As enterprise appetite for IT project work slows down, systems integrators and IT consultants are trimming staff and reining in growth plans to ensure continued profitability. This might affect their ability to meet requirements for your project work — with an increasing risk that they will only staff up for projects as they are won. However, in this economic downturn, time-to-business benefit is more important than ever — so delays in finding and recruiting staff are unacceptable. The sourcing team, however, can take steps to insulate the business from such activity through closer ties to the business and better management of current and potential IT services partners.