The IT services market is showing encouraging growth in Europe, according to the latest quarterly figures released by analyst Ovum Holway.
The UK showed the strongest recovery, while the German IT services market again lagged behind the rest of Europe.
Anthony Miller, analyst at Ovum Holway, said the sector as a whole is expected to grow by about four per cent this year.
"In the UK there has been a lot more activity around outsourcing megadeals. The last to be agreed was with the Ministry of Defence, and there have been a few large deals in financial services," he said.
Maurice Lee, managing director of telecoms services reseller Premises Networks, agreed the services market was picking up, especially for the channel.
"There will be about three to four per cent growth this year. Big projects are starting to come through, and we're in the recovery phase," he said.
Among the services companies leading the way, Accenture registered 13 per cent real revenue growth in the region during Q2, EDS grew by eight per cent and CSC by six per cent.
Atos Origin's impressive year-on-year growth rate of 77 per cent was explained by the firm's purchase of Sema. The company reported a like-for-like decline in sales of just over one per cent, said Ovum Holway.
According to Miller, resellers are becoming involved in providing specific parts of deals to larger outsourcing companies.
Lee backed this view. "We are supporting BT, Double Crossing, Azzurri, Mitel and other large firms," he said. "The bigger players are acting as one-stop shops, but they are coming to the likes of us to achieve objective."
Lee added that Private Finance Initiative projects were also having a positive impact on growth.
reader comments