North American respondents identified "improve IT service to end-users" as their leading driver.

The top two inhibitors to IT outsourcing focused on data security or privacy issues and concerns around the potentially high costs of outsourcing.

"Companies have a growing concern about losing control of their intellectual capital and the business knowledge of key employees whose jobs or roles may be threatened by outsourcing, particularly when downsizing occurs," Young says.

"As part of a sourcing strategy, organizations must carefully examine the goals they wish to reach from outsourcing, but equally their concerns.

"This exercise not only will help in developing a sourcing strategy, sourcing maxims and prioritization of goals, but will educate various constituents in the organization about realistic outcomes and possible false assumptions or misperceptions that it holds about outsourcing."