- Global IT spending will hit $6.15 trillion in 2026, creating the largest services opportunity MSPs have ever seen.
- Growth is being driven by AI, Cloud, and data-center modernization, shifting budgets from devices to high-value managed services.
- Buyers want outcomes and expertise, rewarding MSPs that move from resale to advisory, automation, and strategic delivery.
- MSPs that evolve pricing, skills, and partnerships now will capture growth
Gartner’s latest forecast shows worldwide information technology spending is poised to smash expectations in 2026, climbing to $6.15 trillion—a whopping 10.8% year-over-year increase from 2025. That’s an acceleration on earlier projections and a signal that CIOs and technology buyers are opening up their budgets aggressively again after years of cautious planning.
For MSPs, this isn’t just a headline number. It’s a profound recalibration of opportunity, buyer priorities, and competitive dynamics across every segment of the MSP value chain. To win these new budgets, service providers need to change their game in 2026 and beyond.
IT Services Still Dominate—And MSPs Sit at the Heart of It
The services category remains the largest single segment in technology spending, expected to total $1.87 trillion in 2026. Services account for more than 30% of all technology spend, from consulting and integration to implementation and ongoing support.
Put simply: companies are not buying tech boxes—they are investing in outcomes. They want help navigating AI, hybrid Cloud, security, and business transformation. They want trusted partners who manage complexity, not just sell products.
But watch out: hyperscalers and platforms are moving in with direct sales, and some businesses are tempted to use AI to provide more services in-house.
Demand Is Shifting Underneath the Growth
The broader spending picture is being reshaped by several trends:
Data centre and AI infrastructure investment continues to explode—with servers and infrastructure spending accelerating nearly 37% year over year.
Software spending growth for 2026 has been slightly revised downward to 14.7%, from 15.2% for both application and infrastructure software. Despite this, software is one of the fastest-growing segments, projected to pass $1.4 trillion globally this year.
“Despite the modest revision, total software spending will remain above $1.4 trillion,” said John-David Lovelock, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner. “Projections for generative AI model spending in 2026 remain unchanged, with growth expected at 80.8%. GenAI models continue to experience strong growth, and their share of the software market is expected to rise by 1.8% in 2026.”
Device spending growth is slowing, emphasising that enterprises are moving away from capex refresh cycles and toward value-added strategic technology services.
Across these shifts, what stands out for MSPs is that buying decisions are becoming more complex: they now involve cross-platform integrations, outcomes tied to automation and AI, and a blend of Cloud, on-premises and hybrid models.
For most CIOs, closing skills gaps and managing that complexity internally is cost-prohibitive. Outsourcing those challenges—to partners with deep technical expertise and managed service delivery—is often the faster path to business results.
Growth Isn’t Even—And MSPs Can’t Afford to Stay Passive
Even as the macro spending picture expands, channel analysts are tracking structural shifts that could leave some MSPs behind if they don’t evolve.
Vendor programmes are increasingly rewarding scale and services delivery—not simple resale business. Traditional transactional margins are under pressure.
Partners who remain dependent on resell incentives risk shrinking revenue potential as platforms increasingly bundle value-add services.
Polling from Omdia suggests revenue expectations are split across the partner base, with almost as many forecasting declines as growth unless they pivot to services and advisory.
Put another way: the pie is bigger, but investors, hyperscalers and buyers are changing how it’s divided—with the biggest slices going to partners who focus on outcomes, services, and innovation.
AI Isn’t Optional—It’s Table Stakes
Gartner’s forecast highlights that AI infrastructure and software are core drivers of overall spending growth, not niche experiments. Generative AI remains one of the fastest-growing sub-segments, expanding more than 80% year-over-year in 2026.
On the MSP side, AI isn’t just a cool add-on—it’s becoming an expectation.
Clients want data-driven automation that enhances security monitoring, optimises Cloud costs, and accelerates time to value.
MSPs that embed AI into operational tooling, service delivery dashboards, and customer workflows will meaningfully differentiate their service offerings.
This is more than marketing flair; it’s a market signal that clients are willing to pay a premium for services that solve business problems—not just manage machines.
Left-Behind MSP Models Risk Being Squeezed
The era of “managed endpoints and routers” alone is drawing to a close. With software, Cloud, and AI consumption embedded deep inside enterprise digital strategy, MSPs must:
· Shift from break-fix and device-led offerings to strategic service delivery;
· Expand consulting, integration, and engineering capabilities;
· Build or acquire expertise in AI-enabled platforms and automation;
· Evolve pricing away from hours and devices to value-based, outcome-focused models.
This isn’t incremental improvement—it’s a strategic pivot that defines the winners of the next decade.
Why This Matters for Growth, Profitability, and Valuation
MSPs that upgrade their portfolio in this way reap three major benefits:
· Higher recurring revenue with stickier customer relationships—consulting, security operations, and Cloud optimisation deliver long-term contracts with less churn.
· Greater pricing power and profitability—outcomes-based services can drive margin expansion beyond commodity resell business.
· Stronger strategic relevance to buyers—partners who influence architecture, transformation, and innovation are harder to replace.
Omdia’s research supports this: partners that focus on professional services and transition away from transactional reselling are more confident about profitability this year than those that don’t. That’s a roadmap to sustainable growth.
The MSP Imperative for 2026
So what should MSPs do now?
1. Double-down on advisory and outcome-oriented services.
CIOs view their MSPs as strategic partners—not vendors—when they help accelerate projects from ideation to execution.
2. Embed AI into delivery, not just narrative.
Clients won’t pay extra for buzzwords—but they will for measurable results driven by intelligent tools.
3. Invest in skills that solve business challenges.
Security, Cloud cost optimisation, automation and AI integration are now baseline expectations.
4. Revisit commercial and pricing models.
Move beyond per-user or per-device pricing toward consumption-based and outcomes-aligned economics.
5. Build partnerships for scale and capability.
No MSP has all the skills alone—connected ecosystems win bigger deals.
The 2026 MSP GLOBAL Opportunity
As Gartner’s forecast makes clear, the global technology budget balloon isn’t a distant trend—it’s today’s reality. Spend is growing across services, software and AI infrastructure. MSPs are uniquely positioned to capture it—but only if they act with urgency, clarity, and strategic focus.
If you want to be among the leaders in this transformation—and not just the followers—there’s no better place to sharpen your strategy and grow your network than MSP GLOBAL 2026.
Learn directly from industry leaders, connect with forward-thinking businesses, and walk away with practical ways to win in a market where $6 trillion+ is up for grabs.
Your next step? Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest event and industry news.
