Over a quarter of CIOs have made use of offshore development facilities, and that percentage is rising fast.

The 2004 annual CIO survey by IT recruiters Harvey Nash reported that 46% of participants felt their use of outsourcing was likely to increase over the next 12 months – a 6% increase over 2003's findings. Tellingly, 28% of respondents to the 2004 research said they were already exploiting offshore development, a significant increase on 2003's figure of just 19%.

A poll at a recent seminar on offshore outsourcing organised by Indian IT services company Wipro found that C-level executives in the audience with commitments to offshore expect to increase their organisation's offshore budget by at least 25% in the next year.

A conclusive 91% of respondents considered productivity, service and financial factors as equal in their decision to globally outsource services.