| For the year leading up to the turn of the century, IT | | | | Another way that outsourcing is changing in the United |
| resources were bound up making sure disaster did not | | | | States is referred to as "multisourcing". Far fewer |
| hit when the clock struck midnight on that special night. | | | | companies are contracting mega-deals with a single |
| Outsourcing was at its highest, for overseas firms who | | | | vendor, as was the previous strategy. These deals |
| made a specialty of Y2K (year 2000) preparedness. | | | | were set up to provide the company all its outsourcing |
| After the Y2K scare was over, there was a slight | | | | needs in one place. Instead today's companies are |
| slow-down in the need for talented technical | | | | seeing the value in reducing project scope for offshore |
| professionals. A slight decrease in new outsourcing | | | | vendors. They are going back to hiring for specific |
| contracts followed. But the growing acceptance of the | | | | projects from different vendors. A good process for |
| Internet as a viable business outlet has fueled IT | | | | organizing contacts and projects, of course, must |
| department growth once again. According to the | | | | accompany this. Gartner predicted that now through |
| Gartner Group, the investment in new information | | | | 2009 the market share for the top 10 outsourcers will |
| technologies projects will double in the 2006 to 2010 | | | | decrease from 43.5% to 40.0%, largely because of |
| time frame and those companies not recognizing IT as | | | | this trend. That is a revenue shift of about $5.4 billion. |
| a key element to their business will fall behind their | | | | CIO Insight predicts that outsourcing destinations will |
| competition. | | | | shift away from India. It's interesting to note that Indian |
| The Experton Group has stated that in the next few | | | | vendors are increasingly seeking mergers with Chinese |
| years, outsourcing "would be the driving force behind IT | | | | and Eastern European firms. This lowers their overall |
| market dynamics". Recently American companies | | | | costs and keeps India firms in the game. It also makes |
| have decreased offshore outsourcing, but European | | | | them more acceptable to European firms, who show |
| company outsourcing contracts are on the rise. This is | | | | a strong preference for outsourcing to vendors as |
| contrary to previous predictions that outsourcing in the | | | | near home as possible. |
| U.S. would increase and IT jobs there would decrease. | | | | Morrison & Foerster's Global Sourcing Group has |
| Neither prediction seems to have come to pass. In the | | | | highlighted another interesting trend, that of |
| first quarter of 2007 U.S. IT staffs have increased | | | | "transformational application outsourcing". In this |
| slightly. | | | | specialty, a vendor firm is hired for their expertise in |
| Outsourcing is still very important in the U.S., not only | | | | restructuring code into a modern architecture. |
| for cost considerations, but also because sometimes | | | | In general, outsourcing will continue to deal with issues |
| specific skills are hard to come by and perhaps not | | | | of data privacy and security, as well as intellectual |
| worth hiring for and administering in-house. In fact, cost | | | | property rights. Outsourcing service providers will be |
| is less of a factor, as it is slowly rising and may not | | | | expected more and more to drive innovation and |
| pose much of a cost savings much longer. | | | | deliver expertise. |