About two-thirds of UK companies
have sent IT offshore in thepast six
months,with software developersmost
affected.
The latest figures from
The IT job board
revealed that 64% of almost 300 companies questioned have offshored
some IT in the past six months.
Athird of the IT professionals surveyed said that half of their
IT department was now overseas.
Teresa Sperti, head of international marketing at The IT Job
Board, said
offshoring is popular because companies want to reduce costs
during these difficult economic times.
"The UK is in the midst of a
skills crisis, which is currently being undermined by the
recession. If we are going to combat the long-term issues
associated with IT skills, then businesses should be looking to
train and utilise local talent, rather than offshoring their IT
activities," she said.
"Companies also need to weigh up the cost benefit with the
trade-off in quality, before making the decision to offshore,"
Sperti added.
The roles most heavily affected were software development and
support roles, with respondentsexpecting around 70% of these roles
to move offshore.
Half of the companies interviewed said more offshoring of IT
would occurin the next six months, with three-quarters of them
expecting
India tobe the chosen destination.
The survey also revealed that IT professionals believe
there is a lack of business knowledge among offshore workers
(40%) and a negative impact on the quality of IT services
(83%).