The top outsourced jobs for Web and mobile development include mobile developers (for Android and iPhone), front-end developers, and UI/UX designers.
Organizations also are increasingly turning to hosted applications, rather than dealing with them in-house. "Much of the total cost for owning and operating this infrastructure is now shifting to managed-service and cloud-based providers," according to Bluewolf. "We foresee that application-hosting outsourcing will only increase as more organizations lean on cloud-based providers and more service providers integrate cloud into their offerings."
Twenty-eight percent of outsourced application functions fall under the hosted application umbrella, and organizations expect to boost usage of hosted apps by 35 percent over the next year and a half. Ten percent of hosted apps are handled offshore, and the top staffing placements here include Salesforce consultants, Eloqua consultants, and all manner of software developers.
Among outsourced IaaS (infrastructure as a service) functions, data center operations represent the biggest chunk at 23 percent. "Demand for storing and analyzing data combined with the increased amount of unstructured data captured by the enterprise is causing data center operations to grow in size, complexity, and scope. Outsourced solutions such as co-location and virtualized environments and 'rural area' sourcing can be a cost-effective and scalable approach" to handling that growth, according to Bluewolf.
Twenty-two percent of respondents said they expect to outsource more data operations in the next year and a half. Currently, 11 percent of those outsourced operations are handled offshore. The top job placements here include data warehouse architect, data warehouse developer, and data warehouse QA.
Big data is driving up demand for outsourced database administration tasks, according to Bluewolf. They represent 17 percent of all outsourced infrastructure-related services, and 14 percent of organizations will outsource more of them in the next 18 months. 11 percent of outsourced database admin duties are handled offshore. Top placements in this space include senior database administrator, data architect, and data modeler.
Also hot on the outsourced infrastructure scene: network operations, as organizations are struggling to keep all the big data flowing smoothly to demanding consumers. Sixteen percent of infrastructure-outsourcing dollars go toward network maintenance and administration services, and 21 percent of surveyed companies said they'll increase spending through 2013. Eleven percent of outsourced networking operation duties are handled offshore. The top job placements include network administrator, network engineer, and network security engineer.
Data recovery services, too, are enjoying increased demand and currently represent 16 percent of all outsourced infrastructure-related functions. Over the next 12 to 18 months, companies expect to increase their spending here by 17 percent. "While many DBAs currently have DR and database mirroring experience, they are often focused on more essential ROI projects. Because of this, many companies are outsourcing DR to best-of-breed managed service providers," according to Bluewolf. The top job placements for this segment include storage administrators, senior database admins, and data modelers.
Bluewolf's "2012-2013 State of IT Outsourcing" report can be downloaded for free at Bluewolf's website (PDF).
This story, "From developers to DBAs: The hottest outsourced IT jobs," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.