17 October 2005 One quarter of the world’s workforce will be ‘mobile workers’ by 2009, according to a report by technology market watchers IDC.

The number of workers using remote access and mobile technology to work on the go or at home is expected to increase from 650 million worldwide in 2004 to 850 million in 2009.

The most ‘mobile-enabled’ workforce in the world in 2004 was that of the United States. IDC predicts that by 2009, 70% of North American workers will have access to mobile technology.

But the largest number of mobile workers was found in the Asia-Pacific region. IDC predicts that in that region, mobile and wireless technologies will ‘leap-frog’ more traditional, fixed computing resources, with green-field sites buying mobile-enabled laptop PCs instead of desktops.

While technology that liberates workers from the office is becoming more widespread, the popularity of outsourcing IT work to third party service providers is waning, according to outsourcing consultants Technology Partners International.

For a number of years, businesses have sought to outsource non-core activities. But according to TPI’s latest quarterly report on the outsourcing industry, computer outsourcing deals dropped in value for the third quarter in a row.

The consultants predict that by the end of the year, the total value of IT outsourcing deals will have dropped by 10% to 15% over twelve months.