In 2020, the IT sector has faced certain changes. The same also affected program development outsourcing. Consequently, in 2021 we are seeing trends that have been directly influenced by the changes.

Companies are increasingly interested in outsourcing software development. This is especially true in the spheres of health care, telecommunications and financial and technological.

But it is important to understand that the tendencies in IT externalization are strongly influenced by the pandemic. Because of it, businesses urgently had to rebuild their processes, introduce new methods and ways out for which they were not ready. Many companies started to turn to outsourcing companies to acclimatize to the current conditions. Therefore, the IT business began to operate faster and expand.

The main trends in IT outsourcing

Fresh technical skills

The trends show that companies are increasingly needing skills in quantum computing, finance and technology, artificial intelligence, machine studying. Companies also need specialists with knowledge of automation, cybersecurity, and the cloud. Among all these skills, the need for cybersecurity and the cloud stands out, because in a remote work environment no company can do without them.

The growing popularity of specialists from Eastern Europe

Although India and China are still popular options for IT outsourcing, companies are starting to take more interest in specialists from Ukraine, Romania, Poland and Belarus. Developers from these countries are known for their strong educational base. The main clients’ environments are organizations from Europe and the USA.

Check also: Share the Load: 5 Benefits of Outsourcing for Businesses

Strategic business relationships

Although previously the companies were looking for partners for only one project, after the end of which they stopped cooperation, now everything is a little different. It’s not easy to find the right outsourcing company to work with productively. One way or another, the company should improve or change the finished product. Here they have two choices: either to make changes on their own or to contact the outsourcing team or outstaffing services again for help. The second option turned out to be more efficient and simpler. In the future, this will lead the outsourcing teams to become part of the client’s company with which they work.

Flexibility

Clients now expect flexibility in many areas of collaboration. This means that you need to be able to quickly adapt, expand and shrink the development team in a short period in accordance with the needs.

Companies are also looking for partners who respect and accept the culture and vision without too many problems. In this way, they will establish a stronger professional link between the outsourcing and in-house team for effective development.

Innovations

Clients are looking for opportunities to implement new solutions and technologies that outsourcing companies need to support and guide. After all, companies that have never worked with technology do not know all the nuances.

Regulatory flexibility

In 2021 many new regulations arrived. The challenge for outsourcing companies has become the need to be flexible enough to fully comply with them.

Indeed, since the beginning of 2021, the UK has left the European Union. This means that cooperation with companies from Britain may change at the legislative level. In addition, the EU plans to introduce new regulations that will deal with unsafe content and competition. Such acts have already been introduced in the United States and other major countries. As a result, a lawsuit has already been filed against Facebook for illegal suppression of competition.

With these changes, flexibility, automation and diversity have become the basis of the IT outsourcing trend. They should help companies find strong and suitable outsourcing development partners.

Read also: IT Outsourcing: Is IT Worth the Cost?