Choosing a managed IT service provider is increasingly about deciding who you trust with the systems your organisation depends on.
Enterprise technology environments now stretch across cloud platforms, on-premises infrastructure, networks, applications, endpoints, data and cyber security. Keeping all of those areas available, secure and recoverable requires specialist skills that many internal IT teams cannot maintain across every technology.
The cyber threat adds another consideration. The UK Government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025/26 found that 43% of UK businesses had experienced a cyber security breach or attack during the previous 12 months. That increased to 69% of large businesses. Yet across businesses as a whole, only 25% had a formal incident response plan.
For organisations looking for external support, there is no shortage of choice. The challenge is working out which provider’s capabilities, scale and service model suit your technology estate.
This guide looks at ten providers operating in the UK enterprise IT market: Celerity, Softcat, Computacenter, Logicalis, CSI, SCC, Redcentric, Roc Technologies, Claranet and Kyndryl.
Rather than ranking providers purely by size, the focus is on the areas that matter in complex IT environments such as infrastructure, managed services, cloud, cyber security, data resilience and the ability to support critical systems over the long term.
10 UK managed IT service providers at a glance
| Provider | Particularly relevant for | Core areas |
| Celerity | Organisations focused on infrastructure, cyber security and recoverability | Data resilience, cyber security, IBM Power, infrastructure, software |
| Softcat | Organisations with broad technology estates and multi-vendor requirements | Managed IT, cloud, cyber security, hybrid infrastructure, workplace |
| Computacenter | Large and multinational organisations | Managed infrastructure, cloud, workplace, security |
| Logicalis | Enterprises managing cloud, networking and security together | Managed cloud, connectivity, cyber security, digital infrastructure |
| CSI | IBM and other complex, regulated environments | IBM Power, managed IT, cloud, data protection, cyber security |
| SCC | Large UK enterprise and public-sector environments | Infrastructure, IBM, cloud, cyber security, managed services |
| Redcentric | UK organisations looking for cloud, connectivity and security services | Managed cloud, networks, connectivity, cyber security |
| Roc Technologies | Organisations needing flexible infrastructure and IT operational support | Managed IT, infrastructure, security, technical support |
| Claranet | Cloud-led organisations and organisations modernising infrastructure | AWS, Azure, managed cloud, cyber security, workplace |
| Kyndryl | Complex multinational and mission-critical IT environments | Infrastructure, hybrid cloud, cyber resilience, networks, applications |
What should you expect from a managed IT provider in 2026?
Managed services can cover anything from monitoring a particular platform to taking operational responsibility for a substantial part of an organisation’s technology estate.
But a provider managing a Microsoft 365 environment has a very different responsibility from one supporting IBM Power workloads, managing cyber detection and response or guaranteeing that critical applications can be recovered following ransomware.
Before comparing providers, organisations should establish exactly what they want a partner to own.
Useful areas to assess include:
- Infrastructure: Can the provider support the servers, storage, platforms and data centres behind critical workloads?
- Cloud: Does it have practical expertise across the public, private and hybrid cloud platforms you use?
- Security: What monitoring, detection, response and security operations capabilities are available?
- Data resilience: How are backup, disaster recovery and cyber recovery handled and tested?
- Managed operations: Is the provider actually taking responsibility for day-to-day operation or mainly supplying technology and consultancy?
- Specialist platforms: Does it have proven expertise in technologies such as IBM Power, Microsoft Azure, AWS or Red Hat?
- Service model: Who will you work with after the contract is signed, and how accessible are the people responsible for your environment?
- Scale: Is the provider’s operating model appropriate for the size and complexity of your organisation?
Those questions provide a more useful comparison than simply looking at the number of products in a provider’s portfolio.
1. Celerity
Particularly relevant for: Enterprises that want infrastructure, cyber security and data resilience to be managed as connected priorities.
Celerity is a UK technology provider working across enterprise infrastructure, cyber security, software and data resilience.
One of the clearer differentiators in its proposition is its focus on recoverability. Celerity provides managed backup alongside disaster and cyber recovery services, including solutions for on-premises, off-premises and cloud environments.
For organisations running IBM Power, Celerity also offers CopyAssure. The service is designed to recover and validate data copies every hour and, according to Celerity, can reduce recovery time objectives from 12 hours to 15 minutes.
This emphasis on validating recovery is important. Having backups and being able to restore business-critical services quickly are two different things.
Celerity’s wider proposition brings that resilience capability together with infrastructure and managed cyber security. This makes it particularly relevant where organisations want to reduce the number of separate partners involved in keeping critical systems secure and operational.
2. Softcat
Particularly relevant for: Organisations looking for a large UK technology partner with extensive vendor relationships and broad managed service capabilities.
Softcat operates across hybrid infrastructure, workplace technology, cyber security, networking, connectivity, data, automation and AI.
Its managed services are designed to take recurring operational work away from internal IT teams. Softcat says it provides 24/7 proactive monitoring through two UK operations centres, alongside managed services covering areas including security, devices and networking.
Cyber security is another significant part of the proposition. Services include managed SIEM, firewalls, incident response and managed detection and response, alongside wider security consulting and technology services.
Softcat’s extensive technology ecosystem can make it particularly relevant for organisations with diverse vendor estates or those looking to consolidate technology procurement, professional services and ongoing management through fewer relationships.
3. Computacenter
Particularly relevant for: Large organisations requiring IT services across complex and geographically distributed technology estates.
Computacenter is one of the larger technology service providers operating in the UK and international enterprise market.
Its scale makes it a natural consideration for organisations with extensive infrastructure, workplace, cloud and security requirements, particularly where services need to be delivered consistently across multiple business units or locations.
For enterprises evaluating Computacenter, the important question is likely to be how its scale and service delivery model fit the specific environment being outsourced. A large global provider can offer considerable breadth and resources, while organisations should also consider the level of specialist attention and flexibility they require from the relationship.
4. Logicalis
Particularly relevant for: Organisations bringing together cloud, connectivity and security operations.
Logicalis describes its managed services proposition around three areas: security, connectivity and cloud.
Its managed service model includes 24/7 SOC and NOC operations, supported by automation and technology partnerships including Cisco and Microsoft. Services are structured around assessing the existing environment, implementing the required platforms and controls, operating them and then continually optimising performance, security and cost.
That combination can be particularly useful for organisations where network, cloud and security operations have become increasingly intertwined.
Logicalis also operates internationally, making it relevant for UK-headquartered organisations that need a technology partner capable of supporting infrastructure and operations in multiple markets.
5. CSI
Particularly relevant for: Organisations running IBM Power or other business-critical infrastructure.
CSI has operated in managed IT for around 40 years and has a strong position in IBM environments.
Its services cover IBM Power, cloud, cyber security, data protection and storage. CSI is an IBM Platinum Business Partner and also holds specialist Microsoft and Dell certifications.
The combination is particularly relevant for organisations whose IT estate cannot simply be viewed as a cloud environment. Legacy and mission-critical systems often need to coexist with public cloud platforms and newer applications, creating requirements around integration, security and recovery.
For organisations comparing providers specifically around IBM Power, CSI is therefore one of the closer alternatives to Celerity in this list.
6. SCC
Particularly relevant for: Larger organisations requiring extensive UK enterprise IT capabilities.
SCC is another large UK technology provider with capabilities across infrastructure, cloud, cyber security, software and managed services.
Its IBM practice is particularly substantial. SCC describes itself as IBM’s largest UK partner and says it has worked with IBM for 50 years, supporting more than 175 IBM customers over the past five years. Its IBM team covers areas including infrastructure, cloud, enterprise AI and automation.
The wider scale of SCC’s operation makes it relevant for organisations that need a provider capable of supporting multiple technology domains rather than one particular platform.
It may be especially appropriate where procurement scale, extensive enterprise resources and a broad range of technology services are important requirements.
7. Redcentric
Particularly relevant for: UK organisations combining cloud, connectivity and cyber security requirements.
Redcentric provides managed services spanning cloud, communications, connectivity and cyber security.
Its cloud proposition covers public cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure and AWS alongside private and sovereign cloud environments. This gives organisations options where workload placement depends on factors such as performance, cost, regulatory requirements or data residency.
Redcentric’s cyber security portfolio includes managed SIEM, vulnerability management, endpoint management, network and application security, cloud security and a virtual CISO service. It also provides 24/7 monitoring and support.
For UK organisations that want connectivity, cloud and security delivered through the same managed service relationship, Redcentric provides a useful point of comparison.
8. Roc Technologies
Particularly relevant for: Organisations looking to add specialist capacity and operational support to an existing IT function.
Roc Technologies positions its managed services around helping internal IT departments extend their capacity without having to build every capability themselves.
Its services can range from infrastructure management to security monitoring and onsite technical support. The model is designed to be flexible, allowing organisations to use external specialists where internal skills or resources are limited.
This makes Roc relevant for organisations that do not necessarily want to outsource an entire technology function.
Instead, the provider can complement existing teams, adding expertise or operational capacity around defined areas of the estate.
9. Claranet
Particularly relevant for: Organisations with significant AWS, Azure and cloud modernisation requirements.
Claranet has a strong managed cloud proposition covering AWS, Microsoft Azure, private cloud and hybrid environments.
Its Managed Public Cloud service includes monitoring, operating system management, patching, backup and disaster recovery, infrastructure as code and cost optimisation. Claranet says it has more than 300 certified public cloud engineers and supports more than 400 customers across AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.
The company also has substantial cyber security capabilities, including threat detection and response, security testing, advisory services and 24/7 security operations.
Claranet is therefore particularly relevant when cloud operations are at the centre of the requirement. Its proposition extends beyond infrastructure into workplace, networks, cyber security and data and AI, but its depth in managed public cloud provides a clear point of differentiation.
10. Kyndryl
Particularly relevant for: Large enterprises with highly complex, international or mission-critical IT environments.
Kyndryl operates at a different scale from many of the UK-focused providers on this list.
Its technology services span cloud, applications, data and AI, mainframe, networks and cyber resilience. Kyndryl’s cyber resilience services bring together areas including governance and risk, Zero Trust, security operations, incident recovery and business continuity.
The organisation also retains significant expertise in traditional enterprise infrastructure and mainframe environments while supporting modernisation into hybrid cloud architectures.
Kyndryl says it has more than 7,500 cyber resilience professionals, illustrating the scale of specialist resources available across the business.
That scale is likely to appeal most to multinational businesses and very large enterprises. For a UK organisation looking for a more focused relationship, a specialist provider may offer a substantially different service model.
How to compare managed IT service providers
The ten providers above overlap in several areas, but that does not make them interchangeable.
The following questions can help narrow the field.
1. What technology actually runs your business?
Start with your existing estate rather than a provider’s service catalogue.
If IBM Power supports core applications, specialist IBM knowledge may carry more weight than the breadth of a provider’s Azure practice. If most workloads already sit in AWS and Azure, cloud engineering and FinOps capabilities could be more significant.
Look at the systems your organisation would struggle to operate without and work out who genuinely has experience managing them.
2. Who is responsible when something goes wrong?
Managed service agreements can become complicated when several providers own different layers of the same environment.
For example, one supplier may manage infrastructure, another cloud services, another security and another backup.
During normal operations that separation may be manageable. During a serious incident, dependencies become much more obvious.
Ask prospective providers exactly what they own, where their responsibility stops and how they work with other technology partners.
3. How quickly can you recover?
The UK Government’s 2025/26 survey found that 88% of UK businesses had cloud backups or another form of backup. Yet backup is only one component of resilience.
For critical services, ask providers to explain:
- how frequently recovery is tested
- whether testing includes applications as well as data
- how RPOs and RTOs are validated
- what happens following ransomware or widespread infrastructure failure
- who coordinates recovery across different systems
- what evidence you receive that recovery processes work
This is an area where Celerity places particular emphasis, including regular recovery and validation through its CopyAssure service for IBM Power environments.
4. Does the provider’s scale suit your organisation?
Bigger is useful when you need international reach, very large specialist teams or standardised delivery across many countries.
It is less automatically advantageous when the requirement is for deep expertise in a specific technology or close access to the people managing the environment.
Computacenter and Kyndryl, for example, operate at a scale very different from a UK specialist such as Celerity or CSI.
The right model depends on the organisation buying the service.
5. Can the provider support the environment you are moving towards?
A managed service relationship can last for years, during which the underlying technology estate is likely to change.
Cloud migrations, AI adoption, infrastructure modernisation, new cyber threats and regulatory requirements can all change what IT teams need from their partners.
It therefore makes sense to consider both today’s operational requirements and the direction of travel.
Which UK managed IT service provider is right for your organisation?
There is considerable overlap between the providers in this guide, but each approaches the enterprise technology market from a different starting point.
Softcat offers a broad technology and managed services ecosystem. Computacenter brings the scale required for major enterprise environments. Logicalis combines cloud, connectivity and security. CSI and SCC have substantial IBM expertise. Redcentric brings together UK cloud, connectivity and security services, while Roc offers flexible operational support. Claranet has particularly strong cloud capabilities, and Kyndryl operates at global enterprise scale.
Celerity’s proposition is centred on a combination of data resilience, cyber security, software and infrastructure, with specialist capability around IBM Power and a strong emphasis on proving that critical systems can actually be recovered.
For organisations evaluating managed IT partners, that is ultimately the question worth concentrating on: what does your organisation need the provider to take responsibility for, and can it demonstrate that it has the people, processes and technical depth to do it?
Reviewing your managed IT, infrastructure or resilience strategy? Speak to Celerity about the systems your organisation needs to keep secure, available and recoverable.
Frequently asked questions
What is a managed IT service provider?
A managed IT service provider takes ongoing responsibility for defined technology services or systems on behalf of a customer.
The scope can vary considerably. Services may include infrastructure management, cloud operations, cyber security, monitoring, networking, service desk, backup and disaster recovery.
The important part is the ongoing operational responsibility. A provider supplying a cloud platform or completing a one-off migration project is not necessarily managing the resulting environment.
What is the difference between managed IT and IT support?
IT support is often reactive, dealing with faults, requests and technical problems as they arise.
Managed IT usually involves a broader and more proactive role. A provider may monitor systems continuously, maintain infrastructure, apply patches, manage security controls, optimise platforms and take responsibility for agreed service levels.
Enterprise managed services can also include strategic planning and continuous improvement alongside day-to-day operation.
How should I compare managed IT providers?
Begin with the outcomes and systems that matter to your organisation.
Compare providers based on relevant technical expertise, operational capability, security, resilience, service levels, technology partnerships and experience with similar environments.
It is also important to understand who will actually deliver the service. Ask about account teams, technical specialists, escalation processes and how quickly you can access senior expertise when a serious incident occurs.
Do managed IT providers offer cyber security services?
Many do, although the level of capability differs considerably.
Services can range from managing firewalls and endpoint security to full security operations, SIEM, managed detection and response, vulnerability management and incident response.
Where cyber security is important to the requirement, establish whether it is integrated into the provider’s managed service operation or delivered as a separate service.
Can an MSP manage both cloud and on-premises infrastructure?
Yes. Many enterprise providers now specialise in hybrid environments containing a mixture of traditional infrastructure, private cloud and public cloud platforms.
The important consideration is whether the provider has appropriate expertise across the particular technologies involved.
A provider with extensive Azure capabilities, for example, will not automatically have the specialist skills needed to manage IBM Power infrastructure.
Why is disaster recovery important when selecting an MSP?
Business continuity depends on more than keeping day-to-day systems available.
Hardware failures, ransomware, human error and wider cyber incidents can all create situations in which systems and data need to be recovered.
An MSP should therefore be able to explain how recovery works, how frequently it is tested, what RPO and RTO targets apply and how it knows those targets can be achieved.
What is the difference between backup and cyber recovery?
Backup creates copies of data that can be used when information is lost or damaged.
Cyber recovery considers the wider process required to restore systems safely following a cyber incident. This can involve protecting backup copies from attackers, identifying clean recovery points, rebuilding infrastructure and validating applications and data before services return to production.
For business-critical environments, the ability to prove that recovery works can be just as important as having the backup itself.
Is Celerity a managed service provider?
Yes. Celerity provides managed services alongside wider technology services covering infrastructure, cyber security, software and data resilience.
Its managed data resilience capabilities include backup, disaster recovery and cyber recovery, while its infrastructure expertise includes IBM Power environments.
This means organisations can use Celerity for ongoing management while also drawing on its specialists for infrastructure modernisation, security and resilience projects.
How long does it take to transition to a managed service provider?
There is no single transition period because the work involved depends on the environment.
Moving a defined cloud service or support function can be relatively straightforward. Transferring responsibility for complex infrastructure, security and recovery across a large enterprise estate requires much more discovery and planning.
Before transition, a provider should understand the technology estate, dependencies, existing suppliers, service levels, security controls and responsibilities. A well-managed transition establishes clear ownership before the provider takes responsibility for live services.
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