Web systems have always been popular operations to outsource and it remains so today. After recovering from the recession, the percentage of companies that outsource at least some of their web and e-commerce operations has remained flat, to slightly rising, during the recovery period.
As shown in Figure 2 from our study, Web/E-Commerce Outsourcing Trends and Customer Experience, about 54% of IT organizations currently outsource web systems. While down from 61% in 2014, the outsourcing frequency is mostly in line with the survey’s findings since 2011. If there is a slight rise in outsourcing activity over the period, it is gradual and not consistent. This is a mature practice with a long-history of customer success.
The outsourcing of web and e-commerce systems has moved solidly into the mainstream as consumers gravitate toward the web and as organizations of all kinds, from manufacturers to professional services firms, expand their online marketing, social networking, cloud computing, and supply chain management activities.
Web/e-commerce outsourcing covers a wide variety of operations. It includes everything from hosting an organization’s website to coordinating its entire e-commerce operation. It also can include designing and managing the website, managing media and marketing operations, and even managing warehouse inventory. More recently, the growing impact of social media has meant that online service providers must be experts in social media marketing as well as search engine optimization.
To help IT executives better assess their options in this always-changing landscape, the full study reports the percentage of organizations outsourcing web/e-commerce operations (frequency), the average amount of work outsourced (level), and the change to the amount of work being outsourced (net growth trend). We also present data on cost and service experience and on how these trends differ by organization size and sector.
This Research Byte is a brief overview of our report on this subject, Web/E-Commerce Outsourcing Trends and Customer Experience. The full report is available at no charge for Computer Economics clients, or it may be purchased by non-clients directly from our website (click for pricing).