Hello. This is Stanton Jones and Sunder Sarangan with what’s important in the IT and business services industry this week.

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What You Need to Know

Trailing twelve-month contract value for managed services in the Americas is up 5% over the past three years. However, growth (or lack thereof) has varied significantly by industry. 

Americas-Managed-Services-ACV-and-Award-Counts-Chart

Americas Industry Performance 

This week, we’re taking a look at managed services industry results over the past 36 months, specifically within the nine industry verticals we track. You’ll see in this week’s Data Watch that we included not only the annual contract value (ACV) trend line but award counts as well. By including award counts, we can get a better understanding of the underlying health and growth of the sector.

Here are four industry patterns you should know:

Travel, CPG and retail have all seen more awards with a higher average award value over the past three years. TTH has shown the strongest sustained growth, CPG has been strong of late, while retail has been choppy. Many consumer firms are under intense cost pressure and are increasingly using IT services to optimize costs.

Manufacturing and media & telecom have seen award activity increase since 2023, however, ACV per award has declined. This is an indication that managed services deals are getting smaller in these industries, with some of this decline likely due to AI-driven productivity gains.

In financial services, award activity and ACV rebounded in early 2025. During that period, ACV was trending higher, but the rebound has lost steam in the last few quarters. Banks are increasingly focusing on “building before outsourcing” due to the strategic nature of AI, which may be impacting award activity and deal size.

And, finally, in healthcare and pharmaceuticals, ACV has recovered from its low in late 2024, but the data indicates a consistent pattern of smaller deals over the past three years. ACV in this sector is on an upswing, as companies in this industry face rapidly increasing costs combined with a fast-changing regulatory environment.

As we discussed on the 3Q26 Index call a couple of weeks ago, the Americas and EMEA regions are headed in different directions in terms of overall performance. And, of course, individual industry performance has a big impact on why that’s happening. So next week, we’ll dive into what’s happening in EMEA.

About the authors

Matt Aslett

Matt Aslett

Matt leads the expertise in Digital Technology covering applications and technology that improve the readiness and resilience of business and IT operations. His focus areas of expertise and market coverage include: analytics and data, artificial intelligence and machine learning, blockchain, cloud computing, collaborative and conversational computing, extended reality, Internet of Things mobile computing and robotic automation. Matt’s specialization is in operational and analytical use of data and how businesses can modernize their approaches to business to accelerate the value realization of technology investments in support of hybrid and multi-cloud architecture. Matt has been an industry analyst for more than a decade and has pioneered the coverage of emerging data platforms including NoSQL and NewSQL databases, data lakes and cloud-based data processing. He is a graduate of Bournemouth University.
Abdallah Saadah

Abdallah Saadah

Abdallah leads the solutions development team for ISG’s Supplier and Contract Management service, GovernX. He takes pride in collaborating with clients to tailor solutions that address their unique business challenges. His focus is on delivering optimal outcomes that help clients achieve their strategic supplier management objectives. 
Anamika Sarkar

Anamika Sarkar

Anamika Sarkar works as a Manager in ISG. She has close to 11 years of experience in research across various industries and geographies. At ISG, Anamika helps Manufacturing enterprises understand the latest technology trends, strategy, and innovation.