Fortune 500 IT firms look beyond cost cuts

Cutting costs is no longer the only driving force behind firms' motivation to offshoring critical IT functions.

Today's top organisations rank user-satisfaction, meeting the return on investment goals, and increasing time spent on strategic work in determining what to outsource and who they work with.

This finding is one of the highlights of a benchmark study "" 'Who Outsourced the Outsourcers?' by Aberdeen Group of Boston, a leading provider of research and market intelligence. Aberdeen surveyed key IT decision-makers in over 200 enterprises spanning industries, geographies and company sizes.

The study was sponsored in part by Mysore-based Software Paradigms International (SPI), a global IT and business applications solution provider headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

The findings demonstrate that companies that achieve higher ROI, develop effective communication procedures, partner outsourcing providers which possess tailored skillsets and maintain strong relationships with providers.

Increasingly, Fortune 500 firms look at multiple offshore IT outsourcing markets due to pressures beyond lowering costs. These include the need to focus more on strategic work, quicker project turnarounds, demands of 24/7 operations and growing global competitiveness, the report notes.

"Executives at large companies are developing sophisticated offshoring initiatives, looking for skilled providers with complex capabilities," said Ralph Rodriguez, research director, technology markets, Aberdeen.

"They need providers with consultative skills and the ability to be an innovative and strategic part of the global development team, not just lowest cost handlers of client requirements."

"Tomorrow's market leaders are developing increasingly-sophisticated offshoring initiatives, partnering skilled providers offering innovative and strategic contributions to the process, true consultative skills and flawless project management capabilities," noted Sid Mookerji, CEO, SPI.

"The stakes are higher, the competition more pronounced, and the requirements of today's customers greater than ever."

Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. It has benchmarked over 30,000 companies in the past two years.