If you’ve had an unsettling feeling in the pit of your stomach about the future of managed services, the results of a new study might alleviate some of your work-induced nausea.

A report conducted by the American Digital Corporation, an IT solutions provider, says 61 percent of IT leaders plan to invest in outsourced managed services over the next two years — good news for managed services providers (MSPs).

Titled the “2014 State of SAP Report,” the study was conducted with the IT community from February 15, 2014 to March 12, 2014 and identifies five trends driving SAP use this year.

While IT leaders are giving MSPs the benefit of the doubt when it comes to support, they’re still a little hesistant on giving away total control of their internal IT infrastructure.

“Today we see companies comfortable with outsourcing application support, but many are still holding on to the infrastructure in-house,” American Digital Professional Services Vice President said Bill Loupakos in a statement.

For example, 74 percent of IT leaders will retain full control of their data centers; and 26 percent will use a combination of internal resources and outsourced capability.

With regards to SAP, the report found that SAP HANA, SAP Mobile and Managed Cloud rank as the most in-demand SAP offerings.

“SAP environments are relying more heavily on outsourcing to maximize overall efficiency,” Loupakos said.

Only 29 percent of IT leaders believe they’ll rely on in-house support resources for SAP-related support.

Kevin Gilroy, SAP’s channel chief, told The VAR Guy in April that his team is working with channel partners to simplify everything.

“It needs to be almost a consumer-like experience,” he said. “Ease of procurement, ease of consumption, ease of deployment, a delightful experience—not a grinding experience.”

Article Source:  http://mspmentor.net/research-and-markets/053014/report-61-it-leaders-plan-invest-managed-services-outsourcing