Outsourcing Trends to Watch in 2011 (Part II)

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5. The End of Customization

"Clients will be increasingly open to changing their internal processes and accepting standard 'vanilla' services in 2011," predicts Bob Mathers, principal consultant for Compass Management Consulting. "Service providers will put renewed emphasis on internal initiatives to standardize their own offerings to leverage economies of scale and stabilize profit margins." It's the stuff of benchmarking dreams, but economic conditions may turn it into a reality. Stan Lepeak, managing director of global research for outsourcing consultancy EquaTerra, also predicts more process, technology, and location standardization including platform-based solutions.

6. Prices Get Firm

Remember when you could persuade (read: bully) your provider into lower pricing? Days of auld lang syne, my friends. "Outsourcing providers have filled up their prior excess capacity and will be driving to secure higher price points," says David Rutchik, partner with outsourcing consultancy Pace Harmon. "Pounding on the table for price reduction is unlikely to be effective this year."

Customers seeking savings will have to bone up on delivery models, deal structures, and value drivers instead. And vendors will have to woo clients with performance rather than a low bid, says Peter Bendor-Samuel, CEO of outsourcing consultancy Everest Group. "As a result, we will see select players grow disproportionately, taking clients away from others."

Cloud-computing prices could also become less--well, cloudy. Pricing models will mature, predicts Dave Brown, managing director of EquaTerra's IT advisory, and buyers will better understand the specific offerings.

7. M&A: East Meets West

A merger between a major Indian IT service provider and a U.S.-based outsourcer? It could happen next year, say some industry watchers, and an Indian company may be on the buying end. Western providers have adopted the process and cost initiatives first embraced by their Eastern counterparts. Indian providers are skilling up to try to win more consulting and integration work. "The cultures are moving closer together," says Fersht of HfS Research. "2011 will see the first mega-merger between a major Indian services provider and one of the Western incumbents."

"It has long been talked about," says Joseph King, Chief Marketing Officer at MindTree. "There is no longer [cost] that CIOs can squeeze from their India partners. So for differentiation, India providers will be forced to move up the value chain."

8. China, Brazil, and Egypt Take Center Stage

"Buyers are growing more interested in offshore services delivered from locations other than India," says EquaTerra's Lepeak. And service providers will continue to shift their delivery centers to markets such as China, Brazil, and Egypt, and not simply to address issues such as wage inflation or staff attrition. They want a piece of the business in hot emerging markets. "Strong sourcing market growth will be in geographies with strong economies, led by Brazil, China, India and the Middle East," says Bendor-Samuel of Everest. "Countries with strong economies represent big markets with big demand for transformational and discretionary spend activity."