Offshoring is going to become much more popular in 2010, according to research conducted by ICM Research on behalf of a development body for Sri Lankan outsourcing.

SLASSCOM announced that the development and maintenance of computing infrastructures were seen as the most likely thing to offshore by small businesses in IT, with 24 per cent of respondents putting it as their preference, while data processing was named by one in five.

Customer services were the offshoring priority for 18 per cent, with other back office processes as well as finance and accounting following closely behind.

Martyn Hart, the chairman of the National Outsourcing Association, said that it is "great" to see that so many small businesses in IT in the UK are interested in offshoring work and that it indicates an acceptance of globalisation that has been a predicted trend for a long time.

"Many larger businesses have already reaped the benefits of offshoring business models and now it’s the turn of the SME," he continued. "Going forward, we expect a significant increase in cost-based and strategic sourcing across the SME sector."

It follows a report from Silicon.com which asserted that offshoring is becoming a more plausible outcome of the recession in regards to the recession-led financial woes of certain companies in the UK.

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).