Qatar Managed Services Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The Qatar managed services market was valued at USD 467.04 million in 2021, and it is expected to reach USD 871.02 million by 2027, registering a CAGR of approximately 12.15% during the period of 2022-2027. The rapid adoption of cloud-based solutions by enterprises, increasing investment in information technology, growing adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) culture are expected to create ample opportunities for major vendors in Qatar.

Key Highlights
Managed services refer to a concept wherein a third-party service provider manages an organization’s in-house day-to-day management functions. Managed services primarily involve outsourcing infrastructure, printing, security, mobility, and other functions, though the ownership rights stay with the end-user. It is estimated that successful managed services deployment will help reduce IT cost by 25%-45% and increase operational efficiency by 45-65%. Managed services offer various benefits proven to positively impact the organization’s development that adopts such services as they can focus on their core expertise.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are expected to be the driving factors positively impacting the market growth, as more SMEs are looking to outsource non-core activities. SMEs are paramount to Qatar’s National Vision 2030, which has set up several strategic goals, including building a well-diversified economy. According to Fatora.io, an incubated startup operating within Qatar Science and Technology Park’s (QSTP), part of Qatar Foundation Research, Development, and Innovation, more than 96% of the 25,000 businesses in the private sector registered are classified as SMEs.
The market for managed services is expected to witness a high demand for managed security and infrastructure services, finance and technology, and IT services. There has been a tremendous shift toward managed services and applications for short and long-term company goals. As managed services enable the 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 that have the operational expertise in that domain.
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has increased the demand for managed security services in the healthcare sector. There has been a sharp rise in the healthcare industry’s cyberattacks during the COVID-19 global pandemic, particularly attacks using ransomware, business email compromise (BEC), and socially engineered spear-phishing.
Therefore, the government has released a Zero-trust Model, which is a holistic approach setup for cybersecurity involving several processes and technologies through which access to all resources is authenticated and verified. Moreover, in 2021, Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) built a tool that uses enterprise data logs to determine dormant attackers and amplify low attack signals within the network of enterprises. Such research and development enables partnership opportunities for the managed service providers in the market and enhances the need for outsourcing of managed services.

Key Market Trends

Managed Cloud Services is Expected to Drive the Market

Managed cloud services primarily provide partial or complete cloud management for the public environments and Hybrid IT. The managed cloud service providers (MCSP) have been offering significant value, taking care of the crucial aspects of the cloud. These responsibilities may include migration, security, optimization, configuration, and optimization. Major advantages of these MCSPs are resource optimization, cloud integration, and flat, predictable spending.
The managed cloud services may encompass a variety of IT tasks that includes engineering on-demand, operations management, 24/7 help desk support, along hosting and implementation. By offloading these types of crucial tasks to a managed service provider, organizations can free up their internal IT teams to focus on more complex initiatives and efforts that may drive new business outcomes.
Moreover, the increasing cloud adoption across multiple industries has significantly boosted cloud service providers. Reliance on these services providers is majorly being driven by the organizations’ inability to manage all the crucial cloud-related tasks in-house. This has eventually given rise to the managed cloud services trend in the country. The cloud-managed services offer organizations comprehensive cloud management support by handing over the complete responsibility of the cloud operations to these MSPs.
Furthermore, organizations, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), have been increasingly embracing cloud solutions due to their major advantages. Qatar has been among one of the top adopters of cloud solutions in the overall Middle-East region, and cloud adoption is further anticipated to witness a significant rise in the next few years.
Additionally, the cloud offers a number of service models depending on the business needs, which include Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. The key characteristics of the cloud are that it is significantly secure, on-demand, offers access to networks everywhere, has rapid elasticity, along is a metered service.

Government Sector is Expected to hold the majority share

The government agencies that are working in the country primarily handle multiple responsibilities that include attending to the needs of their constituents while also making sure that the community infrastructure and services are working optimally. The rising technological advancements have made the technology even more essential for the government to function properly and seamlessly.
Working with a managed service provider can take the routine IT maintenance and management tasks off the shoulders of these government agencies, enabling them to better focus on core government matters. Managed services have been an affordable way to ensure that the data centers, network, telecommunications, and cloud resources are operating securely and reliably and that the government technology stays as per the current trends.
Moreover, just managing technology is not the government’s core concern, but the agencies need technology to serve their constituents as well. Technology is increasingly making various government services accessible to the citizens; however, it has also exposed crucial information to various types of risks. Managing these risks has increasingly become complicated by the fact that these government agencies work with a tight and fluctuating budget. Therefore, managed service providers can help these agencies optimize their technology and protect sensitive information while staying within their allocated budget.
Increasing investments in smart city projects are also anticipated to provide scope for the managed service providers. The increase in smart cities increases the percentage of the connected environment. In order to maintain properly connected infrastructure, the government could increase its focus on managed services.
For instance, in July 2021, Microsoft Qatar announced that along with a global consortium of partners that were led by Ooredoo, joined the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to bring to life TASMU Platform, which is a one-of-a-kind smart city solution.

Competitive Landscape

Qatar managed services market is competitive due to the presence of a few major players like MEEZA QSTP LLC, Gulf Business Machines Qatar W.L.L., Diyar Group, Paramount Computer Systems FZ-LLC, and Ooredoo Q.P.S.C. ?These major players, with a prominent share in the market, are focusing on expanding their customer base across foreign countries. These companies are leveraging strategic collaborative initiatives to increase their market share and increase their profitability. However, with technological advancements and product innovations, mid-size to smaller companies are increasing their market presence by securing new contracts and by tapping new markets.

January 2022 - Vodafone Qatar and Microsoft announced that they are building on their existing partnership to provide more digital solutions to nationwide businesses. The companies will integrate their technology suites by incorporating Microsoft Azure into Vodafone’s IoT product and service offerings. Qatar’s business customers, including public and private enterprises government entities, are expected to experience highly secure, reliable, and customized features and benefits from Vodafone’s IoT solutions hosted on Microsoft Azure.
December 2021 - Ooredoo Q.P.S.C. partnered with Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform to transition securely to the cloud. This new partnership will enable Ooredoo customers to receive support for their transformation strategy to build a secure cloud environment as the foundation for providing secure and convenient access to all business applications.

Additional Benefits:

The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
3 months of analyst support