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Postpandemic Outsourcing Trends for CEOs
The COVID-19 related pandemic has changed everything, and businesses have had to adapt rapidly. Facing insecurity and potential losses, companies worldwide saw their remote partners and service providers pass the ultimate reliability test with flying colors.
As the outcome of this dynamic period is very likely to define what happens to the world economy in the following few years, you can find our Top 7 Post-pandemic Outsourcing Trends below!
1. Cost efficiency is more important than ever
Figures speak for themselves: 70 percent of the enterprises that participated in a recent Deloitte survey have singled out cost reduction as the most significant factor for IT outsourcing. It comes as no surprise, as adequate crisis management equals survival in times when the majority of businesses worldwide suffer substantial losses.
Global recession does not imply pulling the plug on operations, transformations, and business processes, but it tends to reorder everyone’s priority list. Hence, flexibility is a distant second at 40% and time to market further down at 20%. Despite the preconceived (and often exaggerated) cons of remote outsourcing, offshore development centers offer the most cost-efficient solutions; therefore, their sizeable market share is expected to increase.
Infographic source: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/operations/articles/global-outsourcing-survey.html
2. Remote work is here to stay
Doubtful at first, C-level executives have come to embrace the remote work aspect of the New Normal. Enterprises have suddenly become aware of how ridiculous office space rates are and how they can reduce costs when employees do their jobs from the comfort of their home offices. Moreover, it turns out the newfound flexibility and better work-life balance in a more relaxed working environment have resulted in better productivity, and now it seems there is no way back to the 9 to 5 office hours.
Remote teams have proved that the lack of geographic colocation does not necessarily mean deteriorated communication with coworkers and clients or disruption of business processes. It does mean flawless cloud technologies are mandatory, though, as unobstructed access to various sourced data from numerous locations is what guarantees smooth workflow and seamless customer experience.
3. Cybersecurity remains paramount
COVID-19 changed the dynamic of business overnight and enterprises quickly came to the realization that they needed to adapt in an even more agile manner by accelerating their digitalization processes. However, further digitalization and reliance on cloud services also mean more potential for cyberattacks and a necessity to protect the gigantic amounts of data operated.
Being cyber-proof in a digital world is paramount and vendors who can safeguard their customers’ platforms will remain in demand. But they need to go the extra mile and utilize advanced digital operational resilience testing on top of observing the IT risk management international standards.
4. Cloud Computing is on the rise
The future is digital. But so is the present. Only a couple of years ago, cloud and RPA solutions were perceived as transformative drivers, while they are currently fundamental to any outsourcing strategy and transaction process. They have simplified operations and improved data quality, hence decision-making, and are on the verge of making outdated systems obsolete.
The pandemic accelerated this process: companies automate data entry and transcription tasks to free resources for value-added tasks. And at the same time, they outsource the storage of larger chunks of data and applications, which has proven to be more cost-efficient and easier to manage.
5. Increased demand for ML/AI
The importance of ML and AI services for modern age business forecasting cannot be overstated, and their market share in IT outsourcing is expected to keep growing. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning increase efficiency and give businesses a competitive advantage while boosting their bottom line. They make it possible to extract valuable information from enormous quantities of data that could take ages to process, which is critical to make result-driven decisions.
The reason is that uncertainty reduction tools that monitor actual performance can help base a business strategy on numerical evidence and predictive insights. AI and ML algorithms recognize items, events, and patterns that are undetectable even to experts. Therefore, they are instrumental to eliminate anomalies and find new opportunities such as predictive maintenance, customer segmentation, churn prediction, and minimization.
6. Internet of Things to become ubiquitous
According to Statista, the number of IoT-connected devices is projected to more than double by the end of the decade. It is nigh on impossible to imagine modern life outside the mobile world of data, and the digital ecosystem expansion is not expected to slow down anytime soon. Once inseparable from the smartphone, mobile data is a proper metaverse of appliances nowadays.
Outsourcing services give unlimited options IoT-wise and businesses already take advantage by outsourcing whole IoT ecosystems or fragments – development, testing, security, data analytics, etc.
For example, the Scalefocus remote software development centers have in-house IoT development and quality engineering teams, IoT-specialized DevOps engineers, and even an R&D center, so we can be quite flexible in accordance with the customers’ business models and requirements.
Infographic source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1183457/iot-connected-devices-worldwide/
7. Eastern Europe is the place to outsource to
And no wonder – the quality of tech education there is exceptional, resulting in a rich talent pool to tap into. Two to three times lower developer wages and access to modern project management tools and programming languages also mean cost-effective and high-quality products. Moreover, quite a few of the region’s engineers, project and account managers have lived or studied in Western Europe or stateside, so their language proficiency and work ethic guarantee smooth communication and business processes.
Time zone-wise, Eastern Europe is 7 to 10 hours ahead of the US, which means extended business coverage and remote development centers doing the costly US night shifts at local daytime and affordable rates. In Western Europe, eastbound nearshore outsourcing almost feels onshore now, as the EU membership of Bulgaria, Romania, or Poland equals visa-free and straightforward travel and transportation, similar legislation, and tax laws.
Key Takeaways
Remote work has played a big part in defining immediate postpandemic and long-term outsourcing trends. For the past two years, the Internet of Things, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Robotic Process Automation, cloud, and cybersecurity services have emerged as the most significant components of the ever-accelerating digitalization and don’t seem to be going away anytime soon.
Companies of all industries and caliber are looking for vendors who can help them follow these trends, and Scalefocus is fully prepared to assist your business with our expertise that is treasured by our nearshore and offshore partners.
Contact us today, we are looking forward to working with you!
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