BDO’s 2015 Technology Outlook Survey has revealed that the number of tech firms that either offshore or outsource their IT services has doubled in the past two years. Furthermore, the number of firms who say they are likely to outsource either IT or manufacturing processes to offshore locations has tripled, from 5 per cent to 14 per cent.

Amongst those firms that do currently outsource, the percentage that are outsourcing IT services and programming stands at 70 per cent, an increase from the 54 per cent of firms that answered similarly last year.

Aftab Jamil, partner at BDO, attributes this rise to the decreasing pool of skilled labour in the domestic market, remarking that “Locations like India and China are producing more engineers than the United States at this point in time, so given the talent pool that is available in the locations it is easier – even it’s no longer much more cost effective – to find the talent that you need.”

The survey found that 23 per cent of CFOs consider a lack of skilled workers as the greatest challenge to industry growth.

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