According to Gartner, Indian organisations suffering from IT skills shortage and substandard treatment from local service providers should consider offshore outsourcing to obtain better IT services.

"India is witnessing a severe shortage of skilled IT resources at all levels of the IT personnel chain," said Linda Cohen, vice president and distinguished analyst for Gartner's IT sourcing group. "Local service providers lack adequate focus on the Indian domestic market, widening the demand-supply gap by not allocating enough quality resources for Indian customers."

Gartner believes that these challenges require Indian CIOs to look beyond their own geographical boundaries. Gartner predicts Indian companies will increasingly go offshore in their sourcing strategies, which will result in outsourcing deals offered by some Indian companies that include higher end parts of service delivered from other parts of the world.

According to Arup Roy, senior research analyst for Gartner's IT services market group. "Indian companies will increasingly source IT skills from nearby Singapore and Hong Kong. The market has already seen the first signs of this trend. For example, the Indian embassy outsourced its visa collection and delivery services to a U.S. company.”

Gartner recommends Indian CIOs to:

• Develop innovative programmes for retaining the talent they already have.
• Evaluate offshore outsourcing or staff augmentation from other parts of the world in their sourcing strategy.
• Consider Tier 2 and Tier 3-level Indian service providers for their key capabilities in various aspects of IT delivery.