European companies increasingly discover the cost and time-saving advantages of information technology outsourcing (ITO). Especially in times when the global economy is recovering from the financial and economic crisis, many firms decide on to jump on the outsourcing bandwagon. This blog entry looks at the Netherlands and provides latest research results on the Dutch relationship to outsourcing.

IT Sourcing Europe, the research and consulting group, has recently published results of its latest Dutch ITO survey. The survey is part of a larger All-European ITO research that has been conducted online to deliver outsourcing facts and information for 2011.

In line with the Dutch survey, almost 500 Dutch companies have been interviewed about their IT outsourcing activities. 45% of the interviewed indicated to develop their software and IT solutions either offshore, near-shore or onshore, with help of an external software developer. The remaining 55% reported to develop their IT functions in-house.

Market experts interpret the survey result as being related to the stable economic situation in the Netherlands as almost half of the forms are engaged in outsourcing activities. The time period when most of the Dutch companies decided to start outsourcing IT related services was at the end of 2010 and at the beginning of 2011.

Regarding the nature of the outsourced contracts, the survey results highlight that the ongoing year is the year of small-scope outsourcing contracts in Holland. Another significant development that shows in the Netherlands is increased outsourcing of IT services related to niche segments such as mobile phone development, social media and 3D animation.

Concerning the satisfaction of the Dutch ITO service buyers, the vast majority of the Dutch companies engaged in outsourcing in 2011 indicated that their engagements were overall successful and satisfactory, whereas in 2010 the vast majority reported that they were merely somehow satisfied.