More than half of European companies have little confidence in the ability of their IT departments to deliver projects to budget, schedule and the required quality, according to a recent report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

 The study, commissioned by offshore outsourcing specialist Infosys, found that European companies see IT as critical to their strategic business objectives for the next three years. However, many in-house IT departments are currently underachieving on the projects designed to fulfil those objectives.

Nearly two-fifths of the 112 senior executives in the study see IT as key to lowering costs and maximising efficiencies, and 30% view it as pivotal to accelerating time to market. But almost half believe their IT departments are not sufficiently adaptable to the changing needs of their business.

The upshot, says the EIU, is for organisations to look to outsourcing partners (and particularly offshore service suppliers) to fulfil their IT-driven goals.

Nearly three-quarters of respondents said that working with global IT outsourcing companies would reduce the total cost of IT, while 40% believe they could achieve a better return on investment (ROI) and increased flexibility to business change through outsourcing.