40% of Companies Outsourcing Special Projects
According to a new study by Cutter Consortium, 40% of the companies surveyed are outsourcing special projects, and an additional 15% are planning to outsource in the near future. About one-quarter (25.9%) of the companies have no plans to outsource.
When asked what primarily motivated their organizations to outsource, the top answers were:
* Difficulty hiring skilled IT professionals: 28.8%
* Lack of skills in-house: 20.3%
* Budget: 13.6%
* CIO or senior management mandate: 11.9%
Sheila Green, a Senior Analyst for Cutter Consortium, says, "Finding, hiring and retaining skilled IT professionals is becoming more and more of a challenge for many companies. That’s why the majority of companies — 55% — are either currently outsourcing or planning to do so soon. But other factors are driving this decision; reorganization, downsizing and other business changes were also cited as reasons for outsourcing in this study."
Green continues, "With the increased complexity of IT services, the shortage of skilled personnel, and the volatility of the marketplace, outsourcing will be an increasingly important factor for IT organizations, but making the decision to outsource, negotiating the contract, and managing the intricacies of the outsourcing relationship will require additional expertise, not traditionally found in IT organizations."
One-hundred-fifty-four respondents from the U.S. and other countries participated in this survey. These respondents are representative of organizations that have access to the Web; responses to the survey were obtained solely via the Internet. The data collection for Cutter Consortium’s study on outsourcing trends and strategies is ongoing. The survey can be found at www.cutter.com/consortium/survey_ead.html.