On yesterday’s (as ever) excellent concall from sourcing advisor TPI, EMEA head, Duncan Aitchison, called out a steep decline in US outsourcing “as broad as it is deep”. In TPI’s view, the outsourcing market uptick seen in the US last year was more likely to have been a ‘blip’ from the release of pent-up demand, rather than a sign of a return to more usual levels of outsourcing activity. I have been making this very point about the UK market of late, based on the many conversations I and the TechMarketView team have had with ‘captains of industry’.
TPI alluded to the way that the EMEA market tends to follow US trends – but with a lag - and is actually quite upbeat about the prospects for the EMEA outsourcing market this year. But I have to say I am not so sanguine. I think the US-UK lag will perhaps be shorter than for Continental Europe. I am therefore concerned that deals already in suppliers’ pipelines – or even in their backlogs – may get ‘shifted to the right’, in some cases, right off the page.
We will be publishing our latest forecasts for the UK software and IT services market soon, based on our highly regarded Asset-Led Market Model (ALMM). Of course, for TechMarketView Foundation Service clients only!