Why smart organisations are rethinking how they operate through managed services
Many leading organisations are turning to managed services to drive efficiency, grow their business and accelerate their innovation. Bala Chandran, Managed Services Leader at PwC, outlines why the smartest organisations in the Middle East are embracing the trend and rethinking how they operate.
AI, trade barriers and geopolitical shifts are reconfiguring the global economy right now, with more than $7 trillion changing hands in 2025 alone. The winners? Those who recognise the exciting growth opportunities in the decade ahead, are willing to reinvent their business models, compete in new ways by leveraging technology, build trust and turn obstacles into enablers of reinvention.
In this complex operating environment, businesses and organisations are under pressure to grow, adapt and stay compliant – all while doing more with less. Traditional service models can’t keep pace with the speed and scale of change. Clients demand bold, tech-enabled solutions that deliver immediate impact while building long-term resilience.
Combining deep functional and industry expertise with AI-powered tools can help business and organisation leaders outthink, outpace and outperform – solving today’s challenges while positioning them to seize tomorrow’s opportunities.
The myth of managed services
Businesses are telling us they need greater resilience, speed and clarity. We’ve listened. Agility requires simplification. Growth demands a sharper focus. Transformation only succeeds when it’s delivered at pace. That’s where managed services come in.
Managed services does not just mean outsourcing or doing the same thing for less. The idea behind managed services is to solve deeper operational challenges from upstream to downstream and enhancing customer experience through technology driven solutions
Legacy structures, fragmented systems and uneven processes are slowing down performance at a time when agility, efficiency and insight have never been more critical. Talent shortages and capability gaps further constrain progress, while regulatory scrutiny and risk exposure add pressure to already stretched teams.
Managed services address these friction points head-on, bringing consistency to fragmented operations, reducing human error and enabling scalable growth. By tailoring solutions to specific needs, it helps bridge the capability gaps and integrates technology, process excellence and skilled delivery teams. The result: faster, more efficient transformation that creates long-term value.
It’s a shift from reactive problem-solving to proactive value creation – unlocking insights from data, ensuring confident compliance and freeing up capacity for growth. This isn’t about fixing inefficiencies. It’s about reimagining how work gets done.
The new model for a modern workplace
Leading organisations are rethinking how they structure and deliver services. Global and regional hub-and-spoke models now give them the agility to balance consistency with local responsiveness while optimising for cost, talent, infrastructure and resilience.
The right location strategy is critical and it’s no longer just about cost. Smart organisations use data-driven insights on infrastructure, skills and geopolitical risk to choose hubs that strengthen long-term performance.
When transforming, you can lift, shift and transform for speed or transform and shift to maximise long-term value. Each path has trade-offs between speed, complexity and ROI but all demand strong change management to avoid costly disruption.
Stay with yesterday’s model and you risk higher costs, slower performance and losing your edge to those already optimising for the future.
The growing remit of managed services
Across sectors, the scope of managed services is expanding. Functions such as finance, human resources and procurement – once managed in-house or within limited shared service environments, are increasingly being restructured and run through managed models.
Managed services are no longer just a back-office support function – they’re a strategic lever for driving growth, tightening control and futureproofing how your organisation operates. In an AI-driven world that’s evolving by the month, the costly software and systems you invest in today could be obsolete before your people have even mastered them.
With the right foundations, managed services can help you to reimagine the ways of working – building an operating model that can scale fast, think big, adapt at speed and deliver on ambition.
PwC’s managed services offering
At PwC, we work along with our clients on managed services from strategy to execution. We are tech-powered to rethink, reinvent and thrive in any future – joining forces through our alliances to transform businesses and unlock inclusive, sustainable growth.
Our delivery centres in Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE support functions across operations and technology delivering transformation and compliance that clients have always wanted.
