Europe has become world's highest spender on outsourcing

US has fallen behind EU in 2009, says report

Europe has overtaken North America as the region that spends the most money on outsourcing in the world.

The report by outsourcing advisory firm TPI looked at how much was being spent on outsourcing by G2000 companies, those rated as the most successful companies in the world by Forbes magazine.

It found that, by the end of the third quarter of 2009, G2000 companies headquartered in Europe were spending more on outsourcing deals overall than G2000 firms with headquarters in the US and Canada.

At the end of Q3 09 European G2000 companies were engaged in outsourcing deals with a total annual contract value (ACV) of $30.6bn, compared to the $28.4bn ACV of active outsourcing deals at US and Canadian G2000 companies, the TPI Momentum Market Trends and Insights report said.

Europe is now on track to hold onto this lead and end 2009 as the region with the highest level of spending on outsourcing by G2000 companies, according to the report.

At the end of 2008 it was G2000 companies based in the US and Canada that were spending more on outsourcing than their counterparts in other regions, holding deals with an overall ACV of $29.6bn, compared to the $28.7bn ACV of deals held by G2000 firms based in Europe.