A report published by IDC claims that outsourcing will keep IT services buoyant, despite the financial difficulties of the credit crunch.

The IT services market reached a value of $192.3 billion (£97 billion) in 2007. It is expected to slow as market conditions worsen, however growth is still expected.

It is believed that western Europe will become the world's largest geographic market for outsourcing by 2009, thereby overtaking the US.

Research manager at IDC European Services Research Laura Converso said: "As the European economy cools down, the outsourcing segment continues to be the growth engine of the IT services market."

According to the IDC website: "In these tough economic times, service vendors are faced with both new and old challenges. The competitive landscape keeps intensifying, with many new entrants with new business and pricing models as well as the strengthened capabilities of up-and-coming players that are extending their reach into new markets."

Of the European countries France, Italy and the UK are expected to have slower growth than the continental average with Germany and Spain exceeding it.

According to a recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent) In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were 'guaranteed response times' and 'allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues'