BPO and Internet Related Spending to Push European Outsourcing Market to $51 Billion by 2003.

VIENNA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 13, 1999--

The redeployment of Y2K budgets, combined with new spending for outsourcing services that support e-business and e-commerce, is sustaining a 20% average annual growth in the European IT outsourcing market. Business Process Operations (BPO) outsourcing is expected to show 27% average annual growth between 1998-2003. According to a new industry report, IT Outsourcing Market Forecast, Europe - 1998-2003, released by INPUT (http://www.input.com/), these driving forces will have the greatest impact on Internet/Intranet management and, to a lesser degree on distributed systems management, i.e. desktop services and network management.

Financial services--insurance and banking--show the highest forecast growth, 26% and 24%, respectively, over the 1999-2003 period. Outsourcing by the newly privatized telecom sector will show 16% average annual growth. European government spending for outsourcing is also expected to show healthy growth--16% at the national level, 20% for health services, and 26% at the local level.

"As outsourcing in Europe gains acceptance and path-breaking contracts are signed across a wide range of industry sectors, outsourcing becomes just another business tool," according to Albert Nekimken, INPUT Senior Analyst for Operational Services research Nekimken added, "While discrepancies remain, globalization and the tendency of electronic commerce to ignore national boundaries have legitimized outsourcing for a wide range of European senior executives."

The new report includes breakouts for the French, German and United Kingdom markets. (A companion report is available on the U.S. market.) As is the case in the American market, BPO outsourcing now pervades every aspect of a company's operations. Urgent needs to streamline functions, cut costs, and focus on core competencies make BPO one the fastest-growing segments of the European outsourcing market. INPUT projects a rise from $4.7 billion in 1998 to $15.6 billion in 2003 (27% CAGR). Internet/Intranet management outsourcing is forecast to grow the fastest--rising to $2.4 billion by 2003, and reflecting average annual growth of 52%, albeit from a small base of $300 million in 1998.

With offices in Mountain View, CA and Washington, D.C. as well as affiliates in Europe and Asia, INPUT has been serving clients globally since 1974 and is an industry leader in providing marketing services, market intelligence and consulting services to the IT software & services sector. For more information about this report and/or INPUT's Operational Services program, contact Albert Nekimken at 1921 Gallows Road; Vienna, VA 22182; tel: [phone]; fax: [phone]; e-mail: [e-mail].