European providers still have a lower share of their staff offshore than their US or Asian competitors but this is set to change with European companies increasing their offshore assets by 65 per cent during 2006.
IDC says this will put them in a stronger position to compete with major global players such as Accenture and IBM, as well as Indian outsourcers such as Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro.
IDC also predicts the threshold for entry to using offshore outsourcing services will get lower. Cheaper labour now outweighs the increased management cost on projects worth as little as $50,000 to $100,000.
