IT chiefs look to outsource further afield

IT directors are set to head to exotic outsourcing destinations such as Morocco, Mauritius and Venezuela to make the most of low labour costs and specialist skills.

Analyst firm Gartner has identified 35 countries where IT directors could consider establishing their own development and shared services operation, or where local service providers are beginning to sell services beyond their domestic market.

Ian Marriott, a research vice-president at Gartner, said, "Latvia, for instance, has some small-scale application development focus and mainframe skills."

Egypt is also gaining in popularity for call centre outsourcing, said Marriott, and Belarus has begun carving a niche in application services.

Marriott said end-user businesses were increasingly factoring in proximity of time zones and ease of travel into their outsource requirements.