The Managed Services Surge: Insights from Cisco Live EMEA

Cisco Live EMEA 2024 is now in the books—what an incredible four days! The atmosphere was alive with the anticipation of the innovation and opportunity that lies ahead of us. Our partners are introducing new services to the market, customers are ready to double down on digital transformation, and we are continuously strengthening our offerings.

We’re excited about the growth opportunities ahead for Cisco Powered Partner Managed Services, as nearly one in two customers will consume their Cisco technology leveraging a Partner-managed Offer by 2027. The projected total addressable market for Managed Service provides product and services is US$102 billion EMEA market opportunity for our Managed Service Provider Partners. It is a time of expansion for managed services, and our MSPs are at the forefront of driving this transformation. Our Partner managed strategy is centered around delivering three foundational pillars—platform, preference, and performance—that our partners need to succeed.

The EMEA Managed Services Opportunity

infographic illustrating the different technology avenues for MSPs — *There are multiple technology avenues MSPs can take, such as Collaboration, Data Center, Network, Observability, and Security*

I thoroughly enjoyed talking with our Provider Partners about their business challenges and how Managed Services is becoming the bridge between our product and technology capabilities and the outcomes and business value that our customers are asking for.

Here’s a recap of three business priorities we heard customers talking about at Cisco Live EMEA and how our provider partners are innovating:

1. Prioritizing a path to sustainability. Companies are investing in sustainability because they realize it is critical to driving company growth, delivering value to customers, and conserving natural resources. They are focusing on strategies that improve operational efficiency, drive competitive differentiation, and foster innovation and increased revenue. At the same time, customers are faced with increasing reporting and regulatory requirements.Partner Managed Services can help organizations achieve their sustainability goals through initiatives that enable efficient use of hardware, reduction in energy consumption, telemetry on product efficiency to aid in tracking and reporting, and effective disposal of end-of-life equipment.
2. Securing the network. Today’s customers are seeking more resilient secure networking solutions to fortify their networks amid the growing threat landscape, especially in a hybrid world. In fact, 41 percent of organizations cite securing user access to cloud-based applications and mobile services or cloud-based solutions is their biggest obstacle. Managed services offer a cost-effective and efficient solution.Our platform-based approach simplifies access to telemetry and end-to-end (E2E) services for greater security resiliency. Companies are able to track the performance of cloud-native applications across multicloud and hybrid cloud environments, then prioritize any issues based on business impact.
3. Continuing the path to transformation. As small business owners continue their digital transformation journey, their priorities mirror those of enterprises. They care about keeping their employees connected and highly productive, securing data from cyber threats, and applying modern technology to create smarter, more automated workspaces.The small business market (SMB) segment is in growth and investment mode when it comes to IT spending and innovation to increase market reach and profitability, and we project a $12 billion EMEA Managed Services opportunity by 2027. The MSP Expressway for SMB helps our partners to pursue the growing SMB market opportunity. Scalable partner-ready offers combine the Cisco cloud platforms for networking, security and collaboration with resources, tools, and best practices to accelerate time to market.

Exciting Partner Announcements

Along with having a chance to speak with customers last week in Amsterdam, I’m also pleased to share some exciting partner announcements from Cisco Live EMEA:

Hitachi Vantara: Together with Hitachi Vantara, we are introducing Hitachi EverFlex with Cisco Powered Hybrid Cloud suite of services that integrates automation solutions and predictive analytics to give organizations a portfolio for advanced infrastructure management, cost efficiency, and operational effectiveness. Learn more about these services in our blog.

Kyndryl: New services introduced include Kyndryl Managed SSE with Cisco Secure Access, a new category of network security services that integrates security into a cloud-delivered service model. Explore the solutions in the press release.

Orange: Orange launched their ‘Secure Industrial LAN’ managed service for industrial organizations. By combining the Cisco Industrial IoT networking portfolio with Cisco Cyber Vision for OT security and resources from Orange Cyberdefense and Orange Business, this service offers a unified solution for customers worldwide. Learn more in our blog.

These are just a few examples of the remarkable innovations our partners are implementing in their managed services businesses.

Want to learn more?

I’m feeling energized after spending time with our Provider Partners and talking about the opportunities ahead and how we can help them to be more successful. To learn more about what we have planned for the year ahead and how we can help you be more successful, explore our Partner Managed Services resources:

Partner Managed Services on Cisco.com

Partner Managed Services on SalesConnect