Numerous companies all over the world provide IT outsourcing services. However majority of the market is captured by large players. The top ten IT outsourcing companies which include IBM Global Services, Accenture and EDS had a market share of about 57 percent in 2004. This was 16 percent lower than that in 2003 when the top 10 vendors captured 68 percent of the market. Given below is a list of some companies which have gained a prominent position in the IT outsourcing industry over the years:

• IBM Global Services: IBM Global Services is the largest IT outsourcing company in the world. It captured 15.5 percent of the global IT outsourcing market in 2004. The company provides a wide range of services such as application development, system integration, application management services, data center outsourcing services, maintenance, e-business hosting services, networking, support services, security services and storage services.

• EDS: EDS is the second largest IT outsourcing company with a market share of 11.7 percent globally in 2004. Like IBM, EDS also provides various IT outsourcing services including application development services, network management, storage and data and data center services.

• Computer Sciences Corp (CSC): CSC is the third largest IT outsourcing company in the world with a market share of 5.5 percent in 2004. The company employs over 35,000 application professionals at 50 centers in 13 countries. It provides a wide range of IT outsourcing services including system integration, application outsourcing and IT infrastructure outsourcing.

• Hewlett Packard (HP): HP is also one of the top ten IT outsourcing companies. It witnessed highest growth among the top ten vendors in 2004, which an increase of 22 percent in its revenues. HP’s IT outsourcing services include application management, end-user workplace management, help desk services and software supply chain.

• Infosys: Infosys has been the pioneer in offshore IT outsourcing. Since 1981, when it was established, the company has grown rapidly and now employs over 49,000 professionals worldwide. Infosys provides various IT outsourcing services including application development and maintenance through its Global Delivery Model.

• Wipro: Wipro is yet another Indian IT major with revenues of USD 1.2 billion in FY05. Its IT outsourcing services includes application development and maintenance, architecture consulting, business intelligence and data warehousing, e-business, enterprise applications services, enterprise security, system integration, testing services and web services.

• Tata Consultancy Services (TCS): TCS is a subsidiary of the Indian corporate giant – Tata Group. It provides IT outsourcing services such as application development and maintenance, business intelligence, e-commerce, e-learning and enterprise application integration.

Infosys, Wipro and TCS have played a crucial role in making India a favorable destination for offshore outsourcing. Read the report ‘Outsourcing to India’ to know about India’s value proposition as a suitable outsourcing location.