Despite macroeconomic uncertainties and reduced investor confidence, global sourcing industry witnesses stable growth in 2016
The global sourcing industry has experienced a surge in setup activity in onshore locations, according to Everest Group, a consulting and research firm focused on strategic IT, business services and sourcing. The proportion of onshore versus offshore delivery centers jumped from 45 percent in 2014 to 52 percent for the period of 2015-H1 2016.
Onshore setup activity increased among the top 20 service providers, with North America’s share surpassing 2012 levels after experiencing significant declines in 2013 and 2014 due to a global slowdown. North America is the most favored onshore location followed by Continental Europe.
According to Everest Group, the factors contributing to this rise in onshoring include:
- a need for a deeper talent pool to support complex services,
- the desire for easier coordination and better alignment/training with clients,
- new data security regulations
- tier-2 onshore locations gaining credibility for service delivery.
Overall, the global services market grew at a rate of 8-10 percent in 2015, reaching US$161-166 billion, a slight slowdown compared to the 9-11 percent growth rate of 2014.
“We expect that the global services market growth will be lower in 2016—likely 7-9 percent—due to the overall macroeconomic slowdown, currency fluctuations and volatility in equity and investment markets,” said Anurag Srivastava, vice president and director of the Global Sourcing practice at Everest Group. “Political instability associated with Brexit in the United Kingdom and the Trump presidency in the United States will continue to affect the growth rate as well.”
Global technology spending remained flat in 2015, a statistic that obscures the impact that new technologies are having on the industry.
“Going forward, countries such as India are expected to witness a slowdown in the growth of IT services exports, although digital services will continue to grow at a fast pace,” added Srivastava. “Analytics will be one of the key contributors of growth in the BPS segment; conversely, adoption of technologies such as automation will result in a decline in contract sizes and revenue growth.”
These findings and more are discussed in Everest Group’s recently published report “Global Locations Annual Report 2016: Persistent Growth in Uncertain Times.” This research offers insights into the size and growth of the global services market, global services exports by regions and country, an update of locations activity by region and country, and trends affecting global locations (changes in investment environment and exposure to various risks). It also provides industry-leading comparison and analysis of key changes in maturity, arbitrage and potential of global delivery locations through Everest Group’s unique MAP Matrix™ analysis.
Other Key Findings
- Asia-Pacific (APAC) share of market has been consistently declining since 2012 but continues to constitute more than 60 percent of the share of the global services FTEs. India and the Philippines account for more than 90 percent of the share in the APAC region. APAC also holds the largest share (more than 70 percent) of the global services market in terms of revenue.
- India and the Philippines retained their leadership status in the global services market, continuing to hold more than one-third of the share in new delivery center setups globally.
- Nearshore Europe witnessed strong growth in activity during the period of 2015-H1 2016, emerging as the second largest region after Asia Pacific, with the majority of new center activity in Poland, Ireland and Romania.
- New center setup activity increased in 2015, surpassing pre-2013 levels and reaching a new high since 2011.
- All locations witnessed a decrease in GIC activity during the period of 2015-H1 2016. In total, global in-house center (GIC) setups continue to outnumber service provider setups. In terms of percentage share, service provider setups exceeded GIC setups for the first time during H1 2016 since dropping below in 2013.
- Among all regions, Nearshore Europe witnessed the largest increase in new center setups in 2015 compared to 2014.
