It seems like outsourcing stands for a gradually evolving large-scale industry. However, in some countries outsourcing still tends to be taken rather suspiciously. Some of them have established some outsourcing relationships so far, but try to keep it secret from their clients.
Anyway, outsourcing is gaining popularity mainly because of the lack of needed IT specialists on the local market.
What is IT Outsourcing?
IT outsourcing is pretty much about the practice of searching for external subcontractors or providers to deliver IT-related functions. The latter includes software development and support and infrastructure solutions.
IT Outsourcing in Figures
According to the statistics data, last year’s revenue grew up to $92.5 billion. It also claims that towards the end of the next year the overall cost of ITO will be worth $413.7 billion. The main activities of the outsourced IT market of 2019 are software app development and management, data centers, desktop support, help desk, e-commerce, network operations, and more.
Back in 2019, 78% of companies were positive about their outsourcing partners. Nowadays, in the year of 2020, the overwhelming majority believe that companies will sign even more outsourcing contracts. Almost 80% of industries take operational efficiency as the initial motivation to plunge into outsourcing services. And nearly 37% of small businesses will proceed with outsourcing whereas more than 50% of them still plan to do it.
Considering the current fastest growing outsourcing destinations, one may think of Poland, Ukraine, Serbia, Belarus, Czech Republic, and Latin America.
IT Outsourcing in 2020
If you find yourself thinking of outsourcing, you’ll want to learn about it back and forth. Also, you can spot whether it’s worth your time and what benefits it can bring to your business.
Let’s get through the main IT outsourcing trends of 2020 at a time:
Paying for Talent, Not Code
This tendency could be traced not only in the outsourcing industry particularly but in the IT-sphere overall. Well, if we track-back to one of the outsourcing destinations, we’ll hit the ‘reduce costs’ point. It’s not a decisive factor, though, but, on the other hand, every bright idea must be recognized, and companies are ready to pay for it. When one boosts its crew’s resourcefulness, it leads to highest-level efficiency and greater trust. Moreover, it helps to survive the global market competition.
It would be safe to state that soon outsourcing decisions will no longer be oriented at cost-saving. Instead, firms will be hunting for top-notch work and try to be outcome-based.
Innovations and People
To live up to new realities, companies are looking for ingenious solutions. Ideally, it’s shaped like technical accuracy, automated efficiency, and people’s creativity.
Time is money. Outsourcing companies have raised their awareness and become more customer-centric. From customized tech solutions such as software chatbots to cloud computing services, the outsourcing development process grew way smarter.
The experienced team comprising analytical minds with good problem-solving skills also makes workflow flawless. Such a team, together with advanced learning tech and automation, can embody business solutions of various range and depth.
Chatbots, AI, RPO, Machine Learning
The future of outsourcing is inevitably tied to the future of technologies. In 2020, that means AI, machine learning, and chatbots. It’s believed that in the oncoming year e-commerce will be pierced with various AI bots.
By the 2030s, 40% of current jobs might be automated. Here comes the fear of people being out of jobs in the nearest future. However, it’s not the way it seems to be. The main purpose of a business process outsourcing (BPO) company is to find a fine balance between delegated tasks sent to bots and those of human-only competence.
Artificial intelligence is a constantly leaning contraption. AI learning, in its turn, enables Robotic Process Automation which helps software apps to learn. Thereby, a company raises productivity and avoids errors as some of the procedures are automated and have no idea about ‘human factor’.
Chatbots or virtual agents are marvelous in the way they can navigate the chosen environment. Not only can they support a customer and deliver needs-based service, but also navigate the chosen environment.
So all that provides workloads efficiency keeping personal contact with clients, improving customer service, minimizing security risks, and response time.
Cloud computing
Today, it’s no more one of the trends in 2020, but a vital need. A cloud is a set of internet servers that store and process data virtually. Thereby, cloud computing is a network to access and store software data and services. It is associated with security, flexibility, and stability.
Thanks to cloud computing, businesses can keep all data just there leaving various server rooms maintenance needles. More than 90% of companies have already been using cloud platforms. They appeared as a perfect tandem of price and capacity. The latter being used by BPO companies match customers’ expectations.
There are four types of ‘clouds’: SaaS (software as a service), BPaaS (business process as a service), IaaS (infrastructure as a service), and PaaS (platform as a service). Each of them exists to deliver different services.
All-in-all, cloud computing is a perfect mixture of human and machine collaboration allowing for business solutions customization and scalable use.
Cybersecurity
Any company has a fear of data breach or data theft, and it’s justifiable. That’s why outsourcing businesses keep an eye on data security and protocols.
Statistics indicate that 43% of cyber attacks hit small businesses meanwhile IT, retail, and healthcare remain the most targeted ones. Every 40 seconds means a hacking attack. To stay on the safe side, companies use VPNs, DES, Triple DES, SSLs, RSA, DSA, and other technologies and encryption protocols in place.
Summary
Staying updated and enlightened helps to anticipate issues. Appreciating the customer-centric approach develops transparency and builds trust. Every year the trend is to meet business requirements and improve the working processes. Don’t hesitate to follow them as they may mean a fresh start.