India is the most sought-after location by UK firms looking for offshore IT service providers, research has found.
A study by independent sourcing advisory firm EquaTerra found that, of the UK businesses questioned, every single one that was offshoring all or part of their IT functions was using India as one of their locations.
The ‘Outsourcing Service Provider Performance Study 2007/2008’ also found that UK firms are highly satisfied with the level of customer service delivered by Indian companies when compared to US or European-based service providers.
“Business people are making the decision to outsource to India because they can’t find the same resources in the UK,” said Phil Morris, managing director of EquaTerra Europe.
“Indian firms such as Wipro and TCS are achieving real satisfaction in providing skills, flexibility and quality of work and the globalisation of services will require larger, more global suppliers such as Accenture, IBM and HP to reposition their overall delivery models and structures in order to keep pace with newer market entrants.”
The research also found that global sourcing is becoming increasingly popular among UK firms, as is outsourcing generally. Cost was cited as the primary reason for this, followed by availability of skills, flexibility and quality of work.
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2008
