UK outsourcing continues to grow, survey claims

But in good news for the channel, more firms are choosing to outsource their IT locally

Keeping it local: More UK firms are outsourcing their IT to local firms

Nearly two-thirds of UK businesses are outsourcing more now than two years ago, according to figures from PeoplePerHour.com, an online business marketplace.

However, in a welcome twist for the channel, 61 per cent of businesses are now choosing to outsource their IT requirements to local suppliers instead of cheaper overseas alternatives.

PeoplePerHour.com surveyed more than 50,000 of its business users, revealing that 60 per cent of respondents have been prompted by the recession to outsource in order to cut costs and reduce in-house staff numbers.

Xenios Thrasyvoulou, PeoplePerHour.com founder, said: “You might have expected offshoring to grow through the recession as UK businesses looked to cut costs by outsourcing IT requirements to cheaper overseas suppliers. However, responses to our survey and analysis of transactions on the site points to one conclusion: outsourcing is growing and offshoring is falling.”

"With more businesses choosing to outsource to UK-based suppliers than ever before, prospects for the UK IT industry are very rosy indeed,” he added.

The fall in offshoring has been partly attributed to the rise of the UK’s freelance economy and the growth in numbers of skilled IT professionals offering their services on a freelance basis, after losing their jobs and deciding not to search for another.