IT Statistics

Outsourcing activity for the following 11 services:

Application development outsourcing is where a service provider is responsible for developing new systems. Application development is the most popular form of outsourcing, in use by 33% of the organizations in our study. 

Application maintenance outsourcing is whereas  service provider takes over the maintenance of existing systems. Outsourcing of application maintenance is practiced by 27% of the organizations in our study. 

Website/e-commerce systems outsourcing is where a third party develops, hosts, or maintains a corporate website or e-commerce system. This form of outsourcing is popular and in use by about 27% of organizations in our study. 

Disaster recovery services outsourcing is wherein outside provider is responsible for offsite data storage, recovery data centers, or redundant systems or networks that are used in the event of a disaster or other disruption requiring business continuity services. This function is outsourced by 27% of the organizations in our study. 

Data center operations outsourcing is where data centers are managed and operated by an outside service provider. This includes data centers where facilities or computer hardware are owned by the customer, as well as cases where data centers or computer equipment are owned by the service provider. This form of outsourcing is practiced by 28% of organizations.

Data network operations outsourcing is where a service provider is responsible for all or part of data network operations, network monitoring, or contract services to install, repair, or maintain data network equipment, software, or circuits. This form of outsourcing is in use by 28% of the organizations in our study.

Voice network operations outsourcing is where a service provider is responsible for all or part of voice network operations, network monitoring, or contract services to install, repair, or maintain voice network equipment, software, or circuits. It is practiced by 23% of organizations.

Help desk outsourcing is where an outside provider is responsible for any type of first-level phone or electronic response to end-user incidents or inquiries. This form of outsourcing is practiced by 23% of the organizations in our study. 

IT security outsourcing is where an outside provider provides security-related services, such as security assessments, penetration testing, or managed security services. Only about 19% of organizations are using outside service providers for IT security.

Desktop support outsourcing is where a service provider is responsible for acquisition, installation, maintenance, or support of desktop or laptop computers. This form of outsourcing is practiced by 21% of organizations.

Database administration outsourcing is where the outside provider is used to develop, monitor, and tune databases, at the physical or logical level. This form of outsourcing is practiced by 21% of organizations.

Other key findings include: 

Outsourcing services gaining the most strength among customers include help desk, desktop support, data center operations, and website/e-commerce systems outsourcing. Large organizations, in particular, are making greater use of help desk outsourcing.

Outsourcing services making the smallest gains are application maintenance, application development, and data network operations service providers. Application development, while still the single most frequently outsourced function, is losing ground in the current economic environment as organizations cut back on project-based work. 

The three most popular IT functions to outsource include data center operations, disaster recovery, and website/e-commerce systems. These IT functions are both frequently outsourced and outsourced at relatively high levels compared to other functions in this study. 

The typical IT organization spends about 5% to 6% of its total IT budget on outsourcing services. This is true regardless of the organization’s size.

IT organizations are experiencing the most cost overruns with application development, website/e-commerce systems, and data network operations outsourcing contracts. They have the easiest time predicting costs for IT security, voice network operations, and data center operations outsourcing contracts.

Application development and application maintenance are most-frequently offshore outsourced IT functions, while disaster recovery services and IT security are the two functions least likely to be sent to offshore service providers.