Businesses to boost back office outsourcing by £3bn in 2025:
More than half (57 per cent) of UK organisations plan to increase the level of business processes outsourced to third parties in 2025, according to a survey of business leaders we commissioned. We estimate this extra activity could be worth up to £3 billion in additional income for the UK outsourcing industry.
Our State of UK Back Office Outsourcing analysis, reveals that providers of accounting and finance services look set to gain the greatest amount of new business. Our study indicates that a fifth (21 per cent) of companies plan to start outsourcing aspects of these functions or increase the level of activity trusted to third parties in 2025.
Customer communications outsourcing, including contact centre and digital mailroom services, will also rise significantly in 2025. Our analysis suggests that 20 per cent of all companies will start or increase their use of third parties to deliver this function in 2025.
While around a quarter of businesses (23 per cent) are interested in outsourcing to reduce their costs, access to specialised skills (32 per cent) is the main driver for trusting back office activities to partners.
Back office outsourcing by business size, sector & region
- Outsourcing of processes increases with business size, from half (53 per cent) of micro-organisations with fewer than ten people to over 99 per cent of large businesses today. Growth in 2025 will come from companies of all sizes, including 56 per cent of micro, 80 per cent of small (10-49), 89 per cent of medium (50-249), and 99 per cent of large businesses.
- Outsourcing levels are highest in the public, technology and financial services sectors, where more than six in every ten businesses use partners for back office processes, and almost 70 per cent of activity is trusted to third parties.
- Organisations in London and the East Midlands make the greatest use of outsourcing. Around six in ten businesses in these areas use partners to deliver 13 per cent of their back office activities and 63 per cent of companies in both locations plan to start or increase outsourcing in 2025.
- The lowest levels of outsourcing are in the South West, where only 23 per cent of businesses use third parties, and just one per cent of back office activity is outsourced today.
Click on the button below to view our findings, and see more detailed analysis of the state of back office outsourcing
