UK trumped in European outsourcing spend
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Previously the continent's strongest outsourcing market, the UK was outspent by its European rivals in the first quarter of the year
The UK has fallen behind Sweden, France and Germany in terms of IT outsourcing spend, according to figures from advisory group TPI.
According to TPI's first quarter 2010 EMEA Index, the UK – historically the continent's strongest market for outsourcing and second in the world behind the US – witnessed a 50% year-on-year fall in spending to less than 800 million.
In contrast, Sweden and France awarded more than 2 billion in major deals each – although one-off 'mega deals' made up the bulk of these values in both countries. As a result, the nations are now the two biggest outsourcing spenders after the US.
Like the UK, Germany's market experienced a steep decline in market share, but its total value remained above e1 billion.
“Even though this is only one quarter’s results, it does appear that the key countries contributing to Europe’s outsourcing performance are shifting to the less mature continental markets,” said Duncan Aitchison, partner and president of TPI, EMEA.
TPI's index – which only measures outsourcing contracts valued at 20 million or more – showed that the total value of outsourcing deals in EMEA were valued at just over 7 billion in the quarter, an annual increase of approximately 7%.
