November 29, 2004 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Communications service provider Equant (equant.com) said this week that it revealed the findings of IDC research, commissioned by Equant, on IT outsourcing trends during its “Strategic Sourcing for Communications” seminar held last Wednesday in Geneva and attended by senior executives from top multinational companies.
The research was compiled during the third quarter of 2004 in Europe, North America and the Far East among CIOs and CFOs from more than 300 multinational corporations, says Equant. The findings showed that 64 percent of CIOs and 77 percent of CFOs are positive about selective IT outsourcing, but over three-quarters of board-level IT and finance directors would not want to outsource their IT in its entirety, their main concern being managing risk.
Outsourcing network and communications infrastructure rated the most popular outsourced service, with 50 percent, followed by security services at 32% percent and server management, also at 32 percent. When selecting an outsourcing provider for network and communications infrastructure CIOs rate telecommunications specialists highest, with 54 percent, followed by generalist IT companies, at 32 percent, and then local outsourcing providers, at 14 percent. They normally entrust their communications infrastructure to a specialist to reduce costs and focus on core business functions.
