Information Services Group (ISG)

Information Services Group (ISG) is a research and advisory firm that helps enterprises plan, price, and benchmark IT and business deals. It also publishes the ISG Index, a quarterly read on the value of new outsourcing and cloud contracts signed around the world.

The firm works both sides of the market — buyer and provider. Enterprises hire ISG to shape sourcing strategy, run competitive bids, and test pricing against comparable deals. Providers read its research to see where demand is heading next.

ISG is a public company. Its shares trade on Nasdaq under the ticker III, so its own quarterly results double as a signal about how much advisory work enterprises are buying.

For most readers, the practical value sits in the Index. It is one of the few regular public reads on whether outsourcing spend is rising or falling, and on which delivery models are winning share.

Key takeaways

• ISG is a research and advisory firm focused on sourcing, pricing, and provider selection.
• The ISG Index reports quarterly contract award values across managed services and cloud.
• Buyers use ISG to price deals; providers use it to track where demand moves.
• ISG shares trade on Nasdaq under the ticker III, so its results are public.
• Gartner and Everest Group cover overlapping ground with a different research emphasis.

How it works

ISG sells three connected things: advisory work on live sourcing decisions, benchmarking data that prices those decisions against the market, and published research such as the ISG Index and its Provider Lens studies.

The advisory side is deal work. ISG teams help write the requirements, run the bid, score the responses, and negotiate the final contract. That is the same job an independent sourcing consultant does, at enterprise scale.

ISG does not deliver the services it writes about. It runs no offshore delivery centres and bids for none of the contracts it advises on — and that independence is a large part of what buyers are paying for.

Benchmarking is the data side. ISG holds price and service-level reference points drawn from deals it has worked on, so a buyer can ask whether a renewal quote sits above or below comparable agreements. That turns a hunch into a number.

The ISG Index measures the annual contract value of commercial contracts awarded during a quarter, above a minimum deal size the firm sets. It splits that total between traditional managed services and cloud-based as-a-service spend.

Regional detail matters too. The Index reports the Americas, EMEA, and Asia Pacific separately, which is how buyers spot whether demand is shifting toward global outsourcing delivery or staying closer to home.

Three audiences read the Index closely. Buyers time renegotiations against it, providers set sales expectations by it, and equity analysts treat it as a rough proxy for demand across the whole services sector.

One caution. The Index counts awards, not revenue recognised, and a multi-year deal lands entirely in the quarter it is signed. A single quarter can swing on one or two mega-deals, so the trend line reads better than any one print.

Examples

ISG’s work shows up in three visible places: the quarterly Index release, the Provider Lens research series, and the advisory engagements that rarely carry a public name. The first two are what outsiders actually read.

The quarterly Index release is the most quoted output. Trade press, provider investor decks, and analyst notes all use it as shorthand for how the services market is trending, which gives one dataset unusual reach.

Provider Lens studies rate service providers market by market and country by country. A buyer shortlisting a payroll, application-management, or contact-centre partner can use them as a first screen before running its own evaluation.

A typical benchmarking engagement looks like this. A bank three years into a managed services contract asks whether its rates still match the market, ISG prices the deal against comparable agreements, and the finding frames the renegotiation.

Most advisory engagements never surface publicly. Confidentiality is the norm in sourcing deals — so named case studies stay thin, and the bulk of ISG’s deal work sits behind a client’s contract rather than in its published research.

ISG sits alongside Gartner and Everest Group in the analyst field. Gartner covers the broadest technology spread, Everest Group goes deep on service lines and delivery locations, and ISG leans hardest on contract data — the deals themselves.

For offshore delivery markets such as the Philippines and India, the Index carries a second use. Contract awards come before hiring, so a run of strong managed services awards usually reads as an early demand signal for delivery centres.

Related terms

These terms sit closest to ISG in day-to-day sourcing work. Each covers one piece of the same decision: who provides the service, what it should cost, and who advises the buyer along the way.

• Gartner: the larger technology research firm whose coverage overlaps ISG on sourcing and provider assessment.
• Everest Group: a research firm known for deep service-line and delivery-location analysis.
• Benchmarking: the practice of comparing contract price and performance against similar deals in the market.
• Managed Services: the multi-year delivery model behind a large share of Index contract value.
• Outsourcing Consultants: the advisers who guide buyers through provider selection and contract negotiation.
• Vendor: the supplier side of a sourcing deal, and the party ISG research evaluates.

FAQ

What does ISG do?

ISG advises enterprises on sourcing decisions, benchmarks contract pricing, evaluates service providers, and publishes market research. Its work spans the full deal cycle, from deciding what to outsource through to governing the contract after signature.

What does the ISG Index measure?

The Index measures the annual contract value of commercial contracts awarded each quarter, above a minimum deal size. It separates traditional managed services from cloud-based as-a-service spend, and reports the result by region.

Why do buyers and providers watch the Index?

It is one of the few regular public reads on demand. Buyers use it to time negotiations and sense-check pricing. Providers use it to see which service lines and regions are growing.

How is ISG different from Gartner?

Both publish research, but the emphasis differs. ISG builds from contract and deal data and sells hands-on sourcing advisory work. Gartner’s strength is broad coverage across the whole enterprise technology stack.

Is ISG a publicly traded company?

Yes. ISG common stock trades on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol III, which means its filings and quarterly results are publicly available to anyone.

Where can you read ISG research?

ISG publishes Index results and research summaries on its own site, with the fuller studies sold to clients.

When you are ready to move from research to a shortlist, browse vetted providers in the Outsource Accelerator directory.