Major opportunities in the Nordic sourcing sector are there for the taking by any service provider willing and able to positively differentiate themselves from their competitors, according to the findings of EquaTerra's Outsourcing Service Provider Study 2008 being launched today.

The study reveals that customers currently perceive very little difference between Nordic sourcing suppliers, and do not recognise any true leaders in sourcing service provision for the Nordic countries. “In general, customers in the Nordic region think outsourcing service providers are doing an OK job, but not a great one” explained Peter Skarendahl, director of EquaTerra Sweden. “This, combined with a relatively fragmented supplier market and a lack of distinction between local and global firms, strongly suggests that the time is ripe for proactive service providers to make a real impact in this region” he continued. The findings also very clearly indicate that the use of outsourcing by Nordic organisations is continuing to rise significantly with 82 percent of study participants intending to maintain their level of outsourcing, including 48 percent who are looking to increase it. In contrast, only 8 percent intend to outsource less. Global sourcing is also on the rise in the Nordic region, with the proportion of respondents using global sourcing increasing from 23 percent in 2007 up to 41 percent in 2008. A further 9 percent of study participants are considering using global sourcing in the future. This increase could be attributed to the threat of an IT skills crunch with over half of those organisations increasing their outsourcing activity doing so to get better access to skills. Of these skills, applications management is the area of most concern, with the average satisfaction level for this service slumping from 61 percent in 2007 to 55 per ent in 2008, well below the average satisfaction scores of 59 per cent for end user management and the 61 per cent for infrastructure management. Cost savings and quality improvements are also seen as important considerations, with quality of work emerging as a higher priority for companies based in the Nordic region, in comparison to elsewhere in Europe.