The coming year will see more companies make use of outsourcing, it has been predicted.

According to the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP), firms which postponed outsourcing deals because of the recession will begin to restart their investment in 2010.

The organisation claimed that businesses will increasingly recognise the innovation and flexibility which the approach can deliver, although uncertainty about the global economy could hold back full recovery.

Michael Corbett, chairman of the IAOP, commented: “As companies recover from these tough economic times, outsourcing will enable them to emerge as leaders in the new global economy.”

The group also predicted that firms will increase their investment in advanced management practices, tools and technologies such as cloud computing in the next 12 months.

Recent research from O2 claimed that small companies are continuing to invest in IT projects, despite the recession, with two-thirds maintaining their current level of IT spending and 16 per cent increasing it.