Nordic ITO buyers’ satisfaction fuels market growth

Apart from Central/Eastern Europe which is one of the world’s most tempting ITO spots, other European regions equally show positive tendencies and expand their ITO market. To get an insight into the current state of affairs of the Nordics outsourcing market let’s turn to EquaTerra’s recently released 2010 Nordics Service Provider Performance and Satisfaction study that covers the Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) and BPO markets, usage and service provider performance.

The sweep of the survey is impressive: the 2010 Nordic study investigated over 440 outsourcing contracts held by over 220 of the top IT spending organizations in the Nordic region. The total annual value of the contracts included in this study is over €3 billion, accounting for around two-thirds of the total Nordic outsourcing market in terms of annual contract value. All commercial sectors are represented in the study.

The 2010 results reflect positive tendencies: the ITO market is growing and the buyers are considerably satisfied with the delivered services. In more detail, you can see the exact percentage ratios summarized below:

• 84% of all Nordic ITO buyers polled indicated they will continue to outsource at the same or higher levels going forward.

• 72% of Nordic ITO buyers, up 8% compared to last year, indicated that outsourcing contributes significantly or moderately positively to meeting the primary drivers and benefits sought from their efforts.

• 55% of respondents are very satisfied or satisfied with their ITO efforts, and 29 % are somewhat satisfied. Only 6% are very or somewhat dissatisfied.

• 84% of all Nordic ITO buyers are satisfied with their outsourcing service providers in terms of general satisfaction, and 91 % of buyers would recommend their service provider(s) to another outsourcing buyer organization.

The use of offshore outsourcing in the Nordics has significantly increased over the past year. 52 percent of Nordic ITO buyers are currently making use of offshore outsourcing, up 11 percent compared to last year. This complies with the global tendencies of greater use of nearshore resources with similar language skills, cultural proximity, and closer time zones.

Source: EquaTerra

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Europe Tops List of Safest Outsourcing Spots

In the context of global sourcing and new emerging locations, security and safety concerns are becoming the top issue for companies considering outsourcing their IT projects to cost efficient locations offshore. In this respect, the annual research conducted by the Black Book of Outsourcing with the rankings of the most dangerous / safest outsourcing spots around the globe attracts great attention among companies as a reference point for long-term business strategies.

The latest research for 2010 interviewed 3,100 corporate development leaders, including more than 400 outsourcing customers, to indicate their company's inclination to consider specific offshore locations for outsourcing (including IT outsourcing and BPO). The survey asked respondents to rank those cities on various perceived threats and weaknesses, including geopolitical risk, terrorist threats, climate concerns, legal maturity, environmental waste and pollution, IT and telecom infrastructure security, and crime rates.

According to the 2010 results, Central/Eastern Europe (CEE) tops the list of the safest offshore locations, while Pakistan, Colombia, and Mexico top The Black Book of Outsourcing's 2010 list of the most dangerous places for offshoring.

The results are particularly important for companies engaged in high-risk business, like finance, where security, stability, IP and data protection come first and often overweigh cost factors. According to the published survey results, CEE proves an ideal secure and cost-efficient spot for outsourcing IT projects. This has already been marked by some leading companies who engaged with regional providers. One of the latest examples is the decision of the investment giant Barclays Capital to set up its IT Center in Kyiv and select EPAM Systems, the leading software engineering services provider in Central/Eastern Europe, as its technology partner for offshore software development. Ukraine’s capital Kyiv is among the Top Ten safest cities for offshore outsourcing.

"Even the perception of risk factors such as high crime, corruption or terrorist threat can paralyze a region's offshore business momentum," says Douglas Brown, Research Director of Datamonitor's Black Book. "That required sense of security can be destroyed, even in the most vibrant and progressive of communities, entirely on what is perceived by the corporate decision maker."

Source: CIO

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EquaTerra Takes the Pulse of European Outsourcing Market

EquaTerra, a global sourcing advisory firm with expertise in information technology (IT), finance, human resources and other business processes, has conducted research for Computer Weekly readers that analyses the market and trends for IT outsourcing in Western Europe. The report is taken from EquaTerra's global business and information technology pulse survey, a quarterly survey of leading outsourcing service providers and EquaTerra’s own client-facing advisors.

Some of the findings of the report are:

Demand growth for BPO and ITO slips slightly in 2Q10. Inherent outsourcing demand remains positive and is growing overall but still many buyers remain cautious in their efforts, especially what concerns upfront investments and complex deal arrangements.

Significant challenges for the providers are improving existing contract profitability and expanding scope with existing clients. Demand for non-outsourcing services like consulting and packaged software services is still weak. Providers cite long-term opportunities to make money from buyers’ cloud computing initiatives but it is unclear which providers will benefit the most and how much these new revenue streams will offset declining traditional systems integration work and potentially the loss of some traditional outsourcing business.

Buyers continue their efforts to reduce operating costs and overhaul service delivery models, with internal process improvement and alternative delivery models like shared services gaining in importance as change agents. Interest in cloud-based services such as SaaS is gaining traction.

The use of multi-sourcing or multiple outsourcing service providers in adjacent and complementary functional areas continues to grow. The growth of cloud computing opportunities to complement, extend, and in some cases supplant traditional outsourcing will further drive more multi-sourcing, at least in the short to medium term, as new service providers come to market.

Source: ComputerWeekly

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