Gartner Research

Hype Cycle for Managed IT Services, 2025

Published: 24 June 2025

Summary

Driven by complexity and constant change, IT services are highly focused on automation, AI, acceleration and cloud adoption. Sourcing, procurement and vendor management leaders should use this Hype Cycle to assess the maturity of emerging managed IT services when planning their sourcing strategy.

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Analysts:

Irada Veliyeva,  Jess Aggio

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Gartner Hype Cycle: Understanding the pitfalls and opportunities of innovations

How does a Gartner Hype Cycle™ report work?

A Gartner Hype Cycle provides an objective map that helps you understand the real risks and opportunities of innovation, so you can avoid adopting something too early, giving up too soon, adopting too late or hanging on too long. Every Hype Cycle includes five phases:

The Innovation Trigger starts when an event, like a technological breakthrough or a product launch, gets people talking.

The Peak of Inflated Expectations is when product usage increases, but there’s still more hype than proof that the innovation can deliver what you need.

The Trough of Disillusionment happens when the original excitement wears off and early adopters report performance issues and low ROI.

The Slope of Enlightenment occurs when early adopters see initial benefits and others start to understand how to adapt the innovation to their organizations.

The Plateau of Productivity marks the point at which more users see real-world benefits and the innovation goes mainstream.

The Hype Cycle is more than just a diagram. You also get:
Evidence-backed insights

Hype Cycles tap into deep research, surveys and conversations with technology suppliers and Gartner clients.

An analysis of objective and value

The y-axis measures expectations. The x-axis relates them to the proven value of that innovation over time.

A long-term view

It often takes between three and five years for an innovation to move through the Hype Cycle, but some fall off along the way.

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