Whilst, by no means a new innovation, strategic outsourcing is gaining in stature as an issue of some importance to many of Europe's top CEOs.
According to a recent survey, undertaken by Computer Sciences Corporation, the business and information technology (IT) solutions provider for leading financial services firms around the world, 70 per cent of CEOs polled believe strategic outsourcing (IT and business process outsourcing) will play an important role in improving business results in the future.
The research highlights key trends in how and why outsourcing is being embraced to improve business performance. Findings include:
- Their main objective for outsourcing continues to be to reduce or control costs;
- Executives see outsourcing delivering greater flexibility and business transformation;
- Most now prefer to work with consortia that provide access to specialist skills from multiple suppliers.
The survey, entitled "Strategic Outsourcing: Current Practices and Future Expectations", is the first to give a snapshot view of the strategic outsourcing activities of the top 250 European-owned businesses.
It clearly shows that financial services companies trail those in other industries in the use of outsourcing.