Global outsourcing predicted to reach $288 billion in 2013

Analyst group Gartner says in a new report that the global market for IT outsourcing is set to reach $288 billion this year. This though represents an increase of only 2.8 percent and growth is slower than predicted by previous forecasts.

Bryan Britz, research vice president at Gartner says, "Planned new adoption of ITO remains positive in all service line segments. However, constrained IT budgets, an evolving ITO delivery model, economic conditions and cost-focused buyers are limiting the growth potential of the ITO market".

It's the emerging markets of Asia/Pacific, China and Latin America where most of the growth is taking place. Outsourcing in these areas is expected to grow by more than 13 percent in 2013/14. "Expansion by multinationals into these regions, new buyers of ITO that are themselves growing organizations, and fertile economic conditions all drive the positive outlook," says the report.

Gartner says that plans for increased use of BYOD and mobile devices should see growth for outsourced support continue through 2017. Desktop outsourcing though is in overall decline. In North America it predicts that buyers will seek to move more services to managed relationships in order to save money and have more predictability of longer term costs.

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