According to the Global Outsourcing Report 2005, three-quarters of US companies outsourced IT activities in 2004, and the percentage is likely to increase this year. Moreover, half of the companies who outsource to foreign countries have cut jobs.

The report also ranked countries based on the opportunities, costs and risks they present for IT outsourcing, at present and in the future. It said that India is leading outsourcing destination in 2005, and China would become the top destination by 2015.

For this year, the report ranked India, China, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic and Hungary as the leading outsourcing destinations. In 2005, it predicted that China, India, US, Brazil and Russia would become the top countries for outsourcing.

The report also included an analytical economic profile of twenty countries using two indexes, the Global Outsourcing Index (GOI) and the Future Outsourcing Ranking (FOR). The GOI is a weighted index based on each country's ratings on business cost, risk factors and market opportunities. The Future Outsourcing Index assessed the countries long-term competitiveness through GDP growth, population growth, labor pool, and expert analyses.

The Global Outsourcing Report was compiled by Frank-J�rgen Richter, president of Horasis: The Global Visions Community, and Mark Minevich, advisor and principal at Going Global Ventures.

Minevich said, "This report is a catalyst for identifying the next wave of winners in technology outsourcing, even before trends and problems can emerge."