Managed services are now a strategic priority for 99 percent of large global organizations, driven in large part by AI, according to the Managed Services Outlook Survey 2026 from KPMG and IDC.
The growing demand for managed services comes as organizations struggle to move beyond AI experimentation and achieve meaningful returns. Large organizations are increasingly viewing managed services both as an AI accelerator and a way to bring new technologies to market more effectively.
This trend is impacting the way companies source and evaluate MSPs. The survey found that AI capability is now the leading consideration in managed services for leaders, outranking factors such as technology and platform expertise, operational excellence and data expertise, among other factors.
In total, 98 percent of respondents cited AI implementation as a critical capability, while 91 percent said they view managed services as important for agentic AI delivery. Buyers also identified AI management as the top area of managed services investment over the next two years.
As IDC noted, “[buyers expect] managed services providers to use AI to support their needs,” adding that AI is no longer viewed as optional innovation, but as a logical step for delivering better outcomes at scale.
In addition, KPMG revealed that organizations are currently seeing the greatest impact with technology innovation. However, over next two years leaders expect to see greater impact around accelerating strategic outcomes, along with operating model and business model transformation, with 65 percent of respondents expecting to see a high impact from managed services.
Looking ahead, IDC also anticipates a shift in buyer priorities.
“While SaaS is the most common technology used in managed services today, buyers increasingly anticipate greater emphasis on automation, AI (including agentic AI), and process mining and discovery. Cloud-based applications will remain foundational, but the current AI zeitgeist suggests that AI-enabled automation and operational intelligence will increasingly dominate the managed services value proposition.”
Managed services adoption is also becoming more executive-driven, with CIOs and technical teams now exerting the greatest influence, followed by boards of directors and line-of-business leaders.
KPMG found that brand trust and board-level alignment area increasingly critical factors for provider selection.
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