Work outsourced

Percentage of companies that outsource digital work to foreign countries

A significant percentage of respondents (69%) indicated that they outsource digital work and expertise to other foreign countries. This points to a worrying lack of these kinds of critical skills in South Africa and the compelling cost/price value propositions that these countries offer.

Countries that receive digital work from South African businesses

Of the work outsourced internationally, most (35%) is offshored to India. This is not altogether surprising, given that India has established itself as a centre of excellence in the digital and IT-enablement space. The United States is the next source of outsourced digital/ICT work (at 26%) and this may be where South African organisation require pioneering innovation or the skill sets of IT mavens in hubs such as Silicon Valley. The United Kingdom (20%), Eastern Europe (14%) and China (5%) are other countries tapped as cheaper resource/skills markets for digital/ICT work.