The continuing global economic downturn presents UK companies with a growing challenge to cut internal fixed costs and maximise profits, writes Nick Holland, a partner in international law firm Eversheds. An obvious solution is to outsource IT functions as well as other business processes.
Analyst Gartner has predicted that spending on IT services will rise by 9.5% in 2008 and continue to rise steadily in 2009. A recent report in Computer Weekly supports this view, reporting that IT supplier profit warnings are down by almost 50% in the second three months of this year compared with the first three months. And according to Everest Research, European companies have entered into more than one-third of all outsourcing deals during the first quarter of 2008.
