Claudio Da Rold, a Gartner vice president stated that "regardless of the relative strength of outsourcing during a recession, many clients are reporting intense discussion with their vendors and renegotiation of contracts for terms and conditions, service level agreements, fees, volumes and low-cost offshore delivery locations".
Gartner expects a price fall in data center and network services between 5 percent and 15 percent while helpdesk services will decline by between 5 percent and 10 percent. Charges for application hosting services, until now one of the fastest-growing areas, will have the biggest drop between 10 percent and 20 percent, the analyst firm said.
"It is important to remember that price reductions will apply with great variability across geographies, vertical industries and client size with regard to specific deals," said Da Rold. "Providers are not reporting any across-the-board price reductions, but rather will address each client situation individually."
Gartner also warned that customers pushing for prices which are too low could affect the quality of the services provided and the relationship between provider and client.
Tags: outsourcing