In The Outsourcing Shuffle, Offshoring's Still WinningIn The Outsourcing Shuffle, Offshoring's Still Winning

Some of the more intriguing data points about the information 500 concern how many companies are doing offshore outsourcing and using H-1B visas. It suggests the outsourcing shuffle-companies sending work out, others hauling it back in-continues. But while one in five companies have pulled outsourced work back in-house the past year, that hasn't dimmed interest in global IT.Offshoring continues to grow in popularity. Among the 500 companies on our list, 36% have outsourced new work offshore in the past 12 months to improve efficiency, more than those who've done so domestically. Still, 20% have brought outsourced functions back in-house for the same reason. In total, two-thirds of companies use offshore outsourcing. Fifty-nine percent augment U.S. IT staffs with foreign workers on H-1B or L-1 visas.

For more details on the IW 500's global IT and other strategies, a more in-depth analysis is here.

In terms of globalization, the trend from the research is unmistakable: there's no letup in the march toward global IT. Every single measure we took of global activity among the information 500 is up over recent years. H-1B visas are one clear example: used by 59% of companies on this year's IW 500 list, that figure was just 43% three years ago.