CT-INFORMATION-SERVICES
21.1.2021 10:02:07 CET | Business Wire | Press release
Shrugging off the effects of the pandemic, the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) sourcing market delivered its best quarterly performance ever, with record demand for cloud-based services and a resurgence in managed services, 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 EMEA ISG Index™, which measures commercial outsourcing contracts with annual contract value (ACV) of €5 million (£4 million) or more, shows ACV for the combined market, which includes both as-a-service and managed services, reached a record €5.1 billion (£4.6 billion), up 18 percent, in the fourth quarter.
Cloud-based as-a-service ACV reached a quarterly record of €1.8 billion (£1.6 billion), up 25 percent over the prior year, as enterprises continue to move more work to the cloud. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) climbed 34 percent, to €1.3 billion (£1.2 billion), while software-as-a-service (SaaS) rose 5 percent, to €479 million (£426 million).
On the strength of five mega-deals in EMEA, including contracts with Siemens and Daimler in the DACH region, managed services rose 14 percent, to €3.3 billion (£3.0 billion), with IT outsourcing (ITO) soaring 55 percent, to €3.0 billion (£2.7 billion). Business process outsourcing (BPO), meanwhile, declined 66 percent, to €331 million (£295 million), the only blemish on an otherwise stellar quarter.
“EMEA produced its best quarter ever, with combined ACV up 35 percent compared with the third quarter, led by five managed services mega-deals in the region—including two deals in the DACH manufacturing sector with Siemens and Daimler,” said Steve Hall, president of ISG. “Cloud-based as-a-service bounced back from a midyear slump to produce a record quarter.”
Full-Year Performance
For the full year of 2020, combined ACV reached a record €17.0 billion (£15.1 billion), up 7 percent, boosted by an as-a-service market that rose 15 percent, to a record €6.9 billion (£6.1 billion). Managed services grew 2 percent, to €10.0 billion (£8.9 billion), despite a pandemic-induced slump in the second quarter.
Within the managed services segment, full-year ITO ACV rose 21 percent, to €8.7 billion (£7.7 billion), with several large deals that closed in the fourth quarter boosting annual growth. Among new-scope contracts, Infosys won an eight-year mega-deal with Daimler for an infrastructure overhaul, and Wipro sealed a mega-deal with German wholesaler Metro AG to launch a digital innovation hub in Düsseldorf that will also support other customers in the region.
BPO ACV, however, fell precipitously, down 50 percent, to €1.3 billion (£1.2 billion), against a strong 2019 performance. As in the other regions, Facilities Management and Contact Centers faltered in EMEA.
In cloud-based services, IaaS rose 23 percent, to €5.1 billion (£4.5 billion), as hyperscalers battle for market supremacy. Among the larger deals, Nokia secured a five-year contract with Google to replace IT infrastructure at contact centers with Google Cloud. Meanwhile, AWS inked a five-year agreement with Standard Chartered Bank, and Microsoft Azure signed a seven-year cloud services deal with Deutsche Telekom.
In the SaaS segment, ACV was off 3 percent, to €1.8 billion (£1.6 billion), despite a number of sizeable deals in this space, including SAP’s contract with Rabobank for S/4HANA, Oracle’s a deal with Aegon for Fusion Cloud ERP, and Salesforce’s agreement with Bentley Motors in the U.K.
Market Insights
The DACH region produced EMEA’s strongest growth in managed services in the fourth quarter, up 90 percent, to €1.7 billion (£1.5 billion), due to the large contract awards made by Siemens and Daimler, as well as TCS’s deal with Postbank Systems.
The U.K. managed services market, meanwhile, declined 32 percent in the fourth quarter, to €704 (£626 million), still a strong result, but down against a tough comparison with a strong fourth quarter in 2019. Among the notable deals in this market was TCS’s multiyear services contract with Prudential Financial unit Pramerica Systems Ireland.
Like DACH, France also nearly doubled its managed services ACV in the quarter, up 83 percent, to €386 million (£343 million), its best quarter since the fourth quarter of 2011. The result was driven by a significant number of mid-sized transaction awards.
2021 Global Forecast
ISG is forecasting the market for cloud-based services will grow 20 percent globally in 2021, and the market for managed services will grow 3 percent.
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 73 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. In 2016, the ISG Index was expanded to include coverage of the fast-growing as-a-service market, measuring the significant impact cloud-based services are having on digital business transformation. ISG also provides ongoing analysis of automation and other digital technologies in its quarterly ISG Index presentations.
For more information about the ISG Index, 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 700 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 1,300 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 .
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210121005180/en/
Link:
Social Media:
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Cessna Citation CJ3 Gen3 Achieves First Flight, Advancing Next-Generation Light Jet Toward Certification29.7.2026 18:31:00 CEST | Press release
All three Citation Gen3 light jets are now in flight testing, bringing Garmin Emergency Autoland and customer-inspired enhancements to the next generation of business aviation. Textron Aviation Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) company, recently achieved a key milestone as the Cessna Citation CJ3 Gen3 prototype aircraft completed its first flight, advancing the next-generation light jet toward certification. With this milestone, all three next-generation Citation light jets — the CJ4 Gen3, CJ3 Gen3 and M2 Gen3 — have entered flight testing, demonstrating continued momentum across the Cessna next-generation light jet portfolio. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260729333762/en/ Cessna Citation CJ3 Gen3 achieves first flight, advancing next-generation light jet toward certification. (Photo credit: Textron Aviation) “This achievement continues the forward momentum of the CJ3 Gen3 program and reflects the discipline,
SES Launches Multi-Orbit Satellite Connectivity on LATAM Airbus, Embraer Fleet29.7.2026 17:30:00 CEST | Press release
SES, a leading space solutions company, was selected by LATAM Airlines to provide multi-orbit inflight connectivity service to its growing fleet of Airbus and Embraer aircraft, solidifying SES’s position as the top provider of multi-orbit broadband service in the Americas and around the world. “LATAM’s passengers will soon benefit from reliable, multi-orbit satellite connectivity that will provide the same fast and dependable internet access they enjoy at home no matter where or when they fly. SES’s partnerships with airlines like LATAM highlight how carriers throughout the Americas are leading the way when it comes to the most advanced connectivity. SES is a trusted partner that powers inflight connectivity,” said Mike DeMarco, SES President of Mobility. More than 60 Airbus (A320NEO and A321XLR) and Embraer aircraft (E195-E2) will be equipped with SES services in the coming years. LATAM will be the largest airline in the region to offer service using SES’s new electronically steered a
Carta Rearchitects Private Capital Operations with Plugins for Claude29.7.2026 16:01:00 CEST | Press release
Firms managing billions in assets are cutting days of manual fund and portfolio work down to a single prompt — a shift now available to all Carta customers through Anthropic's official plugin directory. Carta, the connected platform and AI-native ecosystem for private capital, today announces broad availability of its suite of Plugins for Claude following the initial launch in April 2026. With more than 1,500 companies and firms already using the plugins, Carta is changing the way private capital teams — from founders to CFOs — fundamentally operate, bringing fund administration, cap table management, and dealflow analytics directly into the spreadsheets, presentations, and workflows they already use every day. "For the last decade, private capital operation teams have been held back by a hidden tax: the constant, manual handoff of data between disconnected systems," said Henry Ward, Carta CEO. "Carta is eliminating that broken loop entirely by embedding intelligence directly into the
Experian Recognized by Chartis Research for Advancing AI Model Governance in Quantitative Analytics50 202629.7.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release
Global data and technology company recognized for helping financial institutions accelerate AI innovation with trusted model governance, transparency and regulatory control Key Highlights Chartis Research recognized Experian as the category winner for Model Risk Management Environment in the Quantitative Analytics50 2026 report. Experian Ascend Platform™ enables organizations to move from model development to governed production with transparency, traceability and policy-driven controls. Recognition validates Experian's approach to helping lenders and financial institutions accelerate AI adoption while strengthening compliance, explainability and model risk governance. Experian today announced it has been recognized by Chartis Research as the winner in the Model Risk Management Environment category in the Quantitative Analytics50 2026 report. The recognition marks Experian's first appearance in the prestigious ranking and reinforces the company's position as a leading provider of data
Grid Dynamics Accelerates Enterprise AI-Native Transformation With Workforce Certification and GAIN Platforms Rollout29.7.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release
Key Takeaways: Grid Dynamics plans to have 90% of its engineers trained and certified on Anthropic and OpenAI platforms by the end of October 2026. At one of North America's largest home improvement retailers, Grid Dynamics has scaled its GAIN (Grid Dynamics AI Native) Platform for AI SDLC by expanding its agentic harness technology to more than 500 additional engineers. Grid Dynamics Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: GDYN) (“Grid Dynamics”), a leading provider of technology consulting, platform and product engineering, and AI-driven digital transformation services, today announced significant momentum in the adoption of its enterprise agentic AI solutions. Organizations across retail, financial services, manufacturing, CPG, and logistics industries are increasingly deploying Grid Dynamics’ agentic AI-native platforms and Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE)-led services to accelerate software delivery, improve operational efficiency, and transform business processes at scale. Grid Dynamics is wid
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom
