Africa Managed Services Market Size

Africa Managed Services Market Analysis

The Africa Managed Services market is expected to grow at 8.2% CAGR during the forecast period. In the current market scenario, there has been a massive shift in focus toward managed services and their applications for short- and long-term strategic decisions in Africa. Hence, the African market for managed services is expected to witness significant demand for managed mobility and network services.

• The rapidly increasing adoption and implementation of the cloud for data storage and the introduction of big data analytics contribute to the market's growth. Moreover, the rapid growth and evolution of IoT technology are also expected to support the growth and development of the market. As managed services enable companies to access enhanced applications and services, it primarily helps them target their core strategic areas while outsourcing the rest of the operations to the service providers with the operational expertise in that domain. Also, the managed services for cloud, IoT platforms, containers, DevOps, and Big Data are expected to hold tremendous potential for the managed service providers in the forecast period.
• In the current market scenario, cyberattacks have rapidly increased in major African countries like South Africa. With more South African businesses and government institutions migrating to digital platforms, research by cyber security organizations has noted a growing need for a sustained national public awareness campaign to inform, educate and mobilize the public against an increasing pandemic of cyber-crime. The African Cyber threat Assessment Report 2021 found that South Africa had the highest number of targeted ransomware and business email compromise attacks in Africa. This has forced companies to adopt security-first thinking. Managed services providers are now putting more effort into securing the service infrastructure of their clients.
• Managed services companies in the African region are taking advantage of the solutions built by major tech giants to develop their own managed services portfolio. For example, the IT consultancy firm that focuses on implementing, developing, and managing SAP-based solutions, Britehouse (a managed service provider present in the African region), has created a flexible platform for delivering hosted SAP solutions as a managed service to businesses throughout Africa. As per a recent survey by UN DESA, in 2022, the median age in Africa was 18.8 years, indicating that half of the population was older and half was younger than that age. Africa is the youngest continent in the world and presents the highest share of inhabitants aged 14 years and younger, 40% of the total population. A young and growing African population with improved digital skills and behavior could offset some adverse trends and indicate favorable growth for sectors like telecom and ICT services.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the benefits of a digitized economy, facilitating working from home (WFH). This could prove to be an opportunity for the African market to accelerate its journey towards raising the bar of digital and telecom services, which play in a socio-economical context.
• However, the surge in security and privacy concerns and the lack of infrastructure in Africa could be a significant concern, restricting the market's overall growth.