Strong governance, stronger outcomes – Scopism Market Intelligence Insight, Q1 2026
Scopism, has released the ‘Scopism Market Intelligence Insight’ report for Q1 2026.
Scopism recently surveyed the SIAM community for this latest Market Intelligence insight, which provides a snapshot of where customer organizations really are right now.
Q1 2026: The Headlines
- Confidence in managed services models is high
- Coordination remains a pressure point
- Frustration still exists
When asked about their single biggest frustration with managed service providers, respondents did not highlight accountability gaps or poor integration as their primary concern; instead, the results showed:
- 40% cited slow response times or inconsistent service quality
- 40% said too much internal effort is required to coordinate providers
- 20% selected “Other”, referencing areas including a lack of proactivity and innovation
This is telling and suggests that organizations aren’t necessarily struggling with structural design, but with operational friction. The real cost isn’t reflected in contracts or SLAs, instead it accumulates from the hidden internal effort required to make the model work day-to-day. In fact, existing contracts may actually be blockers, preventing proactivity and innovation on the part of experienced service providers.
Confidence is High
Encouragingly, 80% of respondents said they are very confident their SIAM model is scalable and future-ready, with a further 20% somewhat confident. That level of confidence is significant. However, confidence and optimization are not the same thing and service providers should not become complacent and rely on the advantage of incumbency.
High confidence may reflect stable operations today, but the demands of AI, regulatory scrutiny, ecosystem complexity and cost pressure over the next 24–36 months will test whether current governance and integration models are genuinely resilient.
Talking about confidence in managed services, Parmjit Singh, Retail Account Executive at Atos said: “Confidence in managed services must be matched by governance maturity. In complex multi-supplier ecosystems, value is realized not through contracts alone, but through clear service ownership, disciplined SIAM governance and proactive orchestration. Strong governance reduces hidden coordination costs, strengthens resilience and ensures the operating model delivers measurable business outcomes and not just operational stability.”
Lessons Learned
When asked what they would prioritize if redesigning their managed services model from scratch, the largest response (40%) was ‘Stronger governance and service ownership’. This reinforces what is seen across the SIAM community:
- Governance is more than bureaucracy.
- Service ownership is essential
- Integration is not self-managing
In other words, managed services models need strong and ongoing integration discipline. Organizations taking on the service integrator role need to focus on both operational improvements and strategic initiatives.
Sharing her thoughts on the Scopism Market Intelligence Insight Q1 report, Michelle Major-Goldsmith, Director of Service Integration & Systems, Kinetic IT, said: “Service quality issues in multi-provider environments rarely start with capability. They start with blurred accountability. When no one is truly accountable for end-to-end outcomes, response times slow, issues bounce between providers, and internal teams spend too much time coordinating instead of delivering value. By taking a disciplined approach to getting SIAM right, we’ve seen organizations dramatically reduce incident resolution times. This has been achieved simply by clarifying service ownership and strengthening governance forums. When integration is intentional, consistency improves, duplication reduces, and the operating model starts working for the organisation rather than against it.”
Aushdeep Gupta, SIAM Lead at HCLTech shared his views: “As ecosystems become more AI-enabled and fragmented, winners will be defined by SIAM governance maturity – everyone else will drown in coordination”. Aushdeep’s colleague, Prashant Bhat, SIAM Practice Director, shared his view that “the key to success is a focused effort on knowledge maturity, governance maturity, and user experience. The advent of AI models will merely amplify that success or failure.”
Key Takeaways
This Market Intelligence Insight confirms that managed services models are delivering value and customer confidence levels are strong. Supporting this requires operating discipline, the clarity of governance, service ownership and integration. The next step for organizations is ensuring their governance maturity is future ready as well as matching the confidence they feel today.