Managed services in 2025 are outcome-led, security-first, and automation-heavy. You’re buying uptime, resilience, response speed, and cost control, not just ticket handling.
As per Gartner’s view, Managed Detection and Response (MDR) adoption will double from 30% to 60% by the end of 2025. If your provider can’t detect and contain it in minutes, you’re exposed.
FinOps is evolving beyond just cloud services. CIOs are seeking visibility over every recurring expense related to SaaS, cloud, data, devices, and security tools.
Tool sprawl and talent fatigue are significant challenges. The effective solution is to consolidate platforms with a single accountable partner who can automate processes, measure outcomes, and provide comprehensive reporting.
This blog post explains the definition of managed services in 2025, a build‑vs‑buy decision matrix, SLA/SLO and KPI templates, a 90‑day onboarding plan, and an RFP checklist you can lift straight into your procurement process.
Definition of Managed Services in 2025
The old definition, “outsource your helpdesk and patching to a third party,” isn’t good enough anymore. In 2025, managed services wrap end‑to‑end operations, 24/7 security monitoring and response, cost governance, compliance, and continuous improvement into one accountable contract. You’re not buying bodies or tickets. You’re buying measurable business outcomes.
In simple terms, a managed service is a proactive, contract-based IT solution where a third-party provider takes full responsibility for managing, securing, and optimizing your business’s technology systems.
This includes critical functions like network monitoring, cybersecurity, cloud operations, and user support. Instead of reacting to issues, managed services ensure 24/7 reliability, reduce downtime, and deliver measurable results backed by service-level agreements (SLAs) and clear performance metrics.
Traditional definitional pages still describe managed services as “IT tasks provided by a third party.” That’s technically true, but it misses how far the model has matured.
Four Shifts CIOs Can’t Ignore
- Security-first operations: With cyberattacks becoming more frequent and complex, managed services now start with a security-first approach. MDR (Managed Detection and Response) and 24/7 SOC coverage are standard expectations. CIOs are asking not just for alerts, but for real-time threat detection, containment, and remediation.
- Outcome-focused contracts: You’ll see fewer vanity ticket SLAs and more SLOs tied to availability, MTTR, detection-to-containment time, patch compliance, and recovery time. CIOs no longer accept vague promises and generic service levels. They want contracts that tie payment to real outcomes: reduced downtime, patch compliance, incident resolution time, and cost savings. This shift aligns MSPs more closely with business value.
- FinOps Everywhere: Originally born in the cloud, FinOps principles are now applied to SaaS, device management, licensing, and security tools. Managed services providers are expected to offer visibility into where every dollar goes, not just in cloud platforms, but across your entire IT landscape.
- Platform consolidation: Most CIOs we speak to are overwhelmed by tool sprawl. Too many platforms cause friction, increase costs, and drain team energy. Leading MSPs now focus on standardising and consolidating the tech stack to drive efficiency and simplify support.
The market reality CIOs are operating in
Analysts, vendor trend reports, and MSP operators are saying the same thing: demand is climbing, scope is widening, and the best providers are specialising. Expect more vertical depth (healthcare, finance, public sector), stronger security portfolios, and better financial transparency baked into monthly reporting.
On the security front, Gartner’s 60% MDR adoption forecast by the end of 2025 should be your wake-up call. If your organisation still relies on “alerting only” tools without a managed response layer, you’re running behind the curve.
At the same time, tool sprawl and talent shortages continue to hammer internal teams, another reason enterprises are moving toward co-managed or fully outsourced models with strict platform standards.
What CIOs Demand from Managed Services Today
CIOs no longer come to us just for IT support or patching help. They want true operational partnerships. They expect expertise, scale, and accountability.
Key drivers include:
- “I can’t hire or retain a 24/7 team.” You need continuous coverage. Outsourcing buys you that day one. Security maturity gaps that require MDR/XDR
- “Our security capability isn’t where it needs to be.” MDR/XDR with real containment and remediation closes that gap fast.
- “Our tooling is out of control.” Consolidation, standardisation and automation reduce cost, noise and burnout.
- “I need cost visibility across everything, not just cloud.” Mature MSPs now bring FinOps-like governance to SaaS, licensing and infrastructure.
Choosing a Service Model: Co-Managed vs Fully Outsourced
A right delivery model aligns IT operations with your business maturity, talent capacity, compliance obligations, and risk tolerance.
Co-Managed IT
This model is ideal when you already have a capable internal IT team but need help in specific areas such as 24/7 monitoring, advanced security, or escalations. It’s a partnership: you maintain strategic control (e.g., architecture, vendor management), and the MSP augments your execution layer.
Best for companies that:
- Want to retain in-house knowledge or leadership
- Have internal IT staff, but not around-the-clock coverage
- Need advanced tools and automations without building everything from scratch
- Face security or compliance requirements that demand outside support
Example of co-managed IT: Your internal team manages Microsoft 365 and networking, while the MSP handles 24/7 monitoring, MDR/XDR security, and incident response.
Fully Outsourced IT
In this model, the MSP owns all day-to-day IT operations. They manage infrastructure, helpdesk, cloud environments, backups, endpoint security, compliance, and more. Your internal team can then focus on innovation, data strategy, and stakeholder engagement.
Best for companies that:
- Struggle to hire or retain qualified IT staff
- Need to scale IT operations quickly
- Are undergoing rapid growth or transformation
- Want full accountability from a single provider
Example of fully outsourced IT: The MSP runs everything from support tickets and patching to cloud infrastructure and compliance, while your in-house team focuses on business intelligence or product development.
SLAs, SLOs and KPIs that Matter
Most managed services providers still offer traditional SLAs (Service Level Agreements) such as “respond to a ticket within 1 hour.”
But here’s the problem.
Response time doesn’t guarantee resolution, improvement, or actual business value.
In 2025, CIOs are demanding SLOs (Service Level Objectives) and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that reflect how well their business is being supported, not just how fast a helpdesk agent says, “We’re looking into it.”
SLOs and KPIs are what truly drive value in a managed services relationship. They show whether your provider is helping you improve uptime, security posture, compliance, and cost efficiency.
In the table below, here’s a breakdown of the metrics that matter and why each one is essential:
| Area | Metric | Target | Why It Matters |
| Availability | Core service uptime | 99.9%+ | Your key apps and systems need to be accessible and reliable. This is the bedrock of productivity and customer satisfaction. |
| Detection & Response | Time from detection to containment | ≤ 15 minutes (critical incidents) | In today’s threat landscape, speed matters. The faster a provider contains a breach or attack, the less damage to your systems, data, and reputation. |
| Incident Handling | Mean Time to Resolve (MTTR) | Defined per severity | Shows how efficiently your MSP resolves real-world issues. Shorter MTTR = less downtime and business disruption. |
| Patch Compliance | % of assets patched on time | 95%+ | Most breaches exploit known vulnerabilities. If your devices aren’t patched quickly, you’re vulnerable. This metric tracks real security hygiene. |
| Email Threats | Phishing click-through rate | Steady year-on-year reduction | Tracks user security awareness and effectiveness of email filtering. Fewer clicks mean fewer threats entering your network. |
| Backup/Disaster Recovery | RPO & RTO | Business-aligned, tested quarterly | Ensures you can recover data (RPO) and get back online (RTO) within acceptable limits. These metrics are often the difference between a minor glitch and a major outage. |
| Cost Governance | Showback/chargeback accuracy | 100% | Tells you whether your provider can track, report, and optimize spend across cloud, SaaS, tools, and licenses. No surprises on your IT bill. |
Your managed services provider should report on these metrics in every Quarterly Business Review (QBR). This isn’t just a “check-in”, it’s a formal meeting where performance is evaluated, trends are discussed, and improvements are planned.
Instead of asking, “Did you meet the SLA?” ask:
- “How did we improve system uptime?”
- “How fast are you containing threats compared to last quarter?”
- “Are we patching faster and more consistently?”
- “Have we reclaimed unused licenses or lowered cloud costs?”
These are the questions that move IT from a cost center to a value driver.
Security first: MDR, Zero Trust and 24/7 coverage
MDR is no longer a premium add-on; it’s essential. You need more than alerting; you need actionable intelligence and guided remediation. MDR/XDR providers, on the other hand, offer active threat hunting, 24/7 monitoring, and containment and response. That means if something malicious is detected, the provider takes immediate action to isolate the threat, stop the spread, and begin remediation.
A modern MSP must include threat detection, investigation, response, and reporting.
You can question your MSP, “Can you show me your average detection-to-containment time over the last 90 days?” If they can’t answer, they’re not providing real MDR.
Zero Trust is a framework for modern security, and your MSP should implement it as part of their baseline service delivery. Device posture, identity verification, segmentation, and continuous monitoring are now part of the baseline service portfolio.
Key Zero Trust principles your provider should enforce:
- Never trust, always verify: Every access request, whether it’s a user, device, or application is validated before being allowed.
- Least privilege access: Users only get access to the systems and data they need, and nothing more.
- Microsegmentation: Networks are segmented into zones, limiting lateral movement if an attacker gets in.
- Continuous verification: Devices are continuously assessed for risk posture (e.g., is antivirus on, are patches applied?) before granting access.
- Identity-first protection: Single sign-on (SSO), multifactor authentication (MFA), and identity governance are default.
If your MSP isn’t embedding Zero Trust into identity, endpoint, and network configurations, you’re vulnerable in hybrid or remote environments.
FinOps in Managed Services: Cost Governance Beyond the Cloud
In 2025, CIOs will be utilizing FinOps principles across their entire IT estate, including SaaS, endpoint licenses, data storage, security tools, and user lifecycle management. This shift is necessary because recurring tech spend has exploded, and without tight oversight, waste accumulates fast.
MSPs must now deliver dashboards and reports that break down SaaS usage, license consumption, endpoint overheads, and security tool effectiveness.
Today, MSPs have become your cost control partner, helping you track, report, and reduce unnecessary spending across the board.
You might already have visibility into your AWS or Azure usage. But what about:
- Dozens of SaaS subscriptions that continue billing after employees leave?
- Unused endpoint antivirus or backup agents silently charging you per device?
- Overprovisioned cloud resources that are always on but rarely used?
- Users with multiple accounts, premium licenses they don’t use, or access they no longer need?
These are real, recurring costs, which often go unnoticed until they pile up.
A proactive MSP should deliver FinOps-style cost governance across every area of IT spend, not just cloud. That includes:
Monthly variance reports
These reports show you what was budgeted vs. what was spent—broken down by service line (cloud, SaaS, security, devices). You see spikes early and can act before they become trends.
Rightsizing and license reclamation
The MSP identifies overused or underutilized licenses, like premium Zoom accounts or Microsoft 365 E5 licenses not fully leveraged. They’ll recommend downgrades or reclaim unused seats, often saving thousands per quarter.
Automated lifecycle management
This is critical. When an employee leaves or changes roles, their access should be automatically reviewed and rightsized. The MSP ensures tools are deprovisioned, licenses recycled, and device access revoked, eliminating “zombie” accounts that cost money and pose risk.
What to ask your provider
To make sure your MSP can deliver this level of governance, ask:
- “Do you provide monthly reporting across all recurring IT spend, not just cloud?”
- “How do you detect and flag license waste or unused SaaS subscriptions?”
- “What systems do you use for user lifecycle management during offboarding?”
- “Can you quantify the savings delivered through your FinOps processes over the last year?”
If they hesitate, they’re not ready for 2025’s level of cost accountability.
Build vs Buy: A Decision Framework
When evaluating managed services, CIOs often face a familiar decision:
Do we build this capability internally, share it with a partner, or hand it over completely?
The matrix below helps simplify that decision based on six key criteria.
- Insource: You build and manage everything internally, like team, tools, processes, compliance, and coverage.
- Co-Manage: You keep core control (like strategy, architecture, or user-facing platforms) and let a managed service provider handle operational layers like patching, security, monitoring, or 24/7 response.
- Fully Outsource: Your MSP owns day-to-day IT operations end-to-end, which is perfect if you need speed, coverage, or can’t scale in-house.
| Criterion | Insource | Co‑Manage | Fully Outsource |
| 24/7 coverage need | Low | Medium | High |
| Compliance pressure | Low | Medium | High |
| Internal security maturity | High | Medium | Low |
| Hiring ability | Strong | Patchy | Weak |
| Time to value | Flexible | Moderate | Immediate |
| Tooling consolidation needed | Low | Medium | High |
If more boxes land on High pressure + weak hiring + immediate time-to-value, fully outsource. If you have a solid strategy team but no overnight capability, co-manage.
How to Evaluate and Select an MSP in 2025
Choosing a managed services provider is about finding a long-term operational partner you can trust with your business-critical systems.
The stakes are higher in 2025, as IT environments are more complex, cyber threats more aggressive, and budgets are scrutinized. This checklist ensures you’re evaluating MSPs based on outcomes.
Your 20-point due diligence checklist (use it in your RFP):
- 24/7 SOC with real containment (not alert forwarding).
- Clear SLOs (not just response SLAs).
- Detection-to-containment time promises in writing.
- Toolchain transparency – how many platforms, and why those? (Minimise sprawl.)
- Cost governance reporting beyond cloud (SaaS, licenses, devices).
- Proven onboarding playbooks with 30/60/90‑day milestones.
- Documented runbooks for incidents, escalation and comms.
- Exit/transition assistance clauses (configs, runbooks, data, tooling access).
- Compliance expertise in your vertical (HIPAA, PCI, CCPA, CJIS, SOX, etc.).
- Patch compliance guarantees tied to measurable SLOs.
- Backups tested with RTO/RPO proof.
- Vendor management cadence (they should herd your stack, not you).
- Quarterly business reviews with metrics, not marketing.
- Staff certifications and retention stats (burnout is your risk too).
- Playbooks for BEC, ransomware, insider threat, etc.
- Segregation of duties between your team and theirs (RACI agreed).
- Insurance posture (cyber liability, E&O).
- Logging ownership & data portability spelled out.
- Service credits or clawbacks if SLOs are missed.
- References from organisations with similar scale and regulatory load.
ROI & TCO: How to Prove the Business Case for Managed Services
Before signing off on a managed services contract—or presenting one to your CFO—you need to build a clear, quantifiable business case. That starts with understanding two core financial concepts: TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) and ROI (Return on Investment).
What is TCO in Managed Services?
TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) is the complete cost of running IT (direct and indirect), over the life of the engagement. It goes beyond the monthly invoice and includes:
- Onboarding and transition costs
- Monthly managed service fees
- Additional tools or licenses required by the MSP
- Internal team time spent managing the provider
- Any one-time project or integration fees
TCO helps you understand the true cost of outsourcing IT operations, which is essential for comparing it against maintaining an in-house team.
What is ROI in Managed Services?
ROI (Return on Investment) measures the financial benefit your company gains relative to the cost of the service. A strong ROI justifies the investment and helps you make the case to leadership.
To calculate ROI, you start by listing all the costs avoided or reduced by using a managed services provider:
- Headcount savings: You no longer need to hire and train a 24/7 IT team. That alone can save hundreds of thousands annually.
- Tool consolidation: Replacing multiple standalone tools (e.g., antivirus, monitoring, backup, patching, SIEM) with a unified platform reduces license costs.
- Downtime reduction: Shorter mean time to resolution (MTTR) means fewer productivity losses and customer interruptions.
- Security incident savings: Proactive threat detection and response help you avoid or minimize breaches, which can otherwise cost six or seven figures.
- Audit and compliance savings: Automated reporting and documented security controls make audits faster and less resource-intensive.
- License reclamation and FinOps gains: MSPs help you identify unused SaaS licenses, over-provisioned cloud resources, and shadow IT spend you can eliminate.
ROI = (Headcount avoided + Downtime savings + Tooling cost reduction + Security savings + Audit savings + SaaS/cloud license optimization – MSP cost) ÷ MSP cost
For example:
If your MSP costs $250,000 per year but helps you avoid $400,000 in staffing, downtime, and tool costs, your ROI would be:
($400,000 – $250,000) ÷ $250,000 = 0.6 → or 60% ROI
This means you’re getting $1.60 in value for every $1 spent.
CIOs often struggle to translate technical decisions into boardroom metrics. A clear TCO and ROI model bridges that gap. It reframes managed services not as a support cost, but as a strategic investment that improves uptime, reduces risk, and saves money.
Use these calculations to:
- Justify MSP spend to finance and procurement
- Compare multiple providers on real value—not just price
- Show how IT contributes to the bottom line
Your first 90 days with a new MSP (template to copy)
A strong managed services partnership doesn’t begin with technology, it begins with alignment. The first 90 days are critical to laying the operational foundation, establishing trust, and proving early value. At Sthenos Technologies, we use a structured onboarding approach broken into three focused phases: Baseline & Stabilize, Harden & Automate, and Prove & Optimize.
Day 0–30: Baseline and Stabilize
The first month is about gaining full visibility and eliminating blind spots. Your MSP should conduct a thorough discovery process, mapping out:
- All assets (devices, servers, endpoints, cloud workloads)
- Identities and access paths (users, roles, privileges)
- SaaS and cloud usage (including shadow IT risks)
- Network topology and security coverage
This is also when the threat surface is assessed—identifying vulnerable systems, unpatched endpoints, open ports, and misconfigured cloud services.
Simultaneously, the provider should audit your patch management, backup systems, and disaster recovery readiness. Weaknesses get flagged for prioritization in the next phase.
By Day 30, you should have:
- A complete asset and risk inventory
- A defined set of Service Level Objectives (SLOs) agreed upon with IT and business stakeholders
- Reporting cadences and a shared dashboard tailored to your business KPIs
This phase is not about speed—it’s about accuracy and setting the bar for performance.
Day 31–60: Harden and Automate
Now that the environment is mapped and risks are visible, your MSP should begin remediating gaps and implementing automations:
- MDR/XDR deployment goes live, with clearly defined escalation paths for detected threats. The goal is not just monitoring, but active containment and guided response.
- Patch orchestration is automated, bringing systems into compliance and reducing manual intervention.
- Cost governance begins, with tagging standards applied across cloud services, SaaS subscriptions, devices, and infrastructure. This allows for meaningful showback/chargeback and forecasting.
- Redundant tools are eliminated, and platforms are consolidated wherever possible to simplify support and reduce vendor overlap.
The emphasis here is operational hardening—reducing security risk, ensuring compliance, and automating routine maintenance to free up internal bandwidth.
Day 61–90: Prove and Optimize
With systems stabilized and foundational improvements in place, it’s time to show results.
- Your SLO dashboard should be live and in front of executives—reporting on uptime, response times, patch compliance, threat response, and cost governance.
- A disaster recovery test is executed, with documented RTO (Recovery Time Objective) and RPO (Recovery Point Objective) results. This proves your backup strategy works when it matters.
- The first Quarterly Business Review (QBR) is conducted. This should include a forward-looking roadmap, a shared risk register, and a savings tracker highlighting reclaimed licenses, optimized cloud spend, and other measurable efficiencies.
By the end of 90 days, a high-performing MSP won’t just have stabilized your environment—they’ll have demonstrated real business value and set the tone for long-term partnership.
Ready to see the gaps and the savings?
Book a free MSP Readiness Assessment.
You’ll get:
- A build vs. buy decision matrix specific to your team.
- A 90‑day onboarding plan for your environment.
- A cost governance snapshot that shows exactly where you can save.
Let’s make 2025 the year IT becomes simpler, safer, and cheaper to run.
Managed Services Related FAQ
How much do managed IT services cost in 2025?
Most US businesses should expect $150–$400 per user per month, depending on depth (24/7 SOC, MDR/XDR, compliance, strategy).
What’s the difference between co-managed and fully outsourced IT?
If you want to keep strategy and some platforms in-house but need 24/7 coverage, escalations, or specialised security operations, go co-managed. If you need immediate scale, strong security, and full accountability, outsource end-to-end.
What SLAs/SLOs should I demand?
Availability percent, MTTR, detection-to-containment, patch compliance, RPO/RTO, phishing reduction, and cost governance accuracy. Tie them to quarterly executive reviews with hard numbers.
Why is MDR different from a traditional MSSP?
MSSPs traditionally monitor and alert. MDR adds active investigation, containment, and guided remediation, with tight time commitments. That’s why adoption is surging to 60% by the end‑of 2025.
Can a managed service provider help with cost governance outside the cloud?
The same discipline, i.e., tagging, showback/chargeback, anomaly detection, automated deprovisioning, works across SaaS, licensing, and devices. The best MSPs report it monthly.