More businesses are turning to outsourcing and shared services in order to improve their service delivery performance, according a survey of business leaders and IT providers by KPMG.

Some 71 per cent of people polled in KPMG’s Q3 Sourcing Advisory Pulse Survey said the most common approach buyers took to enhance their service capabilities was to improve their current outsourcing governance processes and capabilities, up five per cent from the last quarter.

The most popular approach cited by respondents was the use or expansion of IT outsourcing (56 per cent), followed by internal process improvement or re-engineering efforts (46 per cent).

Investments in cloud computing services were ranked low – at 28 per cent – by those polled, but KPMG said further analysis indicates that cloud investments are in face growing in significance.

“These findings signal a maturing service delivery market, in which buyers are more focused on improving efforts already deployed in the field, versus just initiating new outsourcing or shared services arrangements,”

said Stan Lepeak, global research director in KPMG’s Management Consulting group.

Recently, technology expert Phil Wainewright recommended outsourcing IT support as a way in which small firms can cut their expenditure.