The IT outsourcing market is growing, according to a new survey of 200 IT executives released by Bluewolf.

That’s because companies are increasingly relying on outsourcers for IT talent needs. The survey finds 48% of companies will hire more contractors, rather than seek full-time staff, to meet growing IT needs in the next 12-18 months. Overall, about a third of the organizations in the survey, 32%, plan to increase their levels of IT outsourcing investments in the year ahead.

A skill area that stands out across the categories are IT professionals adept at Salesforce — either as developers or administrators. This reflects the pervasiveness of this cloud-based offering.

The survey, which treats cloud computing as a category of outsourcing, also finds 16% of all outsourced data center operations are managed in the cloud.

The survey also identified the IT functions most frequently outsourced:

Appdev: Forty-six percent of companies outsource their application development, making this the leading category. About a third of respondents, 30%, plan to increase outsourcing for appdev. About 40% are hiring outside contractors for staff augmentation, and 36% are using consulting firms. They are turning to outsourcers for software development expertise, Saleforce development know-how, and QA analysts.

Web and mobile: Another 39% are outsorucing Web and mobile development projects. About 22% use managed service providers to meet Web and mobile dev needs, 18% rely on consulting firms, and 16% have turned to cloud-based services. Skills sought from outsourcing firms include Android and iPhone developers, front-end developers, and UI/UX designers.

App hosting: About 28% use outside firms for application hosting, and are seeking expertise from Salesforce consultants, Eloqua consultants, and software developers in any and all languages.

App maintenance: About 26% employ outsourcing assistance for application maintenance, mainly through consulting firms (19%). Skills sought here include software developers (all languages), Salesforce admins, and systems analyst.

Data center ops: Another 23% turn to outsourcers for data center operations, primarily with managed service providers (22%). The skills that are needed include data warehouse architects, data warehouse developers, and data warehouse QA professionals.