German Firms Turn to Microsoft During Challenging Times

Microsoft ecosystem partners will be a key resource for enterprises in Germany looking to enhance their digital futures in a post-pandemic era marked by political and economic uncertainty across Europe, according to a new research report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

The 2023 ISG Provider Lenstm Microsoft Cloud Ecosystem report for Germany finds many enterprises quickly stitched together solutions to address short-term needs during the pandemic, and now are looking to refine their approach to digitalization. Microsoft partners will play an important role in educating enterprises about the capabilities of the entire set of Microsoft solutions, which are less well-known in Germany than elsewhere, and providing the services needed to continue the workload transformations that were hastily arranged during the pandemic.

"Over the past few years, many German digitalization projects have been done hurriedly and without adequate foresight," said Dr. Matthias Paletta, director, technology modernization, for ISG in Germany. "The quick fixes of the pandemic period must now be cleaned up, creating a major opportunity for providers in this space."

In addition to advancing their cloud-first and cloud-native capabilities, German enterprises will also need to invest in cybersecurity and solutions that advance their environmental, social and governance (ESG) objectives, ISG says. Investments in Microsoft 365 and other solutions will be partly based on ensuring energy efficiency.

German enterprises still prefer local Microsoft partners to support them, the report notes. They expect local contact people, local development capacities, onsite support with the shortest possible response times and, above all, short recovery times from their Microsoft providers.

The report also examines the market for running SAP on Microsoft's Azure cloud, which ISG describes as "mature on the supplier side."

Both Microsoft and SAP have been pursuing a clear strategy of migrating workloads to the private cloud and the public cloud for several years, ISG says. In 2022, Microsoft introduced its Microsoft Cloud Partner Program, a new system for classifying its partners. According to surveys by the DSAG (German SAP User Group), Azure is the most frequently used cloud platform among hyperscalers in Germany for the implementation of new SAP applications or the migration of existing ones.

"For enterprises, the trend toward cloud-first and cloud-native strategies will continue," said Jan Erik Aase, partner and global leader, ISG Provider Lens Research. "When it comes to workload transformation, this is where the most important investments are likely to go."

The 2023 ISG Provider Lenstm Microsoft Cloud Ecosystem report for Germany evaluates the capabilities of 60 providers across seven quadrants: Managed Services for Azure ? Large Enterprises, Managed Services for Azure ? Midmarket, Microsoft 365 Services ? Large Enterprises, Microsoft 365 Services ? Midmarket, SAP on Azure Services, Dynamics 365 Services and Power Platform Services.

The report names Eviden/Atos as a Leader in five quadrants, while Arvato Systems, Capgemini and Deutsche Telekom are named as Leaders in four quadrants each. All for One Group, Bechtle, Devoteam M Cloud, Rackspace Technology, SoftwareONE and T-Systems are named as Leaders in three quadrants each, while Accenture & Avanade, Allgeier, Communardo, DIGITALL, DXC Technology, glueckkanja-gab, NTT DATA, ORBIT, PwC, q.beyond ,Scheer GmbH and Wipro are named as Leaders in two quadrants each. Adesso, AppSphere, Axians, CANCOM, Computacenter, Data One, Infosys, KUMAVISION, Kyndryl, Skaylink, Sycor and TCS are named as Leaders in one quadrant each.

In addition, PCG is named as a Rising Star ? a company with a "promising portfolio" and "high future potential" by ISG's definition ? in two quadrants. DIGITALL and HCLTech are named as Rising Stars in one quadrant each.

Customized versions of the report are available from Communardo, Deutsche Telekom, DIGITALL, glueckkanja-gab, ORBIT, PwC, qbeyond, Rackspace Technology, Skaylink and T-Systems.

The 2023 ISG Provider Lenstm Microsoft Cloud Ecosystem report for Germany is available to subscribers or for one-time purchase on this webpage.

About ISG Provider Lenstm Research

The ISG Provider Lenstm Quadrant research series is the only service provider evaluation of its kind to combine empirical, data-driven research and market analysis with the real-world experience and observations of ISG's global advisory team. Enterprises will find a wealth of detailed data and market analysis to help guide their selection of appropriate sourcing partners, while ISG advisors use the reports to validate their own market knowledge and make recommendations to ISG's enterprise clients. The research currently covers providers offering their services globally, across Europe, as well as in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, the U.K., France, Benelux, Germany, Switzerland, the Nordics, Australia and Singapore/Malaysia, with additional markets to be added in the future. For more information about ISG Provider Lens research, please visit this webpage.

A companion research series, the ISG Provider Lens Archetype reports, offer a first-of-its-kind evaluation of providers from the perspective of specific buyer types.

About ISG

ISG (Information Services Group) (Nasdaq: III) is a leading global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business partner to more than 900 clients, including more than 75 of the world's top 100 enterprises, ISG is committed to helping corporations, public sector organizations, and service and technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm specializes in digital transformation services, including automation, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory; managed governance and risk services; network carrier services; strategy and operations design; change management; market intelligence and technology research and analysis. Founded in 2006, and based in Stamford, Conn., ISG employs more than 1,600 digital-ready professionals operating in more than 20 countries?a global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence, deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research and analytical capabilities based on the industry's most comprehensive marketplace data. For more information, visit www.isg-one.com.