Americas Demand for IT, Business Services up Slightly in Q4, as Growth Slows Amid Economic Concerns

Demand for IT and business services in the Americas rose slightly in the fourth quarter but continues to be weighed down by economic concerns, the latest state-of-the-industry report from Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm, finds.

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“Inflation and higher interest rates are the main culprits, as companies delay spending on non-critical projects. ”

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 as-a-service (XaaS) and managed services—came in at $12.3 billion, up 1 percent from a year ago, but down 1 percent sequentially from the third quarter. The latest quarter is the third in a row the region saw a sequential decline in ACV—the first time this has happened, according to the ISG Index—driven by a sequential slowdown in infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) spending and essentially no growth in managed services.

“Demand in the Americas is slowing in response to current economic concerns, as U.S.-based enterprises scrutinize spending in the face of a potential economic slowdown,” said Todd Lavieri, vice chairman and president of ISG Americas and Asia Pacific. “Inflation and higher interest rates are the main culprits, as companies delay spending on non-critical projects.

“With that said, we see strong interest in cost optimization to fund ongoing digital transformation, which remains a business imperative as companies prepare for the next wave of digital innovation on the other side of this downturn,” Lavieri continued. “Clients are also challenging rapidly escalating cloud costs, looking for ways to avoid, optimize, or reduce those expenditures.”

Demand for cloud-based XaaS solutions was up 1.4 percent, to $7.8 billion, but was down 2 percent quarter over quarter, the second straight quarter this market has decelerated, which last occurred during the pandemic in 2020. Compared with last year, fourth-quarter ACV for IaaS was up 4 percent, to $5.3 billion, while software-as-a-service (SaaS) spending fell 3 percent, to $2.5 billion.

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Managed services spending in the fourth quarter was $4.5 billion of ACV, up only 0.4 percent against a strong fourth quarter last year. Contract volume reached 325 deals in the quarter, up 7 percent over the prior year, the eight straight quarter with volume above 300 contracts. IT Outsourcing (ITO) ACV declined 9 percent, to $3.0 billion, while business processing outsourcing (BPO) ACV soared 25 percent, to $1.6 billion, on the strength of industry-specific services and facilities management.

Full-Year Results

For the full year, the Americas combined market generated $50.7 billion of ACV, up 14.5 percent over the prior year. Managed services ACV rose 5 percent, to $18.7 billion, on record volume of 1,341 awards, up 7.5 percent. Within managed services, ITO was down 7 percent, to $12.0 billion, while BPO was up 37 percent, to $6.8 billion.

ACV in the XaaS space climbed 21 percent, to $31.9 billion, with IaaS up 29 percent, to $22.1 billion, and SaaS up 7 percent, to $9.9 billion. XaaS now represents 63 percent of combined market ACV, up from 60 percent a year ago, reflecting the continuing move to cloud-based services.

2023 Global Forecast

ISG sees several potential positive developments for the market heading into 2023, including interest rate hikes coming to an end, inflation pressures lessening, China reopening, supply chains beginning to normalize, and the U.S. dollar coming off recent highs.

ISG analysts said XaaS providers are still dealing with “tech excess” and compensating for softening demand by reducing the size of their work forces after a period of significant hiring the last few years. Given this, ISG is forecasting annual ACV growth of 17 percent for the XaaS market in 2023, lower than in prior years.

As for managed services, the shift toward cost optimization “should provide favorable tailwinds for this market,” ISG analysts said. ISG is forecasting 5 percent ACV growth for managed services in 2023.

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