UK companies turning to niche outsourcing

NEWS An increasing number of companies are opting for specialised outsourcing strategies, according to a survey commissioned by outsourcing company, Integris. Of the 150 UK IT directors surveyed, over 60 per cent now use more than one supplier to handle the different areas of their business. The most common IT function to be outsourced is the desktop, with 47 per cent of respondents opting for a service provider to cover desktop requirements. But Kim Lambert, commercial manager at Integris, claimed that one of the biggest growth areas will be business processing, and added that specialist outsourcing is a sign that the market is maturing. Research house, Metrica, questioned the UK's top 2,000 companies about the key issues and trends in network outsourcing. It found that network managers are most likely to turn to a service provider at times of troubleshooting or when improving the security or firewall facilities on the corporate LAN or WAN. According to Richard Torr, director at networking specialist IT Council, by choosing a niche provider, the cost of outsourcing can be radically reduced. Torr said: "People are looking to more selective ways of outsourcing because the big contracts give people less control and because they are more likely to get the relevant skill sets, knowledge and support at a lower cost." The survey also found, however, that within all network outsourcing contracts, 70 per cent of respondents were unsatisfied with the way in which the service level agreements are measured.