This IDC study covers the state of IT offshoring in Canada in 2012. On a biannual basis, IDC surveys our CIO and sourcing decision maker advisory board on their use of offshoring. Our research covers:

• The extent of IT offshoring and the infrastructure, application, and business process outsourcing areas in which offshoring is used
• The drivers and benefits of offshoring
• The challenges and the barriers stopping Canadian companies from offshoring
• Vendor perception of outsourcers such as Wipro, iGATE, CGI, and HP
• Buyer perception of the difference between Western- and Indian-based vendors

"In summary, there appears to be two diverging stories on the state of offshoring in Canada," says Mark Schrutt, director of IT Services and Enterprise Applications for IDC Canada. "The first version is the perceptions buyers have of Indian-heritage firms, which may be rooted not only in the relatively short historical presence vendors such as TCS and HCL have had in Canada but also in certain misconceptions that have persisted in the marketplace. The Indian-heritage players graded well below their Western-based counterparts in rankings of the quality, flexibility, and responsiveness of their offshore model. Even as buyers tell IDC that they believe Western-based vendors do a much better job, market numbers tell quite a different story. The Indian-based vendors are growing at more than 20% per year in Canada and are winning an equal share of the net-new offshoring business. This version of offshoring has more to do with the corporate wallet and experience as opposed to perceptions."