End of the road for home-grown IT

IT departments look set to be consigned to the dustbin of history, according to delegates at this week's National Outsourcing Association (NOA) summit.

Some 72 per cent of end users and 82 per cent of suppliers said in an electronic poll that they fear outsourcing will spell the end for corporate IT departments.

Over three quarters of those questioned also thought that outsourcing some functions was essential for effective global competition.

Martyn Hart, chairman of the NOA, said: "Even though this may seem like a blow to the IT industry, it is purely indicative of the changing nature of how companies are doing business.

"Many companies are now looking to outsource ICT functions to specialist providers. It means that increasingly, IT workers will be working at specialist IT houses rather than in-house for companies."

The decision to sack IT staff after sealing outsourcing deals was found to be out of the chief information officer's hands, with 50 per cent of users and 33 per cent of suppliers indicating that the final decision lies with the chief executive.

Earlier in the week the British Computer Society warned that at least 12 per cent of UK IT jobs could be offshored by 2010. The Society recommended that retraining staff would minimise the effects of job losses.