Codestone

Companies are starting to realise that outsourced IT and managed services provide them with more than just cost savings.

Jean-Louis Bravard, director at Burnt-Oak Partners, told ComputerWeekly.com that during the economic downturn, businesses opted not to outsource their IT as much.

However, as companies "understand outsourcing better now and don't just use [it] to cut costs", its uptake is rising again.

"Today more and more outsourcing is about business benefits and during the recent slowdown there was no point investing in this because there was no business," he explained.

Outsourced IT budgets are expected to rise significantly over the coming year, according to Michael Friedenberg, president and chief executive officer at IDG Enterprise.

He recently said that budgets are set to reach an average of $76 million (£46 million) in 2011, with companies which experience success in their IT support services likely to raise their investment in them further.

Posted by Lara Ward