and bottom-line results in order to grow their managed services business and power improved business performance in the second half of 2009.