2025 IT Sourcing Study – Nordics
The 2025 Nordic IT Sourcing Study is the most comprehensive survey on IT service provider and cloud platform provider performance. This year’s study evaluates over 1,000 unique IT sourcing relationships and over 1,300 cloud platform relationships from over 450 top IT-spending organizations in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
Nordic IT Sourcing Plans Remain Stable in 2025.
Over the next two years, 28% of organizations plan to increase IT spending on external providers, consistent with last year’s figure. The proportion maintaining current spending has grown slightly from 36% to 39%, while those planning cuts have declined by one percentage point to 21%. Meanwhile, 12% remain undecided.
Nordic IT Spending: Denmark Leads Growth, Norway Declines.
In Denmark, IT spending on external providers has risen by 6%, reaching 30%. However, the country also has the highest insourcing rate, with 28% of respondents planning to reduce spending—7% above the Nordic average. Norway predicts a notable decline, with only 28% planning to increase spending—a drop of 8% from last year—while 22% intend to insource more IT services, a 7% rise.
Public Sector Leads IT Spending Growth.
The public sector predicts increased IT spending, with 31% of organizations planning to spend more on external providers—a 7% rise from last year. In contrast, only 23% of financial services respondents plan to increase IT spending—5% below the Nordic average and a 6% decrease compared to last year.
Scalability and Service Quality Drive Increased IT Spending.
For the second consecutive year, scalability remains the top reason organizations are increasing IT spending on external providers. Improving service quality (43%) is the second key driver, rising 13% from last year, alongside focusing on core business functions (43%).
Retaining Key Knowledge is the Top Reason for Insourcing.
The primary driver for reducing spending on external providers is retaining key knowledge in-house (63%) and minimizing reliance on third parties for core business or IT functions. Additionally, 56% see insourcing as more cost-effective than outsourcing (down from number one in 2024), while 39% cite faster time-to-market as a key factor.
AI Adoption Rises, but Business Impact Remains Modest.
AI adoption is increasing, with only 3% of respondents not using AI or generative AI—down from 15% last year. The largest group (40%) relies on widely available tools like ChatGPT and Copilot. However, AI’s business impact remains limited. 27% report only a minor impact, while just 3% see significant operational changes, and 5% report full business transformation.
AI Investments Expected to Rise.
90% of clients plan to increase their investments in AI in the next 2-3 years—34% significantly and 56% moderately. Only 3% intend to maintain current investment levels, and none foresee a decrease. At the same time, clients cite data quality and availability as the biggest challenge facing AI adoption (54%), closely followed by compliance concerns (42%) and a lack of skilled personnel (38%).
Significant AI Investment
Moderate AI Investment
Shift Toward Nearshore Outsourcing.
40% of respondents plan to increase nearshore outsourcing, only 7% expect a decrease, and 53% foresee no change. Denmark (49%) and Finland (44%) have the strongest plans to increase nearshore delivery, whereas Sweden (35%) and Norway (34%) show a more moderate increase. Nearshoring appeals due to its cost efficiency, risk reduction, and geographic proximity.
Sweden Leads Client Satisfaction, Norway Sees Decline.
This year, clients evaluated 1,013 IT sourcing relationships, with 67% receiving a satisfied or very satisfied rating. Sweden leads in overall satisfaction, with 70% of 366 evaluations rated satisfied/very satisfied. In contrast, Norway saw a decline, with its percentage of very satisfied evaluations dropping from 20% to 15%, while overall dissatisfaction increased from 9% to 16% – the highest in the region.
2025 IT Service Provider Rankings.
The 2025 Nordic general satisfaction ranking includes 35 IT service providers, with three newcomers: Digia, EY and NTT DATA. In overall satisfaction, Accenture is the number one service provider with 82%, followed by EPAM (81%), TCS (79%), Fujitsu, Wipro, and EY (all at 78%).
General Satisfaction (Top 5)
Exceptional Performers
Fourteen IT service providers have achieved exceptional performance in one or more IT service towers/countries, with satisfaction scores exceeding the market average and above the standard deviation:
Application Services: Accenture, EPAM and TCS
Cloud & Infrastructure Services: Accenture, Atos/Eviden, Fujitsu and TCS
Workplace Services: TCS
Network & Connectivity Services: Elisa, Orange Business and TCS
Security Services: Elisa and Orange Cyberdefense
General Satisfaction: Accenture, EPAM, EY, Fujitsu, TCS and Wipro
Denmark: TCS
Finland: Accenture and ATEA
Norway: Accenture and Infosys
Sweden: Accenture, Cognizant, DXC Technology, EPAM, Fujitsu, Orange Cyberdefense, TCS and Wipro.
Clients Indicate that IT Service Providers should Challenge them More.
39% of organizations cite a lack of proactive challenge as the top weakness of service providers in the Nordics. Another primary concern, reported by 30% of respondents, is that service providers do not act as true partners. 26% also say providers deploy inexperienced resources, which can compromise quality and slow progress.
Public Cloud Adoption Remains Strong.
Most organizations (80%) plan to either maintain their current level of cloud adoption (44%) or expand their public cloud volume significantly (36%). A small percentage (4%) plan to reduce their public cloud usage, while 16% are unsure.
Cloud Provider Platform Rankings.
Among the 1,379 cloud platform relationships evaluated by respondents, 57% received a satisfied or very satisfied rating. Microsoft Azure remains the leading infrastructure cloud platform provider, scoring 76%, followed by AWS at 73% and GCP at 71%. The software cloud platforms ranking shows a highly competitive landscape, with only three percentage points separating the top five providers. Microsoft Dynamics 365 retains its top position with a 72% score, followed by Workday and Salesforce at 70%.
IaaS/PaaS
SaaS
2025 Nordic IT Sourcing Study – Final Report
Whitelane’s final report offers key insights into IT sourcing and governance trends, featuring rankings of IT service providers across five IT service towers and five key performance indicators (KPIs). It also includes rankings of the leading cloud platform providers for both IaaS/PaaS and SaaS. For more information, contact info(@)whitelane.com.
