Building the next generation IT department

Outsourcing has become more popular over recent years as organisations look to become more efficient and use the skills of experts in the industry instead of training people to carry out a particular role. Has your organisation in the past few years chosen to outsource more?

Changing the skills of an IT department is a top priority and directors should not hold back from the fact that IT outsourcing will happen. Many IT departments have recognised this and have remodelled the skills of staff inside to make the most of the staff on the outside. This involves developing more business, commercial, contractual and people management skills alongside more strategically minded technical people.

The pressure for IT departments to outsource has increased dramatically over the past few years. According the analysts at Gartner, the value of IT outsourcing contracts in Western Europe will be worth 228 billon Euros by 2011. Between 2002 and 2006 it increased by 1.5% a year and yearly increases of 5.6% are expected between 2006 and 2011. Therefore, IT departments are going to have to face up to the fact that they could well end up outsourcing some work in the future and should be prepared for this so that they can be as most efficient as possible.