Overview

Overview

A recent CIO Insight survey of CIOs and senior IT strategists does more than highlight the continuing popularity of outsourcing IT applications and functions. It also points to an even more significant trend: Companies are becoming increasingly comfortable with outsourcing the "family jewels"—critical customer-facing and revenue-producing applications.

From a macro view, the study shows continued support for IT outsourcing, with 76 percent of respondents indicating they had hired outside IT specialists during the past 12 months and had spent more than $1 million, on average, on outsourced IT last year.

While just 57 percent plan to outsource this year, that figure can be attributed to uncertainty about the economy; fully 15 percent were unsure of their plans. Those who had outsourced were very satisfied with their partners; more than 80 percent would use them again.