Focus: Outsourcing for profit

From IT to human resources and claims management, recession-affected margins could be improved by outsourcing - no matter what the size of your company, writes Sam Barrett.

As the economy starts to recover, UK brokers are checking themselves over for recessionary damage. Reduced headcounts, tighter margins and tougher business conditions mean that many are looking at their business strategies, with outsourcing regarded as an increasingly popular option.

This can be seen in figures from the National Outsourcing Association. In its quarterly Outsourcing Confidence Index, which was released in April, it found that over half of the UK's outsourcing end users were more