The global IT outsourcing landscape is undergoing a dramatic transformation. From AI integration to the rise of new tech hubs, these shifts will fundamentally change how companies approach technology partnerships over the next five years. Understanding these changes is crucial for CTOs, tech leaders, and business owners evaluating their technology strategies, as they will affect everything from budget planning to talent acquisition.
As a software development company with over 10 years of experience, Neontri has witnessed firsthand the evolution of the global tech industry. In this article, our experts shared their take on key IT outsourcing trends that we believe will define the market through 2030.
Key outsourcing trends:
- Cost reduction is still a top business objective, but not for long
- Global IT spending is projected to grow due to GenAI adoption
- Technology adoption will have a huge impact on outsourcing services over the next 5 years
- 170M new roles are coming, but 92M will be gone due to emerging technologies
- IT talent shortage is threatening business growth worldwide
- Lack of skills is the main reason why companies are struggling with AI implementation
- Soft skills will be more important to success than tech expertise
- Remote work is here to stay
- Companies lose billions of work hours a year to ineffective collaboration
- Automation is taking over faster than you think
- Poland, India, and Mexico are top outsourcing destinations shaping tech geography
Trend #1: Cost reduction is still a top business objective, but not for long
Cost reduction, once the primary driver of software development outsourcing, has lost its position over the years. In 2020, 70% of organizations cited cost savings as the main reason for going offshore. By 2022, this number dropped to 48%, and today, only 34% see it as the #1 goal when hiring developers abroad.
While operational efficiency remains the dominant success metric – 83% of global business services (GBS) organizations achieve their savings targets – the industry is evolving beyond pure cost-cutting. Rather than sourcing low-cost talent, IT companies are now focused on getting better results and capabilities from their outsourcing partners.
Businesses that opt for outcome-based delivery models value talent access (42%), agility to address increasing customer demands (35%), service quality (33%), and global delivery (33%) almost as much as spend optimization (34%).
Trend #2: Global IT spending is projected to grow by nearly 10% due to GenAI
Worldwide IT spending is expected to reach $5.61 trillion in 2025. This marks a 9.8% growth from last year.
Data center systems, devices, and software segments will see the biggest increase in funding, largely due to GenAI hardware upgrades. This spending trend reflects an industry-wide commitment to future technological capabilities.
In response to AI adoption, 50% of employers plan to reorient their business, while 66% consider hiring talent with specific AI skills. To bridge the capability gap, organizations are also investing in upskilling their existing workforce – as demonstrated by Accenture’s initiative to train over 30,000 professionals on NVIDIA’s technology to drive agentic AI adoption across industries.
Due to a new talent strategy, 52% of company leaders expect to increase their labor expenses by 2030. The need to allocate a greater share of revenue to wages is driven by several goals:
- Match the pay with actual worker productivity
- Compete for top talent in a tight labor market
- Retain workers with critical or specialized skills
- Motivate employees through fair compensation
- Adapt to changing workforce expectations.
Trend #3: Accelerating technology adoption will dominate IT outsourcing industry trends over the next 5 years
Companies are rapidly embracing new technologies across the board. Over 75% plan to implement big data, cloud computing, and AI capabilities within five years. Digital platforms and apps lead adoption plans at 86%, followed by workforce technologies at 81%.
The public cloud services market is booming, expected to hit $623 billion by 2024, growing at 15.7% annually. 96% of organizations now use public cloud infrastructure for hybrid work, with Azure and AWS leading the pack. For 15% of companies, these capabilities have moved beyond basics to become a crucial enabler for automation, ERP, and analytics tools.
81% of companies outsource their security functions. The reason is clear: data breaches cost businesses, on average, $1,360, rising to $6,160 for larger companies. It’s no surprise that 71% of business leaders rank cybersecurity as their top priority, with this number jumping to 86% in the ITC sector.
The shift toward outsourced development is significant – 64% of IT leaders globally now outsource their software development, with a particular focus on robotic process automation. This trend is expected to continue as companies seek to balance innovative solutions with cost-effectiveness.
Trend #4: 170M new roles are coming, but 92M will be gone
In the next five years, 170 million new jobs will be created due to emerging technologies. At the same time, 92 million jobs will be displaced. As a result, the labor market will still see a net employment increase of 7%, or 78 million jobs.
Three forces – digital access, AI advances, and robotic process automation (RPA) – are the main disruptors of the global employment ecosystem:
- Digital access expansion will create 19 million jobs while eliminating 9 million.
- AI and information processing will add 11 million new jobs and cut 9 million.
- Robotics and autonomous systems will cause a net loss of 5 million jobs.
This change in workforce dynamics is already creating a massive demand for specialized talent. Tech-related roles, such as big data specialists, fintech engineers, AI and ML specialists, software and applications developers, and security management specialists, are among the five fastest-growing roles across industries.
Data-centric roles are seeing a 36% surge in demand, information security analyst positions are growing by 33%, and software engineering jobs are up by 17%. This talent crunch pushes many businesses to partner with outsourcing providers to access these hard-to-find specialists rather than competing for limited local talent pools.
Trend #5: IT talent shortage reaches 76%, threatening business growth worldwide
The skills gap has become the biggest barrier to business transformation, with 63% of company leaders citing it as their primary concern for 2025-2030. This challenge is nearly universal, ranking as the top barrier in 52 out of 55 economies and 19 out of 22 sectors.
37% of organizations cite a lack of industry attractiveness as an obstacle to finding the right talent, while 27% point to company-specific issues.
The global talent shortage in the information technology sector is 76%. In Europe, the shortage of software professionals has reached 25%. In the US, 71% of employers struggle to find the skilled talent they need.
Exploring alternative talent strategies is one of the most prominent trends in IT outsourcing. While 70% of organizations remain optimistic about developing talent internally, none of the surveyed companies rely exclusively on an in-house team anymore.
96% of those who use extended workforce partner with outsourcing service providers. 78% leverage global in-house centers (GICs) typically established through a build-operate-transfer (BOT) model. 28% choose other talent options, including freelancers, crowdsourcing, alumni, interns, volunteers, etc.
Trend #6: Lack of skills is the top reason why companies are struggling to turn AI hype into real results
Generative AI has seen remarkable growth, with investment increasing 8x since ChatGPT’s launch in 2022. Artificial intelligence is expected to have an even bigger impact within the next five years, with 86% of enterprises expecting this technology to transform their business.
As of 2024, 72% of organizations have adopted AI in at least one of their core business functions. 23% of companies use it for product and service development, while another 17% implement it to support IT functions, including data infrastructure management and help desk assistance. 13% of businesses focus their AI efforts on software engineering.
Overall, the information technology sector is leading the way in AI adoption. 82% of developers reported leveraging AI tools for writing code, while another 9% are interested in this application. Searching for answers is the second most popular use case, with 68% of engineers currently using it, while debugging and getting help comes third at 57%.
Teams that embrace its tech capabilities are 1.8x more likely to have clear goals, 2.2x better at making knowledge accessible, 1.6x more effective, and 1.9x more adaptable to change.
For leaders, AI isn’t just a tool but a productivity multiplier. Those using AI gain 19% more collaborative time with their teams and 12% more focus on priority work.
Despite widespread recognition of artificial intelligence, there’s a significant gap between understanding and implementation. While 63% of knowledge workers and 79% of executives acknowledge AI’s potential, they struggle to integrate it into daily workflows. A striking 50% of professionals fail to use this technology on a weekly basis.
Regarding barriers to AI adoption, 50% of executives worldwide highlight a lack of skills to support adoption as the top reason. This is closely followed by a lack of vision among managers and leaders (43%). Other obstacles include high costs of AI products and services (29%), lack of customization to local business needs (24%), complex regulations around AI and data usage (21%), and limited consumer demand (16%).
Tech adoption is reshaping the global IT outsourcing market dramatically, with 83% of executives expecting their vendors to provide artificial intelligence capabilities as part of their services. 20% of organizations are already developing a “digital workforce”, comprising AI-enabled workers and automation bots.
However, the transition isn’t without its challenges. Less than 50% of organizations have seen real productivity gains from AI integration, and only 25% report reduced vendor costs. The gap between expectation and reality often stems from immature contracting structures and the need for better governance models to manage AI-vendor relationships effectively.
In addition to redefining their outsourcing strategy, companies themselves are preparing for significant changes. 77% plan to reskill existing employees for AI collaboration, 69% will recruit professionals with experience in AI tool design and enhancement, and 62% will hire AI-capable workers.
Trend #7: Nontechnical skills will be more critical to success than tech expertise
Tech skills become outdated every 2.5 years on average due to the adoption of digital tools, remote work, and technological advancements. By 2030, 39% of workers’ core skills are expected to change.
Companies respond by offering cross-training, on-the-job learning, and shadowing opportunities to manage future work requirements better. 50% of the workforce is now participating in continuous learning programs, up from 41% last year.
Looking ahead to 2030, the ideal IT professional will need more than just technical skills. Here’s what organizations are prioritizing:
- Analytical thinking, with 7 out of 10 companies considering it as essential
- Resilience, flexibility, and agility are the second most sought-after skills for 2025 (67%), closely followed by leadership and social influence (61%).
- Creative thinking, motivation and self-awareness, technological literacy, empathy, and customer service orientation made it to the top 10 core competencies.
- AI and big data analysis are the fastest-growing technical skills, but they are #11 on the skills list
- Quality control is something 35% of employers deem important
- Networks and cybersecurity round out the top technical requirements.
This shift in skill requirements took effect on the outsourcing industry as well. The accelerating pace of digital transformation and globalization has led businesses to recognize the importance of soft skills for their remote workers. While specialized services remain valuable, companies are increasingly looking for professionals who can combine technical knowledge with strong leadership and emotional intelligence.
Trend #8: Remote work is here to stay
Remote is the most popular work model today, preferred by 41% of employees. This is followed by hybrid (37%) and on-site work (22%). Major tech companies are embracing this trend – Microsoft, Yahoo, IBM, Hubspot, and Atlassian are actively hiring for remote positions. However, there’s still resistance among general employers: 66% want office work, 26% support hybrid models, and 7% endorse remote work.Offshore outsourcing has long been ahead of this curve. Even before the pandemic, remote work was common in IT, with about 25% of employees working from home. The global lockdowns simply validated what the outsourcing companies already knew – that work-from-home could be highly effective.
63% of professionals feel they get more done when working from home, compared to 37% in an office. 70% of employees find it easier to focus, 65% manage stress better, and 50% avoid distractions better when working remotely.
Also, contrary to popular belief, remote workers actually spend more time on work. They are 14% more likely to complete a full 8-hour day versus 12% in office employees.
This experience has transformed how companies view offshore talent, showing that remote teams can match and often exceed on-site productivity by focusing on outcomes rather than presence. Today, 57% of executives say flexible/hybrid work is their most successful talent sourcing and retention strategy.
Trend #9: Companies waste billions of work hours due to ineffective collaboration
Fortune 500 companies lose 25 billion work hours annually due to poor teamwork. This isn’t just about wasted time: 93% of executives believe their teams could achieve the same results in half the time with better collaboration.
There are several root causes:
- Unclear objectives. 64% of professionals feel their teams are pulled in too many directions, while 70% say they need fewer, more focused goals.
- Misplaced priorities. 65% of workers prioritize quick message responses over actual progress on important work. Also, teams often spend 50% more time in unnecessary meetings than on high-priority tasks.
- Information flow. 55% of workers struggle to find information despite having extensive professional networks. 56% report that inconsistent work-tracking methods across teams hinder collaboration.
69% of developers say they are losing eight hours or more per week to these inefficiencies (that’s 20% of their time). 85% of them believe that collaborative teamwork is crucial for project success. This is particularly relevant for IT outsourcing, where successful partnerships depend on seamless collaboration across different locations and time zones.
High-performing teams focus on building strong foundations by setting clear goals and making them visible to everyone. They also implement business practices to identify top-priority work and intentionally block off time to concentrate on those tasks. These steps allow them to be 4.6x more effective, 4.7x more adaptable, and 4.6x more productive.
Trend #10: Intelligent automation is on the rise
The split between human and machine work is changing dramatically. Right now, humans handle 47% of work tasks, machine learning systems and algorithms cover 22%, and 30% of tasks involve human-machine collaboration. By 2030, these numbers are expected to balance out almost equally across all three approaches.
The transformation is already in full swing – 59% of companies have made automation their top digital priority for the next 1-3 years. Industry leaders like Oracle, SAP, Cisco, and Hewlett-Packard offer comprehensive automation solutions across IT infrastructure, supply chain, network management, and business processes.
94% of people say they perform repetitive, time-consuming tasks in their role. The most common IT tasks that can be automated are software updates, data backup and recovery, system monitoring and alerts, configuration management, data analytics, and reporting.
82% of IT professionals are working to improve automation tool capabilities to better handle complex, hybrid environments. The results speak for themselves – 90% of tech professionals report better productivity, job satisfaction, and cross-functional teamwork.
But there’s a huge implementation barrier: a talent crisis. The number of organizations struggling to find qualified talent has nearly doubled, from 23% in 2021 to 40% today. This talent gap is pushing companies to choose between building internal capabilities or partnering with service providers with both the technical expertise and automation infrastructure in place.
Trend #11: Poland, India, and Mexico are top outsourcing destinations shaping tech geography
India remains the biggest player in the IT outsourcing market, employing over 5 million people. The country’s IT services export sector is growing at 13.10%, leading to a market volume of $20.81 billion by 2029.
Despite India’s dominance in the global market, the outsourcing landscape is diversifying rapidly. As companies seek outsourcing partnerships to build cutting-edge solutions rather than simply reduce operational costs, new tech hubs are emerging, changing traditional destination preferences.
Along with India, Poland and Mexico are the top 3 locations with the largest number of shared service centers. The United States comes 4th, while Malaysia is a new entrant to the top 5.
Poland is a major tech hub in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Its outsourcing market size is projected to reach $3.84 billion by the end of the year. The sector is growing at an impressive 8.8% annually to hit $5.38 billion by 2029. What makes Poland particularly attractive is its combination of high-skill talent and competitive rates. Companies there achieve an average spend per employee of $205, making it a cost-effective choice for Western European and US clients.
Southeast Asia continues to grow as a key business process outsourcing region, with Malaysia, the Philippines, and China showing strong momentum.
Latin America is solidifying its position as a nearshore outsourcing destination for US companies, with Mexico and Costa Rica leading the region. The proximity and time zone alignment with the North American market give these countries a distinct competitive advantage.
Bottom line
With markets constantly evolving, IT outsourcing trends might change, but one thing remains constant – the need for a reliable software development provider. With 10+ years of experience and 400+ successful projects, Neontri is a trusted partner for businesses seeking high-quality technological solutions.
We don’t just write code – we deliver custom solutions that streamline business operations and accelerate growth. Our edge comes from our highly experienced team: 87% of our developers bring 5+ years of hands-on expertise.
If you are looking for the right outsourcing partner, Neontri is here to help. Reach out to us so we can turn your software vision into reality.
Sources
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- https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/consulting/us-global-outsourcing-survey-2024.pdf
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- https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/the-state-of-ai
- https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/process-and-operations/us-2023-global-shared-services-and-outsourcing-survey-executive-summary.pdf
- https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/home.htm
- https://biteable.com/blog/work-from-home-statistics/
- https://owllabs.com/state-of-hybrid-work/2023
- https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/leadership/tech-talent-strategy.html
- https://www.atlassian.com/blog/developer/developer-experience-report-2024
- https://www.atlassian.com/blog/state-of-teams-2024
