The Harvey Nash Group published the results of its annual CIO survey a couple of weeks ago. There were two themes that caught my eye. First, demand for outsourcing will increase. 46% of the respondents (CIOs) say the need to increase the level of development skills available to them will drive an increase in outsourcing for their organisations. The post 2008 spike in demand for outsourcing, based on stringent re-balancing of internal IT budgets, has helped drive strong growth for Future Processing.

If even greater demand is predicted for the rest of 2012 and beyond, then our prospects are looking good! Frivolity aside, the more important point here, however, is that it shows the robustness of the outsourcing industry and how it has matured to be able to support organisations throughout their lifecycles. Second, 56 per cent of CIOs are launching projects that make money for their organisations rather than saving money as the CEO’s priorities switch towards growth, emerging markets and new technologies. Creating software that generates revenue is not just about creating an application that supports the sales process. Like cost-cutting software, revenue creating software also involves the internal business processes of the organisation. Saving money and generating income can both be supported by customer service and sales-related apps, but are often better supported by solutions that are under-pinning daily activities, enabling you to use your staff more efficiently. It’s funny, but this shift in the role of software mirrors the evolution of Future Processing.

A few years ago we were focused on producing apps on demand, delivering cost savings to clients and providing the technical expertise of our engineers. Nowadays we better understand the potential of IT business solutions, and provide more strategic input, but we still provide our clients with cost saving and high technical skills. I think the takeaway for CIOs that all this points to, is that creating and reviewing a holistic sourcing strategy, rather than just jumping in and outsourcing projects piece-meal, is more important than ever before. To really ensure that as much as possible, software developed creates growth, it all needs to be part of a coherent plan. Otherwise you could lose all the benefits gained from the various pieces working together.