- Published in | ChannelPartner | Connect Professional | CRN |
COMPRiS Insights" regularly sheds light on the market situation and trends in the channel. The current focus is on the economic situation and investment behavior from the perspective of IT service providers and system houses.
440 IT service providers, system houses and integrators in Germany and Austria were surveyed in the period from May to August 2025.
How do IT service providers and system houses view the general economic situation in Germany and Austria?
The partner landscape perceives the general economic situation to be significantly worse than a year ago. 52% speak of stagnating conditions, while 31% rate the situation as "rather bad" or recessive. Only 13% rate the situation as "good" or with prospects for growth.
This clearly shows that the overall economic situation is also perceived as challenging in the IT sector.
What are the effects on the business situation of IT service providers and system houses?
The change in willingness to invest is particularly noticeable on the customer side: 56% of those surveyed now speak of a clear reluctance to invest - a figure that has more than doubled compared to the previous year (25% in fall 2024).
The consequences of this development are clearly noticeable in the partners' day-to-day business:
- 30% report cautious or very cautious investment decisions,
- 18% experience delayed or postponed IT projects,
- 15% see tougher price negotiations and growing pressure on margins,
- 8% increasingly report canceled orders & reduced IT budgets
It is also noticeable that project volumes are becoming smaller and sales cycles longer. Competitive pressure is increasing noticeably - now also for medium-sized and smaller projects. In addition, partners are increasingly experiencing or at least suspecting increased direct business from Vendor and providers, which is further increasing the pressure.
And yet, only a small number of respondents also gave positive signals. 10% of respondents report additional investments - particularly in the area of IT services for the standardization of IT infrastructure, as well as cloud, hybrid cloud and security.
The biggest challenges facing IT service providers
At company level, two topics are currently at the top of the agenda for partners:
- Customer acquisition and sales pipeline (25 %)
- Personnel competence: There is a lack of specialists and managers, while the technical complexity of projects is increasing (32%).
At the same time, IT service providers are struggling with rising purchasing and operating costs as well as noticeable pressure on margins.
Portfolio management is also increasingly coming into focus: the prioritization of IT topics, solutions and providers is becoming an ever greater challenge - while customer expectations are rising at the same time. Achieving the requirements for maintaining or expanding partner status has become a new aspect. The effort required for certifications, training and the fulfillment of minimum turnover or proof of competence is even more complex than before in the current economic situation.
Many IT service providers and system houses are coming from years of growth. Today, however, they are caught between growing technical complexity, rising customer expectations and massive competitive pressure - a situation that is new for many partners in this intensity.
Investments & cutbacks: Mandatory and optional
The most important investment areas for customers are currently clearly recognizable from the perspective of IT service providers:
- IT services (19 %)
- IT infrastructure (18 %)
- Cloud & Hybrid Cloud (16 %)
- Security (16 %)
The partners' conclusion: IT budgets are under pressure - and are being reprioritized.
It is also striking that the topic of artificial intelligence has hardly played a role in the investment decisions of the IT service providers and system houses surveyed (2%). For infrastructure partners, AI is not yet a relevant trend in IT budgets for integration projects.
In addition to the focus topics, it is also clear where customers are cutting back - sometimes in the same areas that are considered indispensable.
OUR CONCLUSION
Challenging times for IT service providers and system houses: even closer to the customer's added value
The results clearly show that it remains challenging for IT service providers. On the one hand due to the overall economic situation, and on the other due to increasing complexity and growing customer requirements.
IT investments are currently even more in question if they do not show direct added value on the customer side in terms of operational value creation or cost optimization. IT service providers and system houses are also faced with the task of driving successful new customer business.
And yet there are opportunities:
- Renewals and tech refreshes cannot be postponed indefinitely on the customer side.
- Security, process digitalization and AI are increasing the pressure to invest on the customer side.
- Partners who come up with the right solutions here generate growth despite restraint
This means for Vendor and vendors:
- Opportunity & DealReg / Project Pricing the partners are now paying even more attention to functional and marketable pricing
- Partner enablement - IT service providers need stronger support in some areas in order to have the right arguments ready in the sales process.
- Partner engagement & activation: Our experience shows that there is still a need for optimization on the sales side for many partners, where functional partner penetration and targeted partner management can provide valuable impetus
- Vendor - for some system houses, the certification & business requirements (threshold, seats, etc.) with regard to partner level present a challenge that needs to be kept in mind
What does your "partner landscape" look like - let's have a chat.
We look forward to your response.
Note: Our next Partner Insights survey is coming soon - it will focus on the topic of data sovereignty in cloud and as a service solutions.
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