Hot off the press, the Round Up can reveal some of the results of the 2009 National Outsourcing Awards for Best Practice in Outsourcing (NOAA’s). Having managed to bag an invitation to this year’s event, the Round Up has hot-footed it into the office to divulge the outsourcing stars of 2009.

AstraZeneca alongside their service provider Cognizant won the End-User of the Year Award. They managed to secure this win through their management and delivery of Astrazeneca’s end-to-end clinical data management processes. This is not the first time that Cognizant has come to our attention this week. They hit the trade press after the news that they were acquiring UBS India Centre Private Limited (UBS ISC). If they play their cards right we may be hearing about the progress of this BPO, KPO and IT deal in next year’s awards.

Another company to hit both the news and the awards this week was service provider IBM, who prevailed in the award for Innovation in Outsourcing. They received this momentous accolade as a result of their work with CLS Bank International. During the week IBM also announced a new ten year contract with Korea Investment & Securities Co. Ltd. Party animals by night, BPO providers to the financial industry by day.

The NOAA’s also awarded NHS Shared Business Services, Capgemini, Capita, Firstsouce, Exigent, Brodies, Stephenson Harwood, Consolve Consulting and the Philippines.

So how will the outsourcing industry fare this year? Well, by all accounts. According to Equaterra, outsourcing is rising above the economic storm. This week they released a study that reported demand and pipeline growth as a direct result of price competition stabalising. Although the vast majority of users are still all about cost, Equaterra put forward predictions of an upturn and more investments into innovation and new technology. Let’s hope that this is the case. Who knows who will triumph as the shining beacon within outsourcing in 2010? If I get my way, hopefully I will be able to tell you!