The UK will lead the growth in offshore outsourcing
across Europe over the next 10 years, the latest research from
Forrester Research reveals.
By 2015, the UK will transfer 150,000 IT jobs and 100,000 IT
orientated clerical jobs offshore, more than in Germany, France or
Italy, the market analyst predicts.
When non-IT jobs are included, the total number of UK jobs
expected to go offshore by 2015 rises to 760,000 in the UK,
equivalent to 3% of the workforce.
This will place the UK at a strong economic advantage over other
European countries that are moving jobs to offshore at slower
rates, Forrester claims.
According to the market analyst, financial firms will account
for 350,000 of the jobs transferred from the UK, some 30% of the
total, by 2015.
The UK will outsource a similar level of its IT and business
functions as the US but offshore outsourcing will be much less
common in the rest of Europe.
Germany, France and Italy are each expected to lose about
140,000 jobs by 2015, while Ireland, Greece, Spain and Portugal,
will lose less than 1% of their countries’ jobs offshore, placing
them at an economic disadvantage compared to the UK.
“The laggards who fail to exploit the offshore opportunity risk
losing out in terms of profitability, particularly in finance,
auto-manufacturing and aerospace industries,” said Andrew Parker,
research director of Forrester.
This will leave large firms in the rest of Europe at risk of
being taken over by corporate predators in the US and the UK, he
said.
Germany and France are expected to accelerate their take-up of
offshore outsourcing by 2007, but will be too late to benefit from
the lowest prices and the best expertise. They will need to look to
China for competitive advantages.
There are likely to be acquisitions within the IT services
market as the economy in Europe falters and Indian suppliers become
more dominant, Forrester predicts.