As CIOs seek to reduce costs and complexity, many of them say they would prefer to purchase end-to-end service-level agreements from providers offering a combination of IT and telecommunications services rather than contract for each separately. They want standardized services that can be developed inexpensively and delivered wherever their employees conduct business. These findings come from a recent McKinsey survey of more than 50 European CIOs and industry experts. The survey sought to assess their priorities for IT and telecom services.

Most service providers still fall far short of addressing the needs of CIOs. While 98 percent of those in our sample agreed that they would like to purchase integrated IT and communications services that offer "distinctive value," few providers have sufficient skills in both domains to offer a complete package. Thus an opportunity exists for companies that can deliver both types of services—in particular, for telecom providers that can boost their IT skills and for IT service providers that can expand into networking and telecommunications.

The trend toward broad service agreements is marked by a shift away from contracts that specify technology brands and toward agreements that outline service levels instead ("99.5 percent availability of SAP payroll applications per...