One of the most strategic of management tools, IT outsourcing enables organizations to refocus on their core goals and speed up the business process by increasing efficiency and transparency. 2017 witnessed outsourcing services making a major departure from the fixed pricing model, along with the immense popularity of the cloud-based system. According to our industry experts, the managed services market has immense potential for 2018.
Here are the top five hottest trends in the IT outsourcing market for 2018 that are shaping the the industry.
1. Big demand for Big Data software engineers
Big Data came into the picture with bigger promises. Particularly in the offshore outsourcing market, the agility and accessibility of big data software tools has facilitated prompt decision making and paved the way for better resource management. Both large IT companies and mid and small size organizations alike have achieved major profits by adopting Big Data services to streamline their data, exchange data resources, and keep track of real time business dealings.
To meet the growing demand, it is essential that a manpower pool be created that is adept in Big Data tools like Hive, Apache Hadoop, and Microsoft HDInsight.
2. Digital labor, aka automation, is here to stay
The leap from human labor to digital labor has been possible only due to the automation of business processes. Automation has undoubtedly disrupted traditional sourcing models. This in turn has forced outsourcing services providers to switch to automation models to stay in the competition.
Automation capabilities have already taken over the middle and back-office functions in most organizations. Enhanced efficiency is just one of the many advantages of automating the work process. What makes automation a major trend in the IT outsourcing market is its role in bringing proactiveness to the entire business process, thereby reducing the incidence of errors and facilitating cost reduction. Major IT outsourcing companies have taken the route of “automation first”to meet the growing demands of the clients.
3. Blockchain technology providing the much needed ‘sharpness’ to the outsourcing business
From being one of the most interesting trends in the technology world, to becoming an integral part of the IT outsourcing business, blockchain technology has come a long way in a very short span of time. Particularly in the case of financial firms, blockchain has synchronized the entire payment model and done away with the middle men.
Blockchain does far more than benefit financial institutions. Legal firms, the telecommunication industry, media, and healthcare organizations are all looking for outsourcing companies that are well versed in this technology. Essentially, the goal is to create a simplified, standard payment platform – something that is the very foundation of the blockchain technology.
Apart from these three mega trends, this year will also see many IT outsourcing companies creating a niche of their own. The emerging technologies discussed above clearly demand expertise to build applications and software solutions that can used in various domains. This year, IT outsourcing companies will move towards narrower specialization in order to capture clients from specific industries.
