Hiring in-house or outsourcing IT developers? What pays off for whom in 2024?

The recruitment for IT roles, especially junior developers, has declined significantly in previous months. Yet, the demand for experienced, specialized programmers is still outgrowing the availability of them. Finding the right people is hard, however keeping them is even harder. How, in these circumstances, realize projects quickly and on a high quality level? The better solution to hiring in-house developer may be IT outsourcing. Who could benefit from that the most?

Over the past year, the number of projects for IT teams has been reduced significantly, due to, i.a., the situation in the US technology industry. This has led to staff reductions in many companies. However, currently there is a noticeable increase in investor activity in technology projects, particularly in those related to software and application development. This is confirmed by data from the Hays Salary Report 2024, which shows that up to 94% of IT companies are planning to recruit in the following months. This means that the industry is slowly recovering from the crisis and employers will once again be struggling to find highly skilled staff. Not only is the recruitment process long and arduous, but retaining stuff is also difficult. According to Hays, up to 21% of IT professionals are willing to change job by 2024.

37 percent of companies believe they have a shortage of IT skilled workers.
21 percent of IT professionals want to change jobs in 2024.
94 percent of IT companies plan to hire in 2024

If not in-house programmers, then what else?

A rapid digitalization and a shortage of IT specialists can lead to a lack of competitive edge and losses for many companies. IT specialists are involved not only in IT administration and hosting, but also in the development of software and applications, which are now in high demand, as well as participating in integration and testing. One solution to the staff shortage might be the IT outsourcing, which consist of either transferring of projects, fully or in parts, to external IT companies, or directly leasing IT specialists. In the former case, the project is managed externally by the outsourcing company, and you receive the finished product. In the latter, the project is managed by you and the “hired” IT specialists provide you with the complex solutions you need. At j‑labs, we offer support for your projects in both of these forms – as IT project outsourcing  (with our team implementing your project) or IT specialists outsourcing (supplementing your team with specialists with selected competences or by creating a development team managed by you and consisting of our specialists).

What are the benefits of IT outsourcing?

Outsourcing IT projects and specialists brings many benefits to companies of all sizes. The most important one is optimizing costs by not having to spend on hiring and training new staff. You also avoid the losses associated with their potential downtime (the provider is obliged to fill in for leaving expert with another). In Deloitte’s 2020 Global Outsourcing Survey, cost reduction was cited as the most important objective of any outsourcing project. But there are more benefits to IT outsourcing than just faster access to skilled IT staff. Among others, these include:

• greater team reliability and likelihood of timely meeting of goals,
• increased business flexibility for the company,
• faster time-to-market,
• access to professional tools, technologies, programs, and expert knowledge,
• staying ahead of the competition through digital transformation,
• opportunity to focus on the company’s core business areas,
• increased productivity and innovation.

Who benefits the most from IT outsourcing?

It is estimated that by 2024, the global IT outsourcing market will be worth $512.5 billion, with an average annual growth rate of 10.99% in terms of revenue. This is expected to translate into the market being worth $777.7 billion by 2028. Such dynamic growth is not surprising, as it is not only large international organizations that have recognized the potential of IT outsourcing, but also increasingly being used more by tiny start-ups and local small to medium-sized enterprises not directly involved in the IT industry. All of them need a source of talented IT specialists in an era of widespread and rapidly growing digitalization both in terms of consumer and industry demands. Right now, 37% of IT operations in companies are being outsourced and 13.6% of IT department budgets are allocated to outsourcing needs. Who benefits from IT outsourcing? First and foremost, companies that want to implement innovative and complex projects requiring the work of specialists or teams with extensive experience and knowledge. Outsourcing IT projects and IT specialists is also a good solution for companies or organizations that need support for their team temporarily.

In-house project or IT outsourcing?

Outsourcing IT provides a faster time of recruiting specialists and a more reliable team, increasing the likelihood of meeting goals on time. Such a solution also offers considerable time savings for those involved in the company’s recruitment efforts. At j‑labs, we have specialized experts with years of experience, for whom the time to start working for you is a priority. The fact that this is definitely more convenient than looking for employees yourself is shown in the table below.

13.6 percent of IT department budgets were appropriated on outsourcing by 2020
90 per cent of businesses see cloud technology as essential for growth, digital transformation, and market competitiveness

Interested in outsourcing your IT project? At j‑labs, we offer only technically vetted and experienced IT professionals with focused fields of expertise. This allows us to match specific j‑People to your needs and projects. Check out what you can gain by outsourcing IT projects and outsourcing IT specialists in j‑labs.

Sources:
https://www.hays.pl/en/salary-guide/technology
https://www.rp.pl/rynek-pracy/art39665931-koniec-tlustych-lat-dla-programistow-oto-poszukiwane-zawody-w-2024-roku [The end of fat years for developers. These are the occupations with highest demand in 2024]
https://www.statista.com/outlook/tmo/it-services/it-outsourcing/worldwide
https://avasant.com/report/whats-behind-the-five-year-upward-trend-in-it-outsourcing/.
https://www2.deloitte.com/ro/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/studiu-deloitte-din-companii-considera-ca-tehnologia-cloud-este-esentiala-pentru-dezvoltare-transformare-digitala-si-competitivitate-pe-piata.html.