Outsourcing patterns shifting in economic downturn

Companies' desire to retain control over mission-critical or complex IT projects as the economy slows is having an impact on outsourcing decisions, according to a recent survey.

In a poll conducted by communications infrastructure specialist Comunica, 82 per cent of companies believe outsourcing some skills is necessary in the current economic environment. However, most companies are restricting this to ongoing maintenance and support services, which are deemed non-critical by most businesses.

Forty per cent of companies see outsourcing peripheral services such as network support and maintenance as the number one priority.

Thirty two per cent are also looking to cut costs through using external "moves, adds and changes" suppliers, while only 22 per cent believe this is best achieved through outsourcing major system upgrades and mission-critical services.

The move towards using external suppliers is being driven by the current focus on reducing costs. Over half of the companies polled admitted that in-house staff who left were not being replaced.

Cost savings are seen as the main benefit of outsourcing. But companies also felt that good outsourcers provide guaranteed response times, faster completion of upgrades and maintenance jobs and 24-hour support.

Frank Philbin, associate director of implementation at Comunica, said: "A slowdown in the economy has always meant an increase in the number of companies looking to outsource non-core functions. In the past, however, companies tended to take a blanket approach to outsourcing especially when it came to IT and communications. We are seeing a rise in the number of companies looking to outsource, but this time we are seeing more companies retaining critical or complex skills in-house and outsourcing the maintenance and support side."

He added: "IT is now seen as a critical part of the business by most companies and they are therefore still keen to have certain skill sets permanently onsite. They are also demanding much more from support and maintenance suppliers than was previously the case, including more comprehensive SLAs, time allocation guarantees and skill levels."