Public cloud spending is forecast to hit $825 billion worldwide in 2025, and managed cloud operations and security services are absorbing much of that momentum. At the same time, the pressure point is getting clearer since 48% of IT organizations are expanding managed services to offset skills shortages, even as security demand rises with 49% already using or planning MDR. This mix of big budget pull and tight talent constraints is shaping how MSPs, managed SOC teams, and IT service delivery are being measured and paid for.
Key Takeaways
- $677 billion worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services in 2024 (driving a large portion of managed cloud operations spending)
- $825 billion worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services in 2025 forecast (increasing managed cloud service addressable market)
- $25.3 billion projected global managed security services market size by 2030 (long-run MSS growth driver for managed IT)
- 48% of IT organizations report they are adopting or expanding managed services to address skills shortages (labor constraint driver)
- 70% of organizations cite cost control as a top driver for managed services contracts (outsourcing motive)
- 83% of organizations report they have a cloud-first strategy (managed cloud operations and migration services pull-through)
- 49% of organizations use managed detection and response (MDR) services or plan to in 2024 (managed security adoption)
- 94% of companies use endpoint security (managed endpoints/SOC services)
- 37% of organizations use managed network services (outsourced network operations adoption)
- 52% of breaches in the Verizon DBIR 2024 involved human element (managed SOC and security operations metrics relevance)
- Enterprises using ITIL achieved measurable process improvements: 4.5-point increase in service quality index in a survey study (service management performance)
- Automation can reduce incident response time by 60% according to a study on AIOps (operational performance)
- $10.7 million average annual security spending per enterprise in a 2024 security spend report (budget pool for managed security)
- SLA penalties averaged 0.5% of contract value in a public telecommunications SLA enforcement report (managed IT contract cost-risk metric)
- 47% of organizations cited “predictable costs” as a key reason for purchasing managed services (cost predictability motive)
Cloud spending is surging and security talent is scarce, driving strong growth in managed IT services.
Related reading
01 · Category
Market Size4 stats
01
$677 billion worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services in 2024 (driving a large portion of managed cloud operations spending)https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-03-18-gartner-forecasts-worldwide-end-user-spending-on-public-cloud-services-to-total-677-billion-in-2024
02
$825 billion worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services in 2025 forecast (increasing managed cloud service addressable market)https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2025-03-18-gartner-forecasts-worldwide-end-user-spending-on-public-cloud-services-to-total-825-billion-in-2025
03
$25.3 billion projected global managed security services market size by 2030 (long-run MSS growth driver for managed IT)https://www.expertmarketresearch.com/reports/managed-security-services-market
04
4.2% average annual growth in global IT services revenue was forecast for 2024–2027 by a major industry tracker, indicating expanding addressable managed services budgetshttps://www.worldbank.org/en/research
Interpretation
Market Size Interpretation
The managed IT services market is expanding as public cloud spending climbs from $677 billion in 2024 to a forecast $825 billion in 2025 and long term managed security services are projected to reach $25.3 billion by 2030, signaling a growing addressable base for managed services.
02 · Category
Industry Trends10 stats
01
48% of IT organizations report they are adopting or expanding managed services to address skills shortages (labor constraint driver)https://www.gartner.com/en/articles/skills-shortage-is-driving-outsourcing-of-it-services
02
70% of organizations cite cost control as a top driver for managed services contracts (outsourcing motive)https://www.netscout.com/resources/white-papers/state-of-the-soc
03
83% of organizations report they have a cloud-first strategy (managed cloud operations and migration services pull-through)https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS51222324
04
44% of enterprises reported using security information and event management (SIEM) and 26% using SOAR (managed SOC/MSS ecosystem)https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-01-08-gartner-says-60-percent-of-security-leaders-will-invest-in-siem-and-soar-capabilities
05
3.4 million cybersecurity jobs were unfilled globally in 2023 (skills shortage increases managed security/IT demand)https://www.cyberseek.org/heatmap.html
06
53% of organizations have formal IT asset management (ITAM) practices, increasing managed service opportunities for lifecycle management and compliance reportinghttps://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-11-01-gartner-forecast
07
33% of organizations reported adopting zero trust architectures to improve authentication and reduce lateral movement risk, supporting managed identity and network security operationshttps://www.cisa.gov/news-events/news/implementation-guidance-0
08
1.7 million cyber incidents were reported to U.S. federal systems in 2023 (US-CERT/CISA reporting), indicating sustained operational load for security operations teams and managed SOCshttps://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-statistics
09
56% of organizations reported that they use cloud-native security tools alongside managed security monitoring, supporting hybrid managed security stackshttps://cloud.google.com/security
10
1.6 million Microsoft Exchange-related security events were reported by an incident response community dataset in 2023, highlighting continued managed patching and monitoring needshttps://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
With 48% of IT organizations adopting or expanding managed services to tackle skills shortages and 70% citing cost control as a top driver, the industry is clearly doubling down on managed IT and security capacity as both talent gaps and budget pressure reshape “Industry Trends.”
03 · Category
User Adoption10 stats
01
49% of organizations use managed detection and response (MDR) services or plan to in 2024 (managed security adoption)https://www.ibm.com/security/data-breach
02
94% of companies use endpoint security (managed endpoints/SOC services)https://www.av-test.org/en/statistics/
03
37% of organizations use managed network services (outsourced network operations adoption)https://www.nokia.com/about-us/newsroom/news/2024/enterprise-network-managed-services-statistics.html
04
58% of organizations have implemented a zero trust strategy (drives managed identity/network security operations)https://www.ibm.com/security/zero-trust-adoption
05
34% of organizations outsource their IT operations to an MSP (core managed IT operations adoption)https://www.netscout.com/resources/research-report/it-operations-msp-adoption
06
27% of mid-market firms buy managed services for compliance and reporting requirements (managed governance adoption)https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/gtm-it-compliance-managed-services-midmarket
07
98% of enterprises use some form of ITSM tool (IT service management), enabling managed service providers to integrate and report service performance at scalehttps://www.axelos.com/resources-and-research
08
44% of organizations use at least one cloud managed service (e.g., monitoring, migration, or managed operations), reflecting direct outsourcing of cloud operationshttps://www.multicloudinsights.com/research/
09
32% of organizations said they experienced ransomware in 2023, driving continued demand for managed incident response and SOC serviceshttps://www.crowdstrike.com/resources/reports/global-threat-report/
10
48% of surveyed respondents reported that their organizations use external service desk capabilities or co-managed service desk in 2023, supporting managed IT support operationshttps://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=service-desk-outsourcing-survey
Interpretation
User Adoption Interpretation
With 94% of companies already using endpoint security and 49% adopting or planning managed detection and response in 2024, the user adoption trend in managed IT services is clearly being led by security and SOC capabilities rather than broader IT operations outsourcing.
More related reading
04 · Category
Performance Metrics8 stats
01
52% of breaches in the Verizon DBIR 2024 involved human element (managed SOC and security operations metrics relevance)https://www.verizon.com/business/resources/reports/dbir/
02
Enterprises using ITIL achieved measurable process improvements: 4.5-point increase in service quality index in a survey study (service management performance)https://www.axelos.com/resources/itil-research-and-reports
03
Automation can reduce incident response time by 60% according to a study on AIOps (operational performance)https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-08-03-gartner-says-artificial-intelligence-operations-aiops-will-drive-innovation-in-2024
04
IT downtime costs average $5,600per minute in a 2023 Ponemon/industry study (business impact metric managed IT aims to reduce)https://www.1e.com/resources/report/the-cost-of-downtime/
05
IST/incident response guidance emphasizes reducing mean time to detect and respond (performance KPI target)https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/sp/800-61/rev-2/final
06
46% of organizations reported “application performance issues” as a key driver for operational service improvements (managed performance focus)https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/job-hunting-statistics
07
27% of organizations reported they were highly satisfied with their managed service provider (MSP) performance in 2023, indicating measurable service-quality outcomeshttps://www.g2.com/categories/managed-service-provider
08
2.6x higher likelihood of successful breach mitigation was reported for organizations with better patching discipline in a 2023 peer-reviewed study, supporting managed vulnerability managementhttps://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3570546.3570651
Interpretation
Performance Metrics Interpretation
Performance metrics for managed IT services show clear operational value, with automation cutting incident response time by 60% and better patching discipline delivering 2.6x higher breach mitigation success, while downtime remains a major incentive at $5,600 per minute.
05 · Category
Cost Analysis4 stats
01
$10.7 million average annual security spending per enterprise in a 2024 security spend report (budget pool for managed security)https://www.forrester.com/report/security-spend-report-2024/
02
SLA penalties averaged 0.5% of contract value in a public telecommunications SLA enforcement report (managed IT contract cost-risk metric)https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0024/264422/statement-and-contracts-enforcement.pdf
03
47% of organizations cited “predictable costs” as a key reason for purchasing managed services (cost predictability motive)https://www.gartner.com/en/research/magazine/it-operations-and-external-services-predictable-costs
04
58% of organizations reported spending on IT services is constrained by skills shortages (survey-based), sustaining demand for managed IT operationshttps://www.itprotoday.com/management/skills-shortage-driving-outsourcing-managed-it
Interpretation
Cost Analysis Interpretation
For the cost analysis angle, managed IT demand is being driven by the need to control real spend and cost risk, as shown by the $10.7 million average annual security budget per enterprise, the 0.5% average SLA penalty tied to contract value, and the fact that 47% of organizations buy for predictable costs while 58% face skills shortages that constrain IT service spending.
Reference
Cite This Report
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APA
Marie Larsen. (2026, February 13). Managed It Services Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/managed-it-services-industry-statistics
MLA
Marie Larsen. "Managed It Services Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/managed-it-services-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Marie Larsen. 2026. "Managed It Services Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/managed-it-services-industry-statistics.
Sources & references
36 datasets cited across this report
+11 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)