Has the recession changed outsourcing drivers for SME's and large companies?

Surely, there were a number of different aspects of outsourcing between enterprise and SME sectors even before the crisis. Outsourcing played different roles and spanned around different areas in each league. However, before the crisis some trends became widely common. Both sectors showed move towards more strategic forms of outsourcing where costs reduction wasn't only one major factor that drove outsourcing decisions. The crisis, however is deemed to change this trend. In volatile economic climate of last years many experts distinguished outsourcing drivers for each sector - claiming that large companies want to globalize and cut costs, while small and mid-sized seek expertise.

According to the latest survey by National Outsourcing Association the focus on the costs reduction has risen significantly among large end-users of outsourcing in UK. Today's big customers want 15 percent savings from outsourcing compared to 10 percent before the recession, while the time they want to achieve reduction has shortened. Access to the specialized skills and offloading of internal resources for mission critical processes ranked distant second and third positions.

At the same time another survey focused specifically on SME sector came with different indications. According to the survey conducted by Irish-based HiberniaErvos Technology Group, 63 percent of SME's who already utilize outsourcing put the ability to free up internal resources and focus on business-critical processes as a major benefit of outsourcing.

So is it just a specifics of each sectors? or there are more inclusive post-recession factors on place (such as difficulties for SME's to compete for qualified talent domestically or shortened time-to-market)?


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