Buyers Take Note: Europe's Providers Lag In The IT Services Global Delivery Arms Race

To test how Europe-based IT services specialists stack up in the race to establish genuine global delivery capabilities, Forrester surveyed six market leaders in Europe and gathered data on their use of low-cost offshore and nearshore delivery locations. We found that these firms still lag behind their global peers. With its acquisition of Kanbay, Capgemini has stepped ahead of the European pack, but global players like IBM and Accenture and Indian market leaders like TCS and Infosys all maintain a significant global delivery lead over Capgemini — and more so over other Europe-based providers. Service buyers in Continental European countries like France and Germany have begun to look offshore for low-cost service delivery — but, nonetheless, they often prefer to work with established local service partners. Given the immaturity of the global delivery capabilities on offer, sourcing specialists will need a careful approach to test pricing, the completeness of global delivery processes, the effectiveness of project management approaches, and the stability of offshore facilities and staffing.