The Dutch IT Outsourcing (ITO) survey 2011 was conducted by IT Sourcing Europe in February 2011 in the frames of the All-European ITO research. The survey was completed by the 469 Dutch companies of different sizes and industry sectors. Forty-five percent of the survey participants admitted outsourcing their software development (SD) and/or some element(s) of the IT function nearshore, offshore or within the Netherlands, while fifty-five percent developed their software / IT solutions within own house.

The survey allows benchmarking the key ITO challenges facing Dutch companies in 2011. Top three challenges reported by the majority of the survey participants are: poor communication with vendors, their project managers and software developers (up 28% from 2010), poor quality of delivered software products and/or services (up 28% from 2010) and delays in delivery schedules and/or missed project milestones (up 23% from 2010). In 2010, one of the top three challenges was cultural difference, but it is no longer an issue in 2011, according to the survey. This finding can be explained by another survey finding that this year more Dutch IT outsourcers place their outsourced IT / software development operations nearshore (up 13% from 2010).

To respond to their major challenges, the vast majority of the Dutch IT outsourcers strive to increase face-to-face communication with their ITO partners (up 36% from 2010), dedicate more managerial resources (up 17% from 2010) and consider partnering with a different vendor (up 26% from 2010).

Another trend observed in the course of the survey is that in 2011 more Dutch companies, dissatisfied with their current ITO engagements / service delivery models, make a decision to back-source their operations in-house or to a nearshore/onshore ITO partner (up 4% from 2010). This finding suggests that the Dutch outsourcers become more demanding and challenge their ITO providers to be less process- and procedure-packaged, but more flexible and deliver on time and on budget.

More thought-provoking Dutch ITO challenges will be highlighted in the Dutch ITO Intelligence Report 2011.