Outsourcing deals reached $66.1 bln in 2003

Spending on the top 100 outsourcing deals worldwide increased from $48.3 billion in 2002 to $66.1 billion in 2003 and, for the first time, Europe surpassed the Americas, capturing more than half of the top 100 deals and accounting for more than half the value of these deals. IDC reveals that much of the growth in spending was due to an outsourcing boom in Europe, led by several megadeals worth more than $1 billion signed in the UK. In contrast to geographic dominance by EMEA, US-based outsourcers continued to lead in the top 100 with the greatest number of large deals. Of the twenty-six outsourcers that were involved in the top 100 worldwide outsourcing deals of 2003, 66% of the deals were signed by just five players, with IBM leading the way followed by CSC, EDS, Accenture, and BT.