Outsourcers motivated by money

Businesses consider cost savings their top priority when it comes to outsourcing work, though quality is close behind.

Of 68 people polled, 31 per cent named cost efficiency as the 'key value' they expect from a service provider, while 24 per cent said it was quality, according to research conducted at a recent Gartner conference on outsourcing and IT services.

Innovation and risk reduction were rated the lowest priorities, attracting only 5 and 2 per cent of votes, respectively.

The poll also revealed that companies aren't doing all they could to align their IT outsourcing and business strategies.

A majority (61 per cent) said their strategies were aligned to a fair degree or better. But a considerable portion (39 per cent) said to a small degree or not at all.

When it comes to offshore outsourcing, the respondents were split. A little more than half (57 per cent) are considering outsourcing work to offshore locations to some degree, while 43 per cent are not looking at this option at all.

The majority of respondents - 24 - were from the UK, with 10 from the Netherlands and four from Norway. The rest were from other parts of Europe, North America and the Middle East.